The most recent Psychology Today mentioned an experiment in which two
groups (of paired individuals) had to purchase a product. One group
started with a short phone call between the two negotiating individuals
before resorting to e-mails, while the other group started immediately with
e-mails. The group who never had the actual verbal conversations (of about
30 seconds) were significantly worse at coming to agreement.
gregg
>I've been in the consulting / IT / corporate governance business for a
>long time.
>
>We've learned that e-mail (and a forum like this one) is a very "hard"
>medium.
>That is, all of the non-verbal cues about meaning, emotions, context are
>mostly
>missing. What remains, in e-messages, are only the words, which without
>those
>non-verbal cues, convey thoughts and ideas in almost absolutist terms.
>Nuances
>are completely lost.
>
>In our business we've had to be very careful about this, because with
>these
>absolutist, hard, words, incorrect interpretations -- and incorrect
>emotional and
>contextual responses -- can very easily occur.
>
>Most participants here have excellent verbal/writing skills. Messages are
>enjoyable and informative to read.
>
>But care needs to be taken to understand that the "hardness" of the medium
>means the loss of non-verbal cues and nuances .. and therefore
>misunderstanding
>the intentions behind the communication.
>
>In other words, sometimes we have to chill out.
>
>Bob Benson
>
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