Barriers to Effective Communication in the Workplace

Barriers to Effective Communication in the Workplace Executive Summary Workplace business communication is a study on the skills required that are important to relay information within an organization. Skills such as report writing, job applications, letters of intent, as well as meeting minutes are given a thorough research for the students to use it efficiently and properly when they enter into the workforce after graduation. Further research such as communication barriers, the communication process, communication channels as well as how to overcome communication barriers, are studied upon. Table of Contents (Jump to) Introduction Barriers to Effective Listening and How to Overcome It Communication Process Mess Committee Report Application for Marketing Executive Post Conclusions and Recommendations Bibliography Introduction Workplace business communication has always faced problems while a message is being conveyed. The first task of the assignment requires the writer to research on the barriers to listening and how to overcome it. The task would also require the writer to discuss upon past experience on problems that have occurred along the communication process and the lessons that the writer has learnt. The second task of the assignment requires the writer to produce a report in an event of complaints towards the food in the cafeteria. The writer is also required to reply to an advertisement for a post as Marketing Executive for a consumer products company. Barriers to Effective Listening and How to Overcome It The communication process involves primarily the sender and the receiver and the message that is supposed to be conveyed. More often than not, barriers to effective communication can happen anywhere in the communication process model. Thus the writer is going to discuss about the barriers that occurs on the receiver side, which would be the barriers to effective listening, and the methods to overcome it. There are four main barriers to effective listening, namely, physiological, environmental, attitudinal, and socio-cultural barriers. Physiological barriers are barriers that involve the human body of the listener. A direct example would be partial deafness, deaf in one ear or damaged eardrums, which will then impair the listener’s capability to fully understand the message that is being conveyed. Thus a listening aid might be required to assist the listener, in order for effective communication to be carried out. It is also the listener’s responsibility to understand the limits of the hearing aid, such as having discussions in a quieter place, so that external noises would not affect the hearing aid from malfunction. Environmental barriers are external influences that might affect the listening process and lead to misinterpreting a message because some words cannot be heard due to loud noises. That is why in a construction site, there is always a cabin set aside as a site office to hold any meetings regarding the construction that has been going on. The engineer has to be briefed on while walking throughout the whole construction site, but any queries or instructions from the engineer would have to be done in the site office to prevent miscommunication. Attitudinal barriers are barriers that are from the listener’s attitude, which is the most common cause of most listening barriers. The listener might disrupt the communication process, such as lack of empathy, easily distracted, excessive talking, fear of being wrong, emotional, and constantly interrupting the speaker, stems from one person’s attitude. Correcting one’s attitude requires time, so long as the listener maintains a high level of professionalism, calmness and self-control, attitudinal barriers would not affect the communication process badly. Last but not least, socio-cultural barriers exist due to the fact that globalization is very common in any organizations whereby the workforce consists of personnel from all walks of life. Examples of such barriers are language barriers and prejudice, may it be towards gender, race, religion or nationality. The only way to solve this is to learn, understand and respect the differences that exist between any cultures, religion or race. The writer understands that barriers can exist in a listener, not just physically or mentally, but also externally and differences between cultures. Even so, as long as the listener can accept the physical and mental barriers that might exist and adapt to it, while being vigilant towards receiving the message thoroughly, there would be a highly effective listening session that will not compromise the integrity of the message that is intended to be passed on. Communication Process The communication process model is made up of five main parts, the sender, the message, the channel, the receiver and the feedback. Simply put, the sender is the source of the information, which will then be converted into a message, such as e-mail, formal letter or SMS. Then the appropriate channel will be used to deliver the message, for example, e-mail would require the internet, a letter might need postal services and SMS would require a telephone service provider. The receiver would receive the message via any channel end-points such as a computer or a hand phone, and would decipher the message, understand the information provided and produce a feedback, which will then trigger the whole communication process, albeit in the opposite direction. The writer feels that problems can arise anywhere along the communication process model, especially in the channel section. This is because in the channel section, external influences will affect the communication process and it is out of the capabilities of both sender and receiver to correct it on the spot. There is one time where the writer uses the phone to convey a message to his employer, but the line was not so clear and the message has been interpreted wrongly. There is also a time whereby the employer couriered a package to another company, relying on the one day delivery due to urgency, but the package was lost in mail for two whole days before it got delivered. The writer has learnt that depending on other people to get a job done is a risky affair, and would affect the credibility of one’s work. The writer believes that it is better to reconfirm the steps that are made while delivering a message and use multiple channels to send a message, so that it can minimize problems that might occur along the way. Mess Committee Report Title: Concerns Regarding Cafeteria and Food Introduction: There have been several complaints in regards of the cleanliness of the cafeteria as well as the food that are being served, its quality and its variety. Findings: According to several students, foods that are served in the morning will not be changed for the lunch as long as there are leftovers from the previous session. Foods are mostly fried items and lack of healthy alternatives. There seem to have no proper queue lines and shouting for an order seems to be the only way to get food. Mrs. Jennifer Conley, the representative of the food servers of the cafeteria, states that the limited funding has made the servers resort to sell fried frozen food items to meet with the budget allocated to them. With regards to the lack of systematic approach towards food purchasing by the students, it is out of their power to maintain control and discipline outside the boundaries of their stall. Recommendations : The Mess Committee recommends that the school should run a donation drive to upgrade facilities in the cafeteria and erect some barriers and relocation of tables and settings in order for the students to move around effectively. The Committee would also wish the school would allocate a higher budget so that students can get access to a higher variety of foods rather than just fried options and steamed ‘vegetables’. Prepared by: Lee Kar ShingDate: 12 August 2014 Application for Marketing Executive Post GS Global Frozen Foods, HR Department 284 Glensbury Road, 32655 Hoppers Crossing, Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA Attn: Ms Julia Anderson APPLICATION FOR MARKETING EXECUTIVE POST Dear Ms Anderson, My name is Kenny Lee Kar Shing and I would like to answer to the job posting that was displayed on the MX Newspaper Classifieds (dated: 12th August 2014). In the posting, you have mentioned three criteria which I believe I am qualified as stated below. 5 years Working Experience Bibliography http://www.cliffsnotes.com/more-subjects/principles-of-management/communication-and-interpersonal-skills/the-communication-process http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/building-societies-association/the-importance-of-effective-communication/the-communication-process.html#axzz38IYQUcF0 http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/drfahad/Articles/Communication%20Process.pdf http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/barriers-communication.html http://www.skillsyouneed.com/general/what-is-communication.html http://www.nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/Lunenburg,%20Fred%20C,%20Communication%20Schooling%20V1%20N1%202010.pdf http://www.slideshare.net/forckren/5-barriers-to-effective-communication http://www.marin.edu/buscom/index_files/Page565.htm http://opin.ca/article/seven-barriers-communication http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-barriers-communication-organization-73877 http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/business-communication/4-different-types-of-barriers-to-effective-communication/1004/ listening barriers http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/ineffective-listening.html http://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/122339-effective-listening-10-barriers-and-how-to-overcome-them/ Workplace Business CommunicationPage 1