May 2, 1983 - SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OP THIS PAGE (inen Data Eniere__ ... information behavior, (2) organizational mechanisms for coping with equi-.
Organizations As Information Processing Systems Office of Naval Research Technical Report Series
Information Richness: to Managerial Behavior Approach A New and Organization Design Richard L. Daft and Robert H. Lengel TR-ONR-DL-02
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May,
1983
Department of Management Texas A&M University
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JUN 7 1983
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Richard Daft and Ricky Griffin
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Principal Investigators
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Information Richness: A New Approach to Managerial Behavior and Organization Design Richard L. Daft and Robert H. Lengel TR-ONR-DG-02 May,
1983
.
LKCTE JUN 7
1983,_
A
, crtri>, n pubhic reloau fay 04 urhmilv'i [ist~ibition
•
Unclassified SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OP THIS PAGE (inen Data Eniere__
PAGE REPORT DOCUMENTATION T OBEFORE .EPORT
REND INSTRUCTIONS COMPL-TN
2. GOVT ACCESSION NO.
NUMBER
3.
FORM
RECIPIENT'S CATALOG NUMBER
TR-ONR-DG-02 4.
TITLE (and Subtitle)
S. TYPE OF REPORT & PERIOD COVERED
Information Richness: A New Approach to Managerial Behavior and Or-ganization Design
7.
AUTHOR(a)
Richard L.
Teehninrl RPport 6.
PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER
S.
CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBER(&)
Daft
N00014-83-C-0025
Robert H. Lengel 9.
II.
PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS
10.
PROGRAM ELEMENT. PROJECT. TASK
College of Business Administration
AREA&WORKUNITNUMBERS
Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843
NR 170-950
CONTROLLING OFFICE NAME AND ADDRESS
12.
Organizational Effectiveness Research Programs Office of Naval Research
REPORT DATE
May,
1983
3. NUMBEROF PAGES
Arlington, VA 22217 14.
MONITORING AGENCY NAME & ADDRESS(if .ifferent from Controlling Office)
1S. SECURITY CLASS. (of this report)
Unclassified I~a. DECLASSIFICATI'ON• SCHEDULE
DOWNGRADING
I6. DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT (of this Report)
Approval for public release: distribution unlimited
17. DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT (of the abstract entered In Block 20,. I different from Report)
IS.
1.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES
KEY WORDS (Continue on reverse side If necessary ad
Idenltf" by block number)
Information Processing
Managerial Behavior
Equivocality Reduction
Information Media
Organization Design
Communication
Information Richness Organizational Communication Interpretation of Environment Organizational Coordination
ij
20.
JEL
ABSTRACT (Contin, e an reverse
aide
If necessary ad
Identify by block numbse)
paper introduces the concept of information richness, and proposes 7 This three models of information processing. The models describe (1) manager information behavior,
(2)
organizational mechanisms for coping with equi-
vocality from the environment, and (3) organizational mechanisms for internal coordination. Concepts developed by Weick (1979) and Galbraith (1973) are integrated into two information tasks: equivocality reduction and the processing of a sufficient amount of information. The premise of this paper is that the accomplishment of these information tasks and the ultimate-
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OBSOLETE
EDITION OF I NOV 65l
Unclassified
S/'N 0102- LF. 014- 6601
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SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS pAGE (When Data Eterd)
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CLSIIPICATIOW OP THIS PA@C (Wh4
SCCUýT
D~s she"*
20. ABSTRACT
A
of information -•7success of the organization are related to the balance the organizat ~richness used in