When Communication Should Be Formal

Informality has become ubiquitous in modern organizations: The use of first names for everyone, including executives, is the norm, as are casual dress, flattened hierarchies, and self-organization. Business communication has grown more informal as well. We keep things casual so we can be fast and fl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:MIT Sloan management review 2018-07, Vol.59 (4), p.1-6
Main Authors: Tenhiälä, Antti, Salvador, Fabrizio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Business communications
Communication
Continuity of care
Customers
Design
Machinery
Manufacturing
Medical errors
Meetings
Organizations
Salespeople
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Summary:Informality has become ubiquitous in modern organizations: The use of first names for everyone, including executives, is the norm, as are casual dress, flattened hierarchies, and self-organization. Business communication has grown more informal as well. We keep things casual so we can be fast and flexible and get things done. We email, Skype, Slack, and Yammer. Formal, protocol-guided communication -- such as face-to- face meetings or teleconferences, where leaders from different business units use standard agendas to review concerns and coordinate responses -- is increasingly seen as an old-fashioned bureaucratic time sink. Informality helps an organization's daily operations run more smoothly, to be sure. And unnecessary meetings that serve no real business purpose can plague a workplace. Over the course of two years, we studied 73 manufacturing sites encompassing 163 production processes for customized industrial machinery and instruments. We analyzed both ongoing informal communication (such as emails and phone calls) and periodic (typically weekly) cross-functional meetings with standard agendas and pre-specified participants.
ISSN:1532-9194