Barriers to Effective Communication

The provided document is a detailed report on the barriers to effective communication in organizations. It discusses how various factors such as semantic barriers, organizational rules and regulations, complex organization structure, and organizational policy can hinder communication within a firm. The report concludes that these barriers need to be considered by managers to ensure effective interaction between customers and employees.

Communication Skills for
Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Communication models and systems used in business...............................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Communication methods and technology used in business........................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
Principles and barriers to effective communication....................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Communication is identified as a process through which information is convey to others
in effective manner. An interaction takes place between two or more individuals by the help of
effective communication skills (Argyle, 2013). It is very essential for business in terms of
healthy co-worker and consumer interaction. Good relations among employees is critical success
factor for every business organisation so, it is essential for an individual to have good
communication skills. This report includes communication systems and models used to interact
with various stakeholders as well as some methods and technology utilized by businesses. Apart
from this, principles of effective communication and its barriers are defined in this project.
TASK 1
Communication models and systems used in business
Communication refers as an act of exchanging ideas, thoughts, views and opinions with
another person. It is the process which is very useful in growth and success of business. There
are various models and systems are utilized in businesses in order to make communication
effective.
Communication models:
1. Shannon and Weaver Communication Model:
It is one of the most popular communication model used by business organisation. This
model was given by Shannon and Weaver in year 1948. It is design for the purpose of
developing an effective communication among sender and receiver (Birdwhistell, 2010). Factor
that affects process of communication is also find out by them. Initially, this model was
developed in order to enhance technical communication but later, it is widely applied in
communication field. It deals with several concepts like transmitter, channel, noise, information
source, message, receiver, encode and decode. Sender: The message originator or desired message is selected by information source. Encoder: It is the transmitter that converts message into signals. Channel: By this, message is pass on from encoder to decoder. Noise: During transformation of message, there is some physical noise like crowd, horn
sounds, thunder due to which message may distracted. It affects flow of communication
and receiver may not get right message. Decoder: It is the reception place that transform signal into message.

 Receiver: The message destination from sender.
This model is the simplest one which is applied by various firms. It is more effective when
person to person communication takes place.
2. Berlo's model of communication:
This model was given by David Berlo in year 1960. This model defines about the factors
that affect individual elements in communication that makes communication more efficient. It
also emphasize on encoding and decoding that takes place before sender send message &
receiver receive message (Carlson, 2010). This model has mainly 4 components, i.e., sender,
message, channel & receiver. Sender: It is the individual who originates message and sends it to receiver. There are
some elements related to sender such as attitude, communication skills, social system,
knowledge and culture. Message: It is a substance that which is being sent through sender to receiver. It may be
in kind of text, video, voice, audio or other media. Some factors such as element, code,
structure, content etc. are affecting message. Channel: It is the medium through which message is send. In communication process,
technical machines such as internet, telephone etc. might be utilized as channel. Hearing,
smelling, tasting, seeing and touching are the channels of communication flow in general
communication that influence its effectiveness.
 Receiver: The individual who gets sent message is receiver (Knapp, Hall and Horgan,
2013).
This model assumes that, in order to make communication effective, thinking patterns
and other factors should be in synchronize to that of sender. Receiver must have good
communication skills so that effective communication can takes place in business.
Communication systems:
Electronic mail: It is the system that allow business to communicate electronically with
others by a network. In E-mail working, an electronic message is send by user over network and
it is stored in mailbox of receiver. Users can edit, save classify and sots messages and forward to
others on network. It administers instantaneous access & dissemination of information so that
time lad can be eliminated that involves in utilizing postal services.

Fax: It is an electronic processing and publishing system. This technology used
scanners, telephones and modems to transmit graphics & texts to people and organisations
worldwide who have telephone access. By using fax machines, businesses can send similar
document to many users. It allows them to retrieve documents using keypad of touch phone.
Voice mail: In this type of communication system, message is dictated by sender over
telephone which is converted by special device called codec. It converts analog signals of voice
into digitized message (Laidre, 2012). Message is stored in server and transmitted over network.
Voice mail is the simplest way that eliminates various problems like “phone tag”.
TASK 2
Communication methods and technology used in business
There are various methods of communication which are used in businesses in order to
effectively communicate with their stakeholders, customers and employees. Some of the
methods are defined below: Verbal: This kind of communication takes place by using words at the time when
delivery of message or information is being made. It is the effective method of
communication and the medium through which message is conveyed is oral. In business
organisation, it is mainly done by interacting face to face with individuals that assists in
gauging response by only understanding their body language. Non verbal: This type of interaction takes place by sending and receiving wordless
message. It mainly consist of gestures, actions, face expressions and other physical
appearance aspects. It is one of the powerful way of transmitting messages. Written: This type of communication is present every where in businesses as it can not be
avoided at workplace. It involves pen and traditional paper documents, text chats, typed
documents, letters, e-mails, SMS, reports etc. Information is conveyed to employees,
customers and other stakeholders by using written symbols such as language in daily
business life (Littlejohn and Foss, 2010). Visual: This is the method of communication that takes place by the assistance of visual
aids such as illustration, typography, colour, drawing, signs, graphic design & other
electronic resources. It comprising graphs and charts that generally reinforces written
communication method. This type of communication can be more powerful than others.
Expressions of visual interaction have made easy by developments in technology.

