Table of Contents - International Association of Business …€¦ · · 2015-09-30Table of...

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 4

Introduction 5

Chapter 1: How Companies Address the Information Overload Challenge 6

Chapter 2: Why New Approaches Are Necessary: Evidence from corporate surveys 16

Chapter 3: Recommendations: Shaping messages to reduce overload 21

Chapter 4: The Causes of Information Overload: A review of the literature 28

Chapter 5: Visual Communication to Reduce Overload: Results from a survey of IABC members 35

Conclusion 41

References 42

Biographies 44

Appendices 45

Table of Contents

4

Executive Summary

There are numerous surveys that show that information overload

is a huge problem for the productivity of most employees in or-

ganizations. Overload is caused by quantitative (i.e., intensity) and

qualitative (i.e., ambiguity) characteristics of information.

This report presents 16 real-life examples of how to reduce

information overload in communication. It presents six simple

principles (based on eight documented overload reduction strate-

gies) to reduce information overload in business communication.

The report also summarizes key insights from previous stud-

ies on the topic and translates them into action items. Business

communicators should use this actionable advice to reduce and

transform their messages in order to accommodate for the time

and attention constraints of their readers.

A particularly useful way to do so is via information visualiza-

tion. The survey conducted among IABC members supports this

argument and shows that visualized information helps to syn-

thesize and aggregate information and make it more quickly and

easily understandable.

Readers pressed for time should have a look at the main

examples in Chapter 1, study the six communication principles

in Chapter 3, and look at the action implications and Table 6 in

Chapter 4.

Executive Summary

5

Introduction

The situation is all too familiar: 50 new e-mail messages in your

inbox, four reports that await your attention, a new intranet sec-

tion you should review, an interesting web site to check out, plus

the new issue of a trade journal that you should read and pass on

to colleagues. Not to mention the two business books you have put

aside. And all of this while preparing for and attending numerous

meetings and workshops, answering phone calls from colleagues

and clients, and thinking about solutions to pressing problems.

When your information processing needs exceed your infor-

mation processing capacity, you are experiencing information

overload—a state where more information actually reduces your

reasoning and decision quality. You feel overwhelmed by informa-

tion and often unable to make the right decision.

So far this topic has been mainly addressed from the receiver’s

point of view. Our report, however, looks at it in terms of the

sender’s side and his or her role in reducing information overload

for receivers.

Our report is structured by what we and the IABC research

foundation assume are your priorities, namely seeing examples

(Chapter 1), getting evidence from corporate surveys (Chapter 2),

hearing our advice (Chapter 3), knowing the state-of-the-art (Chap-

ter 4), and gaining insights from a survey among IABC members

on one specific technique to reduce information overload—visual

communication (Chapter 5).

We start out by showing how different organizations address

the issue of information overload from a communicator’s point of

view, through proven or new approaches to make communication

concise and captivating. Next, we give you evidence (through a

compilation of survey results) that information overload is indeed

an issue that needs to be addressed by communicators. We then

present our key recommendations in the form of six communi-

cation principles, derived from the examples and the literature

review, which is presented in the last section of our report. In

Chapter 5 you will find the results of our IABC survey regarding

the role of visuals in business communication and their potential

to reduce information overload.

If you prefer to read the report not in terms of the salience of

its content, but in its logical order and the way it was originally

developed, then start at the back with the literature review (Chap-

ter 4), move to the recommendations that build on the reviewed

literature (Chapter 3), and see how these recommendations can be

applied in an organization in Chapter 1.

We hope that this report and its mix of examples, evidence,

recommendations, and survey findings is useful for your daily

practice as a communicator and not only makes you more aware

of the problem of information overload, but also of the many ways

communicators can contribute to reducing this silent productivity

and motivation killer.

Introduction

6

Chapter 1

Chapter Summary

In this first chapter, we focus on real-life

examples of overload-aware communica-

tion. Through six short case studies and

10 snapshots of intelligent solutions to

reduce information overload, we give

practical insights on how business com-

municators can optimize the information

intensity (i.e., communication timing) and

enhance the information quality (i.e., in-

creasing the fitness for use of information

through improved format and content).

