Overview of Barriers and Guidelines of Business Communication

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Noise
3. Lack of Planning
4. Wrong/Unclarified Assumptions
5. Semantic Problems
6. Cultural Barriers
7. Socio-psychological Barriers
8. Emotions
9. Selective Perception
10. Filtering
11. Information Overload
12. Loss by Transmission
13. Poor Retention
14. Poor Listening
15. Insufficient Period for Adjustment
16. Goal-Conflicts
17. Offensive Style of Communication
18. Guidelines for Effective Communication
19. Clarity of Purpose
20. Shared Activity
21. Common Set of Symbols
22. Focus the Needs of the Receiver
23. Use Feedback
24. Active Listening
25. Controlling Emotions
26. Politeness
27. Eliminate Noise
28. Clarify Assumptions
29. Avoiding Connotations and Ambiguities
30. Socio-psychological Aspect
31. Completeness
32. Conciseness
33. Proper Use of Body Language
34. 7C’s of Communication

Check out Taxmann's Business Communication which addresses new learning objectives in the context of online communication, which gained importance due to the pandemic, along with the core understanding of business communication. It aims to be interesting and valuable to managerial students by covering various aspects of communication, using case studies, key points, and review questions for effective learning. It features a lucid presentation, real-life examples, comprehensive coverage, learning objectives, application-based questions, post-pandemic discussion, and online resources.

1. Introduction

What do you think might be the problem with Aakash? Has Aakash presented himself as a careless communicator? Were there any communication barriers between Rajiv and Aakash? By now it must be clear how important effective communication is. It is the very life line of all business. Even then very often problems, serious and not so serious, arise because of something going wrong in communication. There are innumerable instances of miscommunication, malcommunication, incomplete communication, misconstrued communication and so on. Managers often complain about communication breakdowns as one of their most important problems. Specialists in the field have made serious studies regarding these problems and come up with useful insights into what have widely come to be known as ‘barriers’ to communication.

Let us discuss a few of the factors that act as barriers and affect the effectiveness of communication in an organization:

2. Noise

Unfortunately communication is very often affected/distorted/blunted by noise that occurs primarily at the transmission level. Literally the word ‘noise’ means “interference that occurs in a signal and prevents you from hearing sounds properly”. It is, therefore, the first major barrier to communication. In a factory, for example, where there are machines and engines making constant noise, oral communication becomes difficult. Blaring loudspeakers around is bound to interfere with our conversation, whether face to face or on telephone. In the same way a static in the transmission line, as in a poor telephone connection or faulty TV cable, distorts the sound signals and affects communication. In the same way, some technical problem in the ultramodern communication systems or adverse weather conditions interfering with transmission may lead to major communication barriers/breakdowns. Another source of noise is mental turbulence that deviates the sender and the receiver from paying attention to the message. This turbulence is caused by anxiety, fear, prejudice, stereotypes and preconceived ideas and notions.

Noise is not just all this. Its wider connotations include many other factors that are likely to hinder communication. And these factors may exist at the level of the sender as well as that of the receiver. For example, on the sender’s part encoding may be faulty because of the use of confusing or ambiguous symbols. At the receiver’s level reception may be inaccurate because of inattention. Decoding may be faulty because wrong or unexpected interpretation may be attached to words/symbols. Understanding of the message may be warped by prejudices. Desired results may not take place because of fear or inherent resistance to change. In this way we see that noise is not just one single factor but a whole range of factors rolled into one big barricade that we must make every effort to overcome but we cannot wish away.

3. Lack of Planning

Communication, especially in business environment, is not a casual affair. But unfortunately, some people take it lightly. The result is that the message to be sent across may not be carefully planned. It may not be properly organized or composed, or may be transmitted through a wrongly chosen medium. For example, giving a long winding narration of events/meetings/results, etc. in respect of sales during a particular period where a presentation through tables/graphs is needed will lead to miscommunication. In the same way, careful choice of time and place is also very important.

4. Wrong/Unclarified Assumptions

Communication quite often breaks down or becomes an embarrassing affair if we keep acting on assumptions without caring to seek clarifications. As somebody has lightly but effectively said, “If you assume you make an ass of U (you) and me.” If for example, somebody, say a customer, writes to us that he/she would be visiting our office/factory on a particular day without caring to write/telephone that he/she would like to be picked up assuming that we will do all that as a routine, it will be regarded as a case of incomplete communication. It may lead to loss of goodwill.

