Summary: Follow the chain of command even if e-mail offers easy access to higher officials. Learn e-mail etiquette and popular e-mail features in this free communications video.
Tracy Goodwin has a master’s in corporate communication and 10 years experience in professional speaking. Recipient of numerous public speaking awards and is a college professor of...read more
"Next important thing, and this should apply to almost all companies and businesses perhaps not small businesses where there is maybe two or three or four employees but in any business that's a larger size than that, you want to follow the chain of command. This is sometimes hard to do maybe you have a conversation with your boss or your superior or the head of your department and they don't give you the answer that you want. So you go sit at your desk and you fire off an email to the president. You don't want to do that. First of all, if you're going to follow an email protocol you need to follow it all the way up. Don't talk to one person in person and then send an email to another person. Whatever the chain of command is at your office, if you have a boss and then he has a boss and then he has a boss and then there is the vice president and then the president, you have to follow all of those steps. Go person by person by person by person before you get to the top. So don't try to jump to the top via email thinking someone else on the chain of command won't know about it."
eHow Article: Chain of Command & E-Mail Etiquette