The presented solutions take the cognitive

constraints of their target groups into ac-

count and reduce information complexity

intelligently. Each solution presented in

the mini cases is described in terms of its

communication context, main idea, and

implementation details, such as a screen-

shot and caveats or risks to consider when

applying the solution to other contexts.

We emphasize visual solutions because

the IABC member survey showed a huge

implementation gap in this area.

1.1 Solution Examples in Overview

Figure 1 provides an overview of the 16 ex-

emplary solutions to information overload

we are going to present below (see: Appen-

dix 1 for an overview on the criteria with

which we have selected the examples). The

How Companies Address the Information Overload Challenge

six in-depth solutions (dark circles in the

chart below) are the vasp Strategy Tube

Map, the Hand Drawing Library of UBS,

Procter & Gamble’s memo template, the

Bashiba Panorama, the Trainiac Learn-

ing Map, and the Information Mapping

method. The briefly described methods

(light circles) are Bayer’s multiple intranet

site map, Bill Gate’s e-mail template, the

reflact visual conversation templates,

the Crealogix intranet page typology,

Xplane informative cartoons, the British

Telecom Strategy Chart, Grove workshop

templates, IBM’s strategy jams, Nokia’s

pictorial employee survey, and Gartner’s

technology diagrams. Figure 1 groups the

cases according to the format that they

employ (i.e., pure text, text and image, and

inter active/online formats) and according

to their level of implementation difficulty

(i.e., the degree of effort required).

Throughout the description of the

examples, we indicate (with forward

arrows dd) which information reduction

and transformation mechanisms (dis-

cussed in Chapter 4, Table 6) are addressed

and how they are implemented in these

cases.

Figure 1: Overload solution

examples in overview

7

stations (dd aggregate, dd compress).

Each tube line represents a different

strategic initiative with its own or joint

intermediate goals. The poster is placed

in prominent locations, such as in

front of the elevator, cafeteria or in

other open areas.

Implementation

Already in the development phase, the

tube map strategy poster fostered collabo-

ration and clarifying strategic conversa-

tions among the managers who developed

it. It helped them to surface areas of

disagreement and to negotiate (in the ex-

ecutive team) a sequence of their strategic

actions. Once the poster was published, it

received a lot of attention: People stopped

1.2 Overload-aware Communication Solutions: Short Case Studies

Example 1: The Strategy Tube Map—Communicating an Organization’s Strategy to Employees

From boring and difficult Gantt charts to an

engaging, metaphor-based strategy poster

Context

One of the most crucial tasks of employee

communication is to inform employees

about an organization’s goals and the

chosen ways of achieving these goals—the

organization’s strategy. Studies, as the one

conducted by Kaplan and Norton, have

shown repeatedly that business communi-

cators often fail at this task and are unable

to effectively inform employees about their

organization’ strategy. The Tube map,

developed and implemented repeatedly by

vasp.ch (a communication agency), is an

effective way to solve this communication

challenge through surprising aggregation

and visualization.

Main Idea

Instead of e-mails, strategy presentations

or management road shows, an organiza-

tion’s strategy is visualized as a graphic

metaphor on a large-scale poster that

depicts the strategy’s milestones and final

goal as, for example, underground metro

Chapter 1How Companies Address the Information Overload Challenge

in front of it, initially puzzled by the tube

map design and the strategic content.

They gathered in front of the poster to

discuss it. In doing so, they found incon-

sistencies or inaccurate elements and

reported them back to the designers. In

this way, the strategy poster was updated

and improved in regular intervals. More

important, however, the strategy became

part of people’s conversations. The strat-

egy poster was subsequently evaluated

through a questionnaire: Two months

after the publication of the poster, 91

questionnaires were sent out to employ-

ees, and 45 were completed and returned.

Seventy-eight percent of the respondents

stated that the tube map gave them a good

overview on their strategy. Sixty percent

of the respondents were attracted (38 per-

cent = true) or very attracted (22 percent =

very true) by the tube map visualization.

Forty percent indicated that the tube map

provided additional motivation for the

strategy projects.

Caveat

In some cultures, this playful approach

may not be perceived as serious and thus

may provoke a cynical or negative reaction

on behalf of employees. The metaphor has

to fit the local context.

