Poor grammar, faulty punctuation, and atrocious spelling are often blamed when email fails. But more often email fails because senders and readers don't properly perceive their own or each other's emotions. Good writing is important; misplaced commas have led to lawsuits and misspellings have caused boardroom blushes. But grammatically accurate, correctly spelled, and perfectly punctuated emails derail projects, cause team strife, and reduce profits every day.

Sure, miscommunications happen in face-to-face and verbal communications too, but proximity to the event gives each participant a chance to continually reevaluate the situation change their message as the communications proceed. The distance between participants in space and time and the absence of visual and audible cues between parties make email more likely to leave one of the parties unsatisfied with the exchange. When people communicate in person or over the phone, parties tend to take turns speaking. While they are listening, they consider the tone, body language, word choice and other feedback to formulate what they'll say next. There is no feedback and there are no pauses to give an email writer the opportunity to reflect on the message or reader. 

Other written forms of communication could present a similar challenge. But a key difference is that letters and memos written longhand, with typewriters, or with word processors took longer to compose, giving the writer more time to change his or her feelings about what they are writing or their word choices, often times deciding to abandon the written form in favor of a conversation of meeting. There is also a perceived urgency with email that didn't exist with those other forms. That false sense of urgency causes the writer to take less time crafting or proof reading the message, and gives less consideration to choice of words or the reader's perspective. 

Emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) is the measure of a person's ability to correctly perceive one's own and other people's emotions, and control one's emotional responses. Email is a dangerous tool in the hands of a writer with less-than-perfect EQ; it can ruin reputations, end careers, and destroy relationships. “Not in the Mood” will help email users understand the relationship between EIQ and email effectiveness and the potential effects of low email quality on workplace productivity and profits. Perspectives from experts, prior studies, survey results, and interviews will describe the problem from the email user community's own perspective. Tools which may help alleviate the problem will be suggested along with suggestions of some practical methods by which the email writer can overcome low EIQ inclinations and  become a more adept email communicator.