GROUP BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATIONS

GROUP BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATIONS

These are interpersonal barriers to communication. These occur at the level of interaction within a group of employees – members of a section, department or team having members from different specialist functions of the organization.
A few major barriers to communication are:
(1) Premature evaluation of the sender
This happens when the looks, dress or initial introduction to the subject in not impressive or up to the preconceived standard and receivers have done premature evaluation of the sender. This can also happen when the credibility of the sender of message is low. Such barriers stop transfer of information as senders beget a sense of futility. Such barriers can be overcome by:
 Senders developing empathy for the receivers and modifying the message to make it more acceptable to them
 Receivers listening to the speakers free from prejudice and commitment
(2) Inattentive listening
If the receiver is preoccupied with some thing else and is concerned with other issues, he may fail to react to the message, talk, bulletin, notice or circular. Since the receiver is not able to give sufficient attention, the message may fail to register in his mind.
(3) Loss during transmission of message
A message that has to pass through several layers of organization structure or many stages before it reaches the target may lose its accuracy. For oral messages, it is estimated that accuracy is lost at every stage of its transmission or relaying. Even in written messages, loss occurs because of differences in interpretation, meanings and translation.
(4) Loss of retention
Retaining messages in the memory is a difficult process. It applies to both oral and written messages that are circulated. However, if a copy of the written message is available, persons can refer to it again and again. It is said that people remember:
 10 % of what they read
 20 % of what they hear
 30 % of what they see
 50 % of what they see and hear
 70 % of what they say
 90 % of what they say as they perform the task
(5) Undue reliance on written words
Senders often place undue importance to written message. In spite of the message being well drafted and presented, it may fail to make the necessary impact because of lack of trust and confidence between the parties. Messages, apart from being very good, should be consonant with the organizations‟ purpose and employees‟ own interest.
(6) Distrust of the communicator
If the person who is sending the message is prone to frequently countermanding, it leads to delayed responses from recipients. Besides, they may not act enthusiastically, perhaps, because they are waiting for amendment to the original message!
(7) Failure to communicate
Arising from lethargy or any other reason, managers may fail to inform the concerned person(s). In such cases, even a subsequent message may not invoke the right response because of the missing link!