Before: Overloaded

Gantt charts

After: Engaging strategy tube

map posters in public areas

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Example 2: The UBS Hand Drawing Library—a Communication Tool for Client Advisers

From slide presentations to joint

interactive sketching

Context

UBS (www.ubs.com), one of the world’s

largest wealth management institutions

in terms of assets under management,

has realized that it is often overloading its

affluent banking clients with presentation

slides in advisory and sales meetings. As

part of its global initiative to improve the

client experience, the universal bank, or

rather its strategy and development unit,

has developed a new tool for sales and

advisory conversations. The tool personal-

izes and stages communication through

ad-hoc visualization.

Main Idea

To reduce the problem of slide overload,

UBS has created a hand-drawing library

that instructs its private banking advisers

on how to draw—in real-time and in front

of the client—helpful diagrams and simple

visual metaphors that explain UBS’s prod-

ucts in a personal and engaging way (and

replace the slide presentations). In this

manner, the adviser’s presentation speed

matches the client’s comprehension speed

(dd sequence). By inviting the customer

to add his or her views or questions to

the drawing, the information intensity,

and ultimately the client experience, can

be further optimized (dd contextualize,

personalize).

Implementation

The drawing approach has been well

received by UBS clients and has replaced

slide presentations almost entirely. Client

advisers can add their own sketching

templates to the collection provided in the

Hand Drawing Library according to their

own experiences. An important element

of the implementation regards the simple

tools that are used: pen and paper. This

informal style signals provisionality and

flexibility to the client.

Caveat

Again, cultural aspects should be taken

into account: The informal approach of

drawing images may not resonate with all

types of employees, especially those used

to a more formal way of communicating.

After: Engaging step-by-step, joint sketching

Before: Standard Bullet

Point Slides

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Example 3: The Procter & Gamble Memo Template

Ensuring efficient and concise

proposal structures

Context

Procter & Gamble (www.pg.com) is one of

the largest consumer goods companies in

the world (with products ranging from

soap to aftershave to snacks). It is widely

known for its analytical approaches to

marketing and considered an excellent

starting place for a business career. P&G

has developed various methods to improve

the efficiency of its operations, some of

which also regard internal communica-

tion. One such method is the one- or

two-page memo based on dd compression

and dd standardization.

Main Idea

A consistent standard structure (and

scope) of business memos helps to im-

prove communication effectiveness and

efficiency. A proven generic structure

(dd standardize) can be flexible enough to

capture a great variety of business issues.

If everybody adheres to this structure,

then the processing of information can be

significantly improved, as people spend

less time making sense of a document’s

structure.

Implementation

P&G has used memo standards for many

years. The following two examples show

typical structures of such memos. If a

proposal does not adhere to this structure

or exceeds two pages, it is likely to be

returned to the originator without having

been read by the target group.

1. The Idea: a one-sentence description of

the main message.

2. Background: generally accepted back-

ground information on the idea.

3. How it Works: the details of the solu-

tion, including the what, who, when,

and where.

4. Key Benefits: This section gives the mo-

tivation for the solution (such as aiding

the strategy, being validated and

delivering results)

5. Next Steps: What needs to be done

by when and by whom to achieve the

stated benefits.

Here’s a slightly different version, typi-

cally used for project proposals:

1. Background: a description of the

context and history of the project pro-

posal, which should include

prior “learnings” on the subject.

2. Objective: a one-sentence statement

that outlines the main purpose of the

proposed project.

3. Rationale: a paragraph that describes

the reasons why the project is strategi-

cally and financially right, the ration-

ale behind its premise.

4. Plan: The plan paragraph outlines

the necessary organization (steps and

infrastructure needed) for the project,

as well as its timing and costs.

5. Open for Discussion: This segment of

the document lists open issues and

questions to be answered.

6. Next Steps: This last paragraph of the

proposal document lists the subse-

quent phases of the project, if the

proposal were to be accepted.

Caveat

During one of the author’s work with P&G

in a market research project, we noted

that the template’s main idea of focus was

undermined in a subtle way: font sizes

kept getting smaller and margins wider

in many reports, both of which did not

improve the legibility of documents. Also,

clarity might suffer because of the rigid

space constraints. Nevertheless, other com-

panies, such as Toyota, have adopted such

strict size constraints for their memos or

reports.


