Exemplary embodiments provide methods and systems for dynamically changing a message retrieval scheme during runtime in a client/server electronic messaging system in which the server executes a message retrieval component and incoming messages received from the client is stored in a message queue. Aspects of the exemplary embodiment include accessing messaging business rules from a memory by a message retrieval component at runtime, wherein the messaging business rules define a primary retrieval scheme and a secondary retrieval scheme, and wherein a value provided for each of the primary retrieval scheme and the secondary retrieval scheme are selected from a combination of different message retrieval types including: First In First Out (FIFO), Last In First Out (LIFO), and random. The message retrieval component subdivides the message queue into sub-queues based on at least one of a message quantity limit and a message received time limit specified in the business rules. Each of the sub-queues is then accessed using the value of the secondary retrieval scheme; and messages from each of the sub-queues are retrieved using the value of the primary retrieval scheme.