Personal
contact is waning in business, with a majority of managers having a business
relationship with someone they have never spoken to, let alone met, according
to a new survey.
Xerox
Global Services (XGS) questioned more than 500 managers from a range of UK
companies. It found that 83 per cent of the respondents agreed that by
communicating primarily in electronic format instead of talking, such as by
e-mail and text message, people could lose their sense of verbal interaction.
The
survey showed that respondents under the age of 30 were least likely to view
electronic communication as having a detrimental effect on people’s social
skills, suggesting that the trend towards "faceless relationships"
may well continue.
John
Hopwood, UK
director of XGS, said: “The findings indicate a tendency to overuse e-mail,
when talking can often be more efficient. E-mail is important, but users need
to think through whether it is the most appropriate communication method. It
would be worrying if people became over-dependent on one single communication
type."
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