Case study: evaluating the use of an electronic messaging system in business.

This experience report outlines problems encountered whilst monitoring employees communication and how they were overcome. Ethical issues were raised in the recording of individual email messages. To overcome the Hawthorne effect but also to take into account the ethical considerations of monitoring employees a set of guidelines for electronic monitoring is suggested. The value of measuring the communication processes through electronic monitoring has been shown at the Danwood Group. The analysis of email has enabled the effect on employee time to be quantified and has given some surprising results. This has lead to a series of recommendations that will enable companies to make better use of email communication and increase employee productivity.