STUDENTS' CORNER - 123

Next barrier to communication is what is called Status barrier.

Any organization will have a hierarchy, a downward channel of positions, say, from Managing Director to the last office assistant and reversing the order makes it an upward channel.  With complex situation involving many positions with many responsibilities from simple to serious, hierarchy is inevitable for any organization. And it is time-old practice that there must a reporting system in any organization that helps monitor the performance of the organization. Generally, a top official, unless the urgent situation demanded, won’t talk to the last man of the organization. And, no wonder, the last man won’t dare approach the top official directly.

This positional rigidity, so to say, gives room to some types of communication in the sense that the top official will not share all the information with his subordinates who in turn do the same thing. Prestige prohibits the top official to share all the details of business with all below him and sense of security drives the subordinates to choose to tell what might please the superior.  In this context, there is a possibility that some vital information may get delayed to reach the proper person and this may at least impact the business though it may not be of a serious kind.

Choosing to say to a colleague from among the details known to one gives room to what is called filtering. Personal reasons which normally point to security and promotion in the organization cause filtering.  Many more details can be added; but for the time being and for the context, it is enough if we know that hierarchy in an organization causes in some ways barriers to communication through the so called filters.

In our next session, we shall discuss some more barriers to communication, though briefly. As it is, we have dealt with the topic in some detail just to impress that communication skills are very essentials for businesses to survive.