subject: Mouli Cohen Talks About Communication In Businesses [print this page] Communication has become so closely associated with business that it is a widely taught facet of management. This is clearly the information age, and a lot of businesses depend wholly on communication itself. Regardless of whether your business depends on it or not, communication is something that will affect it in a strong way.
Mouli Cohen, founder of Voltage Capital and other start ups that have a net value of over three billion dollars, clearly knows business. He is of the opinion that new age technologies, such as video conferencing and even email are actually barriers to effective communication.
Its hard to imagine a workplace that does not make use of these methods of communication. However, according to Gregory Northcraft and Kevin Rockmann, both professors at Illinois University, these methods that are meant to boost productivity often end up causing more harm than good.
According to a survey these people conducted, the effect technology has is simple. It makes us less effective, at the cost of becoming more efficient. While it does save us time, and perhaps offers an added degree of convenience, but it compromises on the quality of human relationship.
Cohen goes on to say that physical contact has a limited period of effect. Most companies today arrange for a physical meeting of a group or all of its employees only once in a while, and the remainder of all communication takes place through electronic means. It can almost be termed as a sort of half life period for physical contact.
The crux of the problem is that over electronic means, people tend to trust each other less. This is because the sensation of personal commitment is lost. This would predict that emails are the least effective, while physical meetings are the most effective at conveying something or striking a deal, and the survey upholds this hypothesis. Video Conferencing, by its very nature, is the middle ground.
Another reason that these methods are becoming popular is that businesses tend to spread out. They set up offices in different geographical locations that make face to face meetings of all stakeholders very difficult. The solution to this problem, according to the findings, is to establish a middle ground; having meetings as often as required to add new zest to existing relationships.
In conclusion, relying too much on technological means of communication can definitely harm a business.
by: Andrew Hudson
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