Information Richness in organizational mix mediated communication: Coordination across region

Information Richness Theory (IRT), as the basis of Media Richness Theory (MRT), explained information processing inside organization. Both IRT and MRT have decided that face to face is the best medium to solve equivocal and uncertain information problem. Lately, the development of new media for organizational purposes questioned the role of face to face as the richest medium to solve uncertain or equivocal problem. Inter-organizational communication, especially for organization in different regions, increases the use of new media to do organizational teamwork. Communication has become mobile, which means must be able to be conducted everywhere according to the work or activities of agents and clients. This qualitative research studied the information processing between an event organizer agent with its client trough new media facilities like instant messages, short text messages, emails, and phone calls. Qualitative approach was planned to find a deeper understanding about the meaning of sharing among agent and client, to determine the type of symbol (as information) and medium to collaborate. Each staff of the client communicate and choose each kind of symbol and medium, that they use, personally, according to the urgency and competency. This research study discovered that information richness was built personally, with more than one media. While communication must be mobile, character of symbol and medium of face to face communication like direct feedback, cues, language, and personal, can be replaced by mixed new media technology.