Barriers to effective business communication PDF

Preview

Summary

Barriers to effective business communication...

Description

Chapter 2 discusses the 6 major barriers to effective business communication. List the 6 major barriers and discuss, in paragraph format, an example of each. Also, include at least one example that you yourself have used in the past and how this hampered your ability to communicate. Try to think of examples that were used in a business setting. We use language to make sense of our experiences and as part of our discussions. Language allows us to communicate and miscommunicate or misunderstand, so we must be careful about how we speak it out. Sometimes it can be frustrating to express our most intimate thoughts especially to make the audience understand. To avoid obstacles to communication we must avoid clichés, jargon, slang, sexist and racist language, euphemisms and doublespeak. These are discussed as follows: A cliché' is a saying that is overused in a culture to the point of losing it's original. They often sound boring or silly and they are sometimes a symptom of lazy communication. They no longer have any relevance or noticed. It's just those once-clever words or phrases that has lost its impact through overuse. An example of business cliché' is "with all due respect" if a person starts a sentence with that, it shows that the person is about to disrespect you. A jargon is an occupation-specific language used by people in each profession. It does not imply formal education but focuses on the language people in a profession use to communicate with each other. Jargon exists in just about every occupation, independent of how much formal education is involved (every business has its jargon). Like in preparing a presentation to be presented to potential customers thoroughly planning and research will be needed to make sure that the audience understands it easily. An example of a business jargon is "Think outside the box" meaning don't limit your thinking, it encourages creativity with regards to your job description. (McLean, S. 2010) A slang is a use of existing newly invented words to the place of standard or traditional words with the intent of adding an unconventional or humorous. It is used in an informal context, among friends or members of a certain age group rather than professionals in a certain industry. An example of slang is, "TBH" meaning to be honest so in a business communication level, someone cannot understand that. Sexist and Racist language The sexist language is the use of gender as the discriminating factor and racist language is the discrimination against members of a given race or ethnic group. An example of this is referring to "adult women" as "girls" or referring to "women" as "chicks". Also, at work to discriminate against people because of their skin color. Euphemisms It involves substituting an acceptable word for an offensive, controversial or unacceptable one that conveys the same or similar meaning. It can be used sarcastically or humorously, and they are generally more of the hindrance than a help to understand. In a business communication, the goal is clarity and the very purpose of euphemism is to be vague, so we must be clear about what we are saying by choosing words that mean what one intends to convey. An example of the euphemism is saying someone "died" instead of saying "passed away". (McLean, S. 2010)

Doublespeak It's a deliberate use of words to disguise, obscure or change meaning. It is often present in bureaucratic communication, where it can serve to cast a person or an organization in a less unfavourable light than plain language would do. It can be dangerous when it is used deliberately to obscure meaning and the listener cannot anticipate or predict consequences based on the (in) effective communication. An example that happened to me and caused misunderstanding to the receiver, was when I was in a church meeting and then someone was busy talking too much the things that were not necessary for the meeting and as I was trying to let her know I said, "with all due respect can you please try to talk things related to the meeting". All of a sudden there was an awkward moment and she reacted badly, she took it in a bad way, but my intention wasn't to say it bad. In conclusion, all these six barriers contribute to misunderstanding and miscommunication, intentional and unintentionally. In a business communication, our goal of clear and concise communication remains constant and we must not forget that trust is the foundation for effective communication, therefore, effective communication is the one major factor that plays a very important role to make things done in a right way in the workplace. That is why we must reinforce the relationship inherent between source and receiver by reducing obstacles to effective communication. Word count: 805 Reference McLean, S. (2010) Business Communication for Success....