There could be multiple ways that interpersonal communication barriers could inhibit the development of diversity competency. In order to successfully communicate, we must know how the receiver communicates. We can’t communicate successfully with somebody that we do not understand. The receiver’s culture may be different from the sender’s culture thus, creating a barrier. This barrier could be caused by the sender’s body language towards the receiver. The receiver may take offense to the sender’s body language, without the sender knowing any difference. Diversity competency cannot be improved if we do not understand the receiver’s culture. For example, when I was stationed in Iraq, I was in a culture shock. We would communicate with the Iraqi
