Work-related email – employee’s perspective

Abstract

Email is one of the most commonly used communication channels within the organizations today. It is widely used for communication between the different internal sections of the companies as well as externally that is why it carries an important role in the work-related communication practices. The current paper examines email-writing practices at work in relation to the attitudes of the employees towards this communication channel. The main research questions are: • What is the general view of the employees on the email communication channel at work and channels’ effectiveness? • What are considered to be the role-model practices in writing a work-related email if there are such? • What elements or characteristics of the emails at work are perceived to be negative and should be avoided? A combination of data collection methods (semi-structured interviews and a empirical examples) was used. The data collected comprises 20 interviews and 60 examples of emails. The data was analyzed using simple content analysis approach. The main findings of the research show that email is considered to be an effective and fast information-sharing channel that allows keeping formal record of the communication and provides a great opportunity for sharing information between different locations and time zones, but is still considered to be not exactly same as face-to-face communication channel. The main characteristics that were found to be positive in email writing practices were politeness, consideration, factualness and general respectfulness. It was found to be negative when the email did not include all the information needed and had a negative/demanding tone or included too many emoticons, bad spelling and had an impersonal character. The study conducted provides a good base for the future research when it comes to investigating more in detail the email writing practices at work.