1.7 Select a Channel of Communication
[Author removed at request of original publisher] and Linda Macdonald
Learning Objective
- Select the most appropriate channel and form for your message based on the purpose and audience.
- Define media richness
- Review individual rights to privacy in workplace communications
Purpose is closely associated with channel. Given the purpose and the audience, you will then select the best channel of communication.
Would the message best be delivered in person because of its sensitivity, its complexity, or the need to address questions quickly? Is a text message sufficient? Or is an email more appropriate? So that readers can maintain file records, is an attached report more desirable?
Your decision should consider the audience’s preferences, the organization’s needs, the complexity of the message, and the need for “media richness”.
Features of Various Channels
When is it appropriate to send an instant message (IM) or text message versus a conventional e-mail or fax? When is it best to deliver a message in person in a speech or meeting? Would the message best be delivered in person because of its sensitivity, its complexity, or the need to address questions quickly? Or is an email more appropriate? So that readers can maintain file records, is an attached report more desirable?
Each channel has features that make it appropriate or inappropriate in certain situations. Each has its own strengths, weaknesses, and understood expectations as summarized in Table 1.7.1.
Table 1.7.1 Communication Channels
| Channel | Strengths | Weaknesses | Expectations | When to Choose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Face-to-Face |
|
|
Quick response |
|
| IM or Text Message |
|
|
Quick response |
|
|
|
Normally a response is expected within 24 hours, although norms vary by situation and organizational culture |
|
|
| Fax |
|
|
Normally, a long (multiple page) fax is not expected |
|
| Memo |
|
|
Normally used internally in an organization to communicate directives from management on policy and procedure, or documentation | You need to communicate a general message within an organization |
| Letter |
|
|
Specific formats associated with specific purposes | You need to inform, persuade, deliver bad news or negative message, and document the communication |
| Report | Significant time for preparation and production | Requires extensive research and documentation | Specific formats for specific purposes; generally reports are to inform but may also be to recommend | You need to document the relationship(s) between large amounts of data to inform an internal or external audience |
| Proposal | Significant time for preparation and production | Requires extensive research and documentation | Specific formats for specific purposes; generally, proposals are to persuade | You need to persuade an audience with complex arguments and data |
Check Your Knowledge
Media Richness
By choosing the correct channel for a message, you can increase the likelihood that your message will be understood and acted upon in the manner you intended.
Your decision should consider the audience’s preferences, the organization’s needs, the complexity of the message, and the need for “media richness”. A phone call has less media richness than a Microsoft Teams or Zoom video call. The Teams video call adds visual elements that enhance the message. But a video conference usually lacks a full view of the speaker and all their non-verbal communications, and speakers often look at the listener’s image rather than the camera when they speak. A face-to-face meeting has even greater media richness.
Three qualities determine a medium’s richness:
- multiple information cues simultaneously: The richer the medium, the more cues. The addition of body language to speech adds cues.
- speed of feedback: Richer media have faster response times. Feedback is immediate in a verbal exchange but delayed or non-existent through the medium of a poster.
- personal focus: A letter addressed to a single recipient has more personal focus than a poster visible to many.
- ability to use natural language. A face-to-face medium provides an opportunity to use more natural language because body language supplements the oral communication, the speaker can tell more easily when additional explanations are necessary, and the speaker is able to adjust the formality of the language for the context.
Not all content should be delivered through a rich medium. Simple, routine messages only require a lean medium. A leaner medium is often the most efficient way to deliver content in business when the purpose is simply to inform the audience.
Privacy and Security of Electronic Communications
An employer has the right to view your electronic files stored on their network, to track you when using their equipment, and to view your company-provided social media or your personal but public posts. When you call and leave a voice message for a friend or colleague at work, do you know where your message is stored? There was a time when the message may have been stored on an analog cassette in an answering machine, or even on a small pink handwritten note which a secretary deposited in your friend’s in-box. Today the “where” is irrelevant; the in-box is digital and can be accessed from almost anywhere on the planet. That also means the message you left, with the representation of your voice, can be forwarded via e-mail as an attachment to anyone. Any time you send an IM, text, or e-mail or leave a voice message, your message is stored on more than one server, and it can be intercepted or forwarded to persons other than the intended receiver. Are you ready for your message to be broadcast to the world? Do your words represent you and your business in a positive light?
Newsweek columnist Jennifer Ordoñez writes that it has become routine for employees to sign “the consent form attesting that you understand and accept that any e-mails you write, Internet sites you visit or business you conduct on your employer’s computer network are subject to inspection” (Ordoñez, 2008, para. 1). As you use Instagram, update your Facebook page, get LinkedIn, Twitter, text, and IM, you leave an electronic trail of “bread crumbs” that merge personal and professional spheres, opening up significant issues of privacy. Anything you write or record in the workplace can be stored for later retrieval by people for whom your message was not initially intended.
Review any electronic communication before you send it. Spelling and grammatical errors will negatively impact your credibility. With written documents we often take time and care to get it right the first time, but the speed of IM, text, or e-mail often deletes this important review cycle of written works. Just because the message you prepare in IM is only one sentence long doesn’t mean it can’t be misunderstood or expose you to liability. Take time when preparing your written messages, and review your work before you click “send.”
Check Your Knowledge
References
Diagram: Media Richness Theory Diagram PNG by Tntdj licensed under CC 3.0
