Reference no: EM133051737

Barriers to Communication 

1. For each of the scenarios below, determine which barrier to communication is being demonstrated.

a.  David was continually asking Amina to engage in troubleshooting and to offer her expert opinion. In Amina's culture, employees did not offer their own ideas in case they were better than those of their supervisor - which would shame the supervisor. Which barrier to communication is being demonstrated here?

b.  Selene grew up in a household where things were done for her. Whenever things got too difficult for her, Selene would instinctively seek out assistance. She could not understand, then, why Mark - who grew up on a farm continually troubleshooting and figuring out how to do something on his own - was continually angry with her requests for assistance. Which barrier to communication is being demonstrated here?

c.  Lars was frustrated. For the third time in two weeks, he had scheduled a call with Tom in Sweden to review plans for the new facility, but Tom did not attend the call. The time difference was difficult enough to manage! Which barrier to communication is being demonstrated here?

d.  Angie found herself with a headache after meetings with her Australian counterparts. She had to strain to understand their accents and had her "Australian Slang" online dictionary constantly open to look up words and phrases that made no sense to her. Which barrier to communication is being demonstrated here?

2. Defensive communication in organizations is a form of incivility that creates barriers between people, whereas nondefensive communication opens relationships. Provide an example of each. 

Defensive: 

Nondefensive: 

3. What are some of the barriers in communication you experience in the workplace: