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Barriers to communication

Good communication skills are essential in the Entertainment industry. Good communication skills positively affect the quality of customer service and workplace productivity. They are also essential to the effective handling of complaints and minimise conflicts between workers.

Lack of empathy

If an employee has little empathy with a customer (understanding of how they feel) they really won’t be able to provide the full service the customer expects.

For example, if a customer wants to purchase lighting for their community art exhibition they will have a variety of needs and wants to be addressed. They’ll be considering such things as intensity, colour, beam shaping, angles of reflection, ultra violet effects on art works, hours of operation, methods of placing luminaries, power supply, heat, static or changing light levels, time frame for implementing lighting equipment etc.

If the employee of the lighting company does not have an understanding of these needs and wants (that is, they don’t have empathy with the customer) they may not be able to meet the customer’s needs.

Negative subtext

Subtext is the information that is implied instead of being directly stated. If you sigh or look away as someone is explaining something to you it gives the listener the negative subtext that you are not interested in what they are saying.

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism means the belief that one’s own culture or ethnic group is superior to other cultures or ethnic groups. It tends to generalise about other cultures and customs in a negative way. It isn’t necessarily considered to be racist as it doesn’t infer that another race is ‘bad’ just ‘not as good as’, although it can support racist viewpoints.

Bias and stereotyping

Ethnocentrism often leads to bias and stereotyping. It means to make assumptions about people because of their race or culture. Gender, physical appearance, sexual preference and age are other forms of stereotyping, bias and prejudice that sometimes hinder equal opportunities for all employees. For example, an older worker might not be given a new opportunity because it involves using new technology and the employer might perceive that older people can’t learn to use new technology easily. This may mean that the best person for the job doesn’t get a chance because of a manager’s bias and stereotyping.

Gender issues

Often gender stereotypes cause barriers in communication. Some people assume that a person would not be able to do a certain job because of their gender.

Up until the early nineties the Entertainment Industry was male dominated in the technical production area and women were the preferred candidates for stage management. Women were stereotyped as being better organised, whereas men were seen as the better candidates for technical jobs.

Today in the Entertainment Industry things have changed and people aren’t shocked at seeing a female audio engineer and a male stage manager. To communicate well with someone you shouldn’t speak to a person as a man or woman but as a colleague or customer.

Useful information about barriers to communication can be found at the Hodu website at http://www.hodu.com >>interpersonal relationships>>Seven Barriers to Great Communication – by Eric Garner

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