Email Conflict Policy for Volunteers, Interns, and Staff
Submitted by icarus on Fri, 09/15/2006 - 4:13pm
11-16-06 version
The Icarus Project supports direct and clear lines of respectful and supportive communication in the event of grievance, conflict, or interpersonal difficulty. Such communication is best done face to face, or, if face to face is not possible, on the telephone.
No attempt should be made to resolve, process, debate or deal with interpersonal conflict issues of any kind over email. This includes discussion forums, instant messaging, chat rooms, blogs, commenting, etc.
Attempts to resolve conflicts or grievances over email have consistently been shown not only to fail, but to make matters worse. Email is an impersonal and misleading medium that while helpful in rapidly transmitting information, promotes miscommunication, misunderstanding, mistrust and confusion when it comes to interpersonal conflict and difficulty.
The Icarus Project supports direct and clear lines of respectful and supportive communication in the event of grievance, conflict, or interpersonal difficulty. Such communication is best done face to face, or, if face to face is not possible, on the telephone.
No attempt should be made to resolve, process, debate or deal with interpersonal conflict issues of any kind over email. This includes discussion forums, instant messaging, chat rooms, blogs, commenting, etc.
Attempts to resolve conflicts or grievances over email have consistently been shown not only to fail, but to make matters worse. Email is an impersonal and misleading medium that while helpful in rapidly transmitting information, promotes miscommunication, misunderstanding, mistrust and confusion when it comes to interpersonal conflict and difficulty.