 Electronic methods: Various electronic methods are available currently such as e-mails,
fax, voice mails, teleconferencing, internet, computer moderns etc. which are widely used
by organisations today. It is the most effective communication way by which essential
informations are transmitted in just few seconds.
Benefits of formal and informal communication:
Formal communication:
It is the type of communication that follows established regulations, systems, rules,
procedures or other prescribed ways (McQuail, 2010). Formal interaction is followed by various
organisations as it administers various advantages to businesses which are defined below:
Increase in efficiency: Overall efficiency of management is increase by such
communication as procedures and rules of organisation are needed to be followed every time.
Coordination of work: This communication administers scope of coordination between
various departments and functions of firm.
Discipline: Formal communication develops discipline in minds of workforce at
workplace.
Smooth communication system: A smooth flow of information is maintained as in
formal communication as it moves through predetermined channels so everyone is aware about
how and where to send message.
Reliability: This communication is more reliable and credible for sending crucial issues
like orders, directions, objectives etc.
Informal communication:
It is free from maintaining regulations, procedures, rules and others. Informal
communication doesn't follow set principles or rules but offers some benefits to businesses
which are defined below:
Interpretation: Messages which are sent to subordinates needs interpretation or
explanation and for which, informal communication is valuable means (Rice and Atkin, 2012).
Improving relations: In businesses, informal communication assists in enhancing
relations between employees and management as workers are allowed to share their views or
issues easily. It develops coordination among them and a harmonious relation is established.
Transmission: By informal channels, information flows quickly and administration may
take benefit to send or receive urgent message by such network.

Use of technology in different types of communication:
In businesses, use of technology in process of communication becomes very essential.
Mobile phones, e-mail, video conferences, texting services, faxes, social media etc. are the
various ways by which people communicate. Use of technology provides ease to businesses in
communicating with stakeholders. Some utilization of technology in communication are defined
below:
Social interaction with customers: By using social networks such as twitter and
Facebook, firm can develop business pages and get followers for those. These pages are used by
businesses for updating & communicating with customers (Scollon, Scollon and Jones, 2011).
Easy product launch: In past times, a lot of difficulties are face by businesses to aware
consumers about value and benefit of new product. But, with the use of technology, it becomes
simple today. By e-mail subscriptions, firms will get data of their consumers easily.
Video conferencing: By using this, it becomes easy for firm to conduct meetings at
anywhere. It enables the individuals to be anywhere.
TASK 3
Principles and barriers to effective communication
Principles of effective communication:
In business organisation, it is required by employees to follow some principles in order to
make communication effective. Some principles are defined below:
Principle of clarity: It is necessary that the communicated message should be clear.
Effective communication can not takes place if message is ambiguous.
Principle of simplicity: Communicated message should be easily understandable and
simple. Business managers are require to use simple words and sentences (Thompson, 2013).
Principle of accuracy: Provided information and facts in message must be accurate as
any wrong information may create confusions and may lead to communication failure.
Principle of relevancy: The communicated information should be relevant to subject
matter. So, while receiving any messages, receiver must be attentive.
Principle of brevity: In businesses, it is required that information must be concise in
nature. By long messages, reader may feels disturbed so, it should be ensured that message only
contains necessary information.
Barriers to effective communication:

Effective communication is very necessary for success and growth of business. But, there
are various barriers that hinders process of communication which are defined below:
Semantic barriers: In communication process, symbols and words used have different
meanings (Viterbi and Omura, 2013). Same message is interpret in different ways rely on
background, education and experience of people. Sender's message may be inexplicable to
receiver so in this way, symbols and words sometimes fail to communicate true meanings.
Organisational rules and regulations: Rules of organisation influence communication
flow. These regulations restricts flow of some messages & leave important ones. Communication
by prescribed way will leads to delay in communicating message.
Complex organisation structure: If the structure of organisation is complex and there are
various managerial levels then it becomes difficult for employees to communicate correct
information to right person. So, it creates a barrier in effective communication within firm.
Organisational policy: Policies of firm are the huge barrier in effective interaction.
Communication regarding policy of firm acts as overall guideline to workforce related to how
they expect to behave (Wenger, 2014). If these policies are not supportive, it may act as barrier
to communication.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that communication is an
effective process that assists in exchanging of information, views and opinion between people. In
businesses, it is crucial that an effective communication takes place among customers and
employees as it highly contributes in growth and success of firm. Various models, systems,
technology and methods are utilized by businesses in order to make communication effective.
There are some barriers to communication that needs to be considered by manager so that these
can be eliminated and an effective interaction takes place between customers and co-workers.

REFERENCES
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interaction. Cengage Learning.
Laidre, M. E., 2012. Principles of animal communication.
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Tomasello, M., 2010. Origins of human communication. MIT press.
Viterbi, A. J. and Omura, J.K., 2013. Principles of digital communication and coding. Courier
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Wenger, E., 2014. Artificial intelligence and tutoring systems: computational and cognitive
approaches to the communication of knowledge. Morgan Kaufmann.