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Example 4: Information Awareness through Mood Maps

Signaling changes in real-time data through

a weather metaphor

Context

Employees in many professional contexts

need a great volume of transactional or fi-

nancial data while performing other tasks.

However, the monitoring of such real-

time information should not take up all

of a person’s cognitive resources, thereby

distracting him or her from the main work

tasks if special attention is actually needed.

So called ambient visualizations that make

use of one’s peripheral visual awareness

are one elaborate way to approach this

problem.

Main Idea

The idea behind the Panorama solution is

to express the overall “mood” of evolving,

complex data (such as the development of

the stock market) in rendered 3-D anima-

tions that can be perceived and interpreted

with little cognitive effort (dd visualize,

elaborate). The software application maps

variables of a data set (e.g., bonds, shares,

overall trading intensity, or fluctuation of

the stock market or any other real-time

data) to graphic parameters in a 3-D simula-

tion, such as ocean waves, sun strength,

wind speed, cloud particles, etc. Develop-

ments in the stock market, for example,

become perceivable by cloud transforma-

tions, wave precipitations and changes in

sunlight. The result is a beautiful, develop-

ing scene in which observers (e.g., traders)

can monitor several streams of background

information without effort in their pe-

ripheral vision. Whenever this background

information signals particular relevance in

a given context, it moves to the observer’s

foreground. In this way, information

can become functional art instead of just a

burden.

Implementation

The data panorama from BASHIBA (www.

bashiba.com) is a customizable, real-time,

ambient data visualization engine that can

be installed on ceilings, walls or terminals.

It can be connected to any type of data

stream, such as financial data, call center

data, survey data or data from sensor

devices.

Caveat

There have been no longitudinal user tests

on this kind of ambient display. It is thus

not clear how employees react to it, how it

improves productivity or how such a screen

will be used once the novelty wears off.

Before: Overloaded

screens


After: A peripheral, evolving,

ambient data metaphor

11

Example 5: The Trainiac Learning Map

Making training a collective, active

and engaging experience

Context

A great degree of employee communica-

tion aims at getting staff to understand

and use new processes, rules or systems.

Trainiac (www.trainiac.co.za) is a South

African consultancy that offers picture

based training and communication

solutions for medium and large-sized

organizations. Its main focus is to reach

employees with crucial learning contents

in an engaging and sustainable way.

Main Idea

One of Trainiac’s key methods is the

Learning Map, a visual representation of a

work environment. It provides an elevated

view of a specific organization, illustrating

its departments, actions and job functions

by drawing actual buildings, requisites

and characters.

Implementation

The Learning Map is designed for an

interactive and playful method of group

training. Instead of usual lecture-style

teaching, a facilitator gathers the learners

around the visual and encourages them

to engage with it. Through activities such

as identifying objects, drawing on the

map, playing games, arranging competi-

tions, role playing and storytelling, people

connect with the content and link the

information to their personal experience

(dd personalize). Since the informa-

tion is contextualized in literally a “big

picture,” understanding, remembering

and applying the information is further

enhanced (dd contextualize). Whereas

a Learning Map might at first sight be

visually over-stimulating, the actual

information is dispersed and—under the

guidance of the facilitator—gradually

explored(dd sequence). Discussion around

the visual is essential to the successful

use of the Learning Map because it is

through debate that the learners share

existing knowledge and collectively create

new knowledge. Trainiac believes the best

training results are achieved by making it

a fun experience; leading South African

as well as international corporations such

as Standard Bank, Tiger Brands, Daim-

ler South Africa or Holcim have already

bought in to their philosophy.

Caveat

Learning maps can initially cause a feeling

of overload as they tend to be very rich

in detail and content. However, a clear

dramaturgy and cue cards with questions

that are discussed and placed on the map

ease the cognitive load significantly and

make the map more memorable. Another

risk might be that the map is perceived as

too playful or that the business processes

of an organization are too abstract to be

mapped with the Trainiac methodology.

Before: Overloaded process charts


After: Visualized and enacted

business interactions (excerpt)

12

Example 6: The Information Mapping MethodWriting for easy browsing and rapid orientation

Context

Robert E. Horn developed the Information

Mapping method (www.infomap.com) in

the late 1960’s to “enable people to pro-

duce better communication documents in

business, industry, government, tech-

nology and science through a common

standard.” He based his methods mainly

on cognitive science and learning theory.

