COMMUNICATIONS BARRIERS AS A RESULT OF HUMAN, NOT TECHNICAL LIMITATIONS IN THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT

In a world of mobile phone, video-conferencing and internet technologies, it is easy assume that our communication problems are over. This kind of technological optimism is, of course, actively promoted by those whose job it is to market the latest hardware and software. However, while technology provides ever faster and more portable communication channels, with increasing carrying capacity (or ‗band with‘), the quality and effectiveness of communication flowing through any channel depends ultimately on the communicative practices adopted by users As communicators, we are almost always over-optimistic about our messages, assuming they will survive unscathed, all the way from our own brains to those of the receiver. In fact, all messages are vulnerable to the phenomenon of ‗noise‘. We consider how insights from disciplines such as psychology, anthropology and ethics have informed our understanding of human communication processes. The original conceptualization of ‗noise‘ referred to technological problems, however, it will become clear that communication barriers are primarily the result of human limitations. Consequently, the key to avoiding communication failure is self-awareness on the part of the sender. Research suggests that our ability to communicate with one another is profoundly influenced by three inter-related mechanisms: alertness and attention: affecting what data our senses manage to pick up; perception: resulting in different interpretations of the same sensory data; memory: affecting the messages we retain and those we can subsequently recall. The key lesson is that the capabilities of different people will vary in each of these areas, affecting their ability to communicate. Furthermore, the same individual can display wide variations at different points in time. When receivers are repeatedly exposed to the same stimuli, they become ‗habituated‘ to it, the response is no longer activated, and the message blends into the background. This adaptation has important implications for communicators. The first relates to the social psychological phenomenon of conformity, a process in which the norms, values and behaviours of an individual begin to follow those of the wider group. The second concerns cultural differences, where individuals in one social group may have different norms, values or behaviour to individuals associated with another grouping. The third barrier is caused by ethical constraints exerted by the organization. So, in a word, barriers in communications are not so much caused by technology, but above all, by human limitation. Although, we all, think we are good communicators, misunderstandings, actually have an epidemic scale.