5. Semantic Problems

Communication is primarily concerned with the transmission of meaning the systematic study of which is semantics. That is why any problems arising from the expression/transmission of meaning are called semantic problems or barriers. Most of the communication is based on words and words are liable to be used in myriad different ways. The number of words, howsoever large, is limited, but the contexts, intended meanings and interpretations, their combinations and usages are many times more. The meaning is in the mind of the sender and also in that of the receiver. But, then it is not always necessary for the meaning in the mind of the sender to be the same as that in the mind of the receiver. It is, therefore, of vital importance for the sender to encode his message in such a way that the receiver decodes it to get the intended meaning. And very often that does not happen. An advertisement, for example, says, “We give you much more”, It is an ambiguous statement. The question arises, “More than what?” There are many different interpretations of every other word/sentence/utterance. One must aim at simplicity, clarity and brevity so as to minimise the chances of different interpretations. One should also avoid using jargon as it conveys meaning to a limited group.

6. Cultural Barriers

It is seen, especially in the international environment, cultural differences often cause communication problems. The same category of words, phrases, symbols, actions, colours mean different things to people of different countries/cultural backgrounds. For example, in Western countries black colour is associated with death and mourning, while in the Far East white is the colour of mourning. In the United States people love to be called by their first name while in Britain people are more formal and like to be addressed by their title or their last name. In the hierarchical structure of Indian society and business environment also the last name is important.

7. Socio-psychological Barriers

The attitudes and opinions, place in society and status – consciousness arising from one’s position in the hierarchical structure of the organization, the state of one’s relations with peers, seniors, juniors, family background – all these factors deeply influence one’s ability to communicate both as a sender and receiver, both in encoding and decoding the messages. Status-consciousness is widely known to be a serious communication barrier in organizations. It creates psychological distance leading to breakdown of communication or miscommunication. A man high up in an organization often builds up a wall around himself that the people below find it difficult to break through. Thus it is seen that power – centres restrict participation of the less powerful in decision making. In the same way one’s family background formulates one’s attitudes and communication skills.

8. Emotions

Encoding and decoding of messages depends to quite some extent on one’s emotional state at a particular time. Extreme emotions, like jubilation or depression, are likely to hinder effective communication. Anger is the worst enemy of communication. A message received when one is angry is likely to be interpreted in a very different manner than when one is calm and composed. Stress may also lead to building up of negative emotions, further leading to communication breakdown.

9. Selective Perception

Most of the factors mentioned above lead to selective perception. It means that the receivers selectively see and hear depending upon their needs, motivations, background, experience and other personal characteristics. While decoding the messages they project their own interests and expectations into the process of communication further leading to a particular kind of feedback. The fact is that we don’t see reality. We interpret what we see and call it reality. The same has become very prevalent in today’s time wherein what is understood depends primarily on what we already know. In majority of the cases the source of such information is also not reliable.

10. Filtering

Filtering means that a sender manipulates information in such a way that it will be seen more favourably by the receiver. For example, a manager likes to tell his boss what he feels his boss wants to hear. In this process he is filtering information. The result of filtering is that the man at the top perhaps never gets objective information. In this connection it is worthwhile quoting what a former Vice-President of General Motors says, “… lower-level specialists… provided information in such a way that they would get the answer they wanted. I know. I used to be down below and do it.” In the process of filtering the information for onward transmission to the senior executives, the people at the lower levels condense and synthesize it, thus sometimes holding back/ignoring some important parts of information. The more vertical levels in the hierarchical system, the more chances there are for filtering.

11. Information Overload

Unrestricted flow of information may, and very often does, become another barrier. Too much information is no unmixed blessing. It may stifle the senior executive or bore and frustrate him. People respond to this kind of information in different ways. Firstly, they may disregard certain information as for example, we see that very many letters are ignored. Secondly, people are also likely to make errors, when they become overwhelmed or swamped with too much information. Thirdly, people may delay processing/responding to information at least for the time being. Delay may become a habit, causing serious communication problems. Fourthly, people may become highly selective in their response. And selectivity may and may not contribute to effective communication.

