Perils of Noise as a Barrier to Communication in a Corporate Environment

Question

Task: Prepare a brief report on the issue of noise as a barrier to communication.

Answer

Introduction
The major setback an obstruction in the operative communication could cause is to the major section of the business processes like overall reduction in the rate of productivity accompanied by a reduced level of sales. The term noise as a barrier to communication refers to the obstruction caused in the transfer of ideas among the required divisions hence leading to the misconception of significant messages. The mode of transferring the messages or the relevant data in a corporate environment is done via appropriate channels. Hence selecting a suitable channel for carrying out the process of communication comes to be a very daunting task for the management. These channels comprise various methodology of communication like oral and written communication. The oral method of communication includes telephone calls, official announcements, presentations etc. While the written form of communication includes e-mails, official reports, warning letters, memo, etc.

The modes of communication could also be classified under the categories of a richer medium and leaner medium. If considered the concept of the richer medium, they are more of contributive and interactive quality which in fact provides an opportunity to respond for the person who receives the message. For example, having a casual conversation is far richer than conducting an official meeting. The mode of communication like a phone call, video call, teleconference, etc. comes under the category of the lean channels since they don’t facilitate the responsive flow of information to the level which happens in a direct conversation. The form communications which possess the lowest degree of response facilitation like a brochure, emails, newsletter, blogs, notices, etc. come under the category of the leanest channels.

It could be hence clear that the method of communicating the information through oral means is far richer and more convenient than communicating through the means of a written form of communication. To convey the messages which are complex in nature and consist of corporate jargon should essentially by transmitted through oral method of communication since they are far richer and reduces the level of confusion among the recipients. Although the written form of information as mentioned above in this noise as a barrier to communication to the barrier report does not facilitate any efficient interaction with other people and hence it is more appropriate to convey information which is bulky information. The method is very efficient in providing contextual details or justified explanations.

The management of the company uses the amalgamation of various channels of communication since each of them have their beneficial aspects. The normal report has the ability to record and analyze any of the actions undertaken by the concerned department. By the method of telephone meeting, the emergency and farther interaction could be done very efficiently. The lean communication methods like the e-mails could provide immediate transmission of transcribed messages. Although if more interactive communication is intended, the officials could hold an official meeting through web-based communication. If the message of a very commanding nature and no reaction is expected, then the use of message boards and notices could be far effective. The face to face meetings although facilitates and encourages the response for better transmission of ideas. The above-provided methods could be used by the officials as the situation demands in the context.

The relevance of quality content in Written and Oral communication
The attribute and eminence of communication would play a significant role in attaining the desired target. The quality of any type of communication method is determined by the property and standard of the language used. The standard of the language comprises factors like grammar, vocabulary, style of pronunciation or writing, etc. The message compiler should have the knowledge of the relevant field before drafting or delivering it. The use of the semiotic tools along with the communication would enhance the grasp of the real idea the company had tried to convey. The semiotic factors like the tone of the voice, eye contact, way of interaction, and body language would make a great influence on the richer medium of communication. As mentioned earlier in this noise as a barrier to communication report the idea or the information usually is being transmitted by a channel starting from the sender to the receiver. If communication is of non-verbal characteristics, it could be enhanced by adding graphical representations like pie charts, histograms, tables, and other features.

The term non-verbal communication in this remain noise as a barrier to communication report refers to the mode of the condition in which no words are used to communicate the information. The senses of our body like the smell, sound, taste, touch, sight, etc. come under the category of non-verbal communication. The concept of non-verbal communication we classified in two – Voluntary non-verbal communication and Involuntary non-verbal communication.

The term voluntary non-verbal communication in this remain noise as a barrier to communication report signifies the deliberate transfer and display of various signs, poses, and gestures. These gestures comprise the display of better eye contact, etiquette, hand signals, smiling, etc. While the involuntary non-verbal communication signifies the unknown display of indications the individual is thinking about. The impact of the unconscious mind on the movements of the eyebrow, eyes, hands, etc. comes under this section. The actual efficiency in the communication could only be attained if the receiver is aware of the attributes in non-verbal communication. An individual could carry out better communication only if he has a hold on his own non-verbal technique and simultaneously has the ability to understand the non-verbal gestures of others.

How to Classify Noise as a barrier to communication?

