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Rob Yeung from Management Issues.com says:
Email is described by most people as being as infuriating as it is useful and I can fully empathise with your situation. I believe you broadly have two options for dealing with your conundrum.
You could try to mount a single-handed attempt to change the culture of your organisation. But is that really a productive use of your time? If everyone else simply accepts it as part and parcel of their culture and doesn't see it as a business-critical issue, you're probably wasting your time.
Most organisations have ineffective aspects of their culture. With regards to communication, I've observed organisations in which hardly anyone used email and they simply picked up the telephone all the time – which meant that people were constantly being disrupted by the phone ringing. And I've seen people in other organisations be overly obsessed with producing paper memos on just about everything from important messages from the chairman of the business to what biscuits the kitchen should have in stock.
But such things are, for the most part, simply accepted by people as minor inefficiencies that are relatively inoffensive. So unless there is a broad consensus that it's a serious issue and one that needs tackling, you probably won't gain much traction in trying to change it.
Your other option is simply to play along. Sure, it may annoy you that you receive hundreds of emails every day that have little or no relevance to you. But trying to change the culture when it bothers you but few other people simply flags you up as a troublemaker.
If other people cope with it, they'll see you as someone who is unable to blend into the culture – someone who doesn't fit, doesn't belong, and shouldn't stay long in the organisation.
If you want to make a difference to your organisation, might there be more productive areas in which you could invest your time and energies?
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