As we all know, in this age of advanced technology, we have available to us everyday, more efficient means of doing the many tasks we undertake at both work and home.
One of these innovative tools is the Internet, which facilitates the sending of e-mail, instead of the old type of interdepartmental memos. e-mail is indeed fast and efficient.
However, I believe that although it quite definitely has its pluses, it also has in my opinion, at least one big negative.
And what, you may say, is the negative, the downside of e-mail as a means of communication in the workplace?
Well, to answer that question, let me tell you what prompted me to write this Article.
I was negotiating with a particular Human Resources Manager, at a large business establishment.
We had met and as a result of our discussions, had scheduled a series of lectures for their staff.
We had finalized dates and times.
However, this Human Resources Manager said, that he just needed to get final approval from his Managing Director, before actually agreeing to the proposal.
He asked me to call him the next morning, to hopefully get this final approval, so that we could proceed with the lectures.
However, after three days of calling, I was informed that the Managing Director had not yet replied to the Human Resources Manager’s e-mail.
Now I knew the layout of the Executive Offices at this particular establishment, having visited there several times over the years; I therefore was aware of the fact, that the Managing Director’s office was two doors away from the Human Resources Manager’s office.
So I asked this gentleman if he could not simply speak to the Managing Director, and thus get his verbal approval, which he finally did.
At this point in time, the title of this article came to mind ‘The impersonal side of e-mail’. Yes My Friend, with all of our new technological advances, in some ways perhaps we’ve actually gone backwards.
I know that I repeatedly hear people complain bitterly, that they find it difficult to get to actually talk to a ‘Real Person’ these days, with all of the automated telephone systems.
I know that on many occasions in using the automated, and oh so impersonal telephone answering systems, after hearing several different recorded messages, pressing innumerable buttons, and still not getting to speak with a ‘Real Person’, I simply hang up, and therefore don’t do business at all with that particular company.
My Friend, as we go further and further ahead in the rapidly changing world of advanced technology, we need to always be aware of the vital need for human beings to communicate one on one.
Let’s not become so impersonal, that we fail to communicate with each other, when we lose that very important ‘Personal Touch’.
If we’re not careful, that ‘Orwellian Day’ may come, when we actually e-mail our Spouse to let them know we love them, and to hopefully schedule a time when we can get together for matters more personal.
God forbid that day ever comes, but in today’s ‘Crazy World’, I guess you never know. So My Friend, by all means use technology to assist you to get your work done quicker, and indeed more efficiently.
However, let’s never lose sight of the ‘Personal Touch’. Let’s make sure we still communicate one on one!
THINK ABOUT IT!
Dr. D. Paul Reilly’s radio programme Time To Think is aired each Monday through Friday on both ZNS 1 1540 AM and ZNS 3 810 AM at 7:15 AM each morning.
