ues on production planning process).

Objective
Business communication is the process of sharing information between people
within the workplace and outside a company.
Effective business communication is how employees and management interact to
reach organizational goals. Its purpose is to improve organizational practices and
reduce errors. It’s important to work on both your communication skills and
communication processes to achieve effective business communication.
 1

Dedication
This research work titled “A study on the importance
of business communication in developing personal life
and professional career ” is dedicated to God for his
enabling grace and to all computer enthusiasts who
help to make life a pleasant experience.

Acknowledgement
I owe my indebtedness to my Head of Department Seema
Rani the lecturer in the department of production and
operations Management , Book Authors and Profound
Scholars of existing/related research work for your moral
support that facilitated the successful completion of my
Institute of Technology and Management . I am grateful to
God almightly and my parent for their financial support in
my career. I really appreciate you all for everything, Thank
you very much.

[Link]. TITLE GRADE

SIGN
1. Business communication
 2

2. Introduction
3. Meaning of communication

Communication
5. Dimensions
A. Downward
B. Upward
C. Horizontal/lateral
D. Diagonal
1. Channel of communication
(i) Formal channel of communication
(ii) Informal channel of communication
E. Grapevine Communication
6. Functions of communication
7. Technology and business
Communication
8. The Role of the Manager
in effective
business communication
 3

Business Communication
Objective Communication is neither transmission of message nor message itself.
It is the mutual exchange of understanding, originating with the receiver.
Communication needs to be effective in business. Communication is essence of
management. The basic functions of management (Planning, Organizing,
Staffing, Directing and Controlling) cannot be performed well without effective
communication. Business communication involves constant flow of information.
Feedback is integral part of business communication. Organizations these days
are very large. It involves number of people. There are various levels of
hierarchy in an organization. Greater the number of levels, the more difficult is
the job of managing the organization. Communication here plays a very
important role in process of directing and controlling the people in the
organization. Immediate feedback can be obtained and misunderstandings if any
can be avoided. There should be effective communication between superiors and
subordinated in an organization, between organization and society at large (for
example between management and trade unions). It is essential for success and
growth of an organization. Communication gaps should not occur in any
organization. Business Communication is goal oriented. The rules, regulations
and policies of a company have to be communicated to people within and outside
the organization. Business Communication is regulated by certain rules and
norms. In early times, business communication was limited to paper-work,
telephone calls etc. But now with advent of technology, we have cell phones,
video conferencing, emails, satellite communication to support business
communication. Effective business communication helps in building goodwill of
an organization.
 4

Introduction
Business communication skills are critical to the success of any organization
despite its size, geographical location, and its mission. Business communication
is interlinked with internal culture and external image of any organization. So it
is the determining factor to communication inside the [Link]
Business communication practices assist the organization in achieving its goal of
informing, persuading, favorable relationship, and organizational goodwill.
Organizations can only survive if they accept the rapidly changing global
challenges and the communication processes are structured and [Link]
present workforce is dynamic in nature so communication is a challenge when
executed against the backdrop of culture, technology and competition. The
success of any business to a large extent depends on efficient and effective

places, within organizations and betweenvarious groups of employees, owners

and employees, buyers and sellers, service providers andcustomers, sales persons
and prospects and also between people within the organization and the press
persons. All such communication impacts business. Done with care, such
communication can promote business interests. Otherwise, it will portray the
organization in poor light and may adversely affect the business interest.
Communication is the life blood of any organization and its main purpose is to
effect change to influence action. In any organization the main problem is of
maintaining effective communication process. The management problem
generally results in poor communication. Serious mistakes are made because
orders are misunderstood. The basic problem in communication is that the
meaning which is actually understood may not be what the other intended to
send. It must be realised that the speaker and the listener are two separate
individuals having their own limitations and number of things may happen to
distort the message that pass between them. When people within the organization
communicate with each other, it is internal communication. They do so to work
as a team and realise the common goals.
 5

