:

I strongly do not agree to use e-mail as the medium to fire an employee. Communication is a
process by which information is transmitted and understood between two or more people. The
key element in communication is, understanding the meaning of the sender’s message. If the
receiver or listener did not understand the meaning of sender’s message, the communication is
considered flawed. On the other hand, e-mails or electronic mails are a type of computer-
mediated communication. E-mail is the most widely used computerized channel which are highly
preferred. Yes, e-mails are widely used in offices nowadays. People communicate through e-
mails more than face to face at office. However, e-mail messages can be misunderstood because
the receiver unable to see the sender and their expressions or tones. Even though e-mail
communications are approved and supported by the organization and the human resource
department; we need to also consider individual communication channel preferences. Social
acceptance is a significant factor in order to choose the appropriate channel for communication.
Therefore I oppose my boss’s suggestion to use email as the medium in this action.

There are many points I could elaborate to justify my arguments. E-mails could not deliver
nonverbal cues, normally expected by people during a communication process. Words are plain
without the emotional meaning delivered by nonverbal cues. Among the vital nonverbal cues left
behind by e-mail communication are facial expression, voice intonations and hand movements. If
I do send a separation letter via e-mail in order to fire an employee; the receiver may not be able
to understand fully on the meaning I am trying to deliver. For example, e-mail allows the receiver
(the employee) to misinterpret the intonation of my words in the e-mail message and lead to a
misunderstanding. In short, I believe e-mail message is not sufficient to deliver what I intend the
receiver to understand accurately.

Generally e-mails are informal, have low social presence and the content of message usually
differs from what we would deliver if the medium is face to face. E-mails are one way
communication transmission even though we could reply it upon receiving and reading. By
sending e-mail, we do not give the opportunity to the information receiver to respond or provide
feedback immediately. Most individuals and groups of people do not accept e-mails as a
preferred medium when it comes to formal communication especially for an event as important
as firing an employee. I believe all the preceding weaknesses of e-mail communication, reflects
less of politeness and respect to the receiver.
E-mails could be sent so quickly and effortless nowadays and this could cause people to send
undesired messages to other party. For example, we could be experiencing a very bad day due to
car breakdown. When we arrive at office we would be in an emotionally disturbed state. In this
situation we are very likely to send e-mails or reply e-mails in a manner that we wouldn’t write if
we are in the normal fine state of mind. Sending easy e-mails prevents us from taking the time to
calm down, reconsider or allow our emotions to subside before we could decide the right action.

Sending e-mails could be well appropriate when the information communicated is something like
meeting minutes, weekly standard report or meeting agenda. However, e-mails could never be
appropriate if the information intended is non-routine and complex in nature. In novel situations,
e-mails are not sufficient to introduce the fresh new matters to the receiver. In our scenario,
sending e-mail to fire an employee definitely a new, complex and ambiguous situation for the
receiver. It leaves room for huge misunderstanding and situation may turn very messy between
me the sender and the employee as the receiver. For such agenda, I recommend a better
communications channel with high richness and able to transmit a larger volume of information.
Otherwise the employee may find difficulties to interpret the meaning of the e-mail content, in
order to understand my communication. Rich communication channel will allow delivering
multiple cues, timely feedback, well customized message and also inclusion of complex symbols
where required.

Another obvious problem with e-mail would be information overload. Unlike conventional mails,
e-mails are a lot easier and quicker to create. It is also very easy to be addressed to large number
of people. When information overload happens, people tend to reach their limit and ability to
process received information. For example, the employee in our scenario may fail to notice my
important e-mail on time which could be buried among hundreds of his or her daily e-mails. The
number of unattended e-mails could be a lot bigger depending on the nature of his or her job and
availability of time to read received e-mails. The e-mail could be in queue until the employee
attends one by one all the e-mails. Sometimes the receiver’s mailbox could be full and the e-mail
I sent could be pending at server side or lost in technical mishaps. It’s always a risk to send a
formal important message via e-mail.