Do You Negotiate Over E-Mail?
E-Mail communications are fraught with dangers not present in face-to-face or telephone communications. Human beings are programmed to communicate with more than just words. Take the example of a simple apology. When you offer or receive an apology in person, you instinctively interpret the sincerity of that apology by reading facial expressions and body language, among other things. The difference in result between an obligatory “sorry” from a heartfelt apology is striking. In general, people do not turn off their instincts when reading an e-mail. The problem is that there are no physical cues so we read into it what the writer meant from the words alone, the context of the e-mail, and a variety of other factors that are probably wholly irrelevant to the sincerity of the offer. In a worst case, the lack of any physical cues could lead to a complete disconnect between what the sender intended
