Barriers_in_Communication

May 9, 2011 Barriers in Communication We all know that communicating with others plays a very significant role in our daily lives. Communication can be defined in several ways, the dictionary definition of communication is, a process that allows organisms to exchange information by several methods. It requires that all parties understand a common language that is exchange. There are auditory means, such as speaking or singing, and nonverbal, physical means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, or the use of writing. From this definition, one can tell that every single expression that tries to give information to another is a form of communication. Nearly every aspect of human life could be improved by better listening, from family matters to corporate business affairs to international relations. The process of communication requires a vast repertoire of skills in intrapersonal and interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, and evaluating. Use of these processes is developmental and transfers to all areas of life: home, school, community, work and beyond. It is through communication that collaboration and cooperation occur when using poor relationship communication, the relationship will always come to an end eventually, because words have a unique effect in the mind of each person, because each person's experience is unique. Those differences can be small, but the overall effect of the differences can become large enough to cause misunderstanding. Interpersonal communication plays a larger factor in building and maintaining successful relationships. Studies show that the average person usually speaks around 13,500 words per day; plenty by anyone's standards. However, talking is not the only means of communicating. It has been proclaimed that 93% of communication is nonverbal and only 7% is verbal. That means that if every gesture, expression and tone were vocalized, we would say close to 200,000 words per day. Below are example of different type of communication skills and how human being use to communication to facilitate the exchange from person to the other. Good communication skills are skills that facilitate people to communicate effectively with one another. Effectual communication engages the choice of the best communications channel, the technical know-how to use the channel, the presentation of information to the target audience, and the skill to understand responses received from others. Self development, interpersonal skills, mutual understanding, mutual cooperation and trust is also important to set a complete channel of most effective and winning communication skills. According to Hybels and Weaver, There are mainly three types of communication skills, expressive skills, listening skills and skills for managing the overall process of communication. The basic fundamental of all these types of communication is emotional skills. Expressive skills are required to convey message to others through words, facial expressions and body language. Listening skills are skills that are used to obtain messages or information from others. To be competitive in today's business world, a team needs to communicate openly and frequently. With the technology that is available, a business can now find it easier than ever to have meetings from all corners of the world, at any time during the day. Whether there are teams members around the world or just across the hall team members must communicate with each other concerning a project or upcoming event. A team needs to communicate to be successful. If the team does not communicate, the results probably will be less than expected. A team leader or manager should find it important to talk with the members of his or her team frequently. A team leader or manager will be able to check up on individual progress and the progress of the group as a whole. The more frequent the contact, the less likely there will be missed deadlines or out of date information. Everyone needs to be notified if anything changes during the project. Direct communication with other team members is very important for team members. The exchange of information from team leaders is time consuming and a possible cause of misinformation. Fellow team members should be able to discuss ideas and information at any time during the day and anywhere in the office. They should be able to talk on the phone, send emails, or talk in the hall ((Hybels & Weaver, 2007). Studies have shown that the better the communication- the better the productivity and progress of a team. If everyone that is affected by the project is involved or consulted, then the outcome will be much better than if the project were handled by only a select few. Take the making of a vehicle for example. The initial plan for creating a new line of cars started with the engineering department. The engineers would design a car; then they would give the information to manufacturing. Regardless if a child going through kindergarten, a teenager attending junior high or high school, an adult working for a small or large corporation or owning your own business, without good communication skills success rate is not very effective. The purpose of communicating is getting a message across to someone. We as individuals see communication in different ways. For instance when asking a child a question or talking to him or she without a response, one first instant is, that child is quiet and doesn't like to talk. We as parents and guardian need to take a step back and ask ourselves is this child having problems with their communication skills. We come to realize in the last decade how many products is accessible to parents now, like the game Leap Frog, or Baby Genius, Hook on Phonics and much more(Leger 2006). It's comes to my attention that children today lack the communication skills and it affects them throughout their teenage and adult life. In spite of increasing importance placed on communication many individuals still lack this skill. We teach our teenagers today how to swing a bat, catch a baseball or football, bounce a basketball, hit a golf ball, and kick a ball through a goal but a simple essential as communication we forget to teach them. Teenagers been interviewed on television and they are lost for words or they lack communication skill that makes his or her words appear jumble to point we have no clue what he is talking about. As individuals where do we draw the line' Communication skills start the day we say our first words. Our communication skills should start with the very basics: The knowledge of non-verbal or verbal skills. Knowledge of non-verbal says a great deal about an individual. I often Picture myself been interviewed for a job, what's my posture like, eye contact, facial expressions, my clothing, am I delivering a good knowledge of the skills require for the job I am applying for. In the workforce today, management as well as associates has to deal with a wide range of conflict and communication skills. All in which are useful when used efficiently and by the right people. Communication skill is the efficient use of interpersonal communication skills while compromise is the best conflict management skill. When used properly they work hand in hand and within many diverse fields of today's workforce. With the continuing efforts to educate the workforce of these two tools, we can see a promising future for other generations to lead from the examples in which are set. Communication can be improved in virtually every workplace, no matter the industry or size (Liebler & McConnell 2008). After all, it is the only way for information to effectively spread throughout the business so that everybody can be informed to the degree that they required to properly achieve their goals. Interpersonal communication skills can be found in any industry, any business and anywhere in the world. Interpersonal communication skills defined are the tools we use to let others know what we think, feel, need and want (Leger 2006). Interpersonal communication skills are