Business E-mail: Guidelines for Users

Abstract

ALTHOUGH E-MAIL is an essential communication j~ ALTHOUGH E-MAIL is an essential communication medium in business today, many businesspeople and business students take it casually and fail to realize its full potential. It's easy to assume that since e-mail can be produced quickly and easily, readers can comprehend e-mail messages quickly and easily too. Yet overly speedy e-mail writing can result in much slower e-mail reading and even miscommunication. Moreover, e-mail merits considerable attention because it comprises much of management work today-e.g., & d q u o ; I no longer meet with my team, I e-mail them.&dquo; Overall, e-mail is work, important work, which requires time and know-how to use effectively.The purpose of these guidelines is to help you become more effective and efficient in the use of e-mail. Since e-mail practices are changing, however, these guidelines are not meant to be hard-Editor's note. For comments on the spelling of e-maif in this article, please see the Editorial on pp. 7 and 8 of this issue.Authors' note. These guidelines were composed to be shared with our ABC and other colleagues and used as a class handout. We three authors collaborated equally on this document and have listed our names in alphabetical order. Our collaboration process was somewhat unusual. Instead of working together at the same time, we wrote separately at different times on different documents: Jone Rymer wrote the first handout, followed by Priscilla Rogers's handout, followed by the collaborative guidelines here, followed by a two-page section of a textbook by Mary Munter. Therefore, portions of this article have been published previously.

“Hej Seppo, Could You pls Comment on This!”—Internal Email Communication in Lingua Franca English in a Multinational Company

“…(S96) When the recipient found a Subject line such as examples (7)- (11) in his/her incoming mailbox, it may have been difficult to know what the message was about, and for this reason business communication guidelines do not recommend them (see e.g. Munter et al 2003). On the other hand, if the participants had just agreed on the phone that they would exchange specific information about something, for instance, Info could well have been enough for the recipient to identify the subject in the shared corporate context.…”

“…Another may be the involved, informal, and conversational style often invoked in email and discussed by, for instance, Munter et al (2003), Alatalo (2002), Crystal (2001), Nickerson (2000), Baron (1998Baron ( , 2000, Gimenez (2000), Rice (1997), and Collot & Belmore (1996).…”

“…This claim also finds support in the fact that Finns spend more time on email than their Swedish colleagues, who favor meetings (see Louhiala-Salminen 2000b), and would likely be more familiar with its conventions, such as use of direct requests. However, it may also be suggested that Finns enjoy using email since it suits their direct communication style: they know how to express ideas concisely and economically (see also Munter et al 2003 for recommended email usage). Meetings, in contrast, seem more to suit the alleged discussionorientation of the Swedes.…”

The Communicative Functions of Emoticons in Workplace E-Mails: :-)

“…Furthermore, such guidelines (see e.g. Boone, Kurtz, & Block, ; Extejt, ; Munter, Rogers, & Rymer, ; Krohn, ) tend to be normative and colored by the author's personal values rather than reflecting the actual use and communicative functions of emoticons. In the popular press and media, emoticons are banned by some authors (e.g.…”

The messages they send: e‐mail use by adolescents with and without a history of specific language impairment (SLI)

“…Regardless of the direction taken, young people will experience a greater number and wider variety of interactions with adults, many of which are likely to involve the use of e‐mail. Although peer‐oriented uses of e‐mail are usually informal and expressive mistakes are tolerated (Livingstone and Bovill 2001, Volckaert‐Legrier et al 2009), it is less likely that these will be acceptable in e‐mail interactions with adults or in college/work contexts (Munter et al 2003). Indeed, how a writer composes a message can affect not only his or her own reputation, but also educational experiences, and even corporate productivity (Information Mapping Inc. 2005).…”