E-Mail Woes

  How’d you like to find out through e-mail you’re out of a job?  Neither would we.  But that’s what at least one high-tech company did.  The New York Times online (March 18, 2001) reports that e-service provider fob.com used e-mail to tell employees their services were no longer required.

E-mail is also becoming a problem for Congress.  The Columbus Dispatch online (March 19, 2001) reports that Congress received 80 million e-mail messages last year and expects more this year.  Some Senate offices are flooded with more than 55,000 messages a month!

A relatively new phenomenon, e-mail use has outpaced the development of standards for behavior.  However, some guidelines are applicable:

·       Use paper messages for important messages, particularly such strong negative messages as layoffs and firings.

·       Never send e-mail when you’re angry.

·       Put the good news in the subject line for positive and informative messages.  

·       Specify negative information in the subject line if negatives are serious, the reader needs information to make a decision or act, or you report your own errors.

For more information, see BCS Module 12.

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