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In business, one of the biggest breakdowns within organizations is business communication; whether it is communicating within the department, team, or throughout the entire organization.  For whatever reason, some employees do not practice effective communication skills.  However, I would bet that they put that down as a skill on their resume (effective communication skills).  Sometimes, the breakdown in communication is a phone call not returned, emails that are not replied to, and questions or concerns that are not addressed.  When an employee tries to communicate either a need to be addressed or a question to be answered, it is important enough to the organization's work process to keep the business moving forward.  It also helps the employee successfully complete their job responsibilities that might involve you.  Therefore, your response is extremely important, despite how important the employee is to you or not.  

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Some employees can become arrogant when thinking about job titles, educational background, and hierarchy, so much that they tend to make other employees who are not "on their level," feel inferior, unimportant, undervalued, or subservient.  This is one of the reasons why you might notice that those employees you ignore communicating with always send a carbon copy (cc) of an email that includes their supervisor, when they send you an email, because they know that you are more likely to respond to someone whom you consider to be your peer.

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I personally think that it is inconsiderate, rude, unprofessional, ignorant, and disrespectful to not respond to someone's email, voicemail or text communication.  We have to learn how to perform better business communication skills.  This begins with getting off of your hierarchical soap box, humble yourself, do the right thing, and be professional.  Everyone within the organization is working towards the same mission and goal of the organization.  Despite what position an employee has, everyone works for the same company and plays a pivotal role in helping to meet organizational goals.

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Be cognizant of how you practice business communication skills, it is quite different from how you might conduct your personal life communication skills.  Check your email, respond to your voicemail messages email, and return phone calls.  Treat people how you want to be treated.  Remember, that your employees are your colleagues, your team mates, and all of you are working towards achieving one mission for the same organization.  Do your part as a member of the team, after all, it is a part of your job responsibilities.

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Jason Torrents

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