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Interpersonal barrier to communication process may be due to:
• withdrawal or lack of being in touch for communication.
• strict rituals of people living in certain geographical area.
• more engaged in leisure activities that involve only self and not others.
• poor self-esteem or social anxiety.
• strict rules and regulations in certain working environments where the employees need to be less interactive and
more formal.
All these above factors will lose the interest of the people to communicate which might be either misinterpretation or
incomplete communication of information.
Organisational Barrier
Inadequate flow of information amongst employees working at different levels of hierarchy may lead to organisational
barriers. This may be due to:
• the restricted rules and policies of an organisation as the employees avoid getting into the hassle of sending or
receiving any message. For example, if the company rule says that all communication should be in writing, then
even a small message where time constraint plays a very important role in decision making may lead to delay in the
transmission due to writing formalities and level of approval required from different people.
• a formal communication protocol is always followed when communication takes place between senior and
his subordinate. In such situations, a subordinate employee will always have a fear, anxiety and withdrawal in
communication.
• absence of certain facilities like a comfortable working environment, telephone, fax or internet connectivity, suitable
temperature, sufficient tools, stationery and healthy relationships with the co-worker may affect the efficiency of
employees and hinder the process of communication.
• poor coordination amongst the employees due to complex organisational structure will lead to filtering and
misinterpretation of the information.
Cultural Barrier
Culture is values and principles followed in the lives of people living in society. It is the sharing of customs, rituals,
beliefs, ideas, art, knowledge, values, morals, ideals, etc. amongst people living in their own geographically restricted
areas.
• As mindset of people of different cultures are different, so is their language, signs and symbols. This causes a barrier
to communication.
• Culture also gives rise to prejudices and stereotypes. These become the societal norms, thus becoming a barrier to
effective communication amongst people of different cultures.
• Different cultures adopt different ways of communication. For example, some cultures may be very open while
others may be orthodox, thus affecting ways people communicate among various cultural sects. For example, in
Arab countries it is considered to be a social crime to greet an opposite gender by shaking hands.
MEASURES TO OVERCOME BARRIERS IN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
After we are able to recognise the barriers in effective communication, we should focus on overcoming them. Removing
barriers is one of the easiest ways to improve communication. Some of the important measures we should use to
overcome barriers are listed below:
• Clarify the idea before communication: The sender should be clear with the main objective of the message to be
communicated to the receiver.
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