Communication in the Workplace

There are several means of communication that are used at work, the most popular of which are email, instant messaging, and phone calls. My company has about 220,000 employees spread across the US and the globe. Due to this distance these three methods are the easiest ways to communicate. I prefer emails and instant messages over phone calls. Phone calls tend to interrupt my thought pattern on whatever I was working on when the call came in. When working on complicated logic sometimes a phone interruption can really derail me. Receiving an email or IM allows me to take a quick glance to determine whether it’s urgent or if I can put off on responding.


Face-to-face conversations and web meetings are two other communication methods that are used. Web meetings where video is utilized are usually reserved for executive quarterly reviews that are broadcast to employees and for upper management meetings. Back in the day, before the advent of such widespread technology, employees worked geographically closer together. You could easily walk over to your colleague’s desk to discuss the issue at hand. Now in-person conversations are of course only used when the parties are located in the same building or are close enough to travel for meetings. Currently there is a general freeze on expensing travel costs. This is due to spending cuts. So if you want to travel the cost is mostly out of your own pocket. To me this is discouraging since in-person meetings are a good way to network and increase your face time at work. When you meet someone in-person you are able to put a face to a name. The next time there is a job opening or promotion available you might be remembered for the position. Nowadays, particularly in my company, one might go years without personally meeting someone even on their own team.


In my opinion, certain types of meetings are best held in person rather than over the phone via a conference bridge. Requirements gathering sessions are often very lengthy and complicated. Instead of holding an hour conference call once a week for a couple months, it seems more beneficial to devote an entire day or two to the requirements gathering session. This is especially true if the project is urgent. System processes from various workgroups are sometimes best explained in person where network diagrams, workflow diagrams, etc. can be drawn as needed. Over the phone these types of documents would need to be already prepared and made available at the start of the call. It’s also easier to hold attendees’ attention during a face-to-face meeting. Over the phone they may be multitasking or completely step away from their desk. On occasion I’ll even hear dogs barking or kids crying in the background of a call. The success of a face-to-face meeting is of course dependent on attendees actually making it to the meeting.