Organizational: "Obstacles related to the structure, policies, and systems within a workplace."
"Rigid hierarchy, unclear reporting lines, lack of standardized communication channels, information overload due to excessive emails."
"Slows down decision-making, fosters a climate of fear/distrust, leads to duplication of effort."
Physical/Environmental: "Barriers related to the setting, surroundings, or physical distance between communicators."
"Excessive noise in the workplace, geographically dispersed teams, poor visibility during presentations, outdated or malfunctioning communication equipment (phones, video calls).","Distraction, message distortion, lack of non-verbal cues (e.g., body language), delays in receiving urgent information."
Linguistic / Semantic: "Problems arising from the language used, including vocabulary, phrasing, and interpretation of words."
"Use of excessive technical jargon or acronyms, ambiguity in phrasing, differences in language fluency, using words that have multiple meanings (polysemy).","Misinterpretation of the message's core intent, confusion, failure to understand instructions clearly."
Psychological / Perceptual: Internal mental and emotional states of the communicators that influence how a message is encoded or decoded.
"Filtering (telling the boss only what they want to hear), Selective Perception (only hearing what one expects to hear), strong emotions (anger, fear, excitement), preconceived notions/biases."
"Distortion of the original message, defensive listening, poor retention of information, unnecessary conflict."
Cultural: "Differences in background, values, norms, and non-verbal behaviors across diverse groups or individuals."
"Misinterpretation of gestures (e.g., nodding or eye contact), varying perceptions of time (punctuality), differences in communication styles (direct vs. indirect), gender or age stereotypes."
"Offense taken unintentionally, breakdown of rapport, misunderstanding of motivational context."