Meaning of communication
The word communication has been derived from the Latin word 'communicare'
that means ‘to share’.Communication may be defined as interchange of thought
or information between two or more persons to bring about mutual understanding
and desired action. It is the information exchange by words or symbols. It is the
exchange of facts, ideas and viewpoints which bring about commonness of
interest, purpose and efforts. According to Keith Davis,‘The process of passing
the information and understanding from one person to another."Communication
is something so simple and difficult that we can never put it in simple words,"
says T.S. Mathews. But we do need a definition to understand the term. In his
book Communication in Business, Peter Littledefines communication as follows:
“Communication is the process by which information is transmitted between
individuals and / or organizations so that an understanding response results.”
Another very simple definition of 'communication' has been provided by W.H.
Newman and C.F. Summer Jr: “Communication is an exchange of facts, ideas,
opinions, or emotions by two or more persons.”
 6

Importance and purpose of communication

Just as communication is vital for our existence in civilizes society, so also it is
essential for functioning of organization. So without communication there would
be no [Link] to say, communication is the ingredient that makes
organization possible. It is the vehicle through which the basic management
functions are carried out. Managers direct through communication; they
coordinate through communication; and they staff, plan, and control through
communication. Virtually all actions taken in an organization are preceded by
communication. Purpose Of Communication For instruction: The instructive
function unvarying and importantly deals with the commanding nature. It is more
or less of directive nature. Under this, the communicator transmits with necessary
directives and guidance to the next level, so as to enable them to accomplish his
particular tasks. In this, instructions basically flow from top to the lower level.
For integration: It is consolidated function under which integration of activities is
endeavoured. The integration function of communication mainly involves to
bring about inter-relationship among the various functions of the business
organization. It helps in the unification of different management functions. For
information: The purposes or function of communication in an organization is to
inform the individual or group about the particular task or company policies and
proceduresetc. Top management informs policies to the lower level through the
middle level. In turn,the lower level informs the top level the reaction through the
middle level. Information canflow vertically, horizontally and diagonally across
the organization. Becoming informed orinform others is the main purpose of
communication. For evaluation: Examination of activities to form an idea or
judgement of the worth of task is achieved through communication.
Communication is a tool to appraise the individualor team, their contribution to
the organization. Evaluating one’s own inputs or other’soutputs or some
ideological scheme demands an adequate and effective communicationprocess.
For direction: Communication is necessary to issue directions by the top
management ormanager to the lower level. Employee can perform better when he
is directed by his [Link] others may be communicated either orally or
in writing. An order may becommon order, request order or implied order

Dimensions of Communication
In an organization, communication flows in 5 main directions
 7

1. Downward
2. Upward
3. Horizontal /Lateral
4. Diagonal
5. Grapevine Communication

Downward
Communication:Communication that flows from a higher level in an
organization to a lower level is a downward communication. In other words,
communication from superiors to subordinates in a chain of command is a
downward communication. This communication flow is used by the managers to
transmit work-related information to the employees at lower levels. Employees
require this information for performing their jobs and for meeting the
expectations of their managers. Downward communication is used by the
managers for the following purposes –
 Providing feedback on employees’ performance.
 Giving job instructions.
 Providing a complete understanding of the employees’ job as well as to
communicate them how their job is related to other jobs in the organization.
 Communicating the organizations mission and vision to the employees.
 Highlighting the areas of attention.
 8

Upward
Communication that flows to a higher level in an organization is called upward
communication. It provides feedback on how well the organization is
functioning. The subordinates use upward communication to convey their
problems and performances to their superiors. The subordinates also use upward
communication to tell how well they have understood the downward
communication. It can also be used by the employees to share their views and
ideas and to participate in the decision-making [Link] communication
leads to a more committed and loyal workforce in an organization because the
employees are given a chance to raise and speak dissatisfaction issues to the
higher levels. The managers get to know about the employees’ feelings towards
their jobs, peers, supervisor and organization in general. Managers can thus
accordingly take actions for improving things.

