Communication barriers - classification, methods and examples of overcoming

Concept

Communication barriers , causal factors that prevent successful communication in which both parties absorb and exchange information.

Communication achieves success as a result of the reduction or absence of barriers when the sender's data is adequately perceived by the recipient.

The general classification of communication barriers divides them based on scale:

1. Macrobarriers are global; they interfere with communication in general. For example, a geographical barrier, when one of the communication participants, being in a different time zone, cannot continue the conversation and goes to bed.
2. Microbarriers are point-specific and relate to a specific area of ​​interest.
   For example, in everyday life a person is sociable, but he is taciturn with colleagues because he does not find communication with them interesting. In this case, there are personal and psychological barriers.

Causes

Lack of mutual understanding between interlocutors can arise for many reasons. These include:

• level of intelligence;
• unequal knowledge of the topic or subject of conversation;
• differences in the lexicon and thesaurus (a set of concepts corresponding to any field of knowledge);
• lack of understanding by partners of the communication situation;
• different worldviews based on differences of social, cultural, political, religious, professional, national character.

Barriers between interlocutors often manifest themselves as individual characteristics of a psychological nature. Examples of communication barriers of this kind:

• excessive frankness of one person and isolation of another;
• resentment, mistrust, suspicion and other negative feelings directed at the partner;
• intelligence versus assertiveness;
• intuitive rejection of someone else's personality.

These filters can act in such a way that true information is perceived as erroneous, and false information becomes acceptable.

Communication problems, what does this mean?

To identify problems with communication skills, it is worth separating them from simple sociability . These concepts, similar at first glance, are different in essence.

Sociability, the ability to carry on a conversation, chat about nothing, the ability to get involved in already developed communication.

While communication skills are most often considered in the context of business communication .

This includes the ability to negotiate, maintain business connections, find a compromise, and conduct a constructive dialogue with the interlocutor.

Therefore, a person who is not particularly sociable can still be sociable. Problems arise for several reasons :

1. There is no willingness to listen to the interlocutor, accept his point of view, or compromise.
2. Lack of motivation to establish contact.
3. Prejudicial personal attitude towards a specific person.
4. Objective barriers (will be discussed below).
5. Poorly developed empathy.
6. Insufficient vocabulary, broken speech, use of filler words, etc.

Correcting the situation depends on the specific reasons .

Being able to negotiate is a common skill that is easy to train. Exactly the same as the ability to remove communication barriers from communication.

How to overcome the language barrier in English

Calm

First conversations with a foreigner are not easy

At this moment it is important to calm down. Remember how pleasant it is when a foreigner speaks Russian with numerous errors and is not at all worried about it

We perceive it with understanding and try to help in every possible way.

The same thing happens when you start talking. Even with basic knowledge of a foreign language, you can be understood. Try to explain yourself calmly, don’t be nervous. Foreigners are kind to everyone who tries to master their language.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes

Get rid of perfectionism. Give yourself permission to make mistakes. At the initial level of honing your spoken language there will be a lot of them. And it's not scary. Foreigners are condescending and happy to communicate even with a beginner practicing foreign speech.

Take your time, try to pronounce sounds clearly

Of course, you want to immediately learn to speak English fluently. Unfortunately this is not possible. Ask your interlocutor to point out your speech errors and correct you. When taking your first steps in communication, focus on speaking correctly rather than speaking quickly.

Learn to capture the essence of the conversation

To communicate with foreigners, you need to understand what they are talking about. Watch more films and TV series in English. Don’t try to understand everything verbatim, capture the essence of what is being said.

Listen to the block of statements, rather than focusing on the translation of individual words.

Ask again

If you do not understand anything from what was said to you, ask the other person to repeat it at a slow pace, and possibly in simpler phrases. Your request will definitely be received adequately. After all, every person understands how difficult it is to perceive a non-native language by ear.

Communication barriers: real-life examples

Let's look at several types of communication barriers using real life examples :

1. When communicating online via Skype, friends were unable to understand each other’s words ; it turned out that one of them had headphones not working and there was no other option to output sound (organizational).
2. The employee came to the meeting in an irritated state and was unable to concentrate on the boss’s speech (personal).
3. The student did not understand the content of the mathematics lesson because he was far from the board and, due to vision problems, was unable to read the material (individual).
4. The freelance artist did not have time to agree on work with the customer , since he had already gone to bed, the matter was due to the difference in time zones (geographical).
5. The lovers who were calling each other had a break in communication , the girl ran out of money in her account, since calling to another country is expensive.
   The young man is on a business trip in the States, and the girl is at work in Russia (economic).
6. Friends chatting on a social network were separated , one lost Wi-Fi (technical).
7. The girl explains his bad deed to a guy she knows, but he demonstratively does not accept her words , because he considers her stupider than himself (psychological).
8. The boss tells the novice designer about his credentials, forgetting to explain the professional jargon (informative) that is unfamiliar to the young man .

