Step 1: Identify the concept being tested.
The question asks for personal barriers to communication, which are barriers that arise from the psychological state, attitudes or relationships of the people sending and receiving a message.
Step 2: Explain the concept.
These barriers usually come from the hierarchy within an organisation or from personal attitudes, and they interfere with the honest, open flow of information between people.
Step 3: State the four personal barriers.
First, fear of challenge to authority, where a superior withholds information that might threaten their own position or status. Second, lack of confidence in subordinates, where a superior does not trust their staff's competence and so avoids sharing important information with them. Third, lack of time for subordinates, where superiors are too busy or unwilling to communicate with those below them. Fourth, unwillingness to communicate, where either party deliberately holds back information, sometimes to gain an advantage over the other.
Step 4: Final answer.
Four personal barriers to communication are fear of challenge to authority, lack of confidence in subordinates, lack of time for subordinates, and unwillingness to communicate.