Communication Inhibitors (Barriers)

Assignment 1. Communication Inhibitors (Barriers)

Please note that your final paper in WRTG 394 is a research-based report. The work you do for this first writing assignment might lead to an excellent topic on which to write your final paper. 

Summary of Assignment  

 Task:  For this assignment, you are asked to collect real-life examples of barriers to communication  that occur in your work or community environment. You will describe them, define them, justify them in a table, and then use them to rate your organizations communication effectiveness. 

 Length:  The assignment has four parts.  Details on word count are provided below and in the following pages.  

o  Part I of this assignment will be 200-250 words 

o  Part II is a list of definitions.  The definitions in this section should be about 30-40 words each. 

o  Part III is a table with short examples, names, and justifications.  Word count will vary. 

o  Part IV will be 175-250 words.  

 Format:  Review WRTG 394_WA#1_Communication Inhibitors Sample Report. In writing up the assignment, please follow the template given below. Do not cite sources in this paper.

Details on Each Part of the Assignment

See the template below for the layout of this paper. 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.

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

 your workplace or community setting (environment) you have chosen to analyze 

 the communication barriers in that setting that you are describing. Just introduce (i.e., list) your 3-4 communication inhibitors (barriers) at the end of Part 1.

 other details you think might be relevant to the context 

Barriers  Various types of communication inhibitors, and examples of them, can be found in the articles that are available to you through eReserves, etc. 

Related readings:

First, rely on the handouts I posted under Announcements called “Barriers to Communication or the like.

Access and read through the following articles about communication inhibitors:

 Dr. K. Usha Rani, “Communication Barriers”

 Lumen Learning, “Communication Barriers”

These items are available as eReserves in our class in LEO. You can access the articles by taking the following steps:   

 click Content.  

 select Class Resources.   

 select eReserves.

 select the icon for eReserves in the middle of your page.  

 in the list of items that appears, locate the articles and download them.    

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. Give a formal, detailed, precise (correct) definition of each selected barrier. 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. 

Definitions should demonstrate parallel structure. That means all should be written as complete sentences, infinitive phrases, or in another phrase form. For help understanding parallel structure, press the ctrl key and click on the following link: 

Please consult the sample student submission for this assignment in order to see a demonstration on how this part might be written.

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 (see template):

 The communication example either as a direct quote or paraphrase; or explain a specific communication breakdown that occurred to prove your points. 

 The name of the inhibitor(s) at work in the sample.

 A justification of your selection of the inhibitor(s). Stay focused on where, how, and why COMMUNICATION is breaking down because of the barriers. Make sure your examples (i.e., incidents) and explanations (justifications) of them meet and parallel your definitions of each selected inhibitor (barrier) in Part II.

Again, please consult the video on this assignment and the sample student submission to this assignment in order to see a demonstration on how this part might be written.Part IV: Using a scale of 1 to 100 (with a score of 75 considered average), rank your organization’s communication effectiveness based on your barriers and examples. Justify and explain the score you award. Your justification for the ranking should be one to two paragraphs, about 150 words total.

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.

Template