12. Loss by Transmission

When messages pass on from person to person in a series of transmissions they are likely to become less and less accurate. They get diluted on the way. Poor choice of medium of transmission or improper encoding can also lead to loss of transmission. When an important official message that must be kept in record is transmitted through oral mode of transmission, chances are high that the message might be misinterpreted or be lost.

13. Poor Retention

As a corollary to the communication problem mentioned above, mention must also be made of poor retention of information. Human memory being what it is, and depending upon one’s mental make-up, one may not always retain what he is told. Thus, the necessity of repeating the message using several channels/media becomes obvious. That is why organizations often use more than one medium to communicate the same message.

14. Poor Listening

Poor listening causes serious problems in communication. There are two many talkers and too few listeners. The importance of listening has already been highlighted. And, of course, everybody knows about it. But even then problems do keep cropping up owing to poor listening and hasty evaluation. One reason is that mostly people are too much involved in their own problems and pampering their own egos. The result is that they are really not interested in the speaker. In order to become good listeners we have to learn to rise above our egos, keep our eyes and ears open and empathise with others. Otherwise the habit of poor listening is bound to become a major barrier to communication.

15. Insufficient Period for Adjustment

As has been said in the beginning the purpose of communication is to effect change. It may concern change in employees’ shifts in the time, an employee’s transfer to another department, change in type or order to work, decisions regarding the skills to be used and so on. The management may decide to send communications regarding further training, career adjustment, etc. People respond to change in different ways, and they require their own time to think about the full meaning, implications, and consequences of the message. It is, therefore, important to give them sufficient time. Only then the communication will be effective.

16. Goal-Conflicts

Various units and sub-units in an organization internalize their own goals, leading to splitting or bifurcation of interests. This internalization of sub-unit goals leads to goal-conflicts while communication can be a conflict-reduction mechanism. Conflict acts as a communication – reduction mechanism. When two parties are in conflict, communication is minimal. When people start competing for the fulfilment of their narrow sectional interests a number of barriers to communication arise.

17. Offensive Style of Communication

Experts point out, and as we also realize, the greatest barrier to communication is quite often the style of communication used by the manager. When a manager sends a message in such a way that the workers/juniors become defensive he/she contributes to the negative factor of poor interpersonal relationship. And if the relationships are already strained, any offensive style adopted by the manager is bound to lead to communication breakdown.

18. Guidelines for Effective Communication

If we have a reasonably good understanding of the process of communication and its problems, barriers and breakdowns it should not be difficult to make our communication effective. It must, however, be made clear that ideal communication is rarely achieved. Perhaps it does not exist. But we can, and should, strive to acquire all those skills and take care of all those aspects that make communication effective. As somebody has very well said, “Ideals are like stars. We may never reach them, but they keep guiding our path”. So is the case with communication.

Given below are some guidelines that must help us communicate effectively:

19. Clarity of Purpose

In the first place we must make a careful analysis of what exactly we wish to communicate. As is often the case in business, we may not be able to clarify the issue completely, unless it is by nature very simple. But any effort made in this direction proves to be fruitful. Hence it is absolutely necessary to understand the purpose of our message. And this requires careful planning as has been noted in the preceding chapter, lack of planning becomes the first major barrier in communication. Communication does not just take place. We have to make all possible efforts to understand the why’s and how’s, the when and where, and above all the ‘what’ of our message. As George Bernard Shaw says, “The major mistake in communication is to believe that it happens”.

20. Shared Activity

Let us not forget that effective communication is the responsibility of all persons in the organization. They may be at any level-managerial or non-managerial. They are all working towards a common goal. It means that all of them have a share, directly or indirectly, in many different ways, in the process of communication. Whether communication is effective can be judged on the basis of the intended results. And the results are the responsibility of the entire organization. It has, therefore, to be group-responsibility. Managers are advised to consult with others whenever necessary. Often it is necessary to seek the authority to communicate before a message is sent, or someone is to be kept in the picture in regard to the action intended. It is, therefore, useful to remember the headings ‘For Action’ and ‘For Information’ when communications are being planned.

21. Common Set of Symbols

The encoding and decoding of the message should be done with symbols that are familiar to the sender and the receiver. It is an immutable condition of communication that the code or set of symbols be mutually understood/intelligible. That is why managers, and especially the specialist staff, are advised to avoid unnecessary technical jargon which is intelligible only to the experts in their respective fields. Quite often communication becomes ineffective if the specialists/technical experts, who are accustomed to using a special kind of vocabulary and phraseology among themselves, use their particular variety of language even with the administrative or accounts section of the organization. They must remember that, beyond their jargon, there is a common core of language.

