Selecting and Switching Media Features and the Performance of Disitributed Multi-trade Workgroups

Our understanding of media selection and use in distributed environments is particularly weak, and further research to aid the design of group support systems (GSS) in distributed settings is needed. Theory must be expanded to encompass team based structures, incentives, social processes and the multi-trade composition of workgroups, as well as the multitude of medias available. This research project takes a features, as opposed to media, based approach to workgroup communication to understand the motivations and effects of choice and trade-offs in media use in distributed multi-trade workgroups. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Several theories have been developed to study media selection in organizational communication, including media richness (Daft and Lengel, 1984), social interaction (Fulk, 1993) and channel expansion theory (Carlson and Zmud, 1999). Results have been inconclusive and often contradictory (Dennis and Kinney, 1998), yet identifying which tasks can be performed successfully using new media is an important issue facing managers in today’s increasingly distributed work environment. Existing research can be categorised into one of two main streams: trait theories of media selection, and social interaction theories (Carlson and Davis, 1998). Trait theories, such as media richness theory (Daft and Lengel, 1984), propose that rational decision makers match task and media characteristics. Manager performance should improve when media capable of sending more cues, such as vocal inflection or feedback, and providing rapid feedback are used for equivocal tasks and less “rich” media for nonequivocal tasks. How these traits or features come to be considered by organisational members over time is explained by social interaction theory. Evidence exists that managers performing tasks low in equivocality that would normally require media of low richness will often choose media that are, on the contrary, high in richness (Carlson and Zmud, 1999). They may be responding to task based factors other than equivocality or uncertainty, such as job pressures (crises, unexpected problems, tight deadlines) and geographic dispersion (Steinfeld and Fulk, 1986, in Carlson and Davis, 1998) or other individual differences (Trevino et al. 1990). This would imply that task descriptions are incomplete in current research, and all influences on selection are not considered (Carlson and Davis, 1998). Faced with the absence of a robust theory of media choice, Dennis and Kinney (1998) exhort managers to “examine the fundamental aspects of media. For example, if high speed feedback is needed to rapidly converge on a decision, then the use of media providing high feedback should improve performance. If the goal is to disseminate and share information, feedback may be less important than the rapid presentation of information in a form easily and rapidly understood by the message recipient. The best media for disseminating information may not be the best for converging on a decision, and often both are needed to perform a given task. Media switching may be the best choice for optimum performance in tasks that require both information dissemination and convergence on a decision.”(p.270). Managers should choose to enact features of a media rather than choosing the media per se. Media, features and communication channels Media refers to a technology or system that embodies a certain number of features, including communication channels which are used to carry the information. Electronic mail, group decision support system, or negociation support system are examples of media. Media embody any number of features. Features are both the objective (eg. speed of information transmission) and psycho-social (eg. anonymity of the communicators, media richness, perceived ease of use) characteristics of a medium that result from communication channel selection or media design considerations (Griffith and Northcroft, 1994). They are what provide the distinguishing, or core attributes of the medium. 1 Hare (1976) defines a task as a set of problems and issues confronting a decision-making group which aims to seek a solution agreeable to the group members. This definition will be used here.