ABSTRACT

What started as a general survey regarding frontline worker experiences with their public library’s resumption of services following the spring lockdown of 2020, became a case study in a breakdown in communications between management and frontline staff at one of North America’s largest public library systems. Specifically, survey respondents described a range of feelings, perceptions and assumptions regarding management’s concerns for their personal health and safety against the library’s goal of resuming public services. Media Richness Theory (MRT) provided the ideal analytic tool with which to interpret the results of this survey, while theoretically reinforcing respondents’ recommendations for amelioration, and reinstating the value of MRT for effective organizational communications.

摘要

最初是对 2020 年春季封锁后公共图书馆恢复服务的一线员工体验进行的一般性调查，后来成为北美最大的公共图书馆系统之一的管理层与一线员工之间沟通中断的案例研究。具体而言，调查对象描述了管理层对其个人健康和安全的担忧与图书馆恢复公共服务目标的一系列感受、看法和假设。媒体丰富性理论 (MRT) 提供了理想的分析工具来解释本次调查的结果，同时在理论上加强了受访者的改进建议，并恢复了 MRT 对有效组织沟通的价值。