Lateral / Horizontal Communication

Communication that takes place at same levels of hierarchy in an organization is
called lateral communication, i.e., communication between peers, between
managers at same levels or between any horizontally equivalent organizational
member. The advantages of horizontal communication are as follows:
 It is time saving.
 It facilitates co-ordination of the task.
 It facilitates co-operation among team members.
 It provides emotional and social assistance to the organizational members.
 It helps in solving various organizational problems.
 It is a means of information sharing.
 It can also be used for resolving conflicts of a department with other
department or conflicts within a department.
 9

Diagonal Communication or crosswise

communication
Communication that takes place between a manager and employees of other
workgroups is called diagonal communication. It generally does not appear on
organizational chart. For instance - To design a training module a training
manager interacts with an Operations personnel to enquire about the way they
perform their task. The Accounts people of an organization visiting different
employees in various departments for their IT calculation, bonus for workers etc.
fall under diagonal communication.

Channels of communication
A breakdown in the communication channel leads to an inefficient flow of
information. Employees are unaware of what the company expects of them. They
are uninformed of what is going on in the company. This will cause them to
become suspicious of motives and any changes in the company. Also without
effective communication, employees become department minded rather than
company minded, and this affects their decision making and productivity in the
workplace. Eventually, this harms the overall organizational objectives as well.
Hence, in order for an organization to be run effectively, a good manager should
be able to communicate to his/her employees what is expected of them, make
sure they are fully aware of company policies and any upcoming changes.
Therefore, an effective communication channel should be implemented by
managers to optimize worker productivity to ensure the smooth running of the
organization.

Formal Channels of Communication

 10

The messages which are circulating on regulated, preset channels, of an

organization are creating the formal communication. The content of the
communication is related to the organization’s activity, to the work and to
anything which is related to those. The formal communication can consist in
verbal messages, nonverbal messages, written, under the shape of letters,
telephone messages, radio messages, printed, internal notes. Even some gestures
can consist in formal communication. The messages are transmitted by the
authorized ones: on official channels, these arrive to the ones who need to react,
to people or machines which need to know the content of these messages.
Usually, all formal communications are recorded and kept in the organization’s
evidence. Are retained copies of these by the transmitter, by the receiver, by all
of the desks from the organization which need to know and keep the information.
Examples of formal communications are given by work commands, reports and
financial evidence, reports over sells / inventory, statements referring to the
company’s policies, post descriptions, etc. The formal communication network is
formed out of formal channels, created by setting a formal system of
responsibilities according to the hierarchical structure of the organization. The
perfect network is the one which contains communication channel from bottom
up, downwards and horizontally. Often the direction of horizontal
communication is missing or it is inefficient and in this way the accuracy of the
information decreases. The situation is appearing because of the lack of
permanent circulation of the information between departments, although this is
vital for the organization in conditions of existent competition, or the lack of
specialists in organizational communication.
 11

Informal Channels of Communication

Informal communication arises out of all those channels that fall outside the
formal channels and it is also known as grapevine. It is established around the
societal affiliation of members of the organization. Informal communication does
not follow authority lines as in the case of formal communication. Informal
communication takes place due to the individual needs of the members of an
organization and subsists in every organization. Normally, such communication
is oral and may be expressed even by simple glance, sign or silence. Informal
communication, is implicit, spontaneous multidimensional and diverse. It often
works in group of people, i.e. when one person has some information of interest;
he passes it on to his informal group and so on. An organization can make
efficient use of informal channels to fortify the formal channels of
communication. It acts as a valuable purpose in expressing certain information
that cannot be channeled via the official channels. It satisfies the people desires
to identify what is happening in the organization and offers an opportunity to
express dreads, worries and complaints. Informal communication also facilitates
to ameliorate managerial decisions as more people are involved in the process of
decision-making. Inspite on many advantages, informal communication has
certain di
 12

