In the exchange with the manager described above, an internal barrier prevented the message from being understood.  In your previous experience, the term “Next Friday” has meant Friday of the following week – not the next Friday to occur.  Because of your previous experience, you interpreted the message to have a different meaning that the sender intended.

Mention of emotions distractions, biases and lack of motivation are other examples of internal communication barriers.

• Negative bias toward the topic. If you have had a bad experience with regards to a certain topic, it may be hard to accept positive comments.
• Lack of motivation. If you have no reason to be interested in what is being said or the topic.
• Differences in perception and distortion. As communication takes place between individuals who are all different and unique, it is only natural that their interpretations of messages may differ.  Individual personalities, preferences, attitudes, cultures, values, norms, ideas, and background affect people’s perceptions.  Furthermore, the fact that messages are often relayed from person to person creates opportunities for filtering and other forms of distortion.  Filtering refers to the deliberate manipulation of information to make it more acceptable to the receiver.
• Personality differences. Some people are by nature more critical, narrow minded or less even tempered than others.  These personality traits influence the way that messages are interpreted and the way in which messages are communicated.
• Lack of communication. Some people lack the basic skills to communicate effectively.  They may have problems with expressing themselves, sometimes because of poor language skills or they may be poor listeners.
• Information overload. When a person receives too much information at once, making sense of it all can be very difficult.  This is especially true if a person receives conflicting messages from different sources at the same time.  In organisations, employees are often overloaded with information from various sources and they are sometimes expected to make several important decisions in one day.  This can become very confusing and frustrating and ultimately the quality of decisions taken might be negatively affected.
• Choosing the wrong communication medium. The best medium for a specific message is the one that reaches the target audience in the most affective and affordable way.  Choosing the wrong medium could result in ineffective communication.
• Rumours. The grapevine could become a major barrier to effective corporate communication if false rumours are spread.
• Language and emotional barriers. Not all people are equally proficient in the use of different languages.  Employees are often required to communicate in their second or third language.  Apart from this, different people sometimes attach different meanings to the same word.  Emotions also play an important role in the interpretation of messages that are received.  Depending on how happy or sad a person is, he or she might interpret the same message differently on two separate occasions.
• Contradiction between verbal and non-verbal messages. Body language and other non-verbal clues, like tone and pitch of voice, play a very important role in the communication process.  If a verbal and non-verbal message contradicts each other, the receiver of the information will be confused, and the message will be distorted.
• Diversity. Different cultures have different styles of communication.