As per the Shannon-Weaver model of communication mentioned in this noise as a barrier to communication report consists of the components as provided below: -

• Sender – It is from this point that the message is originated. He may be the speaker in case of oral communication or just a compiler in case of written communication.
• Transmitting equipment- By using this tool the compiled message could be encoded and transmitted to the receiving end.
• Channel- The coded message from the transmitter is being transferred to the receiver, thereby making a strong co-ordinance with the sender.
• Receiver- The coded message coming from the channel is being decoded at the receiver’s end so that he could read it.
• Destination- it is the last point of the flow of information where the receiver informs the concerned person about the message.

This whole process could be interrupted by the so-called noises which may block any of the five stages mentioned above. These noises have the potential to affect the efficiency of the company as a whole since the crucial messages would be missed and taken in misconception.

According to the opinion put forward by Shannon and Weaver in this noise as a barrier to communication report the noises could be classified according to their level of occurrences into three, which are: -

• Technical: This aspect checks the efficiency of the transmitter so the accuracy of the transmitted message could be evaluated.
• Semantic: This aspect checks the credibility of the message being conveyed by the receiver to the concerned person.
• Efficiency associated- As per this aspect, the actual ability of the desired person to contemplate and understand the actual message is analyzed.

Many of the obstructions and the noises come under the classification of these stages which are pointed out in the below section of this noise as a barrier to communication report: -

• Syntactical Noise: He sender should maintain language fluency, correct grammar and vocabulary. Otherwise, the receiver would not be able to understand the actual meaning, context, and mood of the sender.
• Environmental Noise: The external obstructions like heavy noises, high decibel sound from industry, vehicles, construction site, etc. could be considered as the environmental noise.
• Organizational Noise: If the sender has drafted the message in a very poor framework, it would be very difficult for the receiver to deduct the actual message. Hence the sender should prepare the message in a very lucid and effective style.
• Physiological Impairment Noise: This noise is a very generic one in real life and doesn't happen because of any engaging factors. The physical impairments like blindness, numbness, etc. could affect the efficient progress of communication.
• Cultural Noise: This obstruction causes in communication because of the misunderstanding in the cultural backgrounds and regional customs. Applauding a religious person with inappropriate salutation would create confusion and in wort case animosity towards the sender.
• Semantic Noise: In different regions people different signs and gestures to convey a different idea. For instance, the victory symbol showed by Americans is considered to be a very offensive gesture in South Africa. Hence the sender should be very aware of the semantics used in the regional area of the receivers.
• Psychological Noise: The specific attitude or tone used by the sender often disturbs the flow of the relevant emotions. Hence the message should be promulgated by the sender in a very amiable and polite manner for better transmission of the information.

It could be clear from the provided list and sections of noise that various factors have the potential to truly sabotage the intention and the context of the information. This would even lead to a substantial diminution of the existing relationship between the engaged parties. Other mentionable obstruction includes factors like language, gender difference, the bulk of information, prejudice, political correctness, etc.

It is a very known fact that each individual in the organization would have his own different viewpoints and opinions. This pool of opinions is very significant for the company since it plays a very crucial role in the success of the business.

The diversity in human resources would help the company keeping its pace in the global market by providing a crystal-clear idea of various attributes and dynamics of it. Although retaining a diverse human resource is a challenge in itself. Prejudice and preconception among the societies regarding a specific section of people reckoning the factors like homophobia, sexism, ageism, racism, etc. would lead to a great imbalance in the business processes thus creating a large obstruction from attaining the target. Hence proper awareness should be brought among the members of the staff and strict penalties should be imposed on those breach the company policies relevant to this section.

Hence as mentioned above in this noise as a barrier to communication report the intercultural competence is the only way in which efficient level of communication could be carried out among the diverse human resources. The concept of intercultural effectiveness deals with the capability to carry out the relevant and appropriate process of communication so that their efforts should be streamlined towards the common set of goals or objectives. Hence keeping in mind not to breach hurt any person's values, intentions, beliefs, expectations, custom, etc. In the global aspect, the subject of intercultural competence is given heavy significance since it is important to avoid any misconception and maintain harmony among the workers in a certain organization that possesses a diverse human resource. As the art of which various programs to increase the language proficiency, cross-cultural competence, and regional expertise of the staff is being implemented by well-organized companies.

