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CHAPTER 9: LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION 275
a memo or letter, use e-mail, send a text message, or put an item in a newsletter,
depending on the nature of the message. New communication media such as Web
pages, blogs, intranets, and extranets have expanded leaders’ options for communi-
cating to followers as well as the organization’s customers, clients, or shareholders.

The Continuum of Channel Richness
Research has attempted to explain how leaders select communication channels to
39
enhance communication effectiveness. Studies have found that channels differ in
their capacity to convey information. Just as a pipeline’s physical characteristics
limit the kind and amount of liquid that can be pumped through it, a communica-
tion channel’s physical characteristics limit the kind and amount of information
that can be conveyed among people. The channels available to leaders can be

classified into a hierarchy based on information richness. Channel richness is the Channel richness
Channel richness
the amount of information that
amount of information that can be transmitted during a communication episode. the amount of information that
can be transmitted during a
Exhibit 9.6 illustrates the hierarchy of channel richness. can be transmitted during a
communication episode
communication episode
The richness of an information channel is infl uenced by three characteristics:
(1) the ability to handle multiple cues simultaneously; (2) the ability to facilitate
rapid, two-way feedback; and (3) the ability to establish a personal focus for the
communication. Face-to-face discussion is the richest medium, because it permits
direct experience, multiple information cues, immediate feedback, and personal
focus. Face-to-face discussions facilitate the assimilation of broad cues and deep,
emotional understanding of the situation. For example, Tony Burns, former CEO
of Ryder System, Inc., says he prefers to handle things face-to-face: “You can look

someone in the eyes. You can tell by the look in his eyes or the inflection of his
voice what the real problem or question or answer is.” 40
Telephone conversations are next in the richness hierarchy. Eye contact, gaze,
posture, and other body language cues are missing, but the human voice still car-
ries a tremendous amount of emotional information. Electronic messaging, or
e-mail, which lacks both visual and verbal cues, is increasingly being used for com-
munications that were once handled over the telephone. E-mail has improved the

Exhibit 9.6 A Continuum of Channel Richness

E-mail, text
messaging, internet
Face-to-face
Formal report
verbal
Disadvantages Advantages
Impersonal Personal
One-way Two-way
Slow feedback Fast feedback
Low channel High channel
richness richness

Advantages Disadvantages
Provides record No record
Premeditated Spontaneous
Easily disseminated Dissemination hard

Memos, letters Telephone