Barriers to management communication and measures for removing them

Communication and its barriers

In management, communication is the passing of information, ideas, orders and suggestions from one person to another so that both share the same understanding. It needs a sender with something to say, words and symbols that carry it, a channel, a receiver and, finally, feedback, which shows whether the receiver has understood the message in the sense the sender meant. Good communication builds coordination, helps subordinates see the limits of their authority and responsibility, and lets management give instructions and learn how subordinates react.

Barriers are the factors that block a message, filter out part of it or give it a wrong meaning, so that misunderstandings arise; a manager must therefore identify them and take steps to overcome them. They exist in every organisation to a greater or lesser degree.

Principal barriers to management communication

The barriers fall into four groups: personal, semantic, organisational and psychological. They are taken here by where they arise, starting with the people at the two ends of a message.

1. Personal barriers, arising from superiors and subordinates themselves:

• Unwillingness to communicate. Subordinates may hold back from their superiors if they think speaking up will hurt their interests. They may also not disclose facts fully for fear of the consequences.
• Fear of challenge to authority. A superior who thinks a message may weaken his or her authority may withhold or suppress it.
• No incentive. If a good suggestion earns neither reward nor appreciation, subordinates will not take the initiative to communicate.
• Superiors' lack of confidence in subordinates. Superiors who doubt their subordinates' competence may not ask for their advice or opinions.

2. Semantic barriers, arising in turning a message into words and back again:

• Technical jargon. Specialists often use technical terms with people outside their field, who then miss the real meaning.
• Faulty translation. A circular drafted in English and translated into Hindi for workers may carry a different meaning if the translator does not know both languages well.
• Badly expressed messages, caused by a poor vocabulary, wrong words or missing words.
• Body language that contradicts the words, so that the message is wrongly perceived.
• Words with several meanings and unclarified assumptions, which the receiver may read differently from the sender's intention.

3. Organisational barriers, arising from structure, authority relationships and rules:

• Complex structure. Where there are many managerial levels, messages are delayed and distorted because they pass through more filtering points; several layers of supervision, staff specialists and a long chain of command make this worse.
• Status. A superior's status can create a psychological distance from subordinates, and a status-conscious manager may not let them speak freely.
• Lack of facilities such as regular meetings, suggestion and complaint boxes and social gatherings.
• Unsupportive policy and rigid rules. A highly centralised pattern may discourage free communication, and rigid rules and prescribed channels can cause delay.

4. Psychological barriers, arising from the state of mind of sender and receiver:

• Distrust. If the two parties do not believe each other, they cannot understand each other's message in its original sense; effective communication needs mutual trust and confidence.
• Premature evaluation, judging a message before the sender has finished it.
• Loss in transmission and poor retention. A message passed through several levels loses accuracy, especially when it is oral, and people who are inattentive do not retain information for long.
• Inattention, as when a manager busy with a file does not take in an employee's complaint, or when people simply ignore notices and reports.
• Resistance to change. When a message announces a change that seriously affects employees, they may not take it seriously.

Measures for removing the barriers

The measures below are matched to the barriers they answer.

Against personal barriers:

• Consult others before communicating. Involving subordinates in planning a communication wins ready acceptance and willing cooperation. Both sender and receiver should take an active part in the process.
• Recognise good suggestions, since a lack of reward is what keeps subordinates silent.

Against semantic barriers:

• Mind the language, tone and content. The language should be understandable to the receiver and should not hurt the listeners' feelings.
• Suit the message to the receiver. The manager should adjust the message to the education and understanding of the subordinates.
• Clarify ideas first. The manager should study the problem in depth before passing it on, so that it is stated clearly; clarity of content overcomes several barriers.

Against organisational barriers:

• Provide facilities such as frequent meetings, suggestion and complaint boxes, social gatherings and transparency in operations, which encourage a free flow of communication.
• Use the informal organisation, engaging it to supplement and strengthen the formal channels, while keeping every communication consistent with the integrity of the formal organisation.

Against psychological barriers:

• Ensure feedback. Asking questions about the message, and encouraging the receiver to respond, confirms that it has been understood.
• Convey what helps and matters to the listener, so that the message evokes a response.
• Follow up, reviewing regularly the instructions that have been given to subordinates.
• Communicate for the future as well as the present, keeping the enterprise's future goals in view.

Consider a cement plant in Chhattisgarh that brings in a new safety procedure. Each of these steps removes one of the barriers listed above.

Conclusion

Barriers to communication arise from people, from language, from the organisation and from the state of mind of those involved, and they are present everywhere to some degree. They cannot be wished away, but a manager who plans the message, speaks the receiver's language, invites feedback and follows up can overcome most of them and so make communication effective.