What are the different problems/barriers in effective communication flow? How can we overcome these barriers? Or process of miscommunication.INTRODUCTION:

The people of the world have different culture, different language and different mental level. Sometime these factors lead them towards miscommunication. Miscommunication occurs as well all do not have identical experience. These obstacles cause loss of money, time and energies. Organization tries to manage for effective and smooth flow of communication to meet their business objectives. Business organization requires those executives, who are best at interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication takes place between:

Individual to individual Individual to group

“Misunderstanding between the parties creates barriers to the communication.”The message senders meaning and the receiver’s response are affected by numerous factors such as:

1. Noise2. Difference in perception3. Lack of knowledge4. Language5. Sender’s Credibility6. Jumping to conclusion7. Stereo typing8. Lack of interest9. Emotions10. Incorrect choice of medium11. Message complexity12. Deficiency in communication skills13. Closed minds14. Unethical communication15. Lack of trust16. Distraction17. Personality

1. Noise: “Noise disturbs accuracy, clarity and speed of any message.”Noise is one of the greatest barriers to communication. It causes hindrance,

interruption, which spoils the message flow. Physical hindrance occurs because of environmental factors like people talking loudly, padding traffic or hammering sounds. Technical noise is attached to the failure of the medium of communication like cracking sound on telephone, power failure illegible hand writing or uncomfortable chair.

2. Difference in perception: “Every person has different mind, thinking, ideas and different perception which become the barriers for communication.”Difference in perception changes the actual meaning of a message. The people of

different ages, nationalities, education, cultures, occupations, statues, personality will have different perception. The meaning of the message exists in sender’s mind and in the mind of

receiver. To understand each other they must share similar meaning for symbol, words, gestures or tone of voice. If the receiver fails to understand the true idea, communication doses not achieve the desired targets.

“People Receive Reality in Different Ways” (H.A. Murphy)

3. Lack of knowledge: “Lack of knowledge is very harmful for business so, it becomes the source of miscommunication.”It is difficult to communicate effectively with some one who has very different

background from yours, or whose knowledge of a particular subject of discussion is considerable less than yours. Of course, it is possible but it requires skill on the part of communication to be aware of discrepancy between the levels of knowledge and communicate accordingly.

4. Language: “Unawareness of the language also becomes a great hurdle.”

Language is another great barrier to communication. Some have so many meanings at the same time. The message cannot get response when the sender and the receiver have different meaning of the symbol used in message. There are two kinds of meaning of word:

Denotative meaning Connotative meaning

The second meaning of word other than the primary one is called connotation. The sender should avoid connotations to make his message free form any kind of ambiguity.

5. Sender’s Credibility: Sender credibility is another barrio to communication. The receiver does not show

any interest in the message if the sender does not enjoy any credibility. In such case it is not the quality of the positive response is certain or vice versa.

“Employees, customers and people in general react more favourable when a communicator has credibility.”

6. Jumping to conclusion: “Jumping in decision making also create misunderstanding.”We often see what we expect to see and therefore hear what we expect to hear,

rather than what is actually there. This may lead us, as saying goes to put two together and make five.

7. Stereo typing: “Dealing with different personality with different way it creates stereotyping.”

We have to learn from our experience, we run the risk of treating different people as if they were the same. You may have met shop steward, copper foreman, care sales man, you met them all we often hear, or words to that effect.

8. Lack of interest:

“Interest is one of the parts of communication between both parties on the basis of interest dealing become more effective for business.”Lack of interest on the part of the receiver is another barrier to communication.

Miscommunication is likely to happen when the receiver is indifferent to the words of the speaker. The receiver of the message does not pay any attention to the message received. Te speaker should do his utmost to seek the attention of the listener. If lack of interest is obvious, mould your message to the interests and needs of the receiver.

9. Emotions: “Man’s emotions make good communication, man’s emotions make misunderstanding.”The emotions of either receiver or communicator can also prove to be barrier any

strongly felt emotion is liable to prevent almost anything but the emotion being communicated. The morale of course is to try to avoid communicating when a strong emotion is liable to make your incoherent or when it will totally distort what you mean to say.

10. Incorrect choice of medium: “Miscommunication occurs when the sender selects the medium that is not appropriate for the situation.”Use the medium according to the importance of the message. The sender while

sending the message should select the channel that best suits according to the situation. The select of channel depends upon the following factors:

Nature of message Urgency of message Kind of receiver

11. Message complexity: As a representative of an organization you may be asked to write or say something,

which you do not like. Business message may also deal with subject matter that cab be technical or difficult to express. To overcome the business of complex message, keep them clear and easy to understand. Use strong arguments, concrete and specific language and stick to the point.

12. Deficiency in communication skills: Communication flow can be blocked by deficiency in communication skills, producing

worthless messages wastages time and resource. In other word message being sent may not be relevant to the objective and context of communication. The message may include more information than receiver can digest in the time available. Reduce the number of messages and make your message effective and attractive.

13. Closed minds: Some people keep rigid views on some certain subjects. These close minded people

are very difficult to communicate with. To overcome climate barriers, spend more time listening than issuing order. Make sure you respond properly to employees and encourage employers and colleagues to offer suggestion and proposals.

14. Unethical communication: The integrity and success of any organization depend upon it ethical communication.

Relationship with in or outside the organization depends on trust and fairness. To overcome barriers, make sure the information is complete and relevant to the situation. Also make sure that your message is completely based on truthfulness not deceptive in any way.

15. Lack of trust: It is very difficult to build trust. Other organization’s members do not know whether

you will respond in a responsible way. Without trust free and open communication is blocked. To overcome this barrier, share key information with colleagues and employees. Communicate honestly and include employees in decision making.

16. Distraction: Sometimes the receiver or sender is unable to perform the process of

communication properly. If the sender is distracted by temptation or some unusual circumstances, he is unable to pay due can the message. As a result miscommunication is likely to occur.

17. Personality: “Every good communication deals with status, nature and personality of man.”

So often our judgment of someone’s personality is affected by own and our resulting behavior can then effect the behavior of other person. This kind of “clash of personality” is one of the most common causes of communication failure.

CONCLUSION: The above mentioned problems exist in different organizational setup. For

an effective communication we should realize that human beings filters differ. When to communicate, we should keep in mind the social, cultural and personal backgrounds of the receiver to avoid any miscommunication.