Email Communications, Essay Example

Considering how fast and easy it is, should e-mail replace meetings and other face-to-face communication in a company? Why or why not?

“Forty-three percent said they use email, 31 percent telephone, and 20 percent videoconferences to communicate with employees.” (“Smart Pros Editorial Staff, 2010). Chairman of Account Temps says, “Email is the next best thing to meeting in person”, (2010) “but does not give the personal touch that can be acquired with an in person encounter.” There is a risk of miscommunication that runs with email communication and that is eliminated with one on one communication. Further people are not allowed to share ideas and give feedback which is so vitally important to a businesses’ growth. People still like in person meetings because they can look at verbal expressions and facial expressions such as body cues that just are not there with email communications. The key thing to ponder whether deciding to arrange a meeting or simply communicating through email for an issue is to decide if it will be a debatable issue. If the issue is debatable you might want to arrange in person meetings. One way discussion such as conference calling is a good way to start off a conversation but ending it or closing the deal requires skill and savvy needed at in person meetings.

It’s a no brainer that email is much quicker than arranging a face to face meeting for every issue that arises. Emails save a lot of time and money with business travel, also. “Email is not an alternative to face to face communication but something to aid face to face communication processes.” (“Should Email Replace Face to Face Communications in Business”). The New York Times (2007) states a business cannot effectively utilize email communication without expecting some conflicts of interest and some forms of miscommunications. In today’s workforce and modern society, emails can actually ‘amplify’ an outlandish situation because communication of bad news is not readily heard in a very good manner by use of email communication. You should carefully select your audience medium when choosing who to email to.

Human communication will continue to be the number one and most effective means of communication in the business world and email and other aids will be secondary. Audiences desire to see live sales forces because it is the people that lure the sales into the companies and not the dot com technologies. Dot com technology does have a special place in this world though and rightfully so to aid businesses to make their businesses more lucrative and efficient but they will never replace the value of the human presence. People will feel like a cog or a machine if they have to deal through computers only. They need the presence of a real live person to feel safe and comfortable. Customers start to feel the cold shoulder because the impersonal touch is gone. They appreciate the quick service by emails and audio communications but sooner or later they want that special service call by a professional in person live human being.

Another aspect to consider is the type of meeting and who will be at the meeting? If this is a very informal meeting that requires fast communication to settle email might be the best means of communication to handle the situation. If there is a lot of discussion then in person discussion may be warranted. If the discussion involves local partners then in person meeting is feasible but if the negotiations are between partners in different cities you may want to negotiate by email, follow-up with a written contract by mail and close the deal in person.

Email communications is used viably for marketing purposes and it works out very well because almost everyone across the states has an email account. With this scenario, email communications would seem to work out better than in person meetings because it is a lot faster to mass market through email accounts. Businesses that advertise on the internet often rely on contacts through the internet to furnish their specials to attract new customer bases. If they had to go door to door to market this would take up to much precious time, cost too much money and they might need to hire separate forces to conduct their marketing. With email marketing they can have and IT company prepare a separate blank on their web page for new customers to enter their email address with a promotion for example, “If you enter your email address we will send you our monthly special for the month” to attract new business. This cuts down on hiring new manpower hence generating new leads. Hence, depending on the business will depend on whether email communication will be the leading force for your business. Most likely the average business will conduct in person meetings and use email communications and other secondary communications as a back-up source.

References

Smart Pros Ltd (2010) Retrieved July 20, 2010 from, http://accounting.smartpros.com/x36557.xml

New York Times.   Retrieved September 27, 2008 from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/jobs/07pre.html