Arbitration & Mediation

More Dangers in Negotiating by Email

By Victoria Pynchon

Over at IP ADR, we warned against using email to negotiate because the social scientists tell us that it is "profoundly anti-social," i.e., we're less generous when we respond to an offer via email than when we're negotiating face to face.

Today, Scientific American warns us that emailers tend to deceive one another more readily than do those who use pencil and pad -- see Business, Lies and Email here, excerpt below. 

E-mail is often a rather casual form of communication.  Language is more informal and grammar, well, it ain’t a priority.  Now comes a study that finds that people tend to lie more in email than when writing with pen and paper.  This research from DePaul, Lehigh and Rutgers Universities. . . . .

Full post as published by Settle It Now Negotiation Blog on September 29, 2008 (boomark / email).