Grapevine Communication (Informal

Communication)
Grapevine is an informal channel of business communication. It is called so
because it stretches throughout the organization in all directions irrespective of
the authority levels. Man as we know is a social animal. Despite existence of
formal channels in an organization, the informal channels tend to develop when
he interacts with other people in organization. It exists more at lower levels of
organization. Grapevine generally develops due to various reasons. One of them
is that when an organization is facing recession, the employees sense uncertainty.
Also, at times employees do not have self-confidence due to which they form
unions. Sometimes the managers show preferential treatment and favour some
employees giving a segregated feeling to other employees. Thus, when
employees sense a need to exchange their views ,they go for grapevine network
as they cannot use the formal channel of

Example of Grapevine Network of Communication

1. Suppose the profit amount of a company is known. Rumour is spread that this
much profit is there and on that basis bonus is declared.
2. CEO may be in relation to the Production Manager. They may have friendly
relations with each other.

Advantages of Grapevine Communication

 13

1. Grapevine channels carry information rapidly. As soon as an employee gets to

know some confidential information, he becomes inquisitive and passes the
details then to his closest friend who in turn passes it to other. Thus, it spreads
hastily.
2. The managers get to know the reactions of their subordinates on their policies.
Thus, the feedback obtained is quick compared to formal channel of
communication.
3. The grapevine creates a sense of unity among the employees who share and
discuss their views with each other. Thus, grapevine helps in developing group
cohesiveness.
4. The grapevine serves as an emotional supportive value.
5. The grapevine is a supplement in those cases where formal communication
does not work.

Disadvantages of Grapevine Communication

1. The grapevine carries partial information at times as it is more based on
rumours. Thus, it does not clearly depicts the complete state of affairs.
2. The grapevine is not trustworthy always as it does not follows official path of
communication and is spread more by gossips and unconfirmed report.
3. The productivity of employees may be hampered as they spend more time
talking rather than working.
4. The grapevine leads to making hostility against the executives.
5. The grapevine may hamper the goodwill of the organization as it may carry
false negative information about the high level people of the organization. A
smart manager should take care of all the disadvantages of the grapevine and try
to minimize them. At the same time, he should make best possible use of
advantages of grapevine.

Functions of communication
 14

The most basic functions of communication in an organization are to inform,

control, motivate and emotional expression.

1. Information
An organization needs a vast amount of information to function and
operate a business. The top management would require timely and
accurate information for the various departments to make effective
decisions. Information is dispersed throughout an organization through
written or verbal communication. A human resources representative or
business owner may send out a memo explaining a change in the
company's health plan. A business meeting may be used as a way to
communicate a new office procedure. A webinar allows a company to
conduct a meeting over the Internet with employees or customers who
cannot attend in person. The idea of informing within an organization is to
provide data and information so that employees can effectively complete
their job. Information ensures that an employee is aware of the rules and
procedures of an organization. It also eliminates job uncertainty for
workers when they are fully informed.

2. Control
The management of any organization will always have plans with long,
medium or long termobjectives for the months and years ahead. To
achieve these objectives, the daily & monthly activities must proceed as
planned in order to achieve the objectives for the [Link]
acts to control member behavior in several ways. Organizations have
authority hierarchies and formal guidelines that employees are required to
follow. When employees, for instance for instances are required to first
communicate any job related grievance to their immediate boss, to follow
their job description, or to comply with company policies, communication
is performing a control function. But informal communication also
controls behavior. When work groups tease or harass a member who
produces too much (and makes the rest of the group look bad) they are
informally communicating with, and controlling the member’s behavior. A
 15

company uses communication as a way to maintain control over

employees and their work environment. Written human resources policies
and procedures dictate how employees are permitted to act in the
workplace. Job descriptions outline the parameters of an employee's job
functions. Performance reviews control whether an employee receives a
raise or attains a promotion.

