Barriers to Effective Communication

Barriers to Effective Communication Paper Almost everyone at some point in their life has experienced how frustrating it can be when you are feeling misunderstood, or the feeling when you are not able to get your message across. So therefore, you are unable to make yourself understood to that other person. Everything that could block the means of communication could become a barrier. Effective communication is your building block of a message that you are trying to send. To become an effective communicator you should be bold, and speak clearly. Secondly, paying attention to detail can ensure your grammar and spelling is properly maintained in either writing a letter or giving a presentation so that your final message is given and received clearly. Finally, it is important that you try to challenge yourself and other’s to continually overcome any barriers of communication that you may come across. Taking yourself and others to another level allows growth and higher forms of education in the aspect of communication, so that the barriers between communications become smaller each time that the communication process is being engaged. There are many barriers to effective communication. A few that will be discussed are the language barriers, the distraction barriers, false assumptions, spelling mistakes, as well as the defining of words properly. “It is said that there are about 94 different definitions of the word communication has for a meaning” states (Wallace & Robertson, 2009, p. 2). Another words, there are many people who have put together their own definition and meanings of the word: Communication. If we take a look at some steps that the communication process has, we can get a clearer understanding of how it works together to ensure that a message is delivered. (Wallace & Robertson (2009), also states these steps. Communication requires (1) transmitting an idea. In this step there is an implementation that this is a step in which there is a formation of a few several thoughts and that there is a desire to express that there is an idea to get across to the person attended to get it. (Wallace & Robertson (2009), (2) sending the idea through a medium. This step is important because once the message is created and formed together, it needs to be sent to the recipient or recipients once the message has been sent. (Wallace & Robertson (2009), (3) receiving the message. Once the message is received it then needs to be acted on in order for it to be effective. (Wallace & Robertson (2009), (4) understanding the idea. The person sending the message should be able to put him or herself in the receiving end to understand and see if the message was clearly understood. Lastly, (Wallace & Robertson (2009), (5) providing feedback to the message sender. This is the understanding and acknowledgment that the message was received to the party that it was going to and that the message was understood clearly, or this could also mean that the message was not sent and needs more clarification. If any of these 5 steps are missed the communication process becomes interrupted therefore, the message and information will not flow in a smooth accurate manner. If you are not able to clearly communicate to an audience that you are trying to reach, it will be very confusing and your audience will be lost. Effective communication is like using a GPS or the old road maps. Your thought is to get to a destination. You know that there is a certain route that you will be taking. You know where you want to go, but you also know that dead ends, detours, and wrong turns may delay yourself from reaching your destination in a timely manner. When communicating, do not assume that everything you say is clearly understood. Knowing that the hearing is not the same as understanding, and without understanding there is not going to be effective communications. The primary purpose of communication is to exchange information, and to get a message across. A message can be exchanged both formally and informally. Communication is not always limited to just a one-on-one conversation, it can be used to reach a large audience as well. You can blurt out an “ouch” when you get a paper cut on your finger. That quick message may not be intended for someone else, but others will recognize that word and understand it clearly knowing that it was not directed at them. Same thing for when you hear someone sneeze and shortly after the sneeze you hear a “bless you”. Let’s begin to take a look at these kinds of barriers that could be sending a mixed message. The first barrier is the language barrier. In Texas for example, there is English speaking Americans, and there is also Spanish speaking Americans. For those who do not know the Spanish language that would be a barrier. You can’t speak the language, therefore you can’t understand what the message is trying to get across. Another example would be the speaking language of words, since they can sometimes be vague. For example, you ask for a letter to be written by a financial institution, and you state that you need it soon. “Soon” may mean an hour or two to one person, but to that branch manager it might mean within the next two business days. Communication must be bold and you must speak and explain things clearly. Next is the distraction that can occur when you are trying to communicate to someone or a large party. A distraction can be external or internal. A common external distraction is any type of noise. An example of this would be the quietness of an auditorium, and someone’s cell phone rings. Or another example is that perhaps your listeners are hungry, and you might be giving a presentation before lunch, so the listener’s attention is focused on eating lunch soon. Little distractions such as these can cause a block of communication due to lack of paying full attention. Thirdly is all the false assumptions. This is when the person receiving the message thinks that he or she knows everything there is to know on a subject, and acts like the message might be a waste of his or her time. Communicating is essentially a mental exercise that needs to be mastered. Communicating is usually a mutual service that will be beneficial to both the sender and the receiver. However, hearing is not necessarily understanding and talking is not necessarily communicating. Lastly, paying attention to details and the spellings of words is a very important! A few examples of words are here to show the example how easily the spelling of words get when we are trying to send, but also receive a message. (Wallace and Robertson, 2009, p.7) states the following examples of some words that are easily seen as being spelled correctly, but are not. The way that words are intended to be spelled, there meanings might also have a different meaning as well.
1. Credible and creditable: Credible means “believable.” Creditable means “reputable.”
2. Disinterested and uninterested: Disinterested means “free from selfish motives.” Uninterested means “not interested” or “unconcerned.” There are many different types of barriers to communication. There are those that are formal and those that are informal. All the types of channels that we use as humans for communication help provide the means for the movement of information between those who communicate. Communication has steps just like a map to get to a location. They are the roads, highways, and back roads, so to speak, in which the information that we are attempting to share gets delivered.
As much as 70 percent of people’s time is spent communicating with others. Communication in itself is a process involving several steps for the primary purpose to exchange information. This process of communication does require the sending of an idea, receiving that idea, being able to understanding the idea, and then also to be able to provide feedback to the message from the sender. So ensure that the message you have gets to the proper person or persons and that it’s understood clearly without confusion.

Wallace, H., & Robertson, C. (2009). Written & Interpersonal Communication: Methods for Law Enforcement (4th ed.). : Pearson.