The method has been widely applied in

many large private and public organi-

zations where it has proved especially

helpful in the area of technical documen-

tation. Several evaluation studies have

shown that the method saves considerable

time in reading and improves recall of key

contents.

Main Idea

One of the key features of a document in

overload environments should be its easy

browsability. By labeling each paragraph

(dd standardize, elaborate, contextualize),

the usability of print and online docu-

ments can be significantly improved.

Implementation

Information Mapping is essentially a way

to structure documents systematically to

improve their readability. It is based on

the following four main principles:

1. The Chunking Principle: Group all

information into small, manageable

units, called blocks (= paragraphs) and

maps ( 7 blocks).


Before: Only paragraphs

After: A clearly

structured and labeled

document design

2. The Relevance Principle: Include in

one chunk only information that re-

lates to one main point based on that

information’s purpose or function for

the reader.

3. The Labeling Principle: Label every

chunk and group of chunks accord-

ing to specific criteria (clear, brief,

consistent, familiar, appropriate and

independent labels).

4. The Consistency Principle: For simi-

lar subject matter, use similar words,

labels, format, organization and

sequences.

Next to these principles, the mapping

method also includes a pre-screening

content analysis and sequencing method

and a format to display written informa-

tion (see after figure below) and.

Caveat

Although the key principles of informa-

tion mapping are simple, using the entire

method involves considerable investment

in training. This may be worthwhile

for high-impact information such as

technical or safety instructions, quality

manuals, strategic guidelines, executive

memos, etc.

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1.3 Overload-Aware Communication Solutions: 10 Companies—10 Ideas

In this section, we provide snapshot

views of other communication overload

solutions and refer interested readers to

sources for further information on these

solutions. We present these 10 cases in a

table format, illustrating how the previ-

ously discussed principles are applied

to ease cognitive load on employees. The

cases are listed alphabetically by company

name below.

Company Communication Approach Further Information

Bayer Bayer is a Germany-based, international pharmaceutical and life sciences com-pany. Bayer’s intranet contains a comprehensive site map that can be explored using different structuring schemes, namely: by alphabet, chronologically, func-tionally, organizationally and geographically (dd contextualize, personalize). In this way, the information available on the site becomes more easily accessible to employees.

www.bayer.com

www.nngroup.com/reports/sitemaps/

British Telecom British Telecom has employed graphic metaphors to visualize its strategy and strategic context for employees. The colorful hand-drawn painting serves as the basis for joint strategy discussions among employees and managers (dd con-textualize, personalize, elaborate). Another company that uses a similar ap-proach for its clients is rootlearning.com.

www.bt.co.uk

www.rootlearning.com

Crealogix Crealogix, a Swiss web agency, has developed a typology of web page tem-plates that can be easily adapted to different purposes (dd standardize). The relatively small set of web layouts enables companies to develop training or communication pages quickly.

www.crealogix.com

developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/pattern.php?pattern=grid

Gartner The world’s largest information technology analysis company has developed two simple (branded) standard diagrams for the communication of its analyses (dd visualize, standardize). The two branded and widely used diagrams are called magic quadrant and hype curve. They can be used to map key players or technologies in an industry. The diagrams have become part of the visual language used.

www.gartner.com

/www.gartner.com/pages/story.php.id.8795.s.8.jsp

www.gartner.com/mq/understanding_mq.jsp

Grove Grove, a U.S. visual facilitation consultancy, specializes in graphic templates that visually facilitate employee workshops on issues such as strategy implemen-tation or process improvements. The standardized set of hand-drawn visual metaphors provides flexible formats to structure content visually (dd elaborate, visualize, standardize).

www.grove.com

www.bizjournals.com/austin/gen/ company.html?gcode=152F20A5928D42 C388188CB3B7FDF493

Table 1: 10 examples of

overload-aware employee

communication


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14

IBM IBM has pioneered an interactive approach to communicating with its employ-ees about its strategy through so-called strategy jams. These global virtual hap-penings invite employees to propose ideas for strategic initiatives that are then combined and clustered in an online forum. Instead of being bombarded with one-way information from management, employees are asked to contribute to the ideas of management (dd personalize, elaborate).

