A Media-Attributes and Design-Choices Theory of the Information Technology-Organization Relation

Abstract

We contend that the 2-way relation between information technology and communication media (chosen according to media attributes) on the one hand and organizational structure and behavior (which involves making design Choices) on the other is made more visible at the level of media attributes, because such an analysis reveals a number of organizational choices. This article suggests that 1 organizational design choice is the development of methods to make electronic media less recordable and indexable, which would lead to media use and information quality higher than they would otherwise have been. Video, audio, and computer technology are bringing about a situation in which the properties of face-to-face and computer-mediated communication are converging, enabling organizations to choose their own degree of "media richness" embedded in the information technology (IT). Although IT has an intimate connection with organizational design, a less acknowledged phenomenon is IT's undermining of it, requiring a different view of the design function and a different definition of managerial tasks, such as supervision. Another instance of the openness of the 1T-organization relation (and hence the large degree of choice open to IT buyers and organization designers) is in the design of interfaces within organizations. Four interface design variables (contextualization, ambiguation, disclaiming, and hedging) are suggested that aim at increasing the freedom and expressiveness of organization members using IT.