Communication Barriers in the Interaction Between Civil Servants and the Public: Case Analyses

Abstract

This article deals with the issues of interaction between civil servants and the population. Based on the analysis of cases and the results of a series of focus groups conducted among communication experts and civil servants, the main communicative strategies of interaction between the state and the population are analysed, the communicative competences of civil servants in Kazakhstan are assessed, and the existing barriers to communication of civil servants in the context of different target groups are considered. The results of the study showed that the following barriers exist in the communication of state bodies with the population: perception of information, behavioural barriers on the part of citizens, behavioural barriers on the part of civil servants, language barriers, emotional barriers to a large extent and gender barriers to a lesser extent.