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.