seen in everything we do from work to social settings. Effective communication skills are seen when communicating to someone a need or want and achieving the results in which were being presented to the receiver. Sometimes communication is not clear and is misunderstood when traveling from one person to the next. Being able to see from others' points of view, help in strengthening interpersonal communication skills. If all parties strive to understand the wants, needs, and dreams of others around them communication is improved (Hybels & Weaver, 2007). Within effective communication you have a relationship between people. There is always a relationship no matter if it is a bad one or a great one. Clarifications of the meanings between two relationships make for healthier communication, and hence a healthier relationship between two people can be achieved. Communication is straightforward; what makes it complex, difficult, and frustrating are the barriers we put in the way. There are seven top barriers which are discussed below. There are physical barriers which is for example, a separate area for people of different status large working areas or working in one unit that is physically separate from others. Research shows that one of the most important factors in building cohesive teams is proximity. A perceptual barrier which is problem with communicating with others is that we all see the world differently. If we didn't, we would have no need to communicate: something like extrasensory perception would take its place. One of the chief barriers to open and free communications is the emotional barrier. It is comprised mainly of fear, mistrust and suspicion. The roots of our emotional mistrust of others lie in our childhood and infancy when we were taught to be careful what we said to others. Cultural barrier, for example, is when we join a group and wish to remain in it; sooner or later we need to adopt the behavior patterns of the group. These are the behaviors that the group accepts as signs of belonging. Language that describes what we want to say in our terms may present barriers to others who are not familiar with our expressions, buzz-words and jargon. When we couch our communication in such language, it is a way of excluding others. In a global market place the greatest compliment we can pay another person is to talk in their language. There is gender barrier as well, man and woman does not communicate the same way, women tend to be more affectionate, and emotional men, in the other hand men talk as a means to preserve independence and status by displaying knowledge and skills. Last, there is interpersonal barrier, a great example of that is when a person has a problem being told what to do. The barriers to communication listed above do not always have a negative impact on communications. However, they are high-risk responses when people are interacting under stress. They tend to block the feeling of the other person, who then is less likely to express his or her true feelings in a constructive way. Rather than fostering understanding, they may diminish the other's self-esteem, or foster resentment, defensiveness, withdrawal or dependency in the other, and inhibit their problem solving ability. Unfortunately, it has been estimated that people use these responses 90% of the time when they are discussing a problem or need. Language as a barrier is very common in the United States. The most common language barrier I encounter is between communicators of the English and Spanish languages. There are also encounters with people who speak other foreign languages, such as Chinese and French. When I realize that the common bond I share with these people, is the ability to communicate; I realize how important it is to attempt to communicate with them. Working in the retail industry, it is very common to come into contact with those that do not speak English. The people I work with have had different experiences in their professional and personal lives. All these experiences, or lack of, contribute to any communication barriers that may exist between coworkers. Maturity levels among communicators can also affect how communication is perceived. An older person may misinterpret how a younger person responds to something said. A younger person may take something very personal, not yet experiencing a common response or action by someone else. Lack of control in temper can also produce a barrier among communicators (Robert & Thomas 2009). Because maturity does not necessarily have to do with age, people of all ages can contribute to maturity being an obstruction. I personally like non verbal communication the best, I find myself in situations where I had to use body language and gestures to express myself. I was in Germany three years ago, I was told that most people in Germany speak English, and German was just like English I was lost in a small town outside of Frankford, I couldn’t figure out how to get back to the Express way. I stopped to ask the locals for direction, no one at that particular area speaks English or French at all. I had use to gesture and finally with a lot of non verbal communication gestures I find my way back to the express way. Often, people speak too quickly or slowly for us to properly absorb what is being said. Many times, what happens during a conversation is we are in tune with the other person, but they are not granting us the same courtesy. A great example is the issue with Intercultural Communication is lack of empathy for another's culture. For instance, being in presence of a foreigner for the first time, one may not know how to show sign of respect, a hand shake may be seen as brash, a bow may be seen as a sign of servility, a hug can be too forthcoming, even a smile can be seen as impolite, or appears not too serious. However, if one takes the time to think and learn about the other one culture, then everything will just fall into place. Language barriers could easily be overcome by interpreters, unfortunately body language is always there to betray the individual, because it is part of non verbal communication. I come into contact with people on a daily basis that does not speak much English, if any. Many of my non-English speaking customers speak Spanish. I do not. I live in South Florida; The Spanish population is dominant here. Instead of being stubborn and set in my ways I have attempted to learn a few key phrases such as, I have learned to communicate a little bit with someone that I could not communicate with at all a few years ago. I find that even in my attempt to communicate with those who do not speak English; I encounter those who have no desire to attempt to communicate with me. There are those who still shake their heads and say, “no” even when my attempts are genuine. With these types I not only encounter a language barrier, I also encounter the lack of adaptability barrier. To conclude I have learned and realize that the essence of good communication understands each other's meaning which requires effective listening. As in any relationship, communication is key to a strong relationship. This can be the relationship between business and customer, or, equally as important, the internal relationships among different employees within the company. Ideally, people should communicate clearly, at a comfortable rate, with a practical vocabulary, and in an engaging tone. They need to get to the point before the listener can lose interest or miss the point altogether. References 1. Bolton, Robert & Gordon, Thomas. (2009). Parent Effectiveness Training: The "No-Lose" Program for Raising Responsible Children. New York: Peter H. Wyden. From the www.ncmc-mediate.org/ 2. Léger, Belinda. (2010, July 25). How to Communicate With Our Neighbors. Wall street Journal 5-17. 3. Liebler, J.G. & McConnell, C.R. (2008). Management principles for health professionals. Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett Publishers 4. Hybels, S. & and Weaver, R.L., (2007). Communicating effectively (8th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.