"Personnel center "Status"

Managing HR since 2005 and communicating with company leaders, we exchange various views, ideas, interests, feelings, etc.

And that's what I noticed. In the days of the USSR, when there was a planned economy and specialists were not engaged in “buying and selling,” hunting for money and making capital, few people developed and tested such a specialist quality as communication skills during hiring.

Perestroika. Easy Money. Cooperatives, joint ventures, money could be made from everything, the main thing is to catch the wave and again the test of communication is in disgrace))))

Our time, our days. Market economics, “buy and sell”, sales managers, customer service specialists, department heads, commercial directors... company owners. Consumer society has awakened, nurtured, and formed the need to develop communication skills and test this quality in candidates during hiring. A lot of trainings and courses have appeared to develop communication.

Communication has developed and communication barriers have been exposed. They became the cause of difficulties and misunderstandings in business communication.

I analyzed it for a long time and here are the results. In the process of business communication, THREE communication barriers are most often encountered: the barrier of “authority”, “misunderstanding” and “avoidance”.

1 Barrier of “AUTHORITY”.

During communication, people are divided into 2 categories: authoritative and non-authoritative. During communication, only those in authority are trusted. Trust or distrust does not depend on the specifics of the information, but on WHO is speaking. For example, the younger generation does not trust the advice of people 40-45 years old or older.

What determines whether a person is classified as an authority figure?

• on social status (status);
• attractive appearance;
• a friendly attitude towards the person communicating (ease of address, smile, friendliness...);
• competence;
• belonging to a real “authoritative” group (community);
• sincerity.

From observations. An example from life communication during negotiations (communication occurs between 2 company managers). One manager says: “...I have repeatedly encountered ingratitude from employees. For example, I raised many of my employees several steps up the social ladder. Before coming to work for me, they had ordinary low-paid professions. Some worked as a salesman, some as a dishwasher, some as an auxiliary worker. But one day there came a moment when some of them expressed a thought to me:

“We are at the enterprise all day, and you can do it whenever you want.” Why don't you come for the whole day and bring the same benefit that we bring?

-You should go to where you used to work and look at your former colleagues, those who still remain working in low-paid professions, and you would be there now if you had not come to work for me.

You know, I realized that people are very inclined to evaluate their own merits.”

Manager 2 answers: “This is a human factor, and you need to be prepared for it. During the two months that I was in the pre-trial detention center, I talked with my cellmates, observed them, and it turned out that about many of them were ordinary parasites...”

The “Authority” barrier blossomed in full bloom, the agreement in the negotiations was 100%.

2 Barrier of “MISS-UNDERSTANDING”.

During communication, information “does not reach the interlocutor”; the interlocutor does not understand it.

Why is this happening?

• unintelligible diction (a person lisps, burrs, smacks his lips...);
• a lot of words of parasites (“as if”, “means”, “here”...);
• often sighs, sometimes moans, yawns, hiccups...);
• pronounces the sounds “uh-uh”, “mm-mm”...);
• incorrectly places emphasis on words and pronounces word endings;
• while pronouncing phrases, does not correctly place logical emphasis on words (changing the content of thoughts).

From observations. Conversation between the owner of the company and the hired director. “We must solve this problem together.”

Remember that you can use your voice to highlight any word in a phrase. Highlighting the word with your voice:

• The owner points to this (and not any other problem) as ATTENTION CONCENTRATION.
• A problem (not an ordinary task) is indicated by DETERMINING THE DEGREE OF COMPLEXITY OF THE PROBLEM.
• We (and not anyone else) are COLLECTIVELY RESPONSIBLE.
• Should (but did not want to) - on the DUTY TO ACT.
• Decide (and not just discuss) - at the DECISION LEVEL.
• Together (and not alone) - on the SOLUTION METHOD.

What word do you think you would emphasize if you were the owner of the company?

If business partners do not use the same terms to denote the same things, or use terms that are incomprehensible to their opponent, then misconceptions arise. "Packaging" a thought can hinder its understanding.

How to avoid this?

