SENDER-MESSAGE BARRIERS

These barriers generally relate to style and content of communication, both of which originate with the
sender.
Examples of sender barriers include:
1. Sender has not decided or specified precisely what listener response is expected.
2. Sender incorrectly assumes the listener has adequate knowledge to understand the message.
3. Sender uses words and examples unfamiliar to the listener.
4. Sender continues talking when the listener’s attention has been distracted (i.e. noise,
uncomfortably cold or hot, other people, dangerous objects, etc.).
5. The sender may say the message in a way that turns of the listener or may even antagonize the
listener to cause a totally different message to come through than the one intended.
6. The 500 most commonly used words in the English language have 14,070 dictionary meanings.
They mean different things to different people.
7. More words are used than are necessary to convey the message, which forces the listener to make
conclusions about which words carry the real meaning of the message.
8. More than one issue is included in a single message, which confuses the listener.
9. Illustrations or examples used may not be appropriate to get the point across to the listener.
10. The sender may intentionally beat around the bush and never get to the point of the
communication.
Sender-message barriers start to develop before there is any attempt to exchange understanding with
anyone else. They continue throughout the exchange whether the exchange is written, spoken, or a
combination of both.
The title Sender-Message fixes ownership and responsibility for this barrier with the sender. Oftentimes,
there is a reluctance to deal with (overcome) this kind of barrier for the following reasons:
- Sender may not be aware of the barrier’s existence.
- Sender, in a supervisory position, may feel that the receiver is responsible for understanding.
- Senders may be aware of their existence, but not know what to do about it.
- Senders may be aware of their existence, but feel that the urgency is too great to spend sufficient time to
overcome it.
- Receivers may not be aware of their existence.
- Receiver may realize that a message is unclear or that the method or style of presentation is causing the
barrier, but hesitates to take a risk and mention it to the sender.It is the sender’s responsibility to achieve understanding and, therefore, the sender’s responsibility to take action to overcome sender-message barriers and achieve commitment from the listener to respond as expected. Sender-message barriers are by far the most common barriers and contribute to more communication failures than physical and listener barriers combined.