Media Richness Theory

Rich Media

(Covello)

Elements

• Media vary in richness, which depends on the level of language variety, personalization, accommodation of feedback, and number of communication channels and cues used (Daft, Lengel 560).

Richer media allow for:

• personalization
• access to immediate feedback due
• use of multiple channels and cues
• language variety
• face-to-face communication
• social networking
• interactive sites

Lean media rely on:

• impersonal, existing rules and procedures
• video or audio recordings
• memos, letters
• bulk mail, brochures, flyers

Lean media are better for less ambiguous and unequivocal information (Daft, Lengel 560).

"Effects on Guided Writing Strategies on Students' Writing Attitudes Based on Media Richness Theory"

• A study conducted by Yu-Feng Lan, Chun-Ling Hung, and Hung-Ju HSU
• Media richness was studied within schools to view its affects on students as well as their anxiety and enthusiasm for writing
• Research concluded that the higher the media richness of the writing activity, the higher the enthusiasm and the lower the anxiety; therefore, proving when media, used effectively, have a great impact on what and how we learn (Lan, Hung, HSU).

BTHO prefers:

• personal communication
• use of rich media to allow maximum feedback from employees
• optimal business efficiency (which rich media allow for, with quick understanding and less equivocality)

Old Ags prefers:

• communication on an impersonal level
• use of lean media because that is all they have known and understand
• They have little uncertainty because they rely on the outstanding rules and outlines.

• Rich media refers to the information-carrying capacity of a medium. Lean media require a larger time to understand the message or cannot overcome different perspectives easily. Rich media are a medium that clarify ambiguous information or clear up communication uncertainty quickly (Daft, Lengel 560).
• Message equivocality and communication uncertainty, being two information factors processing.
• Information or messages with high equivocality could have multiple interpretations so they require more information or clarifications.
• Communication uncertainty is brought on by lack of information which leads to questions and need for more information.
• These two factors determine the level of ambiguity of a message, allowing you to pick a medium that leads to effective communication (Daft, Lengel 557).

Case Study Continued

Equivocality and

Uncertainty

With the companies merging, problems arise regarding communication practices.

BTHO's rich media are viewed as time consuming and unnecessary by Old Ags employees. The Old Ags are also untrained so their uncertainty is high when using rich media.

However, Old Ags's use of lean media are unfavorable to BTHO employees because they leave little room for personalization or feedback. BTHO see lean media as a waste of time since they need to ask questions to get all the necessary information.

• Equivocality
• the level of ambiguity in messages, and the extent to which they have multiple and conflicting interpretations
• if a message is unclear or lacks complete information, there is high equivocality (Daft, Lengel 557).
• Uncertainty
• the "absence of information"
• the more information someone has, the lower amount of uncertainty
• higher amounts of uncertainty in a message or communication setting results in the need for more questions to be asked and more informational gaps to be filled.
• Daft and Lengel point out that uncertainty in the workplace can be removed by questions and answers, allowing for new information to be given (Daft, Lengel 556).

Media Richness Theory

Case Study

Case Study Cont.

Works Cited

Media richness theory plays an important role in organizational decisions regarding the use and choice of media (Simon, Peppas, 2004).

The theory states that media richness is an objective and fixed property of a communication medium, and refers to a channel's ability to convey messages that communicate varying amounts of content (Simon, Peppas, 2004).

First proponents of the theory were made by Richard L. Daft and Robert H. Lengel (1984).

According to the Media Richness Theory, both companies have been using the wrong types of media for their communication tasks.

Rich media reduce uncertainty and ambiguity, but is inefficient for tasks with a low level of ambiguity (Schmitz, Fulk 488-89).

Lean media should be used when there is low eqivocality of the message and knowledge on the subject is high.

BTHO's use of rich media are useful when knowledge of the subject is low and uncertainty is high, since they allows for feedback and variety. However, this use of rich media are wasteful when used with simple tasks, like memos, that have low levels of ambiguity and eqivocality.

Old Ags's use of lean media are useful only when knowledge of the subject is high and uncertainty is low because they does not allow feedback and leaves little room for questions and answers. This lean media are great for memos or well known company procedures. However, lean media waste time when being used for new projects since they does not reduce uncertainty and require time for employees to understand the information.

There are two different advertising companies operating within Aggieland, BTHO Advertising and Old Ags Advertising.

BTHO is run by two Millennial executives who try communicating within the company with rich media. BTHO engages in video conferencing, social networking, and interactive websites.

Old Ags, on the other hand, is owned by a traditional Veteran man who created the company 50 years ago and has run it the same way since. Old Ags communicates mainly through lean media, such as memos, letters, and flyers on an office bulletin board.

BTHO has bought out Old Ags. They are struggling to merge, because employees from both Old Ags and BTHO have extremely different ways in which information has been distributed in their company. The older generation members of Old Ags must cope with being trained in BTHO's rich media practices and think it is over the top for a simple memo. The members of BTHO think the lean media ways are outdated and less efficient.

The owners are now tasked with making a streamlined and uniformed way of communicating that is both efficient and effective.

Bergin, Richard. "Media Richness Theory (in under 3 minutes)." Online Video Clip. YouTube. YouTube, 16 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

Covello, Steve. "Rich Media - Part 1: What is Rich Media?" Online Video Clip. YouTube. YouTube, 7 Mar. 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

Daft, Richard L., and Robert H. Lengel. "Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design." Management science 32.5 (1986): 554-571.

Kahai, Surinder S., and Randolph B. Cooper. "Exploring the core concepts of media richness theory: The impact of cue multiplicity and feedback immediacy on decision quality." Journal of Management Information Systems 20.1 (2003): 263-300.

LAN, Yu-Feng, Chun-Ling Hung, and Hung-Ju HSU. "Effects of Guided Writing Strategies on Students' Writing Attitudes Based on Media Richness Theory." TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology 10.4 (2011): 1-17. Oct. 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

Schmitz, Joseph, and Janet Fulk. "Organizational Colleagues, Media Richness, and Electronic Mail A Test of the Social Influence Model of Technology Use." Communication research 18.4 (1991): 487-523.

Simon, Steven John, and Spero C. Peppas. "An Examination of Media Richness Theory in Product Web Site Design: An Empirical Study." Info 6.4 (2004): 270-81. Emeraldinsight.com. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.

Timmerman, C. Erik, and S. Naga Madhavapeddi. "Perceptions Of Organizational Media Richness: Channel Expansion Effects For Electronic And Traditional Media Across Richness Dimensions." IEEE Transactions On Professional Communication 51.1 (2008): 18-32. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Case Study Continued

• The new company needs a combination of both lean and rich media.
• For easy to understand tasks and memos -- lean media (requires little or no feedback to complete the task)
• For new tasks that employees have little knowledge about -- rich media (to ensure that feedback is quick and more information is given to reduce ambiguity)
• Use of rich media when task-relevant knowledge is high -- it has significantly positive impacts on decision quality, which help complete the task more efficiently (Kahai, Cooper 264).
• To train the employees on the new procedures -- rich media (via face-to-face communication in order to reduce all uncertainty and ambiguity)

• A study done by Erik Timmerman and Naga Madhavapeddi on over 529 organizations showed that simple frequency of interaction of a medium did not equate with perceptions of the richness of a medium.
• The study also found that since media are not equal, in order to maximize knowledge of a specific media, you must understand them in an objective way (Timmerman, Madhavepeddi 30).

(Bergin)

MEDIA RICHNESS THEORY

Group Green 5

Emma Koenen, Mollie Gonzales, Kelli Graves, Ellen Goetz, Genaro Sepulveda