www.ibm.com

https://www.collaborationjam.com/

http://www.research.ibm.com/ SocialComputing/WorldJam.htm

Microsoft Microsoft realized early on that e-mail is not just a technical issue but a commu-nication challenge that needs structure. The following e-mail structure, allegedly devised by Bill Gates himself, closely resembles the P&G memo style discussed earlier. Parts one and two deal with the problem at hand and the parts three and four with the solution:

1. Background2. Conclusion3. Proposal4. Rational

There are also various companies (such as Carl Zeiss) that use simple codes for the subject header of e-mails to help receivers in answering or sorting them (such as FYI=information, Q=question, A=action needed, etc.) (dd standardize).

www.microsoft.com

www1.umn.edu/umcf/resource/ emailguide.html

Nokia Nokia used pictures of cars and of animals as answer options to make its em-ployee survey more concise, seamless and entertaining. Employees were asked to indicate which car or animal was, for them, most representative of Nokia’s current strategy. In this way, Nokia’s internal communication team hoped to get more honest and unfiltered answers from Nokia’s staff (dd visualize).

www.nokia.com

www.cuttingedgepr.com/articles/ empcomm_employee_surveys.asp

reflact

The German multimedia company reflact has developed a set of interactive graphic discussion templates, many of which are based on visual metaphors (such as an iceberg, bridge, scale, stairs, etc). These templates let employees organize information spatially and capture their contributions in an interactive digital format that can be replayed at later points in time. Instead of slide pre-sentations, these sessions involve employees and enable managers to engage their staff in joint sense making (dd visualize, personalize, contextualize).1

en.lets-focus.com

www.reflact.com

Xplane

Xplane, a U.S.-based communication consultancy, develops easy-to-under-stand, comics-like visualizations that inform employees and customers about the functioning of a business or product or about a difficult business process. This approach is similar to the Trainiac learning map, yet uses more diverse vi-sualization formats. Several other companies have also begun to use comics to inform their employees about key initiatives, as they communicate information quickly and in an entertaining and intuitive format (dd visualize, aggregate, compress).

www.xplane.Com


1Full disclosure: This is the only solution presented in this

survey to which the authors of this report have actively

contributed as external collaborators.

Company Communication Approach Further Information

15

1.4 Conclusion: Innovating Employee Communication to Reduce Overload

The examples in this part of the report

have shown that there are many creative

ways in which the cognitive load on em-

ployees can be reduced intelligently with-

out compromising on clarity or accuracy.

The solutions presented in this chapter rep-

resent a variety of approaches used today to

make messages fit the cognitive constraints

of employees. Some of these solutions (such

as the use of cartoons, maps, photo survey,

or visual metaphors) require courage and

a corporate culture that is open to innova-

tion, while others require a certain degree

of discipline (such as memo, report or e-

mail templates). Not all of the solutions are

easy to implement in terms of the required

know-how or time. Adequate know-how

(for example, visualization skills), tools (for

example, to create templates), and time

were identified as key barriers to imple-

menting visual strategies against overload

in our IABC member survey (see Chapter

5). The next chapter provides a synopsis on

previous corporate surveys on information

overload.


16

Chapter 2

Chapter Summary

In this brief second chapter we summarize

10 years of information overload surveys

conducted by companies from 1997

through 2007. The surveys show that in-

formation overload has come to be one of

the central communication challenges in

most organizations and leads to numerous

negative effects.

The table below summarizes 10 years of

corporate surveys related to information

overload in organizations, and it presents

central findings from each survey as well

as key information on its methodology.

While earlier surveys focused on providing

clear evidence that information over-

load is a key communication problem in

today’s organizations, more recent surveys

give specific indications on the counter-

productive consequences of information

overload and provide a more complete

picture of its drivers. In an overloaded

environment, for example, it becomes

difficult to find relevant information,

which leads to frustration and search

fatigue. Causes of information overload

have to be located not only on the level of

the quantity of information but on other

information attributes as well, such as the

quality of information (e.g., non-indexed

information, prioritized information) and

the process of information distribution

(e.g., frequent interruptions of work tasks).

