ELECTRONIC MAIL

Electronic mail (e-mail) is mail that is sent electronically from one electronic mailbox to another. E-mail differs from postal mail in the areas of speed of delivery, privacy, security, and access. Other issues relating to e-mail include organization, etiquette, junk mail and fraud attempts, legal matters, and trends.

SPEED OF DELIVERY

One of the biggest attractions of e-mail is the speed with which a message may be sent. When a message is sent from a computer in Houston, Texas, it arrives instantly in London and New Zealand. E-mail has been a true factor in making the global business environment a smaller place. A virtual team can communicate across the globe. Sending an e-mail message across the ocean before leaving work one day can result in a response from another time zone before one's next workday begins.

Postal mail requires several days for a message to arrive and additional time for a response. The speed of delivery of e-mail has had negative effects as well as positive ones. For example, those sending the message expect a very fast response. Frequently if the response is not fast enough, a second message is sent asking why there has been no response. So, patience in communication has become an issue. Because a fast response is demanded, sometimes the response is rushed, incomplete, and less tactful and or politically polished than it should be. Advantages of e-mail are the elimination of telephone tag plus the convenience of reading and responding to e-mail at the recipient's convenience.

As the popularity and expectations for e-mail have increased, so have the daily demands to read and respond to e-mail. Many employees find that they spend hours each day responding to their e-mail.

Instant Messaging

Instant messaging (IM) is frequently viewed as the upstart, even speedier cousin of e-mail. Those who use IM often employ abbreviations and codes to quickly get their messages across. The advantage of IM is the interactive nature of the messages, which work much like a written telephone call. While early IM systems were not always linked to the corporate communication paths, IM was considered the same as a conversation. Employees were not necessarily careful with what they said or how they said it. Now, however, companies have the ability to capture IM if they wish, so it is no longer a quick, safe way to complain about the boss or colleagues.

PRIVACY

Mail from the U.S. Postal Service comes with a guarantee of privacy. If a third party opens mail intended for someone else without the addressee's permission, that person has committed a crime punishable by law. No such privacy exists in e-mail. Courts have held that employees sending e-mail on company computers, with company accounts and software, and using company time have no expectations of privacy. Companies feel free to examine an employee's e-mail. In addition, e-mail has been summoned on court cases to prove work environment status.

Employees should never write anything in an e-mail that they would not say face-to-face to the concerned parties. E-mail is not like private letters that are received in the mail, torn up, and thrown away. E-mail is backed up, placed on other servers, and will be retrievable for a long time. Also, the person to whom e-mail is sent may decide to forward it to others without the sender's permission.

SECURITY

E-mail is now available in many venues. Checking e-mail on office or home computers is no longer the only option. E-mail can be transmitted to personal digital assistants, pagers, and cell phones. These media frequently use wireless networks. Wireless signals have more security issues than wired systems. Just as a cell phone call can be intercepted and heard by others, so can the related e-mail be compromised. When dealing with issues that should be secure, how the e-mail will be received should be considered. Most companies would not want third parties to be able to easily glance at a cell phone display and see proprietary company information.

ACCESS

E-mail is of value only if it is sent to a valid e-mail address where it will be reviewed by the person one is attempting to contact. Addresses may be changed and if an address is not current, the e-mail will not be delivered, resulting in a communication delay. One cannot communicate effectively if one is missing e-mail addresses or has bad addresses, the other parties do not use e-mail, or the other parties are not checking their e-mail.

ORGANIZATION

In order to keep up with a barrage of e-mail arriving daily, it is a good idea to organize one's e-mail. E-mail is received in chronological order, but most e-mail software will let users sort the chronological list by name of sender or subject. This way users can find that message they remember getting but cannot see in their mailbox at first glance. Another option is to move messages one is finished with to specific folders. Users can even designate that certain incoming messages be sent directly to a folder or mailbox rather than their inbox. Users do have to remember to check their e-mail in that special folder or mailbox, though.

Handling e-mail in a prompt and effective manner is increasingly important as the volume of e-mail continues to build. Accuracy in responses, as well as attention to important message details such as grammar and spelling, will indicate professionalism in corporate communication.

ETIQUETTE

When communicating with e-mail, etiquette is an important convention that should not be overlooked. E-mail lends itself naturally to brief messages. A message can be so brief, however, that it is terse and may seem both rude and abrupt to the receiver. Tone, therefore, is an important issue of etiquette. This is especially true in communicating with international audiences who may expect a more extensive exchange of courtesies in the e-mail message.

Correct use of e-mail etiquette includes such courtesies as asking a message sender for permission before forwarding the sender's message to others, using an appropriate and clearly understood subject line, and sending messages only to people who have an interest in receiving them.

Some message senders use emoticons or symbols to indicate nonverbal communication cues, for instance, :-) (which indicates happiness). Reviews are mixed on whether emoticons are acceptable in the business use of e-mail.

JUNK MAIL AND FRAUD ATTEMPTS

Along with receiving a large volume of e-mail is the issue of junk mail including spam, viruses, and phishing. Spam is unsolicited e-mail that is delivered usually in mass mailings to the electronic mailbox. The sheer volume of spam can cause systems to crash. In 2003 the CAN-SPAM Act was passed in an attempt to better regulate spam. Spam filters have been taking a bite out of spam by excluding suspicious e-mail messages and sending them to a quarantine area. The e-mail reader should go to the quarantine area periodically to see if important messages have been sent there by accident. Because the spam filter looks for a wide variety of subject lines, care must be taken to include an explicit and appropriate subject line. Using something such as "hi" or "it's me" might send messages straight to the receiver's quarantine box.

Viruses can be attached to e-mail messages, usually through attachments. A good plan is to scan attachments with a current virus scanner before opening any that might be suspicious. As more computer users use strong antivirus programs, this issue may become less important in the future.

Phishing occurs when a message is received that purports to be from an entity e-mail readers would know, such as their banks, popular shopping sites, or auction services. If the message is not examined closely, the screen image and presentation may seem authentic. The message is phishing for information by trying to get users to reveal valuable personal information such as account numbers and passwords that the phisher can use for schemes involving fraud and identity theft.

LEGAL ISSUES

Increasingly, e-mail is becoming involved when legal issues arise. When a company is the subject of a lawsuit, a subpoena for e-mail and IM is often served. Having a responsible program to track and save e-mail and IM is critical to a company's success. Some companies have even made the decision to outsource the management of electronic resources including e-mail and IM to ensure that an acceptable program exists in case of legal issues. Companies should have policies concerning electronic communication so that employees will know what kind of messages are acceptable and what are not. Regular training for employees will result in increasing quality of messages.

TRENDS

Trends in e-mail include better filters and restrictions on spam in the workplace, control and accountability for both e-mail and newer technology such as IM, an escalation in the demand to supply e-mail records when legal issues arise, and more ways to use e-mail in the future. The ability to manage e-mail effectively will be increasingly important as a workplace skill.