Assignment 3, Option 2: Media selection

This past weekend I found myself faced with the task of how I was going to discuss with my parents my living situation for next year. My friends and I were in love with a certain apartment and dead-set on signing the lease. However, the most crucial detail involved in the entire process was the financial aspect, of which I was entirely dependent on my parents’ “OK”. When deciding on a medium to communicate the issue at hand with them, I was conflicted. I was nervous to communicate with them by phone, because I was going to have to be prepared to answer any questions they had about the lease. An e-mail seemed like it would be an easier way to organize the information I had to relay to them. However, upon reflection, I decided that the phone would be a more appropriate medium for numerous reasons. According to O’Sullivan’s Impression Management, I chose to speak with my parents via telephone due to the phone’s ability to convey the message with as much clarity, and as little ambiguity as possible. In this case, the determining factor was not only efficiency. While it may have been more efficient to write what I had to say in an e-mail, my main goal was to clarify the details of the lease with them, which I thought would only be possibly in a medium that enable synchronous communication.

Another instance of media selection occurred when my friends and I were attempting to plan a birthday party for another friend. We initially began planning using Instant Messaging. However, when it became difficult to keep track of everyone’s schedules and ideas that were being communicated, we decided it would be easiest to all meet in person to discuss the plans. The decision to engage in face-to-face communication reflected O’Sullivan’s model, which emphasizes clarity as opposed to the Media Richness Theory’s emphasis on efficiency. While it may have been most efficient to do the planning in the convenience of our own homes in front of our computers, in order to make a clear plan that evaded ambiguity, we decided that face-to-face communication was most appropriate.

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