The Role of Email in Business Communication: An Evaluation Essay

This essay evaluates the role of email in business communication, focusing on its advantages and limitations, particularly for ICT professionals. It begins by outlining the benefits of email over scheduled meetings, such as speed and portability, and its advantages over mobile texting, like the ability to attach files and print documents. However, the essay also explores scenarios where email is not the most effective communication channel. For instance, when conducting surveys, text messages are proposed as a faster alternative due to the likelihood of immediate customer response. Similarly, face-to-face meetings are favored over email for interviews, as they allow interviewers to assess candidates' emotions and body language, providing a more comprehensive evaluation. The essay concludes by highlighting the importance of choosing the appropriate communication channel based on the specific context and objectives.

Running head: EMAILS IN COMMUNICATION
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Emails in Communication
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EMAILS IN COMMUNICATION
Task 1
Advantages of emails over scheduled meetings
All business organizations and companies nowadays rely on emails to communicate with
the shareholders in the organization (Warkentin, 2017). One of the advantages is that it is a fast
way of communication. In a situation where a person wants to communicate urgently with
another person who is far away, email is the best way to communicate. Scheduled meetings
require a lot of time in planning.
Another advantage is that emails are portable. These messages can be saved on the device
being used; for example, a mobile phone can be accessed whenever they are needed. In this case
email is reliable and efficient because it can be sent anywhere any time as long as the device is
connected to the internet. This is easier compared to scheduled meetings where the reports are
written and saved in different folders that are heavy to carry around. Unlike emails, scheduled
meetings are time-wasting because people need to converge in place for a meeting. This may
waste a lot of time before the meeting is held and information conveyed.
Advantages of emails over mobile texting
Emails are better to communicate in an organization because they allow for attaching
files needed to go with the text (Dash, 2016). One can send a video, a document file, or another
file with the email, unlike in mobile text where you only send texts.
Emails are also printed in a computer connected to a printer, unlike text messages in mobile
phones. You only need to download the email, and then dial print and the document that was in
softcopy becomes hardcopy.

EMAILS IN COMMUNICATION
Task 2
Scenarios where emails are not best for communication
In a scenario where a company is surveying its products and services, emails are not
efficient. This is because people that are not in a business organization do not check their emails
regularly, and so it may take more time for customers to respond. This delays the survey being
conducted. Some of the emails might even be piled up with other emails in the inbox and
forgotten; therefore, no response. The alternative this situation is the use of text messages as they
reach the customers faster as they pop up on their phones as soon as they are sent (Rettie, 2016).
These messages will be impossible to miss. Once the customer gets the text, they will respond
faster as it is less difficult, just typing the response and replying.
Another scenario is in a work interview. When conducting an interview, the interviewer
needs to see the interviewee's emotions when he or she is responding to the questions. This
allows the interviewer to judge the interviewee's intentions and the level of commitments they
will share with the organization (Hardwick, 2017). This is not possible in emails as one can't
read the emotions of the other person. An interview conducted via emails might lead to the
interviewee searching for answers to the interviewer's questions. An alternative way is a face to
face scheduled meeting as one can observe each other's behaviors and determine whether they
are suited for the job or not. The interviewer will also judge the interviewee according to the
glooming of their body at the time of the interview.

EMAILS IN COMMUNICATION
References
Dash, J.(2016). Use of email, cell phone and text message between patients and primary-care
physicians: cross-sectional study in a French-speaking part of Switzerland. BMC health
services research, 16(1), 549.
Hardwick, J. (2017). Innovation in small business: comparing face‐to‐face with virtual
networking. Journal of Business Strategy.
Rettie, R. (2016). Email marketing: success factors. Dynamically managing a profitable email
marketing program. Journal of marketing research, 54(6), 851-866.
Warkentin, M. E. (2017). Virtual teams versus face‐to‐face teams: an exploratory study of a
web‐based conference system. Decision sciences, 28(4), 975-996.