3. Motivation
Managers use communication to motivate workers to achieve peak
performance. By clarifying the expectations of employees and providing
incentives for meeting or exceeding expectations, communication can help
companies reach specific objectives. For example, by communicating to
salespeople that they'll receive a 10 percent bonus if they reach their
annual sales goal, it helps the company reach its overall sales goals.
Communication fosters motivation by clarifying to employees what is to
be done, how well they are doing and what can be done to improve
performance if it’s subpar. We saw his operating in our review of goal-
setting and reinforcement theories. The formation of specific goals,
feedback on progress toward the goals, and reinforcement of desired
behavior all stimulate motivation and require communication.

4. Emotional Expression and Interdependence

Emotional appeal is when emotions or arguments are used to persuade
others instead of facts or logic. Organizations can use emotional appeals
when delivering bad news. Last year, the CEO spoke to the entire
company at an emergency meeting. He explained how devastated he was
over the need to have a corporate downsizing. He used emotion to explain
that it was better for the overall security of the company to eliminate some
 16

positions. For many employees, their work group is a primary source for
social interaction. The communication that takes place within the group is
a fundamental mechanism by which members show their frustration and
feelings of satisfaction. Communication therefore provides release for the
emotional expression of feelings and for fulfillment of social needs.

Technology and Business

Communication
Technology has changed business in many ways, but its effect on
communication is arguably the most significant. The use of technology in
daily business operations is constantly evolving, and one such example is
the use of technology in business communication. Being in touch is very
important to businesses, that is why it is no wonder why a lot of resources
is spent in improving the communication procedures of various
businesses. The revolution of the Internet has allowed businesses to have
more options as far as business communication was concerned. It made
 17

the technologies of software, hardware, and network converge into one

cohesive and solid system, which made the optimization of various
business procedures faster. Indeed, the employees and the organizations as
a whole greatly benefit from the use of technology in business. With a
feasible business plan, organizations can save a lot of money and raise the
level of productivity of the staff if the use of technology were well-
planned and executed. Even medium-scale companies now have a chance
to participate in the fierce competition among larger businesses. This is
just one proof that technology in business communication is capable of
increasing worker productivity. If you come to think about, the advantages
do not need an employee to undergo a radical adjustment. On the contrary,
tasks are made simpler and more convenient for the user.

Communication Is Faster
Whether you need to speak with an employee who is traveling in another
state or country or you need to communicate with your supplier half way
around the world, technology allows you to do so instantaneously. In fact,
thanks to email and text messages, you can now send messages to people
in other time zones before you forget without worrying that you will wake
them up. In fact, the Internet has allowed business people to communicate
easily regardless of time zone and language issues.
 18

Expanded Communication Opportunities

Technology allows individuals to communicate and carry on a business
relationship without ever meeting face to face, so people in all parts of
the world now have the chance to interact with a company in a rural part
of India. For example, technology allowed for the emergence of the
virtual assistant, a worker who completes tasks for her client online
without having ever met him, in the 20th century.

Cost-Cutting Procedures
In addition to migrating to a digital means of communicating, a business
can save a lot with technological advances in business communication.
Business software products that combine voice and data no longer have
the need for multiple lines that can add a bulky amount to
communication expenses. In addition, minimal technical support is
needed since most of the installation, operations, and maintenance
procedures can be done with little or no supervision at all.

Network Convenience
The use of modern technology in business communication eradicates the
complexity that is involved in monitoring network traffic. This is because
all the communication data travels at the same stream. Therefore, there
is only one network that needs to be monitored, and this lessens the
work of network administrators, giving them more time to work on other
tasks.

The benefits of technology in business communication are almost

immeasurable, since its advantages are long term and ell-encompassing.
Businesses can use this to their advantage to increase productivity, to
 19

raise revenues, to build better relationships with customers, and to

survive longer in the business arena.

