Communication. Or rather lack of or too little or too late. It is blamed for corporate staff unhappiness. It is blamed for incorrect actions and activities. It is blamed for non desired result. I think it is exploited a lot too, giving communication the blame for something that had little or nothing to do with the communication - to the effect: “Oh, there was a misunderstanding”, or “I did not understand what you meant and therefore I messed this up”. I believe at times people just hear, understand and just plainly fail to act as expected because of a number of reasons. And instead of saying, “I did not feel like not doing A, B and C”, or “why should I do what you ask, I don’t want to”, or “it is just too hard for me to do what you communicated so I will stay busy with something I find easier to do and then say, I misunderstood you”.

When you face a situation where what was communicated does not end in the desired result, I suggest the following:

Step 1 - Ask: was there a communication breakdown between the sender and the recipient;
Step 2 - Think: if I am the information sender, would there be a reason why the recipient would not want to act on what I know they heard;
Step 3 - If step 2 is a yes: make a plan to avoid future ‘miscommunication’.

I fully agree with the approach Toni Bowers suggests in her article Say what you mean and mean what you say, to tackle the problem:

Your absolute best bet is to bite the bullet, let go of all those touchy-feely conversational props, and just be blunt. Don’t say there is an issue, when it’s actually a problem. Don’t passive-voice yourself into spewing out some nonsense like, “Deadlines have been missed,” if the team member is the one missing the deadlines. The world is not going to screech to a halt because you say, “You missed some deadlines,” or, “You need to manage your work priorities better.”

You are not only saving yourself time and effort, you are facing the problem and dealing with it. Resolving a problem is much more productive than avoiding it. A principal principle of effective project management.