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CMA Foundation · Fundamentals of Business Laws and Business Communication · Barriers to Business Communication

A purchase manager at a Pune firm sends a supplier an email saying 'Dispatch the consignment ASAP at the usual rate.' The supplier does not know which of two earlier rates is 'usual' and ships late after seeking clarification. Which barrier is chiefly illustrated?

This is a semantic barrier. The message used vague expressions such as 'ASAP' and 'usual rate', which the supplier could not interpret with certainty, so clarification was needed and the dispatch was delayed. No physical, status or technical fault is involved.

  1. ASemantic barrier arising from vague wordingCorrect
  2. BPhysical barrier of noise
  3. CBarrier of status difference
  4. DTechnological barrier of network failure

Explanation

The problem lies in ambiguous words ('ASAP', 'usual rate') that the receiver could not interpret with certainty. This is a semantic (language-related) barrier. No noise, status issue or network failure is mentioned in the situation.

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