Nasty e-mails raise blood pressure
By Graeme Wearden
ZDNet (UK)
January 8, 2004

Managers who send threatening e-mails to their staff could be doing more harm than good, according to a new study.

Researchers at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College have found evidence that a worker's blood pressure can shoot up if they receive an aggressive e-mail from their boss.

Current medical advice is that raised blood pressure is often damaging to health, and these findings are being cited as evidence that senior staff should never use e-mail for disciplinary issues.

The Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College team unveiled their research at a conference being held this week by the British Psychological Society. It involved almost 50 volunteers, who had their blood pressure repeatedly measured as they read a selection of e-mails both from senior staff and from colleagues at their own level. Some of these e-mails were written aggressively, while others were balanced.

The study found that a volunteer's blood pressure rose when they read any threatening e-mail and also when they read any mail from a more senior colleague. The largest increases occurred when reading a threatening message from a superior.

Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College has concluded from these findings that managers who send aggressively worded e-mails to staff with the intention of improving their performance could actually make things worse. Face-to-face meetings are a much better choice, allowing better dialogue and less chance of misinterpretation.

Research published late last year showed that most people believe IT and mobile communications have helped to make working life easier, but found that some professionals were becoming stressed by the constant distraction of incoming e-mails.



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