“We may find it convenient to send a condolence card to a bereaved friend, but we delude ourselves if we believe that our card conveys the same meaning as our broken and whispered words when we are present.”
Neil Postman*
Meaning of a Message
A message is a discrete communicative act—a packet that transmits – at minimum – data, as well as intentionality, emotion, and relational content. It is constrained by its medium to greater or lesser degrees of immediacy, intimacy, and fidelity, contingent on the available channels of transmission, reception, and acknowledgement. Its meaning is co-constructed through the medium itself and the interpretive context of its receiver, such that every message is both an event and an artifact—simultaneously an act of transmission and a transformation of meaning.
Griffith and Goodwin’s* message breakdown:
What Is Being Sent
Content
The content of a message refers to the facts, data, and information sent. This is the simplest part of a message and may be conveyed verbally or through written communication.
Feeling
The feeling of a message comprises the emotions and intentions felt by the communicator – and these are typically conveyed via the nonverbal and para-verbal channels of communication
Relationship
This part of the message is simply a statement of the nature or quality of the relationship. This may refer to how the communicator values the relationship with whom they are communicating, or it could convey stratifications of organizational value for both the sender and receiver.
How We Send It
Verbal
The words we use, written or spoken, to transmit information on thoughts, feelings, intentions, direction, and data
Nonverbal/Behavioral
All forms of body language, facial expressions, gestures – generally used to transmit feelings and emotions; the most active and complex of the three channels
Para-verbal
Grunts, groans, volume, pitch, speed, tone, inflection – we influence meaning by how we say things
Dennis and Niinimaki’s* message breakdown – the fundamental communication processes:
Why We Are Communicating
Conveyence
Exchanging new information
Happens within individuals (drafting, editing and sending content or receiving, analyzing, and processing content)
This is a cognitively-heavy practice. It involves sending new information, data, or content that takes time to analyze and process and thereby fit it into existing mental models, narratives, and systems of meaning.
Convergence
A shared understanding
Happens between individuals (assessing others’ understanding, ensuring accordance of interpretations, and agreements on the meaning of messages or information)
This is a process more contingent on feedback, clarification, agreement, assessment, or an understanding of hindrances to mutual understanding. This process is less cognitively dependent and more reliant on communicative fidelity.
Despite their usefulness for some tasks, electronic media should not be seen as suited to the entire range of executive communications. Remember, there is no electronic substitute for face-to-face discussions when issues are nonroutine. One interpretation of the Challenger disaster is that the electronic communication network used by NASA failed to convey the anxiety and strong negative feelings of Morton-Thiokol engineers about a shuttle liftoff in cold weather. Electronic communications can filter the emotional intensity of a deeply held view. Yet, the written and electronic media could easily dominate corporate information flows in the large corporation, so the wise top managermust continually seek ways to preserve rich channels of communication.
Lengel & Daft*
Communication Satisfaction
The most widely-cited operationalization and inventory of interpersonal communication satisfaction was described and created by Michael L. Hecht in 1978. His inventory focused on the measurement of empirically discernible behaviors and is well-known for its validity and reliability. Read more…V
“All theorists agree that satisfaction is an internal response to the environment or perceived environment.”
Hecht operationalizes this concept from a Skinner-esque behavioral standpoint of discriminitive fulfullment, or discriminitive stimuli (Skinner, 1953, pp. 107-128), and “…obviates the problem of negative expectations by introducing the operant approach to reinforcement.”*
Ultimately, though, he states that the definition of satisfaction is grounded in the observables of discriminitive stimuli and reinforcement. It is conceptualized as an internal reinforcer.
Hecht’s work is widely cited and considered an authoritative inventory on the measurement of interpersonal communication satisfaction.
Research
Media Synchronicity Theory: A Synthesis of Media Richness and Social Presence – Dennis, Fuller, & Valacich, 2008
This paper asserts a theoretical blend of media richness and social presence which, rather than asserting any medium is best for a given situation, that communication processes benefit from the use of multiple media.
The researchers propound the idea that convergence and conveyance benefit from different sorts of media – that communication fidelity depends on the process undertaken. Accordingly, the complete communication process should utilize a mixture of media because conveyance benefits best from leaner, more asynchronous media while convergence is best effected by media which supports
synchronicity.
Success Factors of Global Virtual Teamwork: A Social Capital Perspective – Heubeck, Storz, Meckl, 2024
The study examines teamwork through information and communication technologies (ICT) to investigate the role of social capital as a mediating factor between team effectiveness and ICT usage.
The researchers conclude with data condordant with the findings of media synchronicity, stating that “…combining high
media richness and low communication intensity or high communication
intensity and low media richness is considered the most advantageous.” The reasoning for this is that communication efficacy is elevated by reducing costs and – for instance – using rich media to communicate cognitively burdensome information doubles the cost.
- Lengel, R. H., & Daft, R. L. (1988). The selection of communication media as an executive skill. The Academy of Management Executive, 2(3), 225–232.
- Dennis, A. R., Fuller, R. M., & Valacich, J. S. (2008). Media synchronicity theory: A synthesis of media richness and social presence. MIS Quarterly, 32(3), 575–600.
- Hecht, M.L. (1978). The Conceptualization and Measurement of Interpersonal Communication Satisfaction. Human Behavior Research, (4)3, 253-264
- Griffith, D., Goodwin, C. (2012). Conflict Survival Kit: Tools for Resolving Conflict at Work 2nd edition. Pearson Ch 5-6
- Niinimäki, T., Piri, A., Lassenius, C., & Paasivaara, M. (2012). Reflecting the choice and usage of communication tools in global software development projects with media synchronicity theory. Journal of Software: Evolution and Process, 24(6), 677–692.
- Postman, N. (2005). Amusing ourselves to death: Public discourse in the age of show business (20th anniversary ed.). Penguin Books.