LE3 .A278 2011

2011

Weatherbee, Terrance

Acadia University

Bachelor of Business Administration

Honours

Business Administration

Business

There is a wealth of research on both informal and formal communication in organizations which indicates that performance feedback is a critical work factor for supervisors and subordinates. However, this research has been conducted in a pre-21st century paradigm and has rarely been focused on the effects of the communication medium that is used for the provision of performance feedback. Although the use of e-mail has been attracting some recent attention from researchers in terms of its influence on interpersonal relations in organizations, there has been limited, if any, research focused on the effects e-mail may have on communication processes within performance feedback models. This research included two studies that explored the use of e-mail for job or performance feedback in organizational work settings. The first study explored the perceptions and experiences of employees from various organizations to determine how e-mail is being used in the workplace for performance communication. The results of the first exploratory set of interviews were used to develop a general model, inclusive of both formal and informal feedback given and received in e-mail. The second study expanded upon the results of the first study by seeking to understand employee perceptions and responses as they relate to positive and negative feedback in e-mail. The combined results are presented to assist practitioners and researchers in understanding the effect using e-mail to give positive and negative feedback may have on employees.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:829