Barriers to Effective Communication

Описание: Several barriers can slow or distort effective communication, barriers that we need to recognize and reduce. Filtering refers to a sender’s purposely manipulating information so the receiver will see it more favorably. A manager who tells his boss what he feels the boss wants to hear is filtering information. The more vertical levels in the organization’s hierarchy, the more opportunities there are for filtering. But some filtering will occur wherever there are status differences.

Selective perception is important because the receivers in the communication process selectively see and hear based on their needs, motivations, experience, backgrounds, and other personal characteristics. Individuals have a finite capacity for processing data. When the information we have to work with exceeds our processing capacity, the result is information overload. You may interpret the same message differently depending on your mood. People in negative moods are more likely to scrutinize messages in greater detail, whereas those in positive moods tend to accept communications at face value.

Even when we’re communicating in the same language, words mean different things to different people. It’s easy to ignore silence or lack of communication because it is the absence of information. This is often a mistake, however—silence itself can be the message to communicate noninterest or the inability to deal with a topic. An estimated 20 percent of college students suffer from debilitating communication apprehension, or social anxiety. These people experience undue tension and anxiety in oral communication, written communication, or both.

The final barrier to effective communication is outright misrepresentation of information, or lying. People may tell one to two lies per day, with some individuals telling considerably more. The difficulty in detecting liars makes this an especially strong barrier to effective communication.