Barriers to Effective Interpersonal Communication at DMG - Case Study Example

Executive Summary Good organizational performance must be present for an organization to co-ordinate its operation on a day to day basis. DMG has been affected by ineffective interpersonal communication between staff and managers; communication between staff and customers is also affected. This paper critically analyzes the interpersonal communication barriers that lead to poor interpersonal communication as experienced by DMG. These barriers are broadly divided into process barriers, physical barriers, semantic or language barriers, organizational barriers and most important psychosocial barriers. After identifying the barriers the report recommends simplification of language, control of emotion, recognizing and taking into consideration recipients personal factors, seeking and making use of feedback as steps DMG may take to improve communication in the organization. Ultimately, for DMG to succeed it must ensure effective two-way communication between its managers and staff. Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 2.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Barriers to effective interpersonal communication at DMG 4 2.1 Process barriers 4 2.1.1 Sender barrier 4 2.1.2 Encoding barrier 4 2.1.3 Medium Barrier 5 2.1.4 Decoding barrier 5 2.1.5 Receiver Barrier 5 2.1.6 Feedback barrier 5 2.2 Organizational barriers 6 2.2.1 Poor planning 6 2.2.2 Status difference 6 2.2.3 Organizational distance 7 2.2.4 Information overload 7 2.3 Semantic Barriers 8 2.4 Psychosocial barriers 8 2.4.1 Emotions 8 2.4.2 Filtering 9 2.4.3 Distrust 9 2.4.4 Selective Perception 9 2.4.5 Personal Attitudes 10 2.4.6 Stress 10 3.0 Overcoming the Barriers that prevent good interpersonal communication 10 3.1 Simplify Language: 10 . 3.2 Control Emotions: 10 3.3 Listen Keenly 11 3.4 Encourage feedback 11 3.5 Being trustworthy 11 3.6 Considering the Receiver’s Personal Factors 11 3.7 Use of Appropriate Channel 12 4.0 Conclusion 12 5.0 References 13 2.0 Introduction The management of DMG is concerned about the serious communication problems that are being experienced in the organization. Service delivery at DMG has gone down as a result of the poor communication between the managers and the staff. According to Tourish and Hargie (1998), good interpersonal communication is imperative for the success of an organization (53). The need for effective interpersonal communication is more profound with the amount and frequency of information on the business environment increasing greatly. For the largest part of organizational communication takes place through interpersonal communication. Keith and Newstrom (2007), defines interpersonal communication as the process of swapping information, feelings and imparting meaning, through both verbal and non-verbal communication (21). Therefore a message in interpersonal communication includes non-verbal cues such as tone and facial expressions. According to Keith and Newstrom (2007), interpersonal communication is characterized by face-to-face communication from person to person (167). They further state that a message in interpersonal communication is a reflection of the sender’s individual characteristics, their social roles and relationships. A number of barriers to effective interpersonal communication are found in most communication contexts. In this paper the barriers preventing effective interpersonal communication at DMG are discussed. However, these barriers to effective communication can be overcome by practicing some of the recommendations discussed in this paper as solutions to the interpersonal communication problem at DMG. 2.0 Barriers to effective interpersonal communication at DMG Eisenberg, Goodall Jr, and Trethwey (2010) categorize communication barriers in into three groups namely: process barriers, semantic barriers, physical barriers and psychosocial barriers (125). Andreas (2005) further categorizes barriers to interpersonal communication found in some organization as organizational communication barriers (56). Most of these barriers are present in the interpersonal communication processes of DMG. 2.1 Process barriers A process barrier refers to a barrier that prevents the smooth flow of information at a particular stage of the communication process (Andreas, 2005, 60). 2.1.1 Sender barrier This refers to a situation where the sender fails to communicate a message due to fear of criticism or fear of not being right (Andreas, 2005, 62). Sender barrier is mostly present in organizations that do not allow their employee to freely voice out their opinion, and may lead to dissatisfaction among employees. 2.1.2 Encoding barrier Organizational workforce is now diverse more than ever before (Feely and Harzing, 2003, 38). Australia is one of the places where employees from diverse cultural background are engaged in various workplaces. For example, a Chinese-speaking worker at DMZ might not be able to effectively communicate with an Australian supervisor because of the encoding problem. 2.1.3 Medium Barrier This barrier to interpersonal communication refers to a situation where a sender uses the wrong channel of communication. For example, the act of sending emotionally charged emails by the employee to their supervisor instead of presenting their grievances face to face (Kirkman et al, 2002, 69). 