Electronic mail in a working context

Electronic mail, email, is one of the most widespread computer applications today. While email in general is very popular among its users, there are also drawbacks with email usage: an increasing amount of messages that overwhelm users, systems that are too complex for naive users and at the same time do not support the needs of experienced users. In order to answer the main research question “Which design solutions could improve the situation of individual email users in a working context when it comes to communication and handling large numbers of incoming and stored email messages?” three studies conducted in email users’ working environment are described. The studied organisations are one academic research laboratory, one technical company, and one primary medical service organisation. The studies are focused on email usage, organisation of email messages, novice versus experienced users’ needs, managers’ email usage, and information and communication overflow. The results indicate that the different strategies used to handle email are a matter of a balance between advantages and disadvantages of these strategies. The choice between them is depending on the users’ total work situation and cannot be understood by investigating the email communication alone. One advantage of email is the cognitive comfort it brings to its users by liberating them from thinking about tasks that can be solved by sending an email message, but this advantage disappears when the sender cannot trust that the receiver will act upon the message. Users develop their handling of email with experience and work position. The media that managers use to handle the increased communication that follows with a higher position are email and meetings. One habit that do not change with position is to allow incoming messages to interrupt other work tasks, despite the asynchronous nature of email. This is particularly remarkable for managers who often complain that they need more uninterrupted time. The interruptions may partly be attributed to the lack of functionality in email systems to adapt the interfaces to the users’ work habits. In this case incoming messages result in a signal regardless the importance of them. Email is a part of an information and communication flow. Some users have problems handling this flow. Overflow problems could be diminished by making senders of messages more aware of the receivers’ communicative situation. Email systems could provide feedback to senders of messages based on the receivers’ perception of his/her situation. One of the studies indicates that it may be even more complicated to replace an old email system than introducing an email system for the first time in an organisation. The investment experienced users have made in the old system may be substantial. A model of time usage for organisation of email messages is also presented in order to compare different strategies. Several design solutions are suggested with respect to folder usage, sorting email messages into folders, reducing the number of stored messages, and tailoring the email system to the user’s work habits. Olle Bälter: Electronic mail in a working context The thesis is written in English.