Barriers to effective communication

Barriers to effective communication


1: Language/culture

One barrier to effective communication can be a language/culture barrier. It is difficult to communicate with people that of a different ethnic background because some sayings/gestures have different meanings. For example, smiling for someone with an Asian background may be offended or feel patronised, on the other hand someone from America would more likely to take this as a compliment, when in the UK, some people find smiling in public awkward/weird. Also, the obvious problem that people may not understand another language that well, and someone might feel uncomfortable speaking another language. This can be overcome by being understanding and respectful to someone from a different ethnic background and being careful about how you act and behave. Another solution is to use a translator.


2: Technical background noise

Another barrier to effective communication would be Technical background noises. For example, a fan in the background, or a computer monitor may distract someone from listening to lecture. Even if the distraction is subconscious it can still be a barrier to communication. Another example of this is phones going off. A phone going off can distract everyone in a classroom and distract the teacher/presenter because they may lose their thought process and have to pick it up again which may take some time. Another type of technical noise is where a phone call disconnects, this is a barrier of communication. This can be overcome by turning off all phones/monitors during presentations/lectures. It


3: Physical background noise

Another type of background noise, (and another barrier to effective communication) “Physical background noise” is people talking, it is so easy to start subconsciously start listening to someone’s conversation without realising. To stop this barrier to communication it is important to make sure no one talks during important lectures and to minimise background noise as much as possible. This can be overcome by telling students/listeners to be quiet during presentations/lectures.



4: Information overload

Another barrier to effective communication is information overload. This is someone who is teaching/presenting gives too much information at once for the students to handle. This is because too much information in a short space of time does not allow someone to absorb the information well enough. A way to stop this is to be careful about how much information you are presenting to the audience. This can be overcome by highlighting the key points then slowly elaborate from the key points, this will result in the audience slowly absorbing the information.


5: Lack of interest

Another barrier to effective communication is lack of interest. This can occur in schools when students lack interest in what they are being taught. A student will often lose interest because they have no interest in what’s being said. To overcome this all that can be done is, the student has to force themselves to listen; to self-motivate themselves. This can be overcome by making the information that you are teaching fun, for example making the presentation interactive, and maybe even keeping the audience engaged by asking them questions.


6: Presentation may crash

Another barrier to effective communication is that the presentation may crash. This can be embarrassing and cause you to panic during your presentation, and you may stall. To overcome this potential embarrassment, bring paper notes with you as a sort of “Plan B” if your presentation crashes.


7: Poor timing

Another barrier to effective communication is Poor timing. This is a social awareness skill that is important in communication. An example of Poor timing is saying something inappropriate like asking for a month off for your honeymoon just after your boss got divorced. To overcome this you must simply think before you speak.
8: Psychological noise

Another barrier to effective communication is psychological noise. Psychological barriers refer to peoples state of mind in the work place. These can be influenced by the weather, for example if working outside, one may be distracted by the sound of wind blowing on the trees or grass. This can be overcome by working inside and working areas which are not at all affected by the outside world. It can also be influenced by personal problems such as health, relationship problems, kids and other home issues. These can be overcome by separating work from personal issues, this can only be done with self-discipline.

9: Attitudinal barriers

Another barrier to effective communication is attitudinal issues. This refers to the internal problems between individuals at the work place. If staff do not get along and have personal conflicts/grudges, this will inevitably result a barrier to communication between employees. To overcome this, it is important to keep your personal life and work life separate, and not to let your emotions get in the way of effective communication.


10: Poor proofreading

This barrier to effective communication can occur when someone has poor proofreading skills, if someone makes an error in their proofreading for someone else’s work, the person may misunderstand what is meant by the proofreading symbol., this will result in a barrier to communication. To overcome this barrier to effective communication you should make sure to learn your proof reading marks to avoid making mistakes. You can learn these here: http://www.interactivetraining.co.uk/proofreading-symbols.html