Tourism and Hospitality

Home > Tourism and Hospitality > Hospitality operations (240 hours) > Core units > Work with colleagues and customers > Work with colleagues and customers

Barriers to communication

Communication problems

When you ask a question do you always get the answer you were looking for? - not always, in the ‘real’ world things can go wrong. Have you ever sent a message that was not understood or not delivered? Can you identify the reasons it was lost, delayed, misunderstood or rejected?

Some of the most common communication breakdowns occur because of the following situations:

Using the wrong words—For example, ‘It won’t cost you much at all.’ can be ambiguous. (‘Not much’ can mean different things to different people.)

Communication chain too long—The more people a message is passed to the more things can go wrong. Each time the message is transmitted to another person, each person adds his or her own interpretation often resulting in the last person receiving a message with a different meaning.

Priority clashes—For example, in a restaurant, a waitress may be given different instructions by three supervisors.

Message overload—This can occur, when to many messages are given at once or to quickly. The receiver does not have sufficient time to decode the message before receiving the next one.

Using industry jargon—Each industry has its own jargon. A new staff member regardless of their skills and ability will experience difficulty and confusion when confronted with jargon they are unfamiliar with.

Culturally based language—Guests and staff from many different backgrounds may have communication problems when specific terms are used that may be unknown to them.

Causes of ineffective listening and communications

There are many factors that prevent us from listening effectively these are often referred to as barriers to listening and may cause communication problems.

Ineffective communication

Ineffective listening and communication may be a result of the following barriers:

Environmental factors such as lighting, temperature and the physical appearance of where you are and the noise level surrounding you all impact on your ability to listen and communicate effectively.
The tone, level, speed and the type of language a person uses
The length of time it takes to deliver the message.
The use of unfamiliar colloquialisms or jargon.
The listener’s emotions – they may not listen to you if they are upset or distressed
How the listener perceives the sender, do they like the person, do they think the person knows what they are talking about, do they think the person is too flash all of these thoughts will affect a persons ability to listen effectively
A physical condition that affects concentration and/or limits the amount of information the listener can take in or comprehend
The listener may feel that they already know the information being given or that the information is irrelevant to them

When any communication takes place the listener must ask questions, this shows the speaker your understanding and helps to prevent misunderstanding. Repeating back to the speaker any instructions given will ensure the message has been understood.

Back to Work with colleagues and customers