2.1.4 Decoding barrier Decoding barrier is the opposite of encoding barrier where the recipient of a message is unable to make out the meaning of a message (Feely and Harzing, 2003, 38). Decoding barriers are common in organizations due to generational differences. Older employees may be unable to understand messages from their younger colleagues as some communication concepts do not pass from generation to generation. For example if a 21 year old intern screams “OMG we hit the targets” a 51 year colleagues would find it hard to decode this message. 2.1.5 Receiver Barrier This refers to a situation where the recipient of a message is too pre-occupied with other activities to pay attention to a message that has been communicated. 2.1.6 Feedback barrier Feedback is a response to a sender's message confirming it has either been received, received and understood, or further clarification is needed. Feedback barrier refers to a situation where the recipient of a message fails to respond or seek clarification on the message that has been communicated. The feedback barrier affects the sender’s perception of whether the message has been understood. According to Shaw (2011) the greatest Problem of communication without feedback is that it creates an illusion of understanding. Failure to have feedback means communication is one way a situation that should be avoided in successful organization. The CEO of DMG says there is a lack of communication between the managers and their staff; this is a clear reference to one-way communication where the managers communicate instruction to those they supervise but do not get feedback. It appears DMG does not encourage its employees to give feedback on the instructions that are communicated to them. It is better to get prompt feedback than to ask feedback from the recipients of the message. The misconception that feedback is hurtful is dismissed by Miller (2006) who further shows the important role of feedback in effective interpersonal communication (49). 2.2 Organizational barriers These are communication barriers that occur due to an organization’s regulations, culture, objectives and its structure. 2.2.1 Poor planning Marzano, Carss, and Bell (2006) argue that effective interpersonal communication does not occur by chance (180). Organizations fail to put in place policies that allow effective interpersonal communication. In the presence of policies encouraging employees to communicate more effectively, employee and officers pass out and share information more easily. 2.2.2 Status difference This refers to a situation where some junior employee perceives their contribution to the organization as inconsequential. Managers and other senior employees may also hold the perception that the opinion of junior employees is not important. In such a case the junior employee will not communicate effectively as they feel their input is not valued in the organization. According to Marzano, Carss, and Bell (2006), the ego of managers may lead them to believe they are superior to their staff (183). Employees will go out of their way to avoid aggressive and egoistic managers and colleagues 2.2.3 Organizational distance This barrier refers to the physical distance between the sender and receiver of information (Andreas. 2005, 25). For example a person who is separated with his manager by several floors will rarely get a chance to address his concerns about any job related issue face-to-face. Physical barriers to communication are taken for granted in most organizations. Such barriers may include wall, the distance between an employee's working station and his managers. A popular concept to overcome physical barriers to communication named as the “open door” policy refers to a situation where employees can physically access their managers without having to open doors. Organizational structures have been found to be one of the most profound barriers to the free flow of information among employees. In most organization communication flows vertically and downwards to superiors to inferiors who are supposed to act on the communication made. 2.2.4 Information overload Refers to a situation where a recipient gets too much information than he/she can be able to process. Too much information means that the important elements of the communication cannot be deduced. 2.3 Semantic Barriers The reality is distinctly different from the words used to express it. The recipient of a message receives both the words as the sender understands them and his perception of those words. Language is just part of what is being communicated and it is thus hard for those “foreign to a context to understand a message. Each group of people has a way of communicating that outsiders do not understand. Dayton and Henriksen (2007) note that the same word may have different meaning to different people (39). In the views of Miller (2006), it is important that managers have a compromised understanding of such words as performance, efficiency and productivity as their staff members (142). Technical experts in certain fields are also known to use technical jargon that is hard for managers to understand especially when they are not technically competent. 2.4 Psychosocial barriers These barriers to communication occur because people think what is being communicated is not of interest to them and does not fulfil their own needs (Pinto and Pinto, 1990, 210). Psychosocial barriers that may be at the root of the communication problem at DMG include: 2.4.1 Emotions Strong emotions interfere with the effective delivery of interpersonal messages (Pinto and Pinto. 