Communication Barriers
Introduction
Communication involves a sender transmitting information or an idea to the receiver. Communication helps better understand a person and enable to resolve disputes that may arise. It is important for information to be simple for it to be effective. The receiver must understand the information that is being delivered to eliminate misunderstanding, which most of the time cause frustration and misunderstanding. Excellent interpersonal communication skills create a productive work environment because one can be able to connect better with the work makes.
There are many barriers to effective communication. Barrier may occur at different stages in the process of information delivery. This barrier results to the information becoming distorted leading to misunderstanding and confusions. To ensure good communication the entire barriers should be eliminated and the message should be conveyed clearly. Barriers to communication include:
Time
Managers must be attentive to the needs of the people they manage. When they have few hours in a day or week, they should feel obligated to find time to talk not only to their workers, but also to their colleges and other subordinates. In order to stay organized and on the top of many responsibilities, it is necessary to group tasks and use planning tools. For instance, in the case of Natalie she did not have time to review the performance, therefore, could not get enough time to communicate effectively and understand what an employee need for the success of the company.(Burstein,2010)
Credibility Gaps
Credibility gaps are common between workers and managers within an organization. They create distrust of information that flow throughout the company since managers substitute words for actions. For example, in the case of Natalie, she promised to put all the information needed into writing, but even after two weeks, nothing had been done. This can make the employee lose confidence on the manager and not to trust their future statements. (Keyton, 2010)
The Role
Role conflict can be a major bar to information within an organization, especially when they involve cooperation between subordinates and superiors. Despite how managers think they are open to their workers input, workers always hesitate to share their honest opinion especially if it can be seen as critical. In the case of Natalie, she said there was no money for the merit increase and the productivity was less. The employee could not share his honest idea even though he felt it was the best year since productivity had increased. (Green, 2010)
Appraisal Threats
Appraisal threats are conscious or subconscious biases that decrease the accuracy of evaluation. Incorrect evaluation can rob the workers of compensation, recognition or a chance to correct their mistakes before getting fired. The appraisal threats that affected Natalie’s situation include:
Distance
Distance between the manager and the person being rated can be a problem especially when the person rating has no firsthand information of the person they are rating. In some situations, the immediate boss is not rating, for example, the department manager has little contact with the employer. They lack enough knowledge on the worker, and, therefore, cannot be very accurate when it comes to rating. In the case of Natalie, She was not the immediate boss and did not know much about the person she was ratting. To avoid these biases, direct supervisor should be the one performing the evaluation. The supervisor must have regular contact with the employee so as to have enough information that will help them make an opinion. (Canary 2011)
Recency
This poses a threat to appraisal although, in most cases, it is not intentional. Recency is where workers are evaluated on the recent performance instead of the entire rating period. This happens when those ratings are very busy. Natalie rated the worker basing on two times evaluation. The worker will get low performance even if the rest of the times he had performed well. To prevent this bias, managers need to evaluate worker’s performance throughout the time they have been working. Having done that, they are able to get the actual performance of the workers and avoid the situation where workers increase their effort just before the anniversary date so that they can receive a good rating. (Eisenberg, 2010)
Personal biases
These biases may involve a different opinion on what is important on the job and the statement on the job description. For example, a manager pays much attention to punctuality and rates the workers high or low depending on their punctuality. This happened in the case of Natalie. Others may be concerned with neatness. To avoid these biases, raters need to assess employee using measurable and objective criteria. Effective rating techniques ensure workers are rated on several factors. In so doing, ambiguity and role confusion will be reduced. (Green, 2010)
Cost Concerns
Cost concern aims at rating workers lower than they deserve. The manager saves money by not giving a merit increase. The manager can criticize the worker just before the rating so that they can feel the low rating is warranted. She then increases the workers rating percent even if it is not justified so that she can get a favor from him. In the case of Natalie, she gave the worker the same percent like the other even though the worker did not deserve. To avoid this bias, person rating must get training so that they can understand the appraisal process and apply appraisal instruments. This will help him interpret different standards and be able to use a scale. Rater should also get training concerning different forms of appraisal to enable them understand appraisal system. The workers need to be aware of the appraisal order to and the behavioral aspects that managers use to assess their performance. (Canary, 2011)
Concept that could be applied to avoid this situation includes;
Avoid written Communication
In written communication, only words are used. People belief that when sending messages either using faxes memo or letter, the same information will be sent to many people. The truth is that, this information may not be received by everyone within the company since receivers must decode the information and these depend on their moods. Some workers may not receive the information at all and these results to extra problems. Written channels can lead to miscommunication if feedbacks are delayed.
Avoid inactive Silent
Managers should congratulate individuals on their work. In so doing the works feel appreciated and needed in that business. Managers should evaluate and supervise the workers regularly and give credit and incentives where required. Many employees think that their bosses comment on their performance only when they have committed a mistake. This demoralizes them and reduces their motivation to work. (Eisenberg, 2010)
Conclusion
Communication involves passing information and understanding to various individuals. It is about sharing meaning. Without sharing, information ceases to exist. It is the duty of those sending the information to monitor feedbacks and changes with the message in order to suit the diversity of those people in communication.
References
Burstein, J. (2010). Have you heard: Active Listening New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing.
Canary, H.(2011). Communication and organizational knowledge: Contemporary issues for Theory and Practice. Florence, KY: Taylor & Francis.
Eisenberg, E. M. (2010). Organizational communication: Balancing creativity and constraint. New York, NY: Saint Martin’s.
Green, R. L. (2010). The four dimensions of principal leadership: A framework for leading 21st Century schools. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Keyton, J. (2010). Case studies for organizational communication: Understanding Communication processes. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
