The Issue Has to Do With Communication - Essay Example

Introduction Teleconferencing is the communication via telephone no matter the distance or time difference. This is among the newest modes of communication for organizations for conducting meetings without the participants being in the same room. It has several advantages and disadvantages that will be discussed below some of which include it is time saving and relatively cheaper than face to face communication as well as it is convenient in dealing with numerous branches. Among its disadvantages include stilted conversations, missing out on the non-verbal communication cues as well as high probability of technological failure that might affect the whole communication process. The increased use of teleconferencing in the 21st century is proving to be not only fast but reliable and convenient as well in reaching employees and well as customers (Brounstein, Friedmann & Zeller, 2012). Pros Time saving Research by (Song, Halsey & Burress, 2009) indicates that compared to other forms of communication, teleconferencing is fast and hence time saving. This is so because the response is immediate, one can reach the intended party anywhere and at any time of day or night especially in case of emergency. Employers or business managers do not have to travel to attend meetings or even solve problems in their numerous branches but simply teleconferences with the supervisors and tackles the problems on the spot. When it comes to marketing, teleconferencing is being widely used to attract and entice new groups of customers at the same time as well as increase communication with the customers. All this is done within a few minutes and without much hustles that were being experienced before. Relatively Cheaper Communication and especially conducting of meetings has always proven to be an expensive affair for organizations that have businesses located in different parts of the country or globe or even having suppliers and distributors that are equally far. This is so because it required constant travelling on air and on the land and not only by one individual but most of the time several of them and hence the profits of the organizations were being curtailed. In this technological era however, all these has been reduced drastically because of innovations such as teleconferencing. All that is required now is for the manager or leader to set up a teleconference with everyone in place and connect them to the employer or head manager and the meeting then takes place. The only travelling necessary is for attendance of board meetings. Organizations can therefore enjoy more profits without deduction f travel expenses and other miscellaneous expenses that accompany travelling. Convenience With teleconferencing comes convenience of communication. Other than what has been explained above about time saving on traveling and the relatively cheaper alternative it provides, teleconferencing allows for convenience of communication especially for a manager who does not have to work from the office and can even multitask on company functions without any one of them being neglected. A manager can for example attend business lunches and dinners with potential investors and take a few minutes during this time to teleconference about important business deals with the employees back in the office or in other offices. The teleconferencing can even take place when the needed party is at home or on the road traveling and fulfilling other obligations making this mode of communication quiet convenient (Rogers, 2013). Flexibility Face to face communication demands proper observation of time differences which most of the times leads to meetings being delayed and postponed just so as to accommodate the schedule of each other and allow everyone to arrive before the meeting can take place. With this new mode of communication however, it allows for flexibility. People in different time zones can conference without delaying any important deals leading to sometimes losing out to competitors. This is so because it can happen anywhere and at any time and it only takes a few minutes and hence even those sleeping can take a few minutes off and then resume their sleeping. This means that organizations using this mode of communication always have competitive advantage and are much more dedicated to their work. Cons Stilted conversations-delay between responses Not all the areas have telephone signals and hence if the manager for example is within one of these locations with minimal signal coverage, the conversations tend to be stilted, that is the response time is delayed. What this breaks in conversations do is lead to inconsistencies within the meeting, take up a lot of time as almost everything has to be repeated twice or even thrice. Sometimes, the meeting has to be postponed and if it was an emergency, things are bound to go wrong. This method may be convenient but only when both parties are in an area with perfect network coverage which may not always be the case. Technological failure Technology cannot always be relied upon fully as it is common to break down hence causing inconvenience in communication in terms of delay. This is one of the other greatest disadvantages of this mode of communication because once there is breakdown of technology maybe as a result of poor weather conditions, the meeting that was taking place has to delay or simply be postponed something that can never happen with the old fashioned face to face communication. Technological problems that are not natural also mean that repairs will be expensive causing the company the money it was trying to save with the minimization of travelling (Van Bosse & Devetak, 2006). The only way to prevent these technological failures is to hire technocrats in the field of telecommunication which is additional budget to the company. Miss non-verbal cues One of the most important things in communication is observation of the non-verbal cues as sometimes they do not match the verbal communication and can give a clue of how to react to what follow up questions to use among other things. With teleconferencing this important aspect of communication is unavailable as everything is handled over the phone and hence the cues are missed. This makes it hard to determine the reaction, observe the body language or even facial expressions (Dwyer, 2012). This is probably the reasons conversations are seemingly shorter in teleconferencing as without the non-verbal cues, there lacks follow up questions. A person may for example lie without this being realized immediately and it may in the long run affect the business running. Easy distraction Linked to all the mentioned disadvantages of this mode of communication is the easy distraction. Employees tend to be much more alert when the boss is in the room as they fear being recognized when they zone out of the meeting and start getting highly distracted. In face to face meetings, there is also the chance of random questions being asked to random employees and hence everyone tends to really pay attention from the beginning to the end of the meeting. This is however not the case with teleconferencing. Since the boss is not monitoring each employee, the only one that seems alert is the one talking at that moment to the boss on the phone the rest therefore get distracted and this means they miss out on important things leaving the chance of making mistakes afterwards or delaying the meeting further by points and information having to be repeated as they failed to catch it when they had been distracted (Dwyer, 2012). Conclusion Even though this mode of communication seems to be facing challenges, no mode of communication is perfect. The most important thing and which should be remembered with this mode of communication is that it is reliable and much more convenient than the other modes of communication. Its advantages are much greater to the organization in both the short and long term and the cons are just minor hitches that have simple solutions to them. References Brounstein, M., Friedmann, S. & Zeller, D. (2012). Running a Great Meeting in a Day for Dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Dwyer, J. (2012). Communication for Business and the Professions: Strategies and Skills. New York: Pearson Higher Education. Rogers, T. (2013). Conferences and Conventions: A Global Industry. New Jersey: Routledge. Song, M., Halsey, V. & Burress, T. (2009). The Hamster Revolution for Meetings: How to Meet Less and Get More Done. Massachusetts: Berrett-Koeher Publishers. Van Bosse, J. & Devetak, F. (2006). Signaling in Telecommunication Networks. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Read More