Apart from the issue of intercultural consideration mentioned in this noise as a barrier to communication report, there are also some other problems prevailing which may hamper the natural flow of the information in the organization. The problems of difference in the political views, age, orientation towards gender, and other requirements make a very obstructive impact on the communication if left unattended.

In a considerably large business like a multi-national company, various discrepancies in the process of communication are eradicated by adopting a very modern and leading-edge approach. Below are given some of the major and most often used tactics that various companies use in the market.

• A very synchronized and common target would be set to the different factions of the staff so that there would be a general clarity in the objective and eventually simplifying the context to be transmitted to each individual.
• There should not be very complex framework of hierarchy in the firm so that the message does not get misinterpreted into something when it travels through the whole channel from the sender to the receiver.
• Many innovative strategies should be adopted by the management so that the generally existing obstructions in the course of effective communication be broken down. The new strategy should be designed in such a way that it reduces the obstruction and thus enhances the lucid flow of ideas and instruction among the departments.
• The process of communication should be simplified by just removing various intermediaries in the channel. This would also remove any filter or alteration in the context of the original message.

Although in recent decades the innovations and developments in the science and techniques of the communication field have opened great opportunities to the firms in upgrading their current communication process. The implementation of the new technologies would make the process of communication very cheap, efficient, and faster. The advanced information and technology had made the option of outsourcing the communication process a potential option. Endorsing some agency that is efficient in providing the communication service would be a very efficient and strategically significant move for a company. Since the effort endorsed in finding solutions for the communication problems could be now diverted and streamlined toward the common objective of making a profit.

The internet is filled with many social media platforms, which could be utilized by the higher authorities and the management team of the company so that the extra effort and expense have done in creating a separate portal that could be avoided. For instance, take the case of Twitter. It had evolved only a few years ago, yet the companies use it to get direct feedback from the customers about their goods and services. This has been a turning point in the customer satisfaction policy engrossed by many of the companies. The direct feedback from the customers would help the companies in pointing out the faults and demerits of their products and hence thereby could focus on eliminating those negative factors to increase the sale of their products. The company boards are very serious and attentive towards the tweets posted towards their products and thus the company staff couldn’t the responsibility towards its customers.

The development of smartphones has changed the whole market. The use of various tools and services like Intranets, Fax, Email, Telephone conferencing, etc., have been limited because of the use of modern smartphones. Although it should also be noted that the new advent in science and technology does not always turn favorable to the business of the company. Some contradicting scenarios are depicted in the below section of this noise as a barrier to communication report.

• The advent of new technologies has made the staff of the economy indulgent in the social websites that have reduced the dedication and involvement of the employees towards the common objective. The companies are forced to block and ban the use of social websites in the working environment.
• Because of the new advancements in the field of technology, the companies are required to update their business processes with new technology continuously. Not limited to this, there should be a special training session done for the employees to make them aware and conversant in using the new type of technology. Since the budget for this alteration is not always anticipated by the companies, they often find themselves in a confusing stage of incompetency.
• The modern technologies are dependent on many factors to work in a viable way. The cost incurred in the procurement of license fee, monthly internet charge, charges made on antivirus installation and update, etc. comes under this category.
• The company may incur a new requirement of trained and skilled personals who are well versed in the new technology. The companies sometimes find it extremely hard to train the existing workers for the newly developed technology since these are workers who have seasoned themselves to work in a certain way. When initially the computer was introduced in the global market, many companies had failed to train their existing employees since they found it very hard and complex to work on a computer. As a part of which many companies were ousted from the ruthless global market.
• Apart from all of these reasons, the company always face an imminent risk of information overload on their systems. This requires continuous maintenance of the system and hence has always been a matter of headache for the higher officials.

Keeping in mind these aspects, we have listed out the general pros and cons of the technologies from the viewpoint of the communication system in an operational market.

