Organisational Barriers:

Organisations give a formal framework through that communication is designed to flow. The structuring of the flow itself tends to act as a barrier against free flow of communication among persons and levels in the organisation. Rules might prescribe how communications are to move from one level to another in upward or downward directions. Not only is there a possibility of delay in the communication reaching its destination, but also there is each possibility of communication getting distorted by the procedure of filtering as described previously. It has been found that when information is channelled through various levels of the organisation, it alters as people interpreted facts differently. In an organisational setting, this could be an extremely big problem since senior level executives have to depend on the information and interpretations of their subordinates. Critical information that has lost its criticality because of the actions of the intervening levels might jeopardize the position of the manager as well as the organisation itself.

It has been observed in which the upward communication is particularly subject to the influence of filtering in large organisations. Upward communication serves essentially two reasons in an organisation. First, it helps in coordinating and controlling the activities of the organisation. Second, it enables the superior to appraise the performance of his/her subordinates. Although the former does not create any problems, the latter has behavioural implications. It is human nature to show one's performance in a better light than what it really is. This tendency of an individual naturally brings about a filtering by conscious or unconscious altering, withholding or interpreting facts to be transmitted upward.