In a recent survey, 71 percent of U.S. business managers listed e-mails as their primary method of communication at work. Well, sure. E-mails are wonderfully convenient and save lots of time.

But, as journalists know all too well, it’s hard to convey subtleties of meaning through the printed word. Ask a dozen people to read the same bit of political commentary, social analysis or humor, and you might get that many reactions.

So please accept a friendly warning (that means we don’t want to sound like know-it-alls, but we think it’s a valid point) from the world of publishing. Don’t rely on e-mail for your most important messages to employees and colleagues.

An article in Inc. magazine reported: “One study by UCLA psychology professor Albert Mehrabian found that 55 percent of meaning in an interaction comes from facial and body language and 38 percent comes from vocal inflection. Only 7 percent of an interaction’s meaning is derived from the words themselves.”

Getting 7 percent of your message across can only lead to trouble.

If they can’t see whether you’re smiling or totally ticked off, and you can’t see whether they’re nodding enthusiastically and eager to add their thoughts, or shaking their heads and rolling their eyes, an important part of the communication opportunity has been lost.

The article also noted that managers at MSCO Inc., a marketing firm based in Purchase, N.Y., don’t allow the company’s 40 employees to use e-mail to criticize one another. CEO Mark Stevens told the reporter that it’s too easy for e-mail exchanges to escalate out of control.

Sounds like road rage – the phenomenon that leads drivers to make gestures and shout things that they wouldn’t dare in a face-to-face situation.

So if you don’t mind your organization being riddled with misunderstandings and employees wielding the electronic equivalent of a blaring horn, don’t worry about your e-mail habits.

But if you believe the human connection has value, pull your fingers off the keyboard a little more often, get up and go talk.