Just because e-mail is an everyday part of life in the office doesn't mean
it's something you don't have to think carefully about.
因為用工作郵箱接收和發送一些不懷好意的或是不合適的信件可能導致各種不堪設想的后果。
Of course, your email gaffes (出丑) are most likely not going to turn you into
a global laughingstock. But office email, when used improperly, can undermine
your efforts to get ahead in your career. Following are some tips to help you
use email to your advantage rather than detriment.
1. Keep it short and sweet. Email is not a form of communication that lends
itself to long missives (信件). If you do send a long e-mail--if you send a
product description to a potential client, for instance, or if you send a
clarification of departmental policy to your colleagues - make sure you go over
the details in person as well as in your email, since relying on your email to
communicate all the details often fails.
切記，信的內容一定要分段。讀者們可以忍受長長的信件，但沒人愛理會那些內容混亂成一團的信。
2. Avoid discussing sensitive information. Despite the seeming harmlessness
of email, it is not really private. It's way too simple for the recipient of
your email to forward it to others. And remember that your company can access
any email going into or out of your account. Rule number one for emailing
sensitive information: 假定你的郵件會被既定接收者以外的任何一個人收到。
Another reason to avoid including sensitive information in e-mail is that you
might change your mind about whether you want to let that information be known.
Michael Eisner, for instance, once sent financial information about Disney to
journalists without realizing it had not yet been publicly released. Rule number
two for emailing sensitive information: 三思之后再決定要不要發送。
3. Know when to use email, and when to have a discussion in person or over
the phone.
These days people like to use email for all kinds of purposes for
which it is usually not ideal. If you want to brainstorm, or to manage or
critique others, it's usually best to do so in person - or, failing that, over
the phone.
There are a number of reasons for this. For one thing, email does not
communicate unspoken nuances the way personal communication does. For another,
people are often not as "present" when they read email as they are in a
real-time meeting. 仔細想想看：你什么時候用email完全清楚明了的處理過一件事情？最后還不是要直接與人交流？
（來源：英文薈萃網 原作者 Eric Wilinski 英語點津 Annabel 編輯）
