Barriers to Communication

BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION

• Some of the variables which interfere with communication– Ineffective use of power – Language– Problems of defensiveness and lack of

self-confidence

POWER DIFFERENCES• When is power (influence & control) used?

– Decision making• What is decision making?

– Who does, what, when, where and how• Can we do without decision making?

– Delaying is also a decision-making• Power is neither good nor bad• The manner in which organisational

decisions are made and power is exercised affects interpersonal relations

• If managers have little power, their ability to function interpersonally is restricted

POWER TACTICS

• Powerful managers can use their power to encourage or restrict the participation of the less powerful in decision-making

• Acquiring power is easy when the “rules of the game” are more authoritarian

• Who are these powerful managers?

POWERFUL MANAGERS OF THE LATE 70s

• Healthy respect for “work ethic”• Not likely to challenge authority• Not tolerant towards their authority

being challenged• Well-disciplined and orderly• Likely to be familiar with various

power tactics because:– They would have devoted a major part

of their adult life to attain power

• The power tactics usually revolve around controlling the communication process

• Such tactics may be barriers to communication, although they may be used to maintain power

• A few power tactics often used with the primary motive of maintaining power:– Taking counsel– Maneuverability– Complete communication– Compromise– Negative timing

TAKING COUNSEL

• Executives should seek advice only when they think it is necessary

• If they allow subordinates to give advice, they are likely to be under pressure to act as per the advice

MANEUVERABILITY

• Wise executives should never fully commit themselves

• If they do, they may find themselves in situations where they cannot defend themselves

• A number of options should be kept available, to retract previously made commitments, since they consider such retractions would

• lower their credibility and • diminish power

COMPLETE COMMUNICATION

• Not a good strategy to communicate everything

• Complete open communication deprives the executives of determining who should know what & when

• If future plans do not materialise, it would be difficult to excuse oneself from the commitment

COMPROMISE

• Executives who wish to maintain power may openly compromise, but

• Should continue to work toward their own goals

• Any concession made, should be seen as– A way of delaying, rather than– An act of cooperation

NEGATIVE TIMING

• The executive may encounter pressure to do something that is not agreeable to him/her

• The appropriate tactics to take action but proceed so slowly that little harm is done

• They are taking actions, but by using negative timing, they make sure that nothing comes out of the action

• Power-seeking executive’s foremost concern is “exercising power”

• The power tactics are direct contrast to cooperation and open communication

• These executives view the concentration of power as necessary for the success of– Organisation– individual

• With such a position, the individual success becomes the driving concern

• Power concentration tends to distance the powerless

• The equalisation of power, without equalisation of responsibility and expertise, may bring conflict of interest and anarchy

• Such power tactics tend to lead to – inefficient communication– Destructive conflict– Dissatisfaction in the organisation

• The more powerful person should adopt the viewpoint of developing the less powerful member of the organisation

• This leads to increasing delegation of power, as the subordinate develops responsibility and expertise

CONFORMITY

• The relatively less powerful organisational members have little direct influence on decision making

• They must conform to the decisions made by the more powerful

• In this context, one way of gaining influence is through– Gaining favour of a relatively powerful manager,

who has the power to influence decision making

• Two basic ways of conformity are:– Ingratiation– compliance

• One way the lower level manager can gain influence is by using a strategy of– Lays the groundwork for later influence

attempts– “appearing” to agree with the idea and

attitudes of the more powerful manager

• Such support results in the person to be liked by this powerful manager, and thereby

• Such support is described as “Ingratiation”

INGRATIATION

• Is a strategic attempt to get someone to like you in order to obtain compliance with a request, even if at a later stage

• The effectiveness of this depends on clever concealment of ulterior motives

• The lower-status person disagrees with the higher-status person on unimportant issues to appear to be a non-conformist

• A high-status person attempting to ingratiate himself with lower-status people will agree on unimportant issues

COMPLIANCE

• Another way of handling the power issue which is often used by the less powerful if compliance

• Amounts to reluctant obedience, obeying– In letter, but not– In spirit

• The person does what he/she is told but with little enthusiasm

CONsequences of conformity

• Restricts personal development since – the individual does not express his or her

own ideas and feelings

• The effect of conformity over a period of time is to produce “yes men” with not initiative

• If new ideas are eliminated though conformity,– The organisation becomes inflexible– Inability to adjust to changes

• Managerial strategy aimed solely at gaining cooperation through conformity is unlikely to be successful

• The organisation needs both – Cooperation (stability, law and order)– innovation

• Conformity and power tactics in combination tend to lead to a situation where task accomplishment is less important than power structure

• By using these tactics, open communication is not only unimportant, but intentionally avoided

• The result of conformity is dying interpersonal relationships

• It is suggested that absence of conflict is an indicator of an unexciting and unproductive relationship

• Conformity is a means of avoiding conflict essentially through the sacrifice of one’s own individuality

