Using Figure 2.2, suggest the best communication channels for the following messages. Assume that all channels shown are available. Be prepared to explain your choices.
Channel ___________________________________________ Best Use
Blog
When one person needs to present digital information easily so that it is available to others.
E-mail
When you need feedback but not immediately. Lack of security makes it problematic for personal, emotional, or private messages.
Face-to-face conversation
When you need a rich, interactive medium. Useful for persuasive, bad-news, and personal messages.
Face-to-face group meeting
When group decisions and consensus are important. Inefficient for merely distributing information.
Fax
When your message must cross time zones or international boundaries, when a written record is significant, or when speed is important.
Instant messaging
When you need a quick response from someone who is also online. Useful for fast answers in real time or for customer-service chats.
Letter
When a written record or formality is required, especially with customers, the government, suppliers, or others outside an organization.
Memo
When you want a written record to clearly explain policies, discuss procedures, or collect information within an organization.
Phone call
When you need to deliver or gather information quickly, when nonverbal cues are unimportant, and when you cannot meet in person.
Report or proposal
When you are delivering considerable data internally or externally.
Text messaging
When you need to connect with someone by smart phone but not necessarily in real time. Useful for leaving brief messages discreetly without having to call.
Voice mail message
When you wish to leave important or routine information that the receiver can respond to when convenient.
Video- or audio conference
When group consensus and interaction are important, but members are geographically dispersed.
Wiki
When digital information must be made available to others. Useful for collaboration because participants can easily add, remove, and edit content.
1. As an event planner, you have been engaged to research the sites for a celebrity golf tournament. What is the best channel for conveying your findings?
2. You want to persuade your manager to change your work schedule.
3. As a sales manager, you want to know which of your sales reps in the field are available immediately for a quick teleconference meeting.
4. You need to know whether Amanda in Reprographics can produce a rush job for you in two days.
5. Your firm must respond to a notice from the Internal Revenue Service announcing that the company owes a penalty because it underreported its income in the previous fiscal year.