Semantic barriers
1. Badly expressed messages: Sometimes the manager or superiors may not express the communication the way they intend and meaning of the messages may not be communicated accurately to the intended recipients. This generally happens when the superior uses wrong words make omissions or have poor vocabulary.
2. Symbols with different meanings: A word may have different meanings when these are used in different contexts. The sender must be very cautious while using such words and the receiver to should perceive one such meaning intended for such words. For example, consider these three sentences where the work value is used:
- what is the value of this ring?
- I value our friendship.
- what is the value of learning computer skills?
We can find that the value gives different meanings in different contexts. The wrong perception leads to communication problems.
3. Unclarified assumptions: Unclarified assumptions may carry different interpretations. For example a boss may instruct his subordinate “take care of our guest”.Boss may mean that subordinate should take care of transport ,food ,accommodation of the guest until he leaves the place. The subordinate may interpreter that guest should be taken to hotel with care actually the guest suffers due to these unclarified assumptions.
4. Technical jargon: Many times it happens that the specialists and top-level officials use technical words in their communication which poses a problem to the employees to get the exact meaning.
5 body language and gesture decoding: body movements and language tell more than the written communication. If the body language does not match with the written message or verbal message the actual meaning of the communication may be lost.