2006-12-12 08:09:35 · 4 answers · asked by Little Birdie 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Other - Business & Finance
It's going to actually depend on what kind of meeting. Things can be lost in translation...often you cannot tell a person's tone by what's written, but more by what's in someone's voice or their body language. Emails can take time to. A lot of back and forth - think, type, send...I think not everyone types 100 wpm and (in case you couldn't tell by some of the answers on this site) some people possess horrible grammar, spelling, etc.! On the flip side, meetings through email has it's bonuses as you don't have to meet face to face (which is great for the shy)...if you're doing it from home you can do it in your pjs (or nekkid, or while sitting on the john, etc.)...maybe you have more access to vital info while doing the meeting remotely.
I guess really each has their pros and cons.
2006-12-12 08:20:12 · answer #1 · answered by Sunidaze 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends. E-mail is definitely easier and faster as compared with face-to-face and other meetings, though its antiseptic nature often can leave the reader with an overly negative read on what the sender was attempting to communicate. For instance, my boss sends emails out that say "don't do that" meaning to be instructive in a general sense, but often my coworkers and I take them personally, assuming he caught us doing something we weren't supposed to (when in actuality no one did anything wrong) and wonder whether one of us is secretly in the doghouse. A quick "listen up everybody" can go a long way to stopping problems like this before they start.
2006-12-12 17:37:37 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I once exchanged 15 emails with someone in the course of an hour. He needed me to answer a technical question but was not forthcoming with sufficient detail. He refused to see me face to face but, after an hour, I marched into his office (30 seconds' walk away) got the information I needed and answered his question in less than a minute.
So, no, email should not replace face-to-face communications.
There are also times when it is important to see the other person's facial expressions and other body language. You cannot do that with email, even with smileys :-)
2006-12-12 16:14:38 · answer #3 · answered by skip 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yes. Meetings are disruptive. People have to stop what they are working on to attend. I held lots of meetings and attended lots of meetings when I was working. To me, they were always a waste of time.
Even before e-mail, a one-page memo distributed to everyone would have been better than having a meeting.
2006-12-12 16:14:57 · answer #4 · answered by regerugged 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