1990, 212). Where the sender’s message is affected by emotions the receiver may misconstrue the message. DMG should advise its employees to avoid communicating when they cannot think rationally due to emotions like anger, hate or jealousy. 2.4.2 Filtering This refers to a situation where the sender manipulates the message to make it more pleasing to the recipient (Marzano, Carss, and Bell, 2006, 186). Filtering may lead to loss of important information or create an illusion of optimism on the receiver. Filtering at DMZ may include situations where an employee produces flattering reports for activities that failed to reach their objectives. 2.4.3 Distrust A message communicated from a sender who is not trustworthy is viewed with scepticism (Marzano, Carss, and Bell, 2006, 190). For example, if a Manager of DMG makes a decision to recognize an employee for good performance decision without consulting and later fails to do so, those under him will distrust communication from him in the future. 2.4.4 Selective Perception This refers to situation where recipients of information fail to block new ideas or content of messages that do conform to what they already believe. According to Pinto and Pinto (1990) this is one of the most common barriers to effective interpersonal communication between managers and staff (205). Some managers at DMG may have preconceived notion that teamwork protects lazy individuals. This preconception acts as a communication barrier where employees present ideas of teamwork to the affected managers. 2.4.5 Personal Attitudes According to Dayton and Henriksen (2007) some people naturally prefer not to interact with others or develop shyness toward social interaction (38). This shyness acts as a barrier to effective interpersonal communication with these individual. People who have this kind of disposition rarely share idea with others. 2.4.6 Stress People who are suffering from stress may appear withdrawn and aloof preferring to be on their own. In some cases, stressed people will forget to pass on messages and may raise their voices at the slightest provocation 3.0 Overcoming the Barriers that prevent good interpersonal communication 3.1 Simplify Language: Managers and employees at DMG should structure their language makes it clear, meaning the receiver would be able to effortlessly understand what the sender is saying (Andreas, 2007, pp. 54). Appropriate language should be used and technical jargon avoided at all times (Kirkman et al, 2002, 69). . 3.2 Control Emotions: While communicating individuals should make sure that the messages they pass on are emotionally neutral, this way messages will not be misconstrued. 3.3 Listen Keenly According to Welch and Mickelson (2013), it is important to get the exact message the sender intends to convey (86). By listening keenly managers show they value the communication they get from their subordinates. 3.4 Encourage feedback The sender should encourage the recipient to give feedback as regard the message conveyed. This can be achieved by the use of question such “did you understand my instructions”. Once feedback is received the sender is able to accurately assess the effectiveness of his communication (Hall, 2005, 191). Through feedback DMG can make all its communication a two-way process as required by the systems theory of communication for communication to be completed. 3.5 Being trustworthy Managers at DMG should create credibility in their decision making to make sure staffs do not distrust their intentions (Dayton and Henriksen, 2007, 38). This trust can be created by involving subordinates in decision making, being knowledgeable about issues that need their input, being consistent, trustworthy and sincere. 3.6 Considering the Receiver’s Personal Factors As discussed physchosocial factors play a profound role in interpersonal communication within organizations. To overcome this psychological barrier managers must be emphatic with the intended recipient while communicating (Dayton and Henriksen, 2007, 38). . The managers must use the appropriate tone and consider a recipient’s scepticism regarding the message being communicated. Organizations should also ensure that any directions given to employees through messages have considered the employee interest and those of society as a whole. 3.7 Use of Appropriate Channel Managers and staff must choose the right channels for interpersonal communication depending on the matter being addressed. For example it would be wise for an employee to apologize face-to-face for lateness instead of sending an email explaining her lateness. On the other hand, where employees commit a trivial offense, advice should be offered through face-to-face communication (Goodman and Truss, 2004, 220) 4.0 Conclusion As discussed above, interpersonal communication in an organization can be prevented by multiple barriers. Every organization needs to understand these barriers in their organizational communication so they can come up with strategies to ensure smooth communication among different cadres of employees. The strategies discussed in this paper among others will assist DMG improve interpersonal two-way communication between the firm’s managers and staff.   5.0 References Davis, Keith, and John W. Newstrom. Comportamiento humanos en el trabajo: comportamiento organizacional; Human behavior at work: organizational behavior. McGraw-Hill, 2007. Dayton, Elizabeth, and Kerm Henriksen. 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