The Role of the Manager in effective

business communication
Business communication is no longer about how to write a letter, email or
use effective writing skills. It has also extended to other areas in the
business, for example, excellent relationships within the business. A
manager should not only concentrate on successful communication with
its external clients, customers and stakeholders. The employees of the
business actually are internal clients and should also be treated with care.
Many scholars refer to this as internal marketing, a very important feature
of good business communication. Employees’ well-being and work
 20

satisfaction play a large role in their productivity and how loyal they will
be towards the business. The role of the manager is to ensure good
relationships with and among employees. A healthy working environment
is equally important. Previous research has indicated that employees also
have other career aspirations than only a salary.
 21

Barriers in Business Communication

For any kind of communication to be successful, it is essential that the receiver
attributes the same meaning to the message as intended by the sender of the
message. But all acts of communication are not perfect or successful. At times,
some meaning is lost as the message encounters various barriers along its
passage between the sender and the receiver. Such barriers may arise at any of
the stages through which a message passes during the process of
communication. This is also called miscommunication.

Some of the common problems that lead to the failure of communication are:
noise, cultural differences, complexity of subject matter, personal biases,
semantic problems, socio- psychological barriers, filtering, information overload,
poor retention, poor listening, goal conflicts, slanting, inferring, etc

Types of barriers
Barriers to communication can be classified into the following broad categories:
1) Physical or environmental barriers
2) Physiological or biological barriers
3) Semantic or language barriers
4) Personal barriers
5) Emotional or perceptional barriers
6) Socio-psychological barriers
7) Cultural barriers
8) Organizational barriers
 22

Physical or Environmental Barriers

Physical barriers are those barriers which are caused due to some technical
defects in the media used for communication and/or due to certain disturbances
in the surrounding environment. Often, the term ‘noise’ is used as a blanket term
to refer to the physical barriers in general. But noise, in its literal sense, is also
one of the factors that give rise to the physical barriers during the process of
communication. Besides noise, wrong selection of medium, lack of acoustics,
poor lighting, frequent movements of hands, fiddling with a pen, or even serving
of tea during an important conversation- all of these are also responsible for
creating physical barriers in the communication process. Noise Noise is the first
major barrier to communication. Communication is distorted by noise that crops
up at the transmission level. The meaning attributed to the word ‘noise’ in the
field of Communication is derived from the realm of Physics. In Physics, noise
refers to “a disturbance, especially a random and persistent disturbance, which
obscures or reduces the clarity of a signal”. The modern-day connotation of the
word ‘noise’ is “irrelevant or meaningless data” as is apparent from its usage in
the field of Computer Science.

Physiological Barriers
Physiological barriers are related to a person’s health and fitness. These may
arise due to disabilities that may affect the physical capability of the sender or the
receiver. For example, poor eyesight, deafness, uncontrolled body movements,
etc. Physical defects in one’s body may also disrupt communication. While
communicating, a person uses– his vocal (speech) organs to produce
sound/speech his hand and fingers to write his ears to take in the spoken words
his eyes to absorb the written words Flawless functioning of these body organs is
inevitable for effective communication to take place. In case of any defect in any
of these organs, the successful completion of communication will be difficult to
accomplish. Speaking can be adversely affected by stammering, fumbling,
utterance of improper sounds due to defective vocal organ/s, etc.

Semantic or Language Barriers

 23

Semantics is the systematic study of the meaning of words. Thus, the semantic
barriers are barriers related to language. Such barriers are problems that arise
during the process of encoding and/or decoding the message into words and ideas
respectively. Both the oral and the written communication are based on
words/symbols which are ambiguous in nature. Words/symbols may be used in
several ways and may have several meanings. Unless the receiver knows the
context, he may interpret the words/symbols according to his own level of
understanding and may thus misinterpret the message.

