Communication Barriers: Types and Importance

The communication barriers are the reasons for the failure of interpersonal communications. The failure of the communication may be either the message is not delivered to the receiver or the message may not be received exactly the way the sender intended.  So the communicator has to ensure the message has been delivered and to seek the feedback to check that their message is clearly understood. Effective communication includes overcoming the barriers of communication and conveying a clear and concise message.

Types of Communication Barriers:

Physical Barriers:

They are the physical factors that can prevent or disturb individuals from having effective communication.

The possible causes of Physical Barriers are:

Environment, Distance, Time, Place, Space, Climate, Noise, etc. 

Personal Barriers

The personal factors of both the sender and receiver may exert influence on effective communication in an organization.

Barriers in superiors                                                      

Attitudes of superiors                                   

Lack of time                                                       

Lack of awareness                                          

Lack of confidence in subordinates          

Ignoring communication

Barriers in subordinates:

unwilling to communicate

Lack of proper channel

Fear of challenge to authority

Lack of proper incentive

Semantic Barriers:

Semantics is the branch of linguistics dealing with the meaning of words and sentences.

Semantic barriers are concerned with problems and obstructions in the process of encoding and decoding of the message into words or impressions.

Normally, such barriers result on account of the use of wrong words, faulty translations, different interpretations etc.

Cultural Barriers:

A thriving global marketplace requires effective communication across cultures. Having proper cultural intelligence (CQ) is a method to overcome this barrier. Cultural intelligence is the ability to perform effectively in a cross-cultural work context. 

Psychological Barriers

The effectiveness of communication is also influenced by the psychological factors of the participants in the communication process. The psychological factors such as moods, attitudes,  personal feelings, perceptions, attitudes,  views, and opinions which are formed by family background, social environment, intelligence,  inherited qualities,  education,  and personal experience influence communication effectiveness. 

Organizational Barriers:

The factors related to organization structure, authority relationships, rules, and regulations may, sometimes, act as barriers to effective communication.

The possible reasons for organizational barriers

Organizational policy

Rules and regulations

Status

Complexity in organization struc­ture

Lack of Organizational facilities