Discussion: View Thread

on 12/13/99 9:30 PM, Automatic digest processor at
LISTSERV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU wrote:

>
> Any other examples of how e-mail can be disfunctional as a management tool?

I know of at least two careers in two completely different contexts that
were impaired by responding to an email from a colleague by writing an email
that said essentially "Didn't our boss act like a real jerk in that last
meeting?" and accidentally hitting the "reply to all" instead of the "reply
to sender" button. The emails went to the bosses.

Don McCormick, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Department of Management and Business
Alfred North Whitehead College, University of Redlands
1200 E. Colton Avenue, Redlands, CA 92373-0999 (909) 748-6249
mccormic@uor.edu
http://newton.uor.edu/FacultyFolder/DMcCormick/DMcCormick.html

Here's a quick one.....

One of my friends forwarded this joke (a little on the crass side) to a few
friends, one of whom was his best mate, called Staff Hilliard. For group email
purposes, our organisation abbreviates the buildings that house the 8,000 plus
employees across the State. One of the buildings is called Spring Hill,
abbreviated to SHill. You can guess what happened. No, Staff never received
the joke but thousands from the Spring Hill office did, including high level
management and the entire IT section.

He was required to post an apology, explaining it was a simple error. It never
damaged his career, in fact I think it even gave him a bit of a boost. He
received a ton of responses ranging from indignation to humorous approval.
Quite understandable and a perfect example of what some people find acceptable,
others do not - irrespective of the medium.




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Don McCormick, Ph.D. wrote of how two individual careers were impaired by
erroneously sending a private e-mail as a public e-mail. My view is that the
e-mail tool just revealed an existing dysfunctional management issue, an
impaired communication between the boss and the subordinate.

Life becomes much less complex when we act congruently in private and in public.
Why say or do something in private that we would regret be public?

Saludos Esteban

Esteban makes a good point -- Why say or do something in private that we
would regret be public?

You would think knowing how to "act right" would come natural, but it has
been my experience that it does not. Learning on the job can be an
expensive and painful experience. I can't count how many new grads I have
hired that were extremely book smart but did not possess essential work
skills. Another reason to make email correspondence, group chats, bulletin
boards, group projects, etc a mandatory part of the learning process. How
adept a person is in these areas is a big part of how they will be judged in
the workforce and becomes more important every day.

Students need the opportunity to develop life skills and practice common
sense along with learning management theory and facts. Many undergrads (&
even graduate students) go into the workforce, even mgmt tracks, without
practice in using technology tools, very little information on communication
skills, and too little experience working and interacting in groups.

I think all courses can incorporate the tools, as well as practice in
communicating appropriatly and working in groups with whatever content is
being delivered. Courses are a perfect opportunity to provide the student
with practice and for the students to obtain feedback from each other and
from the instructor, a chance to make the inevitable faux-pax in a more
forgiving atmosphere - before it can adversely affect their career. When
management and business courses fail to deliver real-life practice along
with the course content, I feel students are being short-changed.