Electronic disasters can ruin businesses, sink careers, send stock prices plummeting, and create public relations nightmares.
Don't let an "e-disaster" catch you off guard. For responsible organizations operating in the age of electronic communication and commerce, a written "e-policy" is an essential and savy business tool.
An "e-policy" that is well-written and effectively communicated to all employees is one of the best ways for employers to protect themselves from workplace lawsuits and other risks associated with the inappropriate use of corporate software, e-mail, and Internet systems.
Inappropriate e-mail can trigger workplace lawsuits claims. If a former employee subpoenas company e-mail in the course of a wrongful termination lawsuit, your organization could face a lengthy and expensive search for back-up e-mail messages.
In one case, a Fortune 500 company was ordered by a court to turn over any e-mail that mentioned the name of a former employee who was suing the company for improper termination.
With no policy in place for purging e-mail, the company faced the prospect of searching more than 20,000 back-up tapes, containing millions of messages, at a cost of $1,000 per tape. Total potential cost for that electronic search: $20 million.
Jan 24, 2007
Verbal irony use computer-mediated conversations
A research published by the Journal of Language and Social Psychology show how peakers use a range of cues to signal ironic intent, including cues based on contrast with context, verbal, and paralinguistic cues.
Theyrely on cues provided by addressees regarding comprehension of irony. But when such cues are unavailable, you may think speakers use less irony because of the risk of miscommunication, and addressees may be more likely to misinterpret irony.
Eventhough, contrary to expectations, speakers in the computer condition used more irony than face-to-face speakers. They overvalue their capacity to communicate acurately their emotions by writing.
At the workplace, this overestimation is the begining for uncountable and unproductive discussions by e-mails.
Comprehension of irony did not appear to differ across settings, although addressees in the computer condition provided less feedback (positive or negative) to their partners about their comprehension.
These results are discussed in terms of possible differences in the discourse goals and relational strategies engendered by computer-mediated and face-to-face communicative settings. See the research...
Theyrely on cues provided by addressees regarding comprehension of irony. But when such cues are unavailable, you may think speakers use less irony because of the risk of miscommunication, and addressees may be more likely to misinterpret irony.
Eventhough, contrary to expectations, speakers in the computer condition used more irony than face-to-face speakers. They overvalue their capacity to communicate acurately their emotions by writing.
At the workplace, this overestimation is the begining for uncountable and unproductive discussions by e-mails.
Comprehension of irony did not appear to differ across settings, although addressees in the computer condition provided less feedback (positive or negative) to their partners about their comprehension.
These results are discussed in terms of possible differences in the discourse goals and relational strategies engendered by computer-mediated and face-to-face communicative settings. See the research...
Jan 14, 2007
How much US worker "interruptions" cost?
U.S. office workers get interrupted on the job as often as 11 times an hour, costing as much as $588 billion to U.S. business each year, according to research.
Adding the distracting lure of checking e-mails, surfing the Internet and chatting by computer, and workers interrupt themselves nearly as much as they are interrupted by others, experts say.
"With instant messaging on your desktop and alerts and e-mail notifications, you set yourself up for it," said John Putzier, founder of FirStep Inc. business strategists in Prospect, Pennsylvania.
The barrage of interruptions and distractions only worsens at this time of year, experts say. "We have more things pulling at us," said Jonathan Spira, chief executive of Basex, a business consulting firm that researched the cost of interruptions.
From online shopping at work to planning the office holiday party, workers are bombarded with distractions, he said. "These holiday distractions result in more interruptions. It's certainly a recipe for even less work getting done, no question about it," he said.
A typical manager is interrupted six times an hour, one recent study showed, while another found the average cubicle worker is interrupted more than 70 times a day.
Other research has found office workers getting interrupted every 11 minutes, while another study said nearly half of workplace interruptions are self-imposed.
A study by Basex found office distractions take up 2.1 hours of the average day --28 percent-- with workers taking an average of five minutes to recover from each interruption and return to their original tasks.
Adding the distracting lure of checking e-mails, surfing the Internet and chatting by computer, and workers interrupt themselves nearly as much as they are interrupted by others, experts say.
"With instant messaging on your desktop and alerts and e-mail notifications, you set yourself up for it," said John Putzier, founder of FirStep Inc. business strategists in Prospect, Pennsylvania.
The barrage of interruptions and distractions only worsens at this time of year, experts say. "We have more things pulling at us," said Jonathan Spira, chief executive of Basex, a business consulting firm that researched the cost of interruptions.
From online shopping at work to planning the office holiday party, workers are bombarded with distractions, he said. "These holiday distractions result in more interruptions. It's certainly a recipe for even less work getting done, no question about it," he said.
A typical manager is interrupted six times an hour, one recent study showed, while another found the average cubicle worker is interrupted more than 70 times a day.
Other research has found office workers getting interrupted every 11 minutes, while another study said nearly half of workplace interruptions are self-imposed.
A study by Basex found office distractions take up 2.1 hours of the average day --28 percent-- with workers taking an average of five minutes to recover from each interruption and return to their original tasks.
Dec 16, 2006
Email at the workplace could be a plague
Unsolicited e-mails continue to plague Europeans and account for between 50 and 80% of all messages sent to mail inboxes, the European Commission said Monday.
EU Media Commissioner Viviane Reding called on EU governments to step up their fight against spam, spyware and other illegal online activities and implement EU rules to improve Internet safety.
An EU report found that only two EU nations — the Netherlands and Finland — were making inroads in enforcing the 2002 law to crack down on spam.
"Spam is still ... making up to between 50 and 80% of the mails that we are receiving in Europe and two-thirds of that is coming from outside the European Union," said EU spokesman Martin Selmayr.
Read more...
EU Media Commissioner Viviane Reding called on EU governments to step up their fight against spam, spyware and other illegal online activities and implement EU rules to improve Internet safety.
An EU report found that only two EU nations — the Netherlands and Finland — were making inroads in enforcing the 2002 law to crack down on spam.
"Spam is still ... making up to between 50 and 80% of the mails that we are receiving in Europe and two-thirds of that is coming from outside the European Union," said EU spokesman Martin Selmayr.
Read more...
Nov 20, 2006
How many Americans received phishing e-mails?
According to Gartner, approximately 109 mln US adults have received phishing e-mail attacks, up from 57 mln US adults in 2004. The average loss per victim has grown from $257 to $1,244 per victim in 2006.
The average amount of money consumers recovered from phishing attacks in 2005 was 80%, but in 2006, recovery amounts dropped to 54%. High-income adults earning more than $100,000 per year are more heavily attacked. This group reported receiving an average of 112 phishing e-mails in the past year versus 74 e-mails per consumers across all income brackets.
Do you know how "phishing" works?
The average amount of money consumers recovered from phishing attacks in 2005 was 80%, but in 2006, recovery amounts dropped to 54%. High-income adults earning more than $100,000 per year are more heavily attacked. This group reported receiving an average of 112 phishing e-mails in the past year versus 74 e-mails per consumers across all income brackets.
Do you know how "phishing" works?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
