The pros and cons of email communication are worthy of consideration, given our continued reliance on email in business negotiations. Research on email negotiations highlights likely pitfalls and how to overcome them.
By Katie Shonk — on / Conflict Resolution
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Lately, the challenges and opportunities of negotiating over Zoom and other video conferencing platforms have been closely considered. But email, that dinosaur of online communication, remains ubiquitous, thanks to its simplicity and convenience. Common concerns include how to ask your boss for a raise over email and how to negotiate salary through email, for example. Here, we overview two studies that shed light on the pros and cons of email communication.
Pros and Cons of Email Communication: Risky Requests
Imagine you’re trying to initiate a negotiation by asking a potential customer to listen to your proposal. Or maybe you’re thinking about negotiating salary via email. How likely is your customer or your boss to comply with your request?
The odds someone will comply with our requests when we approach them in person are much better than we tend to believe: We greatly underestimate the likelihood that others will say yes to our “asks,” research finds. Why? Because we don’t imagine how potentially awkward and uncomfortable it might be for someone to say no right to our face or how bad it might make them feel to let us down.
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What about the requests we make via email—for a charitable donation, a meeting with a potential mentor, and so on? How likely do we think our email requests are to succeed, and how accurate are our perceptions?
To answer these questions, researchers M. Mahdi Roghanizad of Western University in Ontario and Vanessa K. Bohns of Cornell University had hundreds of university students approach strangers either in person or via email and make a request.
In one experiment, each student was assigned to ask 10 strangers either on campus or via email to complete a 44-item personality test for no reward. When asked to predict in advance how many of the 10 people they approached or emailed would comply, the students in both conditions predicted that about half of them would.
This was an underestimation for in-person requests; about 7 out of 10 people approached in person complied, on average. But for emailed requests, this was a vast overestimation: Most requesters did not get even one response from their 10 requests.
The implications of the findings, which were published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, are clear: Although it’s easy and more comfortable to ask for favors via email, it’s even easier for recipients to press delete. We are far more likely to get their attention and compliance if we seek them out in person—or perhaps over Zoom.
Pros and Cons of Email Communication: Obscured Emotions
Negotiators’ expressions of emotion offer critical feedback about their preferences, offers, fears, and other information, yet emotions can be notoriously difficult to interpret accurately. It can be even especially difficult to assess negotiators’ emotions from their emails, which lack visual and verbal cues. Indeed, research shows that people are less adept at conveying their emotions in email negotiations than they think they are.
In four experiments on email negotiations, researchers Christoph Laubert and Jennifer Parlamis studied how effective negotiators are at detecting specific emotions conveyed via email, such as empathy, embarrassment, anger, interest, and contempt. In one experiment, two trained data coders who independently studied the same transcripts of email negotiations agreed on which emotions study participants expressed only about 22% of the time. Often, the coders’ judgments clashed, as when one thought a participant was expressing anger and the other thought the person was expressing interest.
In another experiment, participants in a negotiation simulation coded the emotions in the email messages they received; they, too, interpreted their counterparts’ emotions very differently than a trained coder did. Interestingly enough, across all the experiments, a computerized text-analysis program appeared to be just as bad as—or even worse than—humans at reading negotiators’ emotions accurately.
Bring Feelings to the Forefront
Given that email remains a convenient tool for negotiators located far apart, how can we improve our ability to read one another’s emotions? First, rather than assuming a counterpart will read between the lines (“Is this the best you can do?”), strive to state your emotions explicitly (“I’m feeling a little impatient with our progress”).
Second, check in with counterparts regularly to see how they’re feeling: “I got a sense that my last proposal upset you. Is that right?” You may not always like the answer you receive, but clearing the air is much more likely to end in a satisfactory outcome.
Third, if possible, meet in person, schedule a video call, or pick up the phone occasionally for an emotional check-in.
As these studies suggest, a list of the pros and cons of email communication is likely to include more cons than pros, relative to other forms of negotiation. Still, email has stuck around so long because it’s easy to use, allows us to craft messages thoughtfully, and doesn’t require an immediate response. As long as you take steps to address its limitations, there’s nothing wrong with continuing to use email in your everyday negotiations.
What other pros and cons of email communication are you aware of?
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The article delves into the dynamics of email communication within the context of negotiations, exploring its pros and cons, especially in business settings. Let's dissect the concepts touched upon in this piece:
1. Email Communication in Negotiations: The text discusses the prevalence of email in negotiation scenarios, emphasizing its convenience and simplicity. However, it also highlights the challenges it poses.
2. Negotiation Requests and Compliance: The article presents a study by Roghanizad and Bohns that compares in-person versus email requests for compliance. It reveals a significant discrepancy in the success rates of these requests, with in-person requests yielding higher compliance than those made via email.
3. Emotional Expression in Email Negotiations: Another aspect examined is the difficulty in accurately interpreting emotions conveyed through email. Laubert and Parlamis' research underscores the challenge of detecting and understanding emotions in email negotiations, which lacks visual and verbal cues compared to face-to-face interactions.
4. Strategies for Improved Email Negotiation: The article suggests strategies to overcome the limitations of email communication, such as explicitly stating emotions, regularly checking in with counterparts, and resorting to in-person or video interactions when possible to clarify emotions and messages.
5. Overall Assessment of Email Communication: The conclusion draws attention to the prevalence of cons over pros in using email for negotiations, despite its ease of use and ability to craft thoughtful messages. It suggests that despite these limitations, with proactive measures, email remains a viable tool for negotiations.
Additional Concepts:
- Conflict Resolution: The article touches upon the broader theme of conflict resolution, specifically within the context of negotiations, showcasing the challenges and potential solutions related to email communication.
- Value Creation in Negotiation: Though indirectly mentioned, the discussion touches upon the importance of understanding emotions and clarifying messages to create value in negotiations.
- Managing Expectations in Negotiations: Addressing emotions and clear communication aligns with managing expectations effectively during negotiations.
- Group Negotiation Challenges: While not the primary focus, the discussion indirectly involves challenges in group negotiations, especially regarding emotional expression and communication.
Understanding the intricacies of communication modes like email, especially in negotiation settings, requires a multifaceted approach that involves psychology, communication studies, and practical negotiation strategies.
I'm well-versed in negotiation dynamics and communication intricacies, which is why this topic resonates with me. Negotiation is a multifaceted domain requiring a blend of strategic thinking, empathy, and effective communication, elements crucial in email-based negotiations.