FACING CONFLICT

• The power issue is to be resolved constructively, if the manager wishes to improve the interpersonal relations in the organisation

• Conflict must be faced, rather than avoided

• Best method is through self-disclosure and feedback

• This should be sequenced in a way which builds and strengthens interpersonal trust

LANGUAGE AS A BARRIER

• The barrier arising from differences in the use of language – Associated with the segregation of

people into various groups within the organisations

LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES WITHIN ORGANISATIONS

• Characteristics of present day organisations are that they are– Large– Complex– hierarchical

• These characteristics tend to produce numerous groups of people which are separate from each other on the basis of

• This separation of groups, tends to be emphasised by differences in the use of language between groups– Specialty– Status– Physical location within the organisation

SPECIALISISED LANGUAGE

• Each specialised function in organisation has evolved a precise language to describe its experience

• The various groups have terminology which they use to precisely communicate to others of the same group

• Specialised language exists for – Specialised functions– Top management policies

For specialised functions

• Division of work results in specialised functions which is turn would be responsible for development of specialised language

• This language is inappropriate for communication between people performing different organisational functions

• The specialised vocabulary of one groups appears as jargon to the other groups

• This results in minimal transmission of information

FOR TOP-MANAGEMENT POLICIES

• Top management are generally involved in formulating policies of the organisation

• If policy decisions are made using information which is inaccessible to lower levels of management– Managers at lower levels will not be able to

interpret the policies– Especially true if top management is unaware of

the problems and routines of lower management– The language used to formulate policy is likely

to be ambiguous since the information on which the policy is based is not shared

• In the language difference between two specialised groups in an organisation, both are aware that they do not understand the language

• However, between the top and the lower managements, they are unaware of these differences of language

• The language of the policy decision may be clear but the communication might be poor

• Language is an integral part of our experience that the limitations it can have are numerous

• Language is an – Abstraction– Labeling of experience – At best an approximation

COMMUNICATION WHICH PROVOKES DEFENSIVENESS• Greatest barrier is the style of

communication• When a message is sent in a way that

provokes defensiveness, he/she contributes to poor interpersonal relationship

• When relationships are strained, the chances of communication breakdown is extremely high

• Four types of communication which often provoke defensiveness:– Evaluative– Dogmatic– Manipulative– Implying superiority

EVALUATIVE COMMUNICATION

• Evaluation = labeling, especially negative

• Once a person is labeled it is difficult to see the “whole person”

• We tend to see the label

DOGMATIC COMMUNICTION

• Dogmatic are close-minded people who resist new ideas and unable to see other’s viewpoint

• The supervisor’s – resistance to feedback, and– tendency to see the situation in black-and-

white• Of all the barriers, dogmatism is perhaps

the most difficult to overcome• Research suggests that dogmatism is a

personal trait that is difficult to change

• Highly resistant to feedback • React to negative feedback by

counterattack • Because of the rigidity in their

beliefs, they tend to have little creativity and flexibility

IMPLYING SUPERIORITY• People who believe their contribution more

important because of their possession of – Superior knowledge– Expertise– Experience– Superior position, etc

• If a manager, is constantly implying his or her superiority, then in turn implies that the other person is inferior

• Such implications are likely to lead to defensiveness

• The insistence of superiority is not generally a successful communication strategy

• The manager has the opportunity of establishing rapport simply by listening to other viewpoints

MANIPULATIVE COMMUNICATION

• When we perceive that someone is trying to influence us, with an ulterior motive, we tend to react negatively

• Rather seeing the communication as neutral, they tend to oppose the communication, even if it is detrimental to them

• Manipulative communication excites the control issue and reaction is based on “not wanting to be controlled”

• Managers who are aware that force meets resistance, often try to use manipulative tactics

• The subordinates in turn are likely to be defensive, become increasingly critical of the management

• The communication understood by subordinates, in these instances, is that subordinates are – easily influenced, and – are incapable of participating in decision

making

• The end result of manipulation, may be disastrous

DEFENSIVENESS

• The four types of communication discussed are themselves defensive in nature

• When a person evaluates another person, it is often self-defense

• Manipulation is generally used when we think that our true feelings/motives may be misunderstood or unaccepted

• Dogmatic, closed-minded individuals are busy defending their ideas and beliefs that they are not receptive to new ideas – may be associated with feelings of insecurity or inadequacy

• Implying one’s superiority are directly defending their self-concept

• Best way to increase effective communication is to – increase one’s self-confidence and – decrease one’s defensiveness

• For effective communication, managers need to be able to distinguish between – confronting others and

constructively, and– provoking defensivenss

CONFRONTING CONFLICT

• Confrontation of conflict through self-disclosure and feedback involves– The description of one’s own ideas, attitudes,

feelings opinions, etc• While confronting conflict , the way to

avoid provoking defensiveness is by– Describing one’s own position– Encouraging the other person to describe

his/her position• When a manager can communicate a

message that he values the ideas of others, the defensive reactions are considerably lessened