22. Focus the Needs of the Receiver

Whenever we communicate we must keep in mind the needs of the receivers of the message/information. It should be our endeavour to see that whatever we communicate should be of value to the receiver, both in the short run and in the distant future. Our awareness of the needs of the receiver will make him more receptive.

23. Use Feedback

‘Use feedback’, exhorts Stephen Robbins, a renowned authority on organizational behaviour. Feedback is the backbone of the continuous flow of communication. We can never know whether communication/message is understood unless the sender gets feedback. Many communication problems arise because of misunderstandings and inaccuracies. They are less likely to occur if we make sure that the ‘feedback loop is utilized in the communication process’. We can achieve this target by asking questions, requesting a reply to a letter, and encouraging the receiver to give his reactions to the message/information. This can be used either way, by giving and accepting the feedback. Maintain an open mind and try not to let your emotions get the best of you when responding to feedback or messages.

24. Active Listening

Active or ‘participative’ listening is as important as any other element in the process of communication. It shows, again, that communication is a joint responsibility of both the sender and the receiver. Tips for participative listening have been given earlier in this book. When someone is good at listening, they not only grasp the words or the information that is being delivered, but they also comprehend the feelings that the speaker is attempting to convey.

25. Controlling Emotions

Emotions play an important role in interpersonal relationships between superiors, subordinates and colleagues in an organization. It should, be therefore, an important aim of communication to create an environment in which people are motivated to work toward the desired goals of the enterprise while they achieve their personal goals. There must be generated a healthy climate of involvement and synergistic growth. It must also be remembered that an important function of communication is control-not just top-down control but also self control. It means that a successful communicator must learn/train himself to exercise restraint on his emotions, especially anger. The truth is that we do not always communicate in a fully rational manner. Our reasoning is often clouded with negative feelings/emotions. And that leads to all sort of misunderstandings owing to emotion loaded encoding of the message of misinterpretation of the incoming message. That is why the MBO (Management by Objectives) philosophy emphasizes self-control. The power of positivity must be put to use as it encourages positive energy in all forms of communication. One must make certain that the language used is appropriate for the listener to maintain the positivity of the conversation.

26. Politeness

This leads us to the tonal aspect of communication. There is a saying, “The tone makes the music”. In the same way, in communication, the tone of voice, the choice of language and the congruency or logical connection between what is said and how it is said influence the reactions of the receiver. That is why managers are advised to shun authoritarianism, or in other words, to exercise authority with grace. Everybody knows that politeness pays, and it is reflected so very ‘loudly’ both in words and actions. Moreover, in an organization, politeness encourages participative communication involving people at all levels, leading to lateral and diagonal communication from the conventional, hierarchically – structured downward communication.

27. Eliminate Noise

Every possible effort must be made to eliminate the element of noise that distorts communication at the transmission stage. It becomes especially important in the wake of modern technological advancement. Anything going wrong with the equipment or any disturbance in the transmission line is bound to defeat the very purpose of communication.

28. Clarify Assumptions

No effective communication can be based on assumptions. The sender of the message must first clarify his assumptions and then go ahead with proper encoding of the message.

29. Avoiding Connotations and Ambiguities

Semantic problems can be solved by using simple language and avoiding connotations. Care must be taken to see that the receiver of the message does not have to go beyond the text of the message. A sender should, therefore, use denotative words and expressions in preference to connotative ones. It is also necessary to avoid all ambiguity that means using words with double meaning.

30. Socio-psychological Aspect

As communication is a two-way process involving both the sender and the receiver, both should make conscious efforts to understand each other’s cultural and socio-psychological background. As a golden rule for effective communication one must remember, “First understand, then be understood”. An effective communicator is an informed communicator. One must put their own thoughts, ideas and opinions out of one’s mind. Before the judging the value of the message, you should give the speaker some time to develop and communicate their ideas or arguments.

31. Completeness

One must also endeavour to send a complete message, furnishing all necessary facts and figures. Incomplete communication annoys the receiver as a result of which proper feedback will not come. The message should be so organized that the receiver is not left in doubt about any aspect of the message.

