Top Ten Management on Communication Barriers: An Overview of Communication Barriers
This overview of Communication Barriers was prepared by Courtney T. Harper while a Management major in the College of Business at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Introduction
This report is a general explanation of communication barriers and how to overcome them. People communicate in every aspect of their lives, such as personal relationships and in the work environment. Communication with another person successfully requires work by the sender and the receiver. In this report, I discuss how to convey your message sufficiently and explain what is needed to be a good listener.
The Idea in a Nutshell
Communication barriers are obstacles that distort interpersonal or organizational communication processes. Barriers can take many forms, such as physical, emotional, or structural. Each barrier may not be preventable or anticipated. The barriers can be on the end the receiver, sender, or both. There are ways to overcome barriers and achieve successful communication. Successful communication can be achieved by overcoming barriers. If a message is delivered to the right person at the proper time with the correct amount of emphases on the important parts, the information likely to be perceived by the receiver is at its fullest potential. It doesn’t matter how important or impressive the subject of the communication is, if it is delivered without any ‘punch’, it will not get people to take the desired action intended.
The Top Ten Things You Need to Know About Communication Barriers.
1. On average, an individual must hear new information seven times before he or she understands accurately. Many communication problems can be directly attributed to misunderstanding and inaccuracies. Active listening, which is listening for full meaning without making premature judgments or interpretations, demands total concentration. A manager can ask questions about a message to determine if it was received and understood as intended. To be an active listener you must be empathic, make eye contact, exhibit affirmative head nods and appropriate facial expressions, ask questions, avoid distracting actions or gestures, paraphrase, avoid interrupting speaker, and don’t over talk.
2. Defensiveness can damage the way someone perceives the message at hand. When someone believes he or she is threatened, the individual will become defensive toward the speaker, using sarcasm or may attack the person delivering the message. This can reduce the listener’s ability to understand and minimize the chance to reach an agreement.
I had just basic knowlegde of what a communication barrier is, but I realize now that its a bigger issue than people treat it to be. I have never seen an employer have to handle these things before even if needed to be addressed, so the information in your article was informative.
Great article! I do believe that there are many communication barriers and that communication does require work by both the sender and the receiver. It is best to eliminate as many communication barriers as possible in order to get the message across. Excellent Work!!!