CASE APPLICATION #$2$

Banning E$-$Mail. Banning Voice Mail

$"$t$\text{'}$s estimated that the average corporate user sends and receives some $112$ e$-$mails daily.$$ That s about $14$ e$-$mail

$-$ per hour, and even if half of those don't require a lot of time and concentration, that level of e$-$mail volume can be stressful and lead to unproductive time.

Once imagined to be a time$-$saver, has the inbox become a burden? What about voice mails? Are phone messages even necessary for organiza$-$

What IS necessary for organizational communication?

tional communication? These

and other concerns are forcing many organizations to take a closer look at how information is communicated.

Several years ago, U$.$S$.$ Cellular's executive vice president implemented a ban on e$-$mail every Friday. In his memo announcing the change to employees, he told them to get out and meet the people they work with rather than sending an e$-$mail. That directive went over with a thud. One employee confronted him saying that Ellison didn't understand how much how much e$-$mail employees send and receive. His approach started with the firm's interoffice communication system, which became an internal social network, with elements of Facebook, work group collaboration software, and an employee bulletin

board. And then there's Thierry Breton,

head of

Europe's

largest IT firm, Atos. He announced a "zero e$-$mail policy" to be replaced with a service more like Facebook and Twitter combined.

The latest casualty in organizational communication choices is voice mail. Under pressure to cut costs, several large financial institutions, including J$.$P$.$ Morgan Chase & Co$.,$ Citigroup Inc., and Bank of America Corp., are deleting or cutting back on phone voice mail. Some company executives explaining their actions cite the reality that few people use voice mail anymore.

The question remains, however, whether customers still expect to be able to maintain voice contact with their financial advisors.

work had to get done and how much easier it was when using e$-$mail. Eventually, however, employees were won over. Forced to use the phone, one employee learned that a coworker he thought

Discussion Questions

was across the country was, instead, across the hall. Now, other $*13-18$ What do you think of this? Do you agree that e$-$mail and voice executives are discovering the benefits of banning e$-$mail.

mail can be unproductive in the workplace?

Jessica Rovello, cofounder and president of Arkadium,

$13-19$ Were you surprised at the volume of e$-$mail an average

which develops games, has described e$-$mail as "a form of busi$-$

employee receives daily? What are the challenges of dealing

ness attention$-$deficit disorder." She found herself$-$and her

with this volume of e$-$mail? How much e$-$mail would you say you receive daily? Has your volume of e$-$mail increased? Have

employees$-$putting e$-$mail in the inbox ahead of everything

you had to change your e$-$mail habits?

else being worked on$.$ What she decided to do was only check & $13-20$ What do you think of the e$-$mail "replacement" some busi her e$-$mail four times a day and to turn off her e$-$mail notifica$-$

nesses are using$$more of a social media tool? In what ways

tion. Another executive, Tim Fry of Weber Shandwick, a global

might it be better? Worse?

public relations firm, spent a year preparing to "wean" his em$-*13-21$ What role should customer service play in choosing which ployees off their e$-$mail system. His goal: dramatically reduce

organizational communication methods to use?