Question

Mr. Fernandes is the owner of Unibie Enterprises, carrying on the business of manufacturing electrical appliances. There is a lot of discontentment in the organisation and targets are not being met. He asked his son, Michel, who has recently completed his MBA, to find out the reason. Michel found that all decision making of the enterprise were in the hands of his father. Moreover, his father did not have confidence in the competencies of the employees. Thus, the employees were not happy.

(a) Identify any two communication barriers because of which 'Unibie Enterprises’ was not able to achieve its target.

(b) State one more barrier each of the types identified in part (a) above.

Answer 1

(a) Two communication barriers are:

(i) Personal barrier/Lack of confidence of superior on his subordinates.

(ii) Organisational barrier/Organisational facilities.

(b) Personal barrier:

(i) Fear of challenge to authority may make the superior withhold communication.

(ii) Unwillingness to communicate on the part of the subordinates may arise if they perceive that the communication may adversely affect their interests.

(iii) Lack of proper incentives may hinder the initiative of the subordinates to communicate.

Organisational barrier:

(i) Organisational policy may not be supportive to free flow communication.

(ii) Rigid Rules and regulations may delay communication.

(iii) Status of the superior may not allow his subordinates to express their feelings freely.

(iv) Complexity in organization structure leads to delayed and distorted communication.