Barriers to effective communication
By Dr. Peris Kariuki
Barriers to effective comm.
Barriers are factors that prevent effective
communication,
They interfere with the message increasing the
difficulty in perception or prevents some
elements of the message from reaching the
receiver,
2
Barriers resulting from the source
Lack of sound understanding of his audience
Lack of a good knowledge of the subject
Use of inappropriate language /vocabulary
Lack of privacy and confidentiality
3
Barriers affecting the message
Message expressed in unclear language, long and
delivered using improper channel
Contrast these two messages:
“Please be here about 7:00 am tomorrow morning.” and “
Please be here at 7:00 am tomorrow morning.”
Muddled(confusing) messages are a barrier to
communication because the sender leaves the
receiver unclear about the intent of the sender.
Too much information in the message
4
Barriers resulting from the receiver
Age difference with the sender
Language jargon not clear
Emotional disturbance
If the sender stammers and speaks inaudibly
Poor listening skills
Interruptions ;
May be due to something more pressing, lack of
privacy for discussion, a drop-in visitor, an
emergency
5
Barriers from audience;
Non-listener; One who refuses to listen or if he
does listen, in all probability not attentively
The know it all; Has a stock and ready answer for
everything
The negative personality; Enjoys saying no to
every and all the time, unless it is his idea
The impatient person;
1) One who is reluctant to sit throughout the
presentation
2) One who jumps to conclusions and thinks that he
understands the message
6
Wrong channels
Using inaccessible medium like; Tv,radio,website
Variation of channels helps the receiver
understand the nature and importance of a
message
7
Barriers from the social setting
These are physical things that get in the way of
communication
Examples include:
Telephone, noise, an uncomfortable meeting place.
Venue with posters not relevant to the health message being
given; posters will distract the level of concentration
8
Other barriers
Organizational barriers;
These occur when the communication structures
within an organization, or that between
organizations, fails to allow communication to take
place fully and accurately
9
How to overcome barriers
Know your audience; Background
The message must be:
o Timely,
o meaningful and
o applicable to the situation
The audience must remove their own barriers;
communication is a 2 way process, both the sender and
the audience must cooperate to establish commonness
Select an appropriate venue devoid of physical
distracters.
10
Cont
Need for good presentation, this requires:
Complete understanding of the subject and establishing
good relationship with the audience(rapport).
Choose the right channels for the specific
audience, use a combination of more than one medium,
whenever possible
11
Conclusion
Only after;
All barriers have been removed
The proper media has been chosen
A good presentation has been made and
Two-way communication has been established
Can we say that the sender has established
“commonness” with his audience
12