Personal Barriers
Communication is interpersonal in nature. Thus, there are certain barriers that are
directly linked to the persons involved in the communication process, i.e. the
sender and the receiver, which influence the accurate transfer of the message.
These are called personal barriers. Personal barriers have to do with the age,
education, interests and needs or intentions that differ from person to person. In
any business organization, the attitude of the superiors and the subordinates play
a vital role in determining the success of communication. If the superiors have a
hostile attitude, then there are chances that they may filter the information or
manipulate the message, sometimes intentionally, in order to achieve certain
selfish [Link] superiors are not open to suggestions and feedback as they
presume that their subordinates are not capable of advising them. Also, they often
tend to keep too busy with work and do not pay much attention to
communication. Due to this, the downward flow of information within the
organization is badly affected and this in turn leads to poor performance.

Emotional or Perceptional Barriers

Emotional or perceptional barriers are closely associated with personal barriers.
Personal barriers arise from motives and attitudes whereas emotional or
perceptional barriers have an added dimension that includes sentiments and
 24

emotions as well. If the receiver does not evaluate the information with an open
mind, i.e. objectively, his judgment/evaluation would be colored with his biases
and/or his emotions, thus inducing him to read too much into a message. This
would interfere with the exact transfer of information and cause
misinterpretation. Such a barrier may also emerge at the time of encoding the
message. Over enthusiasm on the part of the sender may lead him to invest his
message with meaning/s which he may actually not have intended to. Indolence,
apathy, or the tendency to procrastinate, either on the part of the sender or the
receiver, also lead to withholding of important information thus creating a
barrier. Extreme emotions like euphoria, excitement, anger, stress, depression,
etc. also get in the way of effective communication. All these factors may create
biases in the mind of the sender or the receiver.

Socio-Psychological
Barriers Socio-psychological barriers can also be considered as one of the
offshoots of the personal barriers, akin to the perceptional barriers. We need to
study it as a subcategory of personal barriers because a person’s attitude is
shaped not only by his instincts and emotions, but also by his approach towards
and his interaction with the people around him, and hence the need for this fine
distinction between the personal, the perceptional and the socio-psychological
barriers.

Cultural Barriers
Cultural differences give rise to a great deal of complexity in the encoding and
the decoding of messages not only because of the difference in languages, but
also because of plenty of culture-specific assumptions at work in the mind of the
sender as well as the [Link] belonging to different cultures may attach
different meanings to words, symbols, gestures, and behaviour or they may
 25

perceive each others’ social values, body language, attitude to space distancing
and time, social behaviour and manners, etc.

Organizational Barriers
Organizational structure greatly influences the flow of information within an
organization. Some major organizational barriers are as follows:
a. Goal Conflicts
There may be goal conflicts within the organization between the superiors and
the subordinates, among people working in the different departments, among
the colleagues, etc. This may create a hostile atmosphere within the
organization and can lead to serious communication breakdown.
b. Organizational Policies
These are also to a great extent responsible for determining the kind of
rapport that people working in the same organization share with each other.
If the organizational policy is such that it restricts the free flow of
information in all directions then communication would not be successful.
In some organizations, there may be rules to restrict the flow of certain
messages and this may deter employees from conveying those messages,
however important they may be. If an organization favours the open door
policy, the subordinates would not feel shy or reluctant to approach their
superiors directly. But in the organizations where the formal channels of
communication have to be strictly adhered to, the superiors and the
subordinates share an awkward relationship.

c. Organizational Hierarchy
he hierarchical structure of the organization may also impede the flow of
information and this can cause delay in taking decisions. When the message
passes along the chain of command in an organization, there are chances of
filtering and distortion of the message at almost every level before it
reaches the intended receiver. Thus, the hierarchical structure of the
organization is also one of the important factors that may create a barrier
 26

Conclusion
Communication is an essential component of business. While communication is a
natural part of the human experience, it’s important to consider how you will
communicate in a positive and effective manner that aligns with your
responsibilities and reputation as a business professional.
27
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