Barriers to communication can be divided into five broad categories: physical, semantic and language, socio-psychological, organizational, and cross-cultural barriers. Physical barriers include noise, faulty instruments, space, and time. Semantic and language barriers occur when people do not understand each other due to differences in language or meanings of words. Socio-psychological barriers stem from people's feelings, attitudes, and group identifications. Organizational barriers arise from issues in transmitting messages within a organizational hierarchy. Cross-cultural barriers occur when people from different cultures misunderstand each other due to differences in communication styles across cultures.
1. Barriers to
Communication
Gokhale Education Society’s
S.M.R.K. B.K. A.K Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Nasik-5.
Department of English
CC English (LL)
S.Y.B.Com. Sem III
Unit 1
Ms. Geetanjali Gitay
Assistant Professor
Dept. of English
2. Introduction
• Communication is not always successful. Several things can prevent message from
reaching the intended recipient or from having the desired effect on the recipient.
• When a message from a sender does not reach the receiver or reaches only partially, we
say there is a communication gap.
• Different kinds of obstacles are responsible for gaps in communication. They are known as
Barriers to Communication.
• Barriers are divided into five broad categories: 1. Physical Barriers
2. Semantic and Language Barriers
3. Socio-psychological Barriers
4. Organisational Barriers
5. Cross-cultural
3. 1. Noise
Noise acts as a barrier to communication. It is difficult to communicate in
a moving bus or a train, or when someone is talking loudly near you or when
loudspeakers are blaring out behind. Sound of machines, household gadgets,
traffic, horns all are examples of noise.
2 .Faulty Instruments
Faulty instruments act as a physical barrier to communication. Defective computers,
telephones, fax machines, mobile phones are examples of faulty instruments.
3. Space
Space or distance act as a barrier to communication. One cannot physically
communicate to a person who is at distance.
4. Time
Time also acts as a barrier if people communicating with each other cannot be present at a
same time or live in different time zones.
Physical Barriers
4. • Language Barrier
When people belonging to different language groups with poor knowledge of
other’s language try to communicate with each other, language acts as a barrier
to communication. A person who does not understand Tamil will be at a loss for
communication if he goes to Tamilnadu.
• Semantic Barrier
Semantics refers to the meanings of words. Even if both the communicators know the
language there might be gaps in communication if the message is poorly worded. Also
listener may jumble up similar sounding words. Thus there can be a miscommunication.
e.g. ‘to burn’ means ‘to copy’ in American English and
if a manager asks a secretary to burn the pages
and instead of copying the secretary puts them
into fire, this is a miscommunication.
Semantic and Language Barriers
5. People have feelings, hope, fears , likes ,dislikes, attitudes and opinions which are formed by
family background , social environment, culture, personal experiences and education. They form
a kind of emotional filter and influence the way we respond to messages that we receive and
communicate. These are known as socio-psychological barriers. Some of them are:
1. Status Barrier
Every organisation has different levels of managerial hierarchy which creates a number of
status levels. The very status of a person acts as barrier in his sending or receiving messages
effectively. It is also known as ‘Status Block’. A superior receiving communication from a
Subordinate will look at it suspiciously and vice versa. Many times it is difficult to communicate
with superiors because their status restricts and obstructs the flow of communication.
2. Self-centered Attitudes
We tend to see and hear everything in the light of our interests and needs. We pay attention to
Messages which are useful for us and often do not pay attention to messages which do not
interest us. Self –interest may prevent us from seeing the point of view of others. At work, we
must be able to understand how others think and feel.
Socio-psychological Barriers
6. 3. Group Identification
Our values and opinions are influenced in some matters by the group to which we belong. All
persons have a sense of belonging to a group, be it family, friends, religious or linguistic
community. We must learn to accept ideas of other groups to communicate effectively.
4.Resistance to Change
An adult human mind usually resists change. When a message is received containing a new
Idea, the person unconsciously becomes inattentive.
5. Closed Mindset
Limited intellectual background, limited reading and narrow interests can cause a person’s
mind to be narrow. People with closed mindset resist progressive ideas. Young employees
with bright ideas and fresh approaches to work often feel frustrated by the closed minds of
seniors in an organisation.
Socio-psychological Barriers
7. Organisational barriers arise due to the structure of an organisation. These are:
1. Faulty Transmission and Poor Retention
As a message is communicated from one official in the
hierarchy, it gets distorted to some extent. Successive
transmissions of the message are decreasingly accurate.
Equally serious is poor retention of information. Studies
show that employees retain only 50% of the information
communicated. This makes communication difficult.
2. By –passed Instructions
Instruction given by executives are not followed by their subordinates because both the
subordinate and executive attribute different meanings to the same word. It is thus a kind of
language barrier.
Organisational Barriers
8. 3. Failure to Utilise Channels Properly
An organisation utilises formal and informal channels of communication. Failure to utilise
all possible channels of communication properly is a barrier to communication. Over
4. Unclarified Assumptions
One makes a lot of assumptions while communicating . However, these assumptions are
not fixed and are subject to change. One has to keep in mind while communicating. Making
wrong assumptions is a barrier to communication.
5. Over-emphasising the Written Word
Most conservative managements make this mistake – they rely heavily on the written word.
This is mostly found in government offices where written communication is over
emphasised. This hampers the speed of communication.
6. Wrong Choice of the Medium
Some messages are better communicated through letter than on telephone. Some are more
effective if communicated orally. One must thus apply mind in selecting the right medium
to communicate.
Organisational Barriers
9. • Culture is a shared set of values, beliefs and practices shared by a group of people.
• If people communicating belong to different cultures, culture may act as a barrier.
• Each culture has its own characteristics which are unique. They may not be present in
another culture.
• Ways of greeting, talking, dressing, interacting are different in different cultures. They may
create misunderstandings and miscommunication.
e.g. It is acceptable to talk informally with strangers in
Indians but same will not be acceptable in British
culture which gives much importance to manners
and etiquettes.
Indians often speak in high pitch which is not looked
upon in a favourable light by Europeans.
Cross-cultural Barriers
10. Text Content Source :
1. Business Communication, Doctor Aspi & Doctor Rhoda, Sheth Publishers, Mumbai.(Fifth Edition).
2. Business Communication, Rai Urmila & Rai S.M. ,Himalaya Publications, Mumbai .(Fourth Edition).