• It is necessary to structure information in such a way that it is interconnected and one thought follows from another;
• Use the form of communication that your opponent expects from you (for example, if you were invited to a conversation, you used a dialogue, not a monologue);
• Do not use the scientific style of communication, it is difficult to use by ear);
• Construct phrases from 5-15 words, a phrase that is built from more than 30 words is practically not perceived by ear;
• You need to be logical for your interlocutor, because it is impossible to be logical at all;
• Use correct argumentation in the sequence “conceived – encoded – expressed – heard – decoded – understood.”

3 “AVOIDANCE” barrier.

Remember that everyone you interlocutor avoids emotionally negative contacts. Most often, he avoids such communication, and when avoidance is not possible, he makes every effort not to perceive negative communication. He is inattentive, does not listen to the interlocutor, does not look at the interlocutor, and uses any excuse to end the conversation.

How can you overcome the “avoidance” barrier?

• You need to start managing the attention of your interlocutor.

1. Provide up-to-date and not outdated information;
2. Introduce novelty into communication;
3. Control your voice (it must be sonorous) and its modulation;
4. Non-standard transmission of information (anecdotes, jokes, metaphors, parables, situations from personal life...).

From observations. Communication between a manager and an employee. “You’re a complete fool if you didn’t take into account the main indicators in the report and don’t understand me at a glance,” says the manager. “You told Eve she was a fool. “And now please say that you regret this,” the employee answers, “Eva, I’m very sorry that you’re a fool...”

Thanks to the told joke, the “avoidance” barrier was overcome.

ADVANTAGES of barriers to business communication:

• The psyche of the interlocutor is protected from excess information;
• From the subject's point of view, an unwanted effect is blocked.

DISADVANTAGES of barriers to business communication:

• Necessary but poorly presented information is perceived in a distorted form or not in full;
• A person who knows the solutions but lacks authority may not be heard.

Is it possible to have a business communication situation where there are COMPLETELY no barriers?

Natalya Chailytko,

director of "Personnel

Species and types

What are the causes of communication disorders? Communication barriers are obstacles to the transfer of information from the communicator (the one who speaks) to the recipient (the one who listens).

Psychologists identify seven main types of barriers:

1. Organizational .
   A large layer of obstacles related to work (business) issues. This includes misunderstandings in the area of ​​distribution of powers (the system of superior-subordinate relations), as well as problems in misunderstanding of requirements, specialization, and insufficient qualifications.
2. Interpersonal . Associated with the current mood and emotional state of a person. Also taken into account are inconsistencies in values, views on the situation and worldview in general among communicating people.
3. Individual . A wide range of characteristics, both intellectual and psychological, as well as physical. The meaning comes from the name, the reasons for the barrier are different due to the individual structure of a person. For example, one person is prevented from correctly perceiving information by poor hearing, another by poor vision. These types of barriers prevent you from sending and receiving information messages. This also includes special mental illnesses (for example, Tourette's syndrome).
4. Economic, geographical and temporal . Objective obstacles associated with the location of those communicating.
5. Barrier of channels and means of data transmission .
   Consists of equipment malfunctions (internet or telephone connection failure, computer or telephone breakdown), as well as too many choices among the alternatives provided. For example, when a person is torn between the options of sending a message on a social network, in a messenger or via SMS.
6. Psychological . It consists of a personal (biased) attitude towards the interlocutor. If a person is attractive and has a good attitude towards him, communication will be successful. If he seems boring, boring, uninteresting or dangerous, this barrier arises. Its harm lies in the fact that the impression of a person is made up of various factors, and not always objective ones. It is important to perceive information without attaching personal opinion to its source.
7. Contentful . They are linguistic. They are divided into four subtypes: phonetic (slurred speech, fillers, filler words), semantic (jargon, professional slang, use of words in a meaning unusual for the interlocutor), stylistic (difference between the speaker’s style and the transmitted data), logical (violation of the rules of usual logic) .

Phonetic misunderstanding

This is an obstacle created by the speaker's speech patterns. Phonetics deals with the acoustic and physiological features of speech. Ignorance of its laws and neglect of its requirements complicates the communication process. The phonetic barrier of misunderstanding arises between people when the information they hear is not perceived by them for some reason, interference, or speech difficulties.

Phonetic misunderstandings can be minor (for example, in the pronunciation of words) or complete. Complete misunderstanding occurs when we are spoken to in a foreign language we do not understand. Incomplete misunderstanding will occur when the interlocutor speaks very quickly, indistinctly, in a tongue twister, with an accent, with a lisp, etc., and for this reason his speech is difficult to perceive. To soften it, a pause can be effective - at the right moment and in the right place. Pauses interrupt the flow of speech. They also perform psychological functions: they increase attention, emphasize what is said and help to take a break.

