Misuse of Email Facilities: Professional Issues

Introduction

The intention of this report is to document and concisely illustrate the issues surrounding the misuse of email facilities provided by MoneyWise Ltd. It will examine the direct threats that any abuse of the email facilities will have on the company. Explain fully the reasons why MoneyWise Ltd requires email usage guidelines. Present a policy outlining acceptable email usage for the company and discuss any legal implications surrounding this policy.

Discussion

Threats

This section of the report will investigate the threats that unrestricted email use would have on organisations. An article according to Rothman and Taffae (2003, p.56) states, by some estimates close to 7.2 billion emails are sent everyday. With this instant approval of the usage of emails as a method of mass communication, it has evoked a substantial risk of legal responsibility for companies.

Email has the ability to inadvertently cause damage or embarrassment with the click of a 'send' button advise Rothman and Taffae (2003, p.56). The informal impression for employers and employees of sending an email is misleadingly perilous, and it is considered things are conversed in emails, which would under no circumstances be said in writing. The key threat with emails is that, they leave a written record even after they have been deleted. This written material or confidential corporate information could potentially lead to embarrassment, defamation or legal implications and an undesirable effect on a company's reputation, if an inappropriate email was leaked, external to the organisation.

Another risk of uncontrolled email usage is the huge amount, of an organisations time and money, employers and employees waste on sending pointless emails. This state of affairs could consequently result in lower productivity and performance of a business. According to Best (2003) statistics from business-writing consultants Emphasis state, companies are now spending an average of Ј10,000 per person per year paying employees to read and write unnecessary emails and, that people often have to wade through 30 or 40 emails before they can begin their 'real work'.

One of the most dangerous threats to a business of email misuse is the distribution of offensive material. The circulation of offensive content, which once could have been considered light office banter, places companies open to damaged reputations and litigation, with the company and its directors personally liable.

As commented above offensive email messages sent can be incredibly problematic, but so can that of material sent to other employees within the company. Unmonitored use of the email system to circulate such emails could potentially result in employees and employers contributing to the creation, of a hostile work environment and endangering relationships with work colleagues and stakeholders. These circumstances, could influence a businesses performance, leading to a poorly motivated workforce, create disputes and affect HR retention.

A statement by Kahn (2006 cited Hildreth 2006, p.26) explains that "E-mail has taken over as the dominant way employees and organisations exchange information. In the past, e-mail was how information about a meeting was distributed. But today, e-mail is the way all employees transact real business". Combined with all this important data, is a constant danger of email-borne threats such as viruses, Trojans and other malicious software. The consequences of these threats to a company would be costly for various reasons; possess an influence on productivity (operate as a diversion from employees work responsibilities), carry a risk of corruption or theft, of company emails, containing crucial corporate information and could place a business in danger of legal action or fines, for not acting in accordance with government and industry regulations.

Requirements

According to Wang (1997) you would have thought that the "heaviest users of email would be managers dealing with businesses and clients overseas. Instead, it turned out to the people taking things off the bulletin boards and resending them to a long list of correspondents". With this evidence it appears most companies use email as their main communication tool, it is therefore vital an email guide outlining appropriate use and company expectations is devised.

There are numerous beneficial reasons, why a business requires email usage guidelines. Primarily it is an opportunity, to inform employees that a company may need to monitor their messages. Even if a company has no requirement to make studying employees emails a standard practice, an organisation should protect and be fully conscious of their entitlement to do so.

If a business is confronted with an employee who utilises emails to send pornographic images, communicate confidential corporate information, or transmit material of a racist, sexist, homophobic or indecent nature, the function, of a transcript of email guidelines will serve to protect the company. So, if there is no email policy notifying employees that a company, may need to read their emails, an employee may prosecute the business for violation of privacy, under directives such as the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. Even if the proceedings were unsuccessful, this situation would be exceedingly expensive and time consuming to an organisation.

Email guidelines inform employees how the company expects the email system to be used, and what usage is prohibited. The purpose of this is to avoid legal implications, negative publicity and damage to the companies' reputation. The concept of an email policy is to prevent this abuse, in the first place and to assist employees with a coherent understanding of the power, and the danger email communications can have.

With statistics presented in the article by Roberts (2003, p.9) stating, almost a third of UK employers have dismissed staff for misuse of the internet or email in the past five years, it is evidential, that understandable and concise communication, of email use guidelines is executed within a company. With the clear intention to avoid the consequences of abuse, such as time wasting which has a costly effect on a business.

Whilst the adoption