32. Conciseness

Completeness does not mean inclusion of unnecessary details or diversions. An effective communication is concise and crisp. The sender should be clear headed and properly focused in his vision.

33. Proper Use of Body Language

Proper use of body language is of paramount importance, especially in oral communication. No oral communication can be successful or effective if we do not take care of our body language. In the first place there must be good eye-contact with the person to whom we are speaking. The movement of our hands and feet must be graceful. Every listener observes carefully how we walk and how we talk. Our gait says a lot about us. A warm handshake can do wonders. Holding our head straight on our shoulders shows confidence. In fact, our overall appearance can really make or mar our communication.

34. 7C’s of Communication

To avoid the barriers to communication, the need for effective communication encompasses the implementation of the 7C’s of communication. 7 C’s of effective communication, discussed below, ensures better and continuous communication:

1. Clarity: Good communication is a result of effective encoding of the message from the sender’s point. Any confusion in the encoding process will lead to poor communication.

The sender must have the clarity of thought and expression while presenting the message. Clarity of thought implies that what do you want to communicate, why do you want to communicate and how do you want to communicate. Once this aspect is well-established, the sender needs to apply clarity of expression to convey the message. For clarity of expression the sender should use simple language, avoid jargon and technical terms, avoid ambiguity and use simple and short sentences.

Based on the clarity, instead of “Leave applications must be submitted in time”, one should state “You are requested to submit the leave application, approved by the concerned authorities at least three days in advance. In case of an emergency, the leave application can be submitted within three days of joining.”

2. Completeness: Every communication needs to be complete with the message to be successful. Adequate information should be provided to make the communication complete. To ensure completeness in communication, one must remember the 5 Ws: What, Why, Where, Who and When.

Based on the completeness, instead of “Submit your leave application on time”, the message should be as follows “Kindly submit your leave application by 5 PM, Saturday (Date) in the HR department.”

3. Conciseness: Brevity or conciseness is another integral factor for effective communication. Providing information that is not relevant or too much for the receiver, will lead to disinterest in the conveyed message. An effective message has to be conveyed with minimum words, and thus be short and crisp. Irrelevant words and repetition along with use of excessive words will affect the meaning of the message. It might also irritate the listener. However, one must consider the other C’s of communication while applying the conciseness onto the message. Hampering any other 7C’s will primarily affect the conciseness of the message.

Based on conciseness, instead of “Leave applications must be submitted by the next three days of joining or you might not be allowed to submit the same.” One should state “The deadline for the leave submission is three days post-joining.”

4. Consideration: Another very important aspect of effective communication is the appropriateness of the message. This aspect deals with the analysis of the receiver’s perspective. All messages are not universal and need to be conveyed as per the emotions, sentiments and needs of the receiver. The consideration is of high use when translating a message from one to another language. Word-to-word translation can not only affect the cohesion of the message but might also hurt the sentiments of the receiver.

Based on consideration, instead of “The leave application has to be submitted on time, wherein failure to do so will lead to deduction in salary” one should state “Kindly submit the leave application as per the rules to avoid any repercussions.”

5. Correctness: The message must entail correctness of three major aspects; facts, timelines and language. You should not transmit any message until all the facts and figures have been authorized from reliable sources. All messages must be transferred at the right time with minimum delay. Any form of incorrect grammar can also deviate the listener. Hence, a message should have valid and accurate facts, should be conveyed on time and have minimum deviation in the language. Various softwares can be deployed to minimize the effect of incorrect language upon the receiver.

6. Concrete: While sending a message, one must assure that the message is specific, logical and cohesive. Every aspect of the message should be irrefutable with necessary validation. Abstract messages do exist but cannot be put to use. Abstraction in language is relevant in literature or on specific occasions and hence should be avoided. You should aim at communication that is logical with substantial proof. Moreover, each aspect of the message should be presented in proper order, with equal cohesion.

Instead of stating, “Leave applications are necessary by this weekend” one must state “Kindly submit the leave applications within three days of your joining”.

7. Courtesy: Polite and friendly behaviour facilitates successful communication. Your message should be generous, professional, empathetic and considerate. It has been a recent trend of ignoring the courtesy to attain other C’s of communication. However, one should not shrug away from apologizing in case of any omission or use of an unacceptable expression.

Instead of stating “You should submit this…..” one can state “you are requested to submit this….”