E-MAIL: DOES IT NEED TO BE MANAGED? CAN IT BE MANAGED?

Although e-mail is the most commonly used application, very little has been written concerning its impact on public organizations. This article reviews the existing literature and outlines the major aspects of e-mail that need the attention of public managers. Much of the existing literature has taken place in laboratories and focused on issues such as “flaming” and deindividuation and is not useful for learning how to manage e-mail in everyday organizations. For example, there is very little evidence of flaming in organizationa l e -mail. Another major body of literature has explored the hypotheses of media richness theory (MRT) which views e-mail as a “lean” medium compared with richer “face-to-face” (FTF) communication. However, if people know one another well, they may be able to read very much into e-mail and thus make it a richer medium. MRT hypothesizes that managers will be more effective if they use the appropriate medium for the action they want to take. But evidence from the few studies that exist indicates that managers are now using e-mail for even the most sensitive of communications. The distinguishing characteristic of e -mail is that it creates a detailed digital record unlike everyday FTF and phone communication. The existence of an unprotected digital record has legal implications that are explored in the paper. The paper also discusses how employees are now using e-mail strategically in order to document actions and, sometimes, point the finger at other employees whom they feel have not performed well. Some tentative suggestions for managers are outlined for each of these issues.