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
  • Non-verbal communication enhances the message
  • Good for rapid exchanges of information
  • Provides immediate feedback
  • No record of interaction on file and no ability to edit the message
  • Not suitable for large amounts of information
Quick response
  • You need to express emotion in delivering sensitive information
  • When interaction and dialogue are preferable
IM or Text Message
  • Very fast
  • Good for rapid exchanges of small amounts of information
  • Inexpensive
  • Informal
  • Not suitable for large amounts of information
  • Abbreviations lead to misunderstandings
Quick response
  • Informal use among peers at similar levels within an organization
  • You need a fast, inexpensive connection with a colleague over a small issue and limited amount of information
E-mail
  • Fast
  • Good for relatively fast exchanges of information
  • “Subject” line specifies project for record-keeping
  • Easy to distribute to multiple recipients
  • Inexpensive
  • May hit “send” prematurely
  • May be overlooked or deleted without being read
  • “Reply to all” error
  • “Forward” error
  • Large attachments may cause the e-mail to be caught in recipient’s spam filter
Normally a response is expected within 24 hours, although norms vary by situation and organizational culture
  • You need to communicate but do not need an immediate reply
  • You need to send attachments (provided their file size is not too big)
Fax
  • Fast
  • Provides documentation
  • Receiving issues (e.g., the receiving machine may be out of paper or toner)
  • Long distance telephone charges apply
  • Rarely used telephone-based technology; losing popularity to online information exchange
Normally, a long (multiple page) fax is not expected
  • You want to send a document whose format must remain intact as presented, such as a medical prescription or a signed work order
  • Allows use of letterhead to represent your company
Memo
  • Official but less formal than a letter
  • Clearly shows who sent it, when, and to whom
  • Memos sent through e-mails can get deleted without review
  • Attachments can get removed by spam filters
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
  • Formal
  • Letterhead represents your company and adds credibility
  • May get filed or thrown away unread
  • Cost and time involved in printing, stuffing, sealing, affixing postage, and travel through the postal system
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.

Diagram showing the media richness theory: Face to Face mediums are most effective for of communication while unaddressed documents are least.

 

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

Ordoñez, J. (2008, July 14). The technologist: They can’t hide their pryin’ eyes. Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com/id/143737.

 

Diagram: Media Richness Theory Diagram PNG by Tntdj licensed under CC 3.0

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NSCC Professional Sales Communication Copyright © 2021 by [Author removed at request of original publisher] and Linda Macdonald is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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