The amount of lean communication channels have increased in recent years because of new technologies. Back in the 70's, nobody could pop onto their computer and send an instant message to their friend saying they were gonna be late. Nobody could shoot off a quick text. For time-sensitive communication, you needed to use the phone.
The benefits of these lean communication channels are numerous. I recently used a lean communication channel to avoid a potential argument or confrontation. The situation involved me trying to get something of mine back from a former friend, with whom things had not ended well. I decided that an FtF communication would not only result in an argument, but it was also unnecessary. A rich channel communication was not overdoing it, but similarly would have probably resulted in some sort of fight. This prompted me to use Email. It allowed the other person to manage their feelings and words carefully, without me seeing it.
My choice's support of the Media Richness Theory is not certain. Since my request was very clear, you could argue that it didn't require a rich media. On the other hand, I automatically anticipated high potential for my request being misconstrued because of my previous experience and history with the friend. MRT says this would have made me choose a rich media. More importantly, my decision supports O'Sullivan's Impression Management Model. The valence of the communication was negative, because of our past and unspoken issues. The first hypothesis of IMM says that a negative valence favors lean communication.
Throughout college I've communicated with my mom by Email more than by phone. We usually send a few each week, compared to the weekly, or less then weekly phone calls. My schedule is hectic and usually out of sync with hers, so it's much easier to have an asynchronous medium. I've also found that we can exchange more information, sometimes more accurately, through Email. Talking on the phone for extended periods is much harder because of other commitments and the loss of multitasking. Emails can be written over extended periods of time at one's leisure.
I feel that in this case, my experience goes against the Media Richness Theory. I choose the leaner media because it helps me transfer information clearly and accurately by taking time to choose the perfect, unequivocal words. My choice of communication medium with my mother isn't generally influenced by the valence or locus of the conversation, so O'Sullivan's IMM theory isn't very applicable. However, in extremes such as time-sensitive material or very emotional
situations, I will choose a richer medium.
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3 comments:
http://comm245brown.blogspot.com/2007/09/3-media-richness-theory.html
http://comm245brown.blogspot.com/2007/09/3-steve-is.html
Nice post. The first thing that attracted me to this post was the title. It is interesting that you thought that our generation has it easy. I do not necessary agree with this; some people argue that the increase in lean channels lead to a more distanced relationships. Like you said the number of mediated communications has increased dramatically over the years, and I image that this will continue in the future. I wouldn’t be surprised if we relied solely on leaner channels in the future, which is somewhat disappointing.
Your title also implies that you agree with the Media Richness Theory because this theory implies efficiency between equivocally and richness. However, both of your examples seem to supports the Impression Management Model, as you already concluded. Your first task was indeed very equivocal, and contradicted the Media Richness Theory of using a richer channel. The Media Richness Theory does support your second example to some extent though because like you said you have a hard time finding times to call your mother, so you chose the leaner media because of efficiency.
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