Assignment: Communication Inhibitors

Overview:

For this assignment, you are asked to collect real-life examples of barriers (inhibitors) to communication that occur in your work or community environment. The examples of communication barriers that you collect can be from documents, conversations (face-to-face or digital), email messages, or meetings. This assignment consists of four parts:

Part I:

Think about your work or community and come up with 3-4 real-life examples of barriers (inhibitors) to written and verbal communication that occur in that environment. The communication examples you come up with can be from documents, conversations (face-to-face or digital), emails, or meetings.

Then write one or two detailed paragraphs of 100-125 words each in which you describe the following:

• your workplace or community setting you have chosen to analyze
• the communication barriers in that setting that you are describing
• other details you think might be relevant to the context

Various types of communication inhibitors, and examples of them, can be found in the four articles that are available to you through eReserves. These communication barriers include but are not limited to the following:

connotative meanings of words             organizational barriers

personal censors and filters                  nonverbal barriers

noise (real and semantic)                     competitive barriers

audience expectations                          lack of writing purpose, organization, support or clarity

communication structure (or lack of)      artificial voice

direction of communication                    forced collaboration

physical barriers                                   faulty level of technicality

cultural barriers                                    faulty level of formality

experiential barriers                              faulty direction

perceptual barriers                                poor timing

motivational barriers                             excessive subjectivity

emotional barriers                                linguistic barriers

Part II:

After you've collected at least 3-4 communication barriers and have identified the inhibitors they represent, define the inhibitors in a bulleted list. The definition you provide should identify the general characteristics of the inhibitor and how it works to impede communication. The definitions should not mention your specific work environment.

Part III:

Analyze these 3-4 communication inhibitors as they apply to your workplace or community environment. List them in a table with three columns:

• the communication example either as a direct quote or paraphrase
• the name of the inhibitor(s) at work in the sample
• a justification of your selection of the inhibitor(s)

Part IV:

Using a scale of 1 to 100 (with a score of 75 considered average), rank your organization's communication effectiveness. Justify and explain the score you award. Your justification should be one to two paragraphs, about 175-250 words total.