The number of words spoken per minute determines the rate of speech: slow is 80-100 words per minute; medium - 120-140, fast - 160-180. Speech that is too fast (up to 200 words per minute), especially with unclear articulation, often creates a feeling of uncertainty and haste, and is associated with a low social status of the speaker, who is afraid that he will not be heard.

A phonetic barrier also arises when the speaker sharply raises his voice and intensifies its timbre. Communication specialists have proven that if you explain something to a person in a raised voice, then understanding will be blocked almost immediately. Moreover, the more sensitive the interlocutor, the more often and faster this manifests itself. This happens because the attention of the person at whom the stream of indignant words is directed is concentrated not on the meaning of the explanation, but on the speaker’s attitude towards it. As a result (as a defensive reaction), a shift in attention occurs. It blocks the analytical activity of the brain, and the words addressed to the interlocutor are not realized by him, understanding is blocked.

Psychologists recommend using personal psychological defense techniques at such moments (for example, mentally analyzing the characteristics of your partner at this moment: “the eyes look like they’re popping out” or “the veins look like they’re swollen, they’re about to burst,” or imagine what’s on the partner’s head) cap with bells and “hear” their ringing in accordance with the movements of his head). However, since we are talking about business communication and its effectiveness, such behavior by participants in the communication process is unacceptable.

In a situation where the partner’s voice is raised, it is more appropriate, for example, to say: “If you speak calmly, I will understand you better.” This phrase is anti-provocative, since it does not provoke an aggressive response from the interlocutor, but helps him to restructure and correctly explain his problem. In general, tone of voice is of great importance for understanding the context. By placing certain emphasis or placing different accents, the communicator can change the content of a thought. In addition, correct frequency characteristics of the voice and tone of speech are important for effective communication. Everyone knows how tiring it is to listen to someone speaking in a voice that is too high or too low.

Speech speed also plays a big role. The difference between the rate of speech of the speaker and the speed of its processing by the listener can be extremely large. Speech that is too slow, getting stuck on certain words, and stuttering are annoying, while speech that is too fast makes it difficult to understand.

Bibliography

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Types of psychological barriers

1. One of the most common options is “First Impression”. Almost every person has built a psychological barrier in front of themselves more than once without realizing it. It happens that when meeting for the first time (or visiting an unfamiliar place or company) people do not like their opponents. In this case, the behavior of an active and cheerful person becomes completely opposite. A silent position, reluctance to actively take part in games (dancing, discussions), complete immersion in one’s own thoughts and the desire to quickly end the acquaintance – this is precisely the “first impression” barrier.
2. Conflict in thinking styles. Each of us is an individual with his own perception of life situations and the presence of his own opinion. Voicing your thoughts and entering into an argument with your interlocutor over whether they are right entails a conflict situation and an unpleasant aftertaste. Quite often, after loud and long discussions, everyone remains unconvinced, but tension and misperception arise between opponents (each builds a personal barrier regarding the other).
3. Mismatch of temperaments is another type that leads to the emergence of a barrier. Quite often, a clash between a hot-tempered and overly active choleric person and a slow phlegmatic person can create a psychological barrier. Without even suspecting it, it is phlegmatic people who most often build a defense out of fear of an overly impulsive and gesticulating interlocutor. A similar situation exists between melancholics and sanguine people, optimists and pessimists. Of course, there are practically no pure temperaments. Depending on a person’s ability and desire to adapt and hear another, his feelings of comfort and the absence (or presence) of barriers in communication directly depend.
4. The difference in goals is another reason that puts everything in its place. In the same situation, people can have completely different goals. Example: A family goes on vacation to the country. My husband strives to spend all his time fishing. The wife hopes to plant a vegetable garden and hopes for help from her husband and son. The child generally initially agreed to meet with friends. Despite the fact that everyone is heading to the same place, everyone has their own plans, and no one wants to give in. It is precisely because of the inability to listen to the interlocutor and compromise that a psychological barrier in communication arises.
5. A moral barrier is another type that arises due to hostility to certain behavior of people (rudeness, arrogance, deceit, etc.). The presence of a psychological barrier is not always a negative phenomenon, but if it happens constantly, regardless of the situation and social circle, it is worth taking some measures to help solve the problem.