I. Description of community setting, including a description of the 3-4 communication inhibitors that occur in that setting:
Communication is an integral process in human interactions. Effective communication allows people to understand one another, enhancing positive interactions. Nevertheless, glitches to communication from a host of barriers are inevitable and must be addressed. This paper explores how communication barriers impair interaction among community members of Silver Spring. The choice of Silver Spring as the appropriate community for the case study stems from the understanding that it is among the most ethnically diverse cities in the US. The Silver Spring population comprises mainly of youth, young adults, and mature adults. The population has a high rate of formal education with majority of the community members holding high school diplomas and college degrees, with the majority working in formal employment. Silver Spring is ethnically diverse as evidenced in the ancestry and language of its residents. A significant proportion of the residents are foreign born. The population characteristics make the city perfect case for the study of barriers to effective communication.
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Owing to its population characteristics, Silver Spring community faces a number of inhibitors to effective communication. The most notable barriers are language, cultural diversity, channel barriers, and the environment. From personal interaction with community members of Silver Spring, it is evident that there are over a dozen languages used by people to communicate. A similar trend is seen in the ancestry of the community members, a phenomenon responsible for cultural diversity. By virtue of its population being mostly young, there is observed preference for the use of social media and technology platforms over traditional face-to-face communications. Lastly, people find themselves in work, school, and social settings with no standard communication requirements.
II. Definitions of the 3-4 inhibitors:
Language barrier – Language is the primary mode of communication, but also serves as a barrier to this important process. With almost two dozen languages, barriers in vocabulary, dialect, and accent become substantial. Even in situations where majority of the population has gone through formal education (usually offered in English), semantic gaps persist when using words with similar pronunciation, but different meanings. Language barrier increases the likelihood of wrong interpretations due to improperly expressed messages and wrong assumptions. The outcome is impairment of the efficiency of the communication process.
Cultural diversity – Any community with at least one dozen ethnic groups is likely to encounter many communication challenges. Cultural diversity refers to differences in demographics including age, gender, education, socio-economic class, cultural background, behavior, physical appearance, and health. The phenomenon also covers religious beliefs, political affiliations, ethnic values, and overall perception of morality. These attributes potentially influence individual perceptions of others in relation to language and communication approaches. The factors can contribute to misunderstandings and false assumption due to variation in cultural beliefs, making communication challenging.
Communication channel – All communication occurs through different channels, which refer to platforms or modes use by individual to pass across and receive messages. Channels become barriers when they are inappropriate, implying they do not address critical communication needs. The proliferation in the adoption of technology and the rise of social media, have changed the landscape of communication channels. Young people have preferences for social media platforms, a practice that acts as an inhibitor to effective communication between them and adults and the elderly. In addition, individuals who are speakers of other languages and users of social media encounter language barriers in communication using platforms that primarily use English language. The rise of social media is often cited to be responsible for the decline in face-to-face communication, a development that makes the use of other communication channels such as non-verbal cues difficult.
Environment – People are exposed to community and work settings that have varying interaction dynamics. Environment can produce numerous inhibitors to the communication process. People encounter communication challenges at the community level due to whether or ambience in which they find themselves. For instance, people on a busy highway may find it difficult to communicate effectively because of noise, while those using public transport face challenges because they are required to maintain decorum by not disrupting other through loud talks. The environment may also present physical inhibitors to communication in the form of walls between rooms, buildings, and other erected obstacles that impair vision or gestures.
III. Table of the 3-4 communication samples and the inhibitors they represent:
| The communication example either as a direct quote or paraphrase | The name of the inhibitor(s) that the example represents |
A justification of your selection of the inhibitor |
| The organizers of a community event were concerned that few people were going to turn up. When quizzed why such was the case, they confessed to printing brochures using names drawn from different ethnic groups. | Language | It is possible that the names used may have caused misunderstanding of the intended message, thus, highlighting the role of language as communication inhibitor. |
| “I won’t be going to that party. Everything is just weird, from the songs to conversation. I won’t be able to hear a thing. Besides, such parties are meant for a specific group of people who can afford them.” | Cultural diversity | The recognition of the inability to fit into the party demonstrates cultural diversity at play. Differences in culture inhibit communication leading to reluctance to engage in social event for fear of appearing the odd one out. |
| One of the neighborhoods kids was asking his mother if she had seen the notice about the class’ upcoming trip. He insisted that he had forwarded the message to her via WhatsApp. The mother observed that her app has not been functional for the last two weeks. | Channel barrier | The example shows that the social media platform is an inhibitor to communication. It is possible the mother’s app was out of date, impairing effective communication between her and her son. |
| A person was observed communicating over the phone repeating the phrases “pardon, I didn’t get that, please repeat what you were saying!” They would then remove their phone from the ear and look at it, then put it back and ask, “Can you hear me now? I can’t hear you, are you in a noise place?” | Environment | From the example, it can be deciphered that the person on the other end of the phone could have been in a noise place, or an environment with poor connectivity such as a room, which highlights the role of environment a barrier to communication. |
IV. Short paragraph rating the organization’s communication effectiveness on a scale of 1 to 100 and justifying the ranking:
Review of the characteristics of the population of Silver Spring in the context of communication inhibitors generates insights into the relationship between the two. The community’s communication effectiveness can be rated at 80. The above average rating is attributed to the fact that despite the evident cultural diversity that creates a host of inhibitors, the community strives to use English as the primary communication language. The practice reduces the likelihood of language being an inhibitor. People tend to use native languages from their countries of origin when communicating privately with family and close friends, but switch to English when in the public, including those experiencing challenges in its use.
The use of English as the primary language assists in the reduction of other inhibitors including those from caused by cultural diversity and the environment. The community feels united through one language; hence, its members willingly participate in social events because of the perceived reduction in communication barriers. On the other hand, the channel related inhibitors persist due to different preferences between the youth and the elderly. Young people spend substantial time in social media platforms, a practice that impairs their ability to use traditional communication channels, and influences communication negatively.
