Communication Barriers - The Sword and the Millstone (Scenario)
Sandra Millstone, the CEO of Excalibur Manufacturing Company, concluded that the company would have to reduce its workforce by 10 percent at the end of the month due to declining demand for their products. She spent several hours preparing charts, tables, graphs, diagrams, and other visual aids for a presentation to the employees about the upcoming layoffs. Although the company's situation was uncertain, Sandra intended to tell the employees that the layoffs were a short-term measure and that the long-term prospects for the company were very favorable. Sandra hoped that the optimistic tone of the presentation would help employees understand the reasons for her decision and feel better about the layoff situation.
-By the time that Sandra had finished the presentation to the employees,she had spoken for one and one-half hours and had shown 24 visual aids.No one asked a question.The employees were probably dealing with which of the following barriers to effective communication?
A)information overload
B)selective perception
C)receiver emotions
D)filtering

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The scenario suggests that Sandra presented a lot of information using various visual aids, which may have overwhelmed the employees and caused them to have difficulty processing and retaining the information. This is an example of information overload, which can be a barrier to effective communication. The fact that no one asked a question also implies that the employees may have been too overwhelmed or confused to effectively engage with the presentation.

Communication Barriers - the Sword and the Millstone (Scenario)