Advantages

1. It is a quite common fact that the advancement in technology would provide a cheap though a powerful system of communication in an organization.
2. The advanced technology would help in reducing manual labor and indulgence which provides the capability to the system in handling a huge amount of data and information in a very swift and accurate way.
3. The archaic methods like use of letters, stamps, and other hard copies could be avoided by using modern technologies. Hence reducing the cost and increasing the speed of the process simultaneously.
4. There should be no special effort made to sorting or maintaining the stack of data or files in the digital storage system.
5. The introduction of digital technology in the department of payroll and intensively increased the efficiency of the Human Resource Management Department. The activities of even a small number of employees had generated an immense amount

Disadvantages

• The installation of any new modern technology requires immense training programs so that the employees would be made adverse in handling the new pieces of machinery. Since this requires a lot of money from the annual budget, it sometimes turns out to be very detrimental for the company.
• A mentioned in the above point the company would require some skilled officials to train the existing officials. The company may find out very difficult to retain these skilled officials since the demand for these employees would be very high in the global market.
• Although the working cost of the new technologies is very high, the cost of its installation and the accessories service for its functioning turn out to be very expensive than anticipated.
• Because of high dynamics and speedy inventions in science and technology, new types of machinery and techniques are entering the market at a very high frequency. Hence the companies are forced to upgrade their system now and then to sustain in their competitive market.
• The companies are faced with the security problems in maintaining their crucial data since a minor glitch in the system would cause the loss of sensitive data which was not in the case of storing hard copies.

In conclusion, the major communication barriers in the corporate environment majorly consist of three types of obstructs, which are semantic noises, external noise barrier, and internal noise barrier as mentioned in the previous section of this noise as a barrier to communication report (Knapp, Vangelisti & Caughlin, 2014). While consider the section of internal communication barriers, factors like assumptions, moral beliefs, constructive defensiveness, etc. It is also thus quite evident that the receiver should understand the actual intent and tone of the sender. As per the observations and arguments of the renowned peer Kaul in hid research paper in 2014, the persons who claim to be a good speaker should have the skill to listen calmly and effectively the response from the receiver and thus facilitates the free and effortless transaction of the ideas and information. If the indulging parties in the conversation have their own preconceptions and prejudice, then the listener would not be very receptive to the responded data and would be more inclined towards giving a defying reply. This would cause a very large barrier in the efficient flow of data among the people. As the argument put forward by Greenaway et al., (2015), the best attitude a person indulged in communication is to keep a very accepting and calm attitude towards the information he is receiving from the other end. If any indulged individual tries to ignore the provided information and tries to keep his own argument the higher prominence, then obviously a very large gap and noise as a barrier to communication occur. The major factors which cause barriers to internal communication are premature evaluation or prejudice, cultural diversity, heavy misconceptions, non-vocabulary obstructions, etc.

The obstructions in the external environment have the potential to affect both the sender and receiver who are engaged in the channel (Bishop et al., 2013). Since these sorts of obstructions are not created by the parties engaged in the process only a limited control would be practiced on this factor. If taken an instance, let the receiver and sender are communicating via the method or channel of the internet. Any fluctuation in the speed of the internet or break would result in blocking the channel of information. Although it is an external disturbance the engaged parties are totally reliant on a third party for the efficient flow of information. The interference from the third party in the ongoing communication is also considered to be an external noise. Similarly, if all the communicating parties start to provide the information at once simultaneously, the receiver couldn’t be able to contemplate all the pieces of information provided. The other factors like sound emitted from the traffic blocks and enclosed nature of the environment also contribute to the external noises. As per the observations of Knapp, Vangelisti, and Caughlin (2014), communication s a form of art that could only be accomplished under the efficient display of leadership.

Conclusion
Several ways in which different noises could obstruct the ongoing communication process in an entity are being discussed in this noise as a barrier to communication article. Managers of the company are recommended to address the different noises discussed in this noise as a barrier to communication report to avoid the future potential risks to the communication process. The Shannon and Weaver model should be contemplated by the officials very thoroughly and it should be made certain that no phase should be blocked with potential noises. Noise As A Barrier To Communication assignments are being prepared by our management assignment help experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable assignment help online service.

Reference List
Bishop, T. F., Press, M. J., Mendelsohn, J. L., & Casalino, L. P. (2013). Electronic communication improves access, but barriers to its widespread adoption remain noise as a barrier to communication. Health Affairs, 32(8), 1361-1367.

Greenaway, K. H., Wright, R. G., Willingham, J., Reynolds, K. J., & Haslam, S. A. (2015). Shared identity is key to effective remain noise as a barrier to communication. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(2), 171-182.

Kaul, A. (2014). Effective business remains noise as a barrier to communication. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..

Knapp, M. L., Vangelisti, A. L., & Caughlin, J. P. (2014). Interpersonal Communication & Human Relationships remain noise as a barrier to communication. Pearson Higher Ed.