• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

The Business Communication

Empowering Connections for Success

  • Introduction
  • Skills
  • Types
    • Oral Communication
    • Written Communication
    • Internal Communication
    • Non-Verbal Communication
    • Modern communication
  • Letter Writing
    • Report Writing
  • Secretarial
    • Employment Communication
    • Company Meeting
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / Introduction / Types of communication barriers

Types of communication barriers

Posted By The Business Communication 6 Comments

Barriers to communication arise from a variety of sources such as complex organizational structure, use of ambiguous words, perceptual differences of sender and receiver, status difference etc.

Table of Contents

Toggle
  • 1. Organizational Barriers
  • 2. Individual Barriers
  • 3. Language or Semantic Barrier
  • Other Barriers

Theo Haimann has classified the main barriers to communication into four major groups. These are:

  • Barriers caused by organizational structure.
  • Barriers caused by status or positions.
  • Barriers caused by language.
  • Barriers resulting from the general inclination to resist change.

McFarland has classified communication barriers into the following four groups:

  • Unsound objectives
  • Organizational blocks
  • Related Articles
    - What is communication? Functions of communication
    - What is Business Communication? 5 Common Methods of Business Communication
    - Scope of communication
    - Nature of Communication – The Business Communication
  • Semantic blocks
  • Human relations problems

Ricky W. Griffin has classified the communication barriers into two broad groups such as

  • Individual barriers and
  • Organizational barriers.

For the convenience of discussion we can classify the barriers to communication in the following four categories:

  1. Organizational barriers
  2. Individual barriers
  3. Semantic barrier
  4. Other barriers

These four types of communication barriers are shown in the following diagram:

Types of communication barriers
Types of communication barriers

1. Organizational Barriers

The barriers that generate from within the organization are known as organizational barriers may be of the following types:

  • Negative organizational climate: The main aspect of organizational climate that acts as communication barrier is the negative attitude of top management. Negative attitude of top management discourages communication initiative of the employees.
  • Absence of communication policy: Well-designed communication policy encourages communication in the organization. In the absence of such policies, employees fail hesitate to communicate.
  • Excessive authority layers: Excessive authority layers acts as a severe impediment to successful communication. In the case of excessive authority impediment to successful communication. In the case of excessive authority layers, information reaches to its final destination passing through several hierarchical levels. As a result, information may be distorted or lost. Excessive authority layers also cause a delay in communication.
  • Filtering: Filtering implies a willful distortion of information. This problem usually arise in upward communication. In upward communication, employees tend to pass only those messages that create a positive impression about them.

2. Individual Barriers

Barriers created by the sender and receiver are known as individual barriers. Such barriers include the following:

  • Differences in personality: Personality is the set of attributes that define a person. Every person holds a distinct personality. This individual nature of personality acts as a barrier to communication.
  • Perceptual differences: Perception is the unique way in which people respond or interpret an object. The difference in perception is a very common problem in effective communication. It for example, a subscriber of BTTB’s land phone in Bangladesh may positively react to the government’s move to privatize BTTB expecting a better service. But an employee of BTTB might view this as a step to cut jobs and retrench existing employees.
  • Fear: Fear of reprisal or attack, fear of criticism for knowing very little, etc. may create a problem in communication.
  • Stereotyping: Stereotyping is generalizing about a class of people or events that is widely held by a given culture. In case of stereotyping, people develop communication statements and mindsets about others. This orientation exposes itself in such statements and mindsets. For example, “All used car salesmen are dishonest,” or “All foreign recruiting agents are liars.” Such all-inclusive perceptions not only are seldom correct but they also block mental activity that is necessary for successful communication.
  • Halo Effect: The halo effect is the tendency to use a general impression based on one or a few characteristics to judge other characteristics of that same individual. For example, a manger might identify one trait of an employee, such as an excellent attendance record, and perceive that the employee’s productivity and quality of work must also be outstanding.
  • Inattention: Sometimes communication does not reach due to the inattention of the receiver. Such inattention may result from busyness, lack of interest about subject, suffering from disease or family problem etc.

3. Language or Semantic Barrier

A common barrier to effective communication is semantic distortion, which can be deliberate or accidental. A semantic problem arises when words and symbols have different meanings for different people that lead to a misunderstanding. For examples, an advertisement states, “we sell for less.” It is ambiguous and raises the question: less than what? In another case, during a meeting, a male colleague said to one of his female colleagues, “Why don’t you dye it?” meaning her hair. The female colleague thought he said, “Why don’t you diet?” she did not speak to him for a month. Semantic barrier presents a difficult challenge when people from different cultures communicate with each other.

Other Barriers

The following factors also act as the barrier to effective communication:

  • Information Overload: Information overload may also be a problem of effective communication. Information overload is the situation when a person is given too much information at a time.
  • Faulty expression: Faulty expression of message fails to convey exact meaning to the receiver. It happens due to lack of clarity, use of vague terms, badly expressed information, an improper organization of ideas, etc.
  • Status or power difference: Communication problem may arise when people of different power or status try to communicate with each other. For example, the manger of a company may neglect suggestion from his subordinates simply because of difference in their status. This under treatment of people makes the communication ineffective.
  • Negative attitudes to change: Some people always resist any kind of change in the organization. They think that ‘old is good, and are fearful about the changes. Therefore, they create problems in communication through inattention, false interpretation, rumor, resistance and non-cooperation.
  • Noise: Environment factors may also disrupt effective communication. One such factor is noise. For example, in oral communication, noise hiders smooth flow of information or message. In factories, loud noise of machines makes oral communication very difficult.
LET’S KEEP IN TOUCH!

We’d love to keep you updated with our latest news and offers! 😎

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

You're on the list!! Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Filed Under: Introduction Tagged With: Communicatio barriers type, Communication barriers, Types of communication barriers

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Melo says

    January 2, 2016 at 2:50 am

    In order for communication to be effective I believe that one has to listen,understand and then answer…. problem is for some people, they listen to answer… and that may sometimes be a barrier.

    Reply
  2. sikandar iqbal chattha says

    April 10, 2016 at 10:34 pm

    To overcome communication barriers it is better to understand the other culture….

    Reply
  3. said juma says

    January 16, 2017 at 3:37 pm

    To be more effective communicator you needed to know every barrier of communication and avoid it

    Reply
  4. TONY says

    October 25, 2017 at 9:51 pm

    To be an effective communicator you need to understand what information has to be transmitted,to whom and when

    Reply
  5. jennifer says

    February 7, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    useful information about Types of communication barriers.
    thanks

    Reply
  6. Tapiwanashe Muguti says

    September 15, 2019 at 4:29 pm

    Well outlined
    Thanks guys

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Copyright © 2013–2025 by The Business Communication All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy | Contact