Barriers to Communication

CONTENTS

Introduction…………………………………………… 2

Definition of terms……………………………………  3

Body…………………………………………………… 4

Conclusion…………………………………………….  8

References……………………………………………  9

Introduction

Organisations cannot exist without communication. If there is no communication, teachers and other support staff cannot know what their co-workers are doing. Head of school cannot receive information inputs and head of department and other team leaders cannot give instructions. Coordination of work is impossible and the organization will collapse for lack of it. Cooperation also becomes impossible, because people cannot communicate their needs and feelings to others. Communication is therefore, important as it helps school heads to accomplish all the basic management functions such as planning, organizing and controlling, so that organizations can achieve their goals and meet their challenges.

Even when a receiver receives the messages and makes a genuine effort to decode it, a number of interferences may limit the receiver’s understanding. As noted by Newstrom and Davis (1993), barriers to communication may completely prevent a communication, filter part of it out or give it incorrect meaning. This essay is aimed at critically analysing four barriers to communication in education management. These barriers can be personal, physical, technical or semantic in nature.

Definition of terms

Newstrom and Davis (1993) defined communication as the transfer of information from one person such as the school head to the teacher with vice versa. Communication is therefore, the transfer of information and understanding from one person to another person. It is way of reaching others by transmitting ideas, facts, thoughts, feelings and values. Communication involves a sender and a receiver of the message. One person cannot communicate. Only one more receivers can complete the communication act.

A careful examination of the term management of schools suggests a number of definitions of the term management. Szilagyi (1981) defines the term management as the process of integrating resources and tasks towards the achievement of set objectives and goals of the organisation. Plunkett and Attner (1983) define management as the process of setting and achieving goals through the execution of five basic management functions that utilise human, financial and material resources. Management of schools is concerned with resources, tasks and goals of a school or college. School management therefore, involves a systematic and organised way of doing things.

Body

Personal barriers are communication interferences that arise from human emotions, values and poor listening habits. Personal barriers often involve a psychological distance. This is a feeling of being emotionally separated. For example, the school head may talk down to teacher, who resents this treatment, and the teacher’s resentment separates them. Our emotions act as perceptual filters in nearly all our communications. We see and hear that we are emotionally tuned to see and hear, so communication is guided by our expectations.

Personal barriers are a common occurrence in schools, with common examples including distracting verbal habits. This may include needless repetition of “ah” or ending nearly every sentence with “you know”. Personal barriers may also stem from differences in education, race, sex and socioeconomic status. Gender differences relate to how males and females tend to communicate. Through research, it has been found that males tend to carry on conversation sitting side by side; while females enjoy a face to face exchange. Males also do not feel the need or even want to be close by someone when speaking, whereas females prefer a more personal, close setting for communicating.

Differences in education may also act as a personal communication barrier. For example a school head may be professionally less qualified that some of his teachers. In such a case subordinates may feel superior to the manager. As a result downward communication may fail.

In a multiracial school environment, race can be a barrier to communication. Some races normally believe that they are superior  than other races for example, if the head is of a more inferior race, communication to subordinates of a more superior race becomes difficult. Nowadays socioeconomic status is a major personal communication barrier. Education profession is now perceived to be an economically poor profession. Classroom managers (teachers) themselves face problems in dealing with children from rich families. Majority of the learners look down upon teaching profession and it makes teacher to people downward communication difficult.  

Also some teachers may be of higher economic status than the head. For example, female teachers married to chief executives of companies might be driving a state of the art car while the head of a school might be struggling to make ends meet economically. In such case the head may feel inferior to his/her subordinates and this affects effective communication between the head and teachers.

Physical barrier is another communication interference that normally occurs in the environment in which the communication takes place. A typical physical barrier is a sudden distracting noise that temporarily drowns out a voice message. Other physical barriers include distances between people, walls that interfere with voice messages.

People frequently recognise when physical interference occurs and try to compensate for it. For example, physical barriers can be converted into positive forces through ecological control, in which the surroundings are altered by the sender so as to influence the receiver’s feelings and behavior. Moderate tidiness, open desk placement, a reasonable amount of status symbols, plants and wall decorations may all affect a visitor’s perception in a school office reception area.

Distances between people depend on culture. For example, Latin American and Asian counters generally favour close distances for personal conversations and workers in Arab countries often maintain extremely close contact. Therefore, in management of multinational school the sender should be aware of cultural norms and the receiver’s preferences and make an effort to understand and adapt to them.