ORGANISATION IN INFORMATION AGE

Organisation in Information Age

Organisation in Information Age

Question 1

Internet and Business Communications

Around the world, businesses utilize email for communication, data transfer and collaboration. Email has been an effective tool for increasing business productivity and increasing data reliability. However, the ease of using email and the decreased formality can create unprofessional communications and data overload. Using email for business also has the disadvantage of opening your computer network to potential viruses and malware sent through email attachments.

Email is an effective means of communication for business and personal use but it also has some disadvantages. Firstly, the advantages are;

1. Email is effective in providing quick answers to yes and no, type questions. eg. Do you do international delivery?

2. Email is effective in finding the right person in an organisation or company to answer your question.

3. Email is good to make appointments for busy people.

4. Email can distribute information quickly to many people for the time it takes to email one person.

The disadvantages are;

1. Email can become timeconsuming for answering complicated questions and misunderstandings can arise because cultural differences in the interpretation of certain words. The telephone, is much better for providing detailed answers or if you feel that the question is not absolutely clear.

2. Email can compromise the security of an organisation because sensitive information can be easily distributed accidently or deliberately. Email should be entrusted to well trained and trusted staff members.

3. Email can become impersonal or misunderstood.

4. The use of pronouns can lead to serious misunderstandings. Users should always try to write the full description rather than abbreviate their sentences with pronouns.

Using business email

More and more individuals are receiving more emails than they can digest and because it is physically more difficult to read on a computer screen, email writing is different from other styles of letter writing.

In business it is important that emails do not become so burdensome, that more time is spent answering email that doing work. Emails must be prioritized, and accurate subject lines chosen. Skimming emails is common, so make sure that the major point in your email is handled first. Make a decision whether it is best to divide the email into multiple emails with different subject lines, because this is often easier and quickier to reply to and also because many people will read one point in the email and totally miss another point.

Email security

Do not open an attachment or click on a link in an email from someone you don't know. If the content of the email looks suspicious, but it is from someone you know - don't open until you clarify it with the sender first. Trust your intuition or you may end up infected with a computer virus.

Most honest people do not realize that email addresses are easily forged. This is because the domain name system does not do a DNS check with the registrar of the domain, when email is sent. So, even if you get an email appearing to be ...