Warning: Use of Videoconferencing in a Crisis
Although videoconferencing has become a billion-dollar industry, it leaves distant decision-makers less likely to make sound judgments, according to a study published in a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).
The research has implications for those business continuity managers who have built videoconferencing into their crisis management plans.
The claim is contained in the paper Videoconferencing in the Field: A Heuristic Processing Model by Professor Carlos Ferran of Pennsylvania State University Great Valley and Professor Stephanie Watts of Boston University. It appears in Volume 54, Number 9 of the INFORMS flagship journal Management Science.
The researchers found that attendees of videoconferences must work harder to interpret information delivered during a conference than they would if they attended face-to-face.
“Important decisions may suffer if videoconferencing is used to make them without adjusting the process to take its differences into account,” says Professor Ferran.
Professors Ferran and Watts offer guidelines for understanding when videoconferencing is most appropriate and for improving the design of videoconferencing equipment:
- Videoconferencing may not be appropriate for decision-making when some stakeholders are present face-to-face and others attend via video, because these two groups are likely to process information differently.
- Videoconferencing equipment may be improved by the addition of features that reduce cognitive workload, such as support for turn taking, audio localization, and personal distance location.
- Videoconference presenters can use heuristic cues to increase the influence of their message.
To obtain a copy of the report please click here. A subscription to Management Science Online is required.
Tags: Crisis Management and Crisis Communication, emergency communication, videoconferencing
