Barriers to Effective Communication in the Workplace

Barriers to effective communication:

·  At encoding stage, such as:

   Lack of sensitivity to the receiver.

Will the receiver understand the message? 

   Language/cultural issues .

     The same category of words, phrases, symbols, actions, colours mean different things to people of different countries or different cultural backgrounds.

   Use of jargon/technical terms.



Insufficient knowledge of the subject may be a problem. 

   Information overload will cause problems.

   Emotional and cultural factors.

A message sent when you are emotionally worked up will have a different meaning than when you are calm and composed.  



Filtering:

At transmitting stage, referred to in most
communication models as “noise” and includes:

Physical distractions; 

Lack of planning;

Body language; 

Conflicting messages;
  
A long communication chain causing distortion of key message.

At decoding stage, such as:

Lack of interest on part of receiver; 

Poor listening;

Lack of understanding; 

Selective perception; 

Body language;

Emotional distractions;

and physical disabilities or distractions. 

At feedback stage, whether there is a need to capture feedback and if this can improve future communications.

Communication tips: