Challenges in e-mail communication
HUGHO DEOGRATIUS
BAPRM 42560

Nonverbal cues

When e-mail first was introduced, people thought it was impossible to have other interactions than the exchange of short task-oriented messages. Remarkably, the same opinion existed when the telephone was first introduced. The lack of nonverbal cues implies automatically that not all information is fully transferred. The messages typically conveyed by these cues are absent in a text-based environment, which implies that for the interpretation of messages online we have to rely exclusively on verbal information. This may have consequences for the decoding of others’ emotions because we cannot make use of nonverbal cues in the interpretation of incoming messages. In addition, the lack of nonverbal cues also has consequences for the expression of our own emotions since every emotion has to be verbalized and part of the nonverbal expression happens unconsciously. The strictly task-oriented messages should not suffer that much from these consequences. But even in a work setting many messages contain both social and task-oriented components, and are ambiguous in a sense. One of the functions of nonverbal cues in F2F communication is that the ambiguity of a message is reduced. The same verbal messages can portray different signals depending on tone, emphasis, and emotional expression.

Egocentrism as a source of Miscommunication

The fact that the “how things are said part” is missing in regular e-mail communication, is not without consequences. In fact, this is likely to be a fertile ground for miscommunication and in particular not noticing that miscommunication. Humor and sarcasm, for example, is difficult to properly communicate by e-mail. The misunderstanding is usually that the sender thinks (s)he has sent a clear message, and the receiver does not interpret the message in the way the sender intended it. This can lead to awkward situations. Miscommunication can be a source of stress because an employee has to take action to correct the message which automatically implies that extra time and attention is needed to handle the message again. Additionally, an employee needs to engage in damage control in maintaining a good relationship with the “victim” of the miscommunication since the main part of e-mail communication is devoted to long-term relations (colleagues, customers). There are indications that egocentrism is an important source in miscommunication.

Feedback

Another type of ambiguous communication in a task-oriented setting is the exchange of feedback messages. Since e-mail is proven to be very practical in the exchange of documents it has also become more common to deliver feedback on these documents by e-mail. Feedback messages can be considered ambiguous because they have an objective, critical component, but also a motivational component in the form of constructive feedback. In organizations, feedback is considered as a first step to improvement and personal development. This makes it an important resource fuelling our motivation at work. However, if information is likely to be negative, media choice can be crucial in delivering the feedback. In our western society it is not done to send negative personal feedback by e-mail.