Barriers to Communication

Assignment 2 – Task 3

P3

Barriers to Communication

Definition of barriers to communication

Obstacle in a workplace that prevent effective exchange of ideas or thoughts. Barriers include status difference, gender differences, cultural differences and organization environment.

General Communication Skills

Cultural Differences – The barrier would be the different languages that people speak today. You might even say something that would be good in your language but in someone else’s language this could be very offensive. You need to change what you are going to say to suit the needs of others.

Distractions – This could be people talking loudly in the background while you are trying to something very important and you can very easy loose your concentration. This can make you stop what you are doing to find out what is going on in the room.

Tone of Voice – This needs to be simple and understand to everyone around you. A raised voice could mean that you are angry or impatience. A low voice could mean that you are insecure. If you speak to quickly then people may not understand what is required of them. If you speak to quite then people may not be able to hear what is being said.

Interpersonal Skills

Body Language (Talking and Listening) - We all communicate through this way and it can become a major issue. Most of the way we communicate is through gestures, facial expression, posture, eye contact and touching. The barrier that could be a problem is people not listening correctly or making the correct responses.

Lack of commitment – This is a major problem if the person is not willing to learn or do there work. If the person is mucking about all the time then this would mean that they don’t want to be doing what they are suppose to be doing and therefore just causing a lot of trouble.

Low self-esteem – This takes in a major part of communication. Some people don’t have the courage to speak up and say their ideas or thoughts incase they are wrong.  This could also show that the person has lack of confidence or even by not taking responsibility for their own actions incase they have did something wrong then they wont what to admit to it.

Written Communication

Spelling and Grammar – If the spelling and grammar is not correct then it will be very hard for someone to read it and make sense of what is trying to be said. If there are a lot of mistakes then it looks very unprofessional and it will confuse people of what is being written.

Language used – This needs to be simple for people to understand as people who are reading this will not have a clue of you are tying to say. Poor skills in writing will have a bad effect on your work.

Using an inappropriate structure (Format) – This is very important to get the correct layout and use the correct format to get the message through to people. If the format is all messed up then the reader will find it very hard to follow and what the person is trying to say in their message.

Reduce the Impact of Barriers

M1

Reduce the impact of barriers

General Communication Skills

Cultural Differences – This may be though people speaking different language and you would then have to get someone in from outside to interpret what you are saying.

Distractions – If there is loud music playing in the background then you could ask them to turn it down also if there is noise coming from outside a room then you could close the door.

Tone of Voice – If you are speaking very low then people may not hear what you are saying and if you are shouting then people may not want to listen.

Interpersonal skills

Body Language (Talking and Listening) – If you are not listening to what is being said then you are not paying any attention and the person will be able to tell and this may become a major problem.

Lack of commitment – If you are not committed to do your work then you will not get it all done on time and if this happens then you could be in a lot of trouble.  

Low self-esteem – If a person has to give a presentation and they are not very conferment at doing this then is could be a big problem.

Written communication

Spelling and Grammar – This would need to have everything spelled correctly and have the correct grammar to understand what the person has written. If there are parts of it not spelled correctly then the person reading it may miss the important parts and pick it up as something else.

Language used – If a person is using slang words then the people listening may not know what is being said so this needs to be put into easy words that people will be able to understand.

Using an inappropriate structure (Format) – The structure would need to be set out the correct way to understand what is being asked or said for the person reading it will understand.

Priniciples of Effective Communication

Include an explanation of the principles of effective communication

Definition of effective communication

“A two way information sharing process which involves one party sending a message that is easily understood by the receiving party. Effective communication by business managers facilitates information sharing between company employees and can substantially contribute to its commercial success”. (Businessdictionary.com)

The Purpose of Communication

The Communication Process

The 6 steps of the communication process

This is a six step cycle, unfortunately communication can break down or become confused at any step.

Sometimes the message isn’t clear in our brain, yet we still expect other people to know what we mean.

Encoding, sending and decoding are phases that provide opportunities for errors and misunderstandings.

The fifth step, the receiver has to filter the message and decide what it means based on their own values, beliefs, filters and memories.

If any of these fails, the result is confusion, conflict and frustration.

General Communication Skills

Communication processes need an audience to communicate the message to. The success of the message will be determined by:

Cultural differences eg. Christian v Arab

Adapting to suit an audience

Accuracy

Engaging the audience

Question and answer

Choose 2 of these general skills and write about them:

Cultural differences

Cultural differences between you and your audience or within your audience will need to be addressed. Words or signs are acceptable in one language or culture may be misunderstood or offensive in another, you should choose different words or gestures from what you would normally use.

Adapting to suit an audience

The age of your audience can impact on the way you communicate with them. Raise your voice or use a microphone to be heard, vary your tone of voice to keep interest with the audience. Use the correct tone of language, so that everyone will understand what is being said.

Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are the life skills we use everyday to communicate and interact with other people, individually and in groups.

For example

·         How we communicate with others

·         Our confidence

·         Our ability to listen and understand

·         Problem solving

·         Decision making

·         Personal stress management

The seven aspects of interpersonal skills

·         Verbal exchange, sign language and lip

·         Non-verbal communication

·         Active participation

·         Electronic communication

·         Language used

·         Barriers to communication

·         Types of questions

Choose 2 interpersonal skills and write about them:

Techniques and cues

To express emotion in verbal communication, you need to change your tone of voice. A raised voice indicates anger or impatience. A lowered voice indicates of fear or insecurity. Face-to-face discussions may be through your tone of voice or body language. For example folded arms across the chest may show indifference.

Positive language

Yes is a positive response to the question. Facial expressions such as a smile may also mean a positive reaction. Leaning towards the speaker means that you want to know what is being said.

Written Communication Skills

Written communication is very different from other forms of communication. It requires special skills in the construction of the message – not at least, the ability to handwrite or type. It also requires a good knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar of a language (such as English) so that the written word conveys the intended message to the audience. You cannot use visual cues such as hand or gestures.

Choose 2 written communication skills and write about them:

Key messages

A form of written communication – report, letter or email – there will be a key message. A letter, this may be flagged by a headline. Emails use a subject line to get the message.

Grammar and spelling

The body of the report, letter or email will have the key message. Word processing software offers spell checker options. If you make mistakes this will look very unprofessional and this will create confusion if mistakes in the message being difficult to understand.

Bibliography

Academic Books

Anderson et al “Information Technology Level 3 Book 1 BTEC National” Pearson 2010

Websites

1.    http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/effective-communication.html

2.    http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=The%20Purpose%20of%20Communication&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=X0b9UMfJNsaltAaBj4G4Aw&biw=1280&bih=822&sei=YUb9UOi4M4-RswaE8oHoAw

3.    http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=The%206%20steps%20of%20the%20communication%20process&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=IUf9UO_hMc7Psga5zYHgBA&biw=1280&bih=822&sei=JEf9UIrlKMaLswayh4DoDg