case 450

Case 450

The sheer volume of correspondence managers get today though online communication can be a heavy burden for many people . Vicky Farrell and Jeff Phelps , the people featured in the case , are clearly dissatisfied with what they see as a highly intrusive way of communication . While it is true that e-mail can be a boon when a short , quick message needs to be delivered in a short time , managers should definitely try to work out a way to be effective communicators without letting the negative effects of the innovation interfere with

their lives . Managing e-mail correspondence becomes an important priority that can have an impact on one 's career

To increase the proportion of time devoted to thinking at the time when one has to manage a constant deluge of e-mails , managers can take a few simple actions . In the first place , they can do what Vicky practices simply log off the e-mail for a short time period to give yourself an opportunity to get your thoughts together and work out a solution to a difficult problem or come up with a new idea . This can be difficult given the expectations that people will be continuously checking their mailboxes that persist in some offices however , it takes some persuasion on the part of these people to explain to their colleagues that they view e-mail as a constant interruption . Telephone can indeed be a replacement for urgent e-mails , and Vicky has successfully used it as a way to prevent too frequent interruption

Managers can also make a point of checking their e-mails within reasonably short time periods , for example , once every two hours . In this way , they will take control of the stream of information . Besides they can try to accomplish more at meetings or through telephone conversations so that there is less need for follow-up , as well as give more explicit information to their subordinates

In working with emails Ms . Farrell and Mr . Phelps most probably deal with the barrier to communication known as competition . They have difficulty in perceiving the contents of the e-mail since they are affected by many things going on around them . At the point when they receive their message , there are so many conflicting assignments and issues that they have a hard time finding out what exactly they should be doing now - devoting all their attention to the e-mail or thinking of other things

In addition to the damage done by constant interruption , as managers note , e-mail does have some pros in it . It has enormously enhanced the productivity of managers , allowing them to save time on setting up phone calls , reducing the time spent in meetings , and cutting on the time needed to organize information . Complex problems are cleared up in the matter of seconds when people can resort to e-mail as a way to clarify a point or a detail . The ease and convenience are especially obvious in the case of international communication . With e-mails , one can easily drop a line to...