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Barriers to Communication

GXEX1406

Thinking and Communication Skills

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Communication Path

Thought

Construction

Delivery Reception

Translation

Understanding

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Communication blocks

1. Noise

2. Word Walls/Language

3. Overload

4. Dialog cutoffs

5. Stereotyping

6. Deceit

7. Distrust

8. Games

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Noise

Thought

Construction

Delivery Reception

Translation

Understanding

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Communication Path

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Noise - Cont.

Difficult to hear. Did not get the message. Be sensitive to noise problems and adjust

your environment accordingly. Stop the noise or move the communication

elsewhere.

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Example situation

‘ Leman spent thirty years working with power tools. Somewhere in his early thirties he noticed that conversations in his van were difficult for him to follow. He thought the problem was the noisy van, and it was, except for one thing: other people in the van understood the conversation. Only he couldn’t follow the talk. ‘

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Word Walls

Communication Path

Thought

Construction

Delivery Reception

Translation

Understanding

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Word Walls - Cont.

Two types of block:

1. Unintentional block- vocabulary, technical jargon.

2. Intentional block- to look impressive.- choose your vocabulary with care.- speak to communicate and never speak

to impress.

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Example situation

Aminah recently called her telephone company for a business phone in her home. She wanted to know the rates for installation and so on. The employee informed her that the “system interface for the new phone line would be installed.” Aminah was puzzled and said “What does that mean?” the phone company representative said, ”the guys have to come out and put a phone jack on the outside of the house.”

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Overload

Communication Path

Thought

Construction

Delivery Reception

Translation

Understanding

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Overload - Cont.

Too much input causes confusion. Problem with receiver’s ability to cope. The understanding of the message will be

confused. The focus of attention is weak.

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Example situation

MajuKita, like most companies, puts the secretarial staff in very public spaces. The result is that they are constantly on the phone answering an inquiry, at the same time they are waiting on people, at the same time they are trying to get typing done, at the same time they are preparing for a meeting, at the same time……

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Dialog cutoffs

Communication Path

Thought

Construction

Delivery Reception

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Understanding

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Dialog cutoffs - Cont.

Frequent interruptions ( often questions) are annoying and can destroy a conversation easily.

More problem is completing sentence for others.

Listen with respect. Do not cut off a speaker’s comments in

any way, or the communication will be damaged.

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Example situation

It is that habit some people have of completing our sentences for us. We start a sentence, and then out of nervousness, impatience, or excitement or some such cause, suddenly we hear “ and then……” and find the story written for us.

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Stereotyping

Communication Path

Thought

Construction

Delivery Reception

Translation

Understanding

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Stereotyping - Cont.

Misunderstanding, generalizing. Unshared meaning can be caused by

different education,space, time and belief. Generalize about group women, men,

workers, doctors etc…. Positive stereotyping.

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Example situation

Ali and Ahmad had been pretty good friends. Ahmad is a supervisor. During a perfectly normal conversation one day, Ali got angry about supervisors and ranted away in front of Ahmad, not at Ahmad. Ahmad was very offended because he was, after all, a supervisor. If Ali thinks they are all jerks, Ahmad reasoned, Ali must think he is a jerk also. He took offense because of the stereotyping Ali had used to blast supervisors.

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Deceit

Communication Path

Thought

Construction

Delivery Reception

Translation

Understanding

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Deceit - Cont.

Encouraged to misjudge. Deceptive behavior is often motivated by

hope that a person can be manipulated into certain perspective.

Hidden agenda, conspiracy.

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Example situation

A supervisor might sabotage talented employees who could threaten his position. He might let an employee leave early but report it as though he had not been told of the departure. He might provide faulty directives on purpose, construct impossible goals, or send the employee on all sorts of wild goose chases. He could easily overwork the employee to get rid of he/her.

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Distrust

Communication Path

Thought

Construction

Delivery Reception

Translation

Understanding

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Distrust - Cont.

Caused either by defensiveness or suspicion. A job that involves “correcting” people ,

defensiveness can be a major difficulty from time to time.

Suspicion can be element in a conversation between two people.

Sincerity is the solution.

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Example situation

Timah’s job needs her to evaluate a lot of papers. They a re not all “A” papers. The problem is that as the grades get lower, defenses rise.

A sales routine of even the briefest sort is something many people do not handle too well.

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Key strategies to tell someone what he or she did wrong:

Make people realize you are there for their benefit.

Share the corrections by placing emphasis on your own similar errors, or the commonness of the errors.

Be descriptive and avoid value judgments. Eg, Say the job performance is “not adequate”. Do not say it was “awful” or a “waste of time” or “junk”.

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Key strategies to tell someone what he or she did wrong: - Cont.

Suggest solutions, and use the words “maybe” and “perhaps”. Use these words to suggest solutions rather that demand them.

Help people see solutions themselves. Be sure to avoid superiority. Authority may

be appropriate, but superiority is a very different posture.

Speak as the equal of the other person.

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Games

Communication Path

Thought

Construction

Delivery Reception

Translation

Understanding

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Games - Cont.

Deep-seated, serious conflict.

2 emotional patterns: aggression, surrender.

Use time ( an hour, a day) to remove yourself from the event and look for breathing space.

Victory is not sweet when people surrender. In a company, you do not want an employee to

surrender or withdraw; you want an employee to understand.

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Reference/notes

David W. Rigby, “Workplace Communications for Engineering Technicians and Technologists”, Prentice-Hall, 2001.page 102-118.