BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVECOMMUNICATION
Dofasco’s former CEO, John Mayberry, initially had difficulty communicating with his employ-
ees. He didn’t really respect them, because he felt they represented an entitlement culture
(“good day’s work, a day’s pay, nice retirement package”).^12 Thus, he used selective perception
when evaluating their concerns. Because he carried out surprise inspections, employees wor-
ried they would be fired for any little problem. This made them defensive. What are other
ways that communication can be negatively affected?A number of factors have been identified as barriers to communication. The more
prominent ones are filtering, selective perception, defensiveness, information overload,
and language.Filtering
Filteringoccurs when a sender manipulates information so that the receiver will view
it more favourably. For example, when a manager tells a senior executive what the man-
ager thinks the executive wants to hear, the manager is filtering information. Does this
happen much in organizations? Sure! As information is passed up to senior executives,
employees must condense and summarize it so that those on top don’t become over-
loaded with information. The personal interests and perceptions of what is important
by those doing the summarizing will result in filtering.
The major determinant of filtering is the number of levels in an organization’s struc-
ture. The more levels in an organization’s hierarchy, the more opportunities there are for
filtering information.Selective Perception
Receivers in the communication process selectively see and hear based on their needs,
motivations, experience, background, and other personal characteristics. Receivers also
project their interests and expectations into communications as they decode them. For
example, the employment interviewer who believes that young people are more inter-
ested in spending time on leisure and social activities than working extra hours to fur-
ther their careers is likely to be influenced by that stereotype when interviewing young
job applicants. As we discussed in Chapter 2, we do not see reality; rather, we interpret
what we see and call it “reality.”
Enron’s former CEO, Jeff Skilling, is a good example of a person with selective per-
ception. When he was interviewed in November 2001 as information about Enron’s
accounting problems was just starting to emerge, he refused to acknowledge that any-
thing wrong had gone on at the company. To him, Enron represented “a totally differ-
ent way of thinking about business—we got it,” he said.^13 His implication was that it was
everyone else who was using selective perception in failing to recognize Enron’s great-
ness. As the scandal continued to unfold, it became obvious that it was Skilling who was
using selective perception.Defensiveness
When people feel that they are being threatened, they tend to react in ways that reduce
their ability to achieve mutual understanding. That is, they become defensive—engag-
ing in behaviours such as verbally attacking others, making sarcastic remarks, being
overly judgmental, and questioning others’ motives. So when individuals interpret
another’s message as threatening, they often respond in ways that hinder effective com-
munication. OB in the Workplaceshows how defensiveness between the new head of
FPI and the company’s employees led to the breakdown of an acquisitions deal.190 Part 3Interacting Effectively
filtering A sender’s manipulation
of information so that it will be seen
more favourably by the receiver.
2 What are the barriers
to communication?