Ann-Marie’s Method to the Madness

so after some thought and greater understanding of the nature of email in the corporate sense it is my strong believe that email etiquette impacts email communication - depending on how good the etiquette is determines what a recipient takes away from the communication and can reduce the probability of miscommunication in a corporate environment.

As email continues to be the preferred communication channel  within business we must start formulating some clear and concise guidelines to help manage your inbox, maximize communication, increase productivity and reduce potential litigation.

I hope that i have enabled you to make conscience changes to the way that you write emails and hopefully this will help reduce miscommunication in your future business communication.

Good Luck!

Some helpful advise for Corporate Email Users.

DO NOT’S

1. Don’t write in CAPITALS or overdo punctuation such as exclamation marks or full stops. This is the on-line equivalent of shouting and is considered to be rude. If you must use capitals use it only to emphasise a particularly point of importance. Ask yourself, ‘if I was talking to the recipient face to face, would I be raising my voice to them?”’
2. Don’t send or forward emails containing libelous (defamatory statements), offensive, discriminatory (racial, sexual, religious, ageist etc) or obscene remarks. As well as send or forward any illegal matter such adult material (child or violent erotica), illegal information (how to kill or injure people, incitement to violence, racial hatred etc). These likely to offend the recipient and people found engaging in illegal activities may be discipline or have legal action taken against them.
3. Don’t forward chain letters and use jokes and informal idioms with great caution as this maybe deemed offensive and inappropriate.
4. Don’t overuse the high priority option and ensure it’s the correct priority such as ‘high priority’ when it is really ‘normal’ priority. Avoid using URGENT and IMPORTANT.
5. Don’t request delivery and read receipts and don’t ask to recall a message, this is unprofessional.
6. Don’t use ‘reply to all’ unless it is necessary. Think twice about sending a reply to everyone. Perhaps only selected people need to see this email. Also don’t automatically reply to just the sender others may need to be included
8. Don’t overuse abbreviations, emoticons and Acronyms and only use when the recipients is expected to know what they mean. Remember emoticons can be perceived as unprofessional and should not be used in corporate emails.
9. Don’t leave out the message thread when replying to an e-mail; use the reply option on the sidebar in your email. This will keep the message in the “thread”, and make it easier for the recipient to follow. Don’t attach unnecessary files and don’t forget to attach necessary files when replying to all if relevant.
10. Don’t use email to discuss confidential information, email is not confidential it is very easy for the contents of your email to be read by others without your knowledge. Emails can be subpoenaed in lawsuits.
11. Don’t use e-mail as an excuse to avoid personal contact. Don’t use e-mail to avoid an uncomfortable situation or to cover up a mistake. E-mail communication isn’t appropriate when sending confusing or emotional messages, don’t “flame” people by sending them abusive email messages or conduct arguments in public, don’t make personal remarks about third parties.

    References:
    http://www.emailreplies.com/
    http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~davidt/email_etiquette.htm
    http://www.dynamoo.com/technical/etiquette.htm
    http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA012054101033.aspx

To help guide you for corporate email writing

Do’s:

1. Do use a meaningful subject to summaries the body of the email – ask yourself will the recipient(s) know what this e-mail is about.

   

2. Do use cc sparingly, use the BCC field when sending bulk email; this will ensure the privacy of the recipients.
3. Do be concise and to the point but not too short that it loses the meaning/sense of the content.
4. Ensure that you do use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation with gender neutral language to prevent offending any of the recipients.
5. Do use proper structure & layout to improve readability. Use spaces and breaks between paragraphs and try to avoid long sentences where possible to make it easier on the reader.
6. Do add a disclaimer to your emails, this will indemnify the company from potential lawsuits.
7. Do read the email before you send it, making sure that you avoid angry outbursts, if necessary delay responding until you have calmed down, once an email is sent it cannot be recalled. As a guide ask yourself would I say this to the person’s face?
8. Do reply to email within 24hrs, if you cannot answer the email straight away ensure that you acknowledge receipt of the email. No response is a response and can be perceived as negative.
9. Do try to quote from the original message where relevant. You can break the quoted message down into paragraphs and comment on them individually to make it clearer.
10. Do include a brief signature on your email messages to help the recipient understand who it is from, especially if you are dealing with someone you do not know very well eg a new client or new staff member.

References:
http://www.emailreplies.com/
http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~davidt/email_etiquette.htm
http://www.dynamoo.com/technical/etiquette.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA012054101033.aspx

To understand where the pitfalls of email miscommunication starts I guess we should understand the nature of email communication.

Email is a virtual dialogue which is not in real time; it lacks face to face cues such as expression and emotion. Often to compensate for the lack of non verbal cues we use “please” and “thank you” to aid the expression of collegiality. Another way to aid in the expression of emotion is the use of emoticons; or

E-mail communication now exceeds telephone traffic and has become a dominant form of business communication. Recent research indicates that employees will spend half their day reading and responding to email communication.

The speed of response with emails makes them almost an instantaneous form of communication, although this is great for quick turn around time a writer of emails must take into consideration the readers needs and preferences. If an emails tone is blunt and to the point a reader may interpret this as insensitive and/or the meaning maybe lost. Therefore, tone must be created through careful word/sentence structures.

References:
M. Munter, P. Rogers, J. Rymer – "Business email- Guidelines for Users;"
Business Communication Quarterly, Volume 66, Number 1, March 2003,
pages 26-40

Laura Stack, "12 Tips for Better E-mail Etiquette.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA012054101033.aspx

We often hear Team Leaders say “I no longer meet with my team, I email them instead” with email becoming more and more an essential communication tool in corporate business we as future business leaders must understand the nature of email and how easy miscommunication can be created by poor email etiquette but with no hard and fast rules plus the ever evolving nature of email what do we do?

Reference:
M. Munter, P. Rogers, J. Rymer – "Business email- Guidelines for Users;"
Business Communication Quarterly, Volume 66, Number 1, March 2003,
pages 26-40

Hi Class,

My presentation is due next Tuesday and I am doing a Blog, It will be made up of several parts and I will email you all the updates as I post these onto my blog. For this to work I would like your participation. My presentation is on email etiquette and I would like you to comment on the attached email. Some background on this email is

The company is a large international retail company with a mix of male and female sales reprentatives. The email is intended for the Regional Sales Managers direct reports who consist of 6 female and 6 males. The Regional Sales Manager is good friends with 5 of these direct reports.

(Please click below image to enlarge).

Can you please comment on the following aspects of the email

• Tone
• Nature
• Professionalism
• Relevance
• Appropriateness
• Any other relevant aspects you may notice.

Look forward to your comments

Thanks,

Ann-Marie