Why New Approaches Are Necessary: Evidence from Corporate Surveys

Table 2: Overview of 10 years of

corporate surveys on information

overload (1997–2007)

Study Year Central Findings Methodology

Institute for the Future, Gallup, University of San Jose:

Managing Corporate Communi-cations in The Information Age

1997 n The average office worker sends 37 mes-sages a day per paper.

n He/she sends 57 messages via electronic media.

n Administrative assistants send over 102 mes-sages per day.

n The average worker deals with an average of 178 messages and documents per day.

972 phone interviews + focus groups and eth-nographic interviews with office workers (ex-ecutives, managers, professionals and admin-istrative assistants) in Fortune 1000 companies during August/September 1996.

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Reuters:

Glued to the Screen

1997 n 61 percent of managers believe information overload is present in their workplace.

n 90 percent of managers feel they cannot handle the quantity of information at some point.

n 80 percent of managers believe this situation will get worse in the future.

n 60 percent believe the cost of gathering in-formation outweighs its value (compared to 44 percent in 1996).

n 54 percent worry about making poor deci-sions in spite of all the information at their disposal.

n 80 percent of managers gather more infor-mation than ever before in order to keep up with customer and competitor activity.

1,000 random confidential telephone inter-views in October 1997 among executives (42 percent senior-level) in Germany, the U.K., the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore and Ireland.

Business Objects:

The Fact Gap

1997 n 91 percent of all respondents admit that they do not get enough thinking time.

n 62 percent acknowledge that they do not re-ceive the right amount of information. (The right amount being a balance between too much and too little.)

n 38 percent of reports produced for man-agers by other people are not tailored and hard to use.

Telephone interviews with decision makers from the Times Top 1,000 list and quantitative (to managers) and qualitative (to directors) questionnaires.

Chapter 2Why New Approaches Are Necessary: Evidence from Corporate Surveys

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18

Reuters:

Out of the Abyss

1998 n 48 percent of all questioned managers be-lieve that the situation with regard to in-formation overload will get worse (in com-parison to 56 percent giving that answer in 1996 and 80 percent in 1997).

n 67 percent of all questioned telecommunica-tions managers indicated that they think the situation with regard to information overload will get worse for them.

n Women seem to suffer more of a heavy information load than men. 41 percent of all questioned female managers indicated that the amount of information that they have to process affects their health and well-being negatively, compared to only 30 percent of male managers who indicated such a nega-tive impact on their health.

1,072 confidential telephone interviews in September and October of 1998 with man-agers in 11 countries (i.e., Germany, the U.K., the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland and Russia), of whom 42 percent were senior managers.

KPMG:

Knowledge Management Re-search Report

1999 n 65 percent of organizations with a knowl-edge management program complained of information overload—the creation of a knowledge glut or an overwhelming col-lection of information for information’s sake that can be difficult and painstaking to use.

n 67 percent of respondents claimed they were suffering from information overload.

n 56 percent respectively complained that employees duplicate processes and activities and have difficulty locating information.

A survey of 423 organizations across the U.K., mainland Europe, and the U.S. The enterpris-es reported at least US$300 million in rev-enue and were distributed across a number of industries including financial services, indus-trial products, consumer markets, technology, government, transportation, and others


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19

Gartner:

Managing Information Survey

2001 n Nearly 90 percent of respondents said their enterprise’s competitiveness was affected by problems handling information.

n Almost 90 percent indicated a problem in at least one of four areas: “siloed” information, too much information, unindexed information, ineffective/inefficient searching procedures.

n The perception of information overload was more than 20 percent greater (over 60 percent) among knowledge management-enabled en-terprises than those that did not have a knowl-edge management program (40 percent).

n Managers spent approximately 20 percent more time on knowledge sources than non-managerial staff, with e-mail and personal net-works taking up the majority of that time. Non-managerial staff spent more time on explicit sources, notably the Internet and intranets.

The survey, among participants of Gartner conferences, received 316 responses: 81 from Brazil, 96 from Europe and 139 from the U.S. Approximately 70 percent were managers, 21 percent technical or support staff, and 10 per-cent left their position unspecified.

Economist Intelligence Unit:

Know-how: Managing Knowl-edge for Competitive Advantage

2005 n Over half (55 percent) of executives say that IT’s failure to prioritize information is the main barrier to effective decision mak-ing. Consolidating information and provid-ing consistent performance indicators are regarded as the most important step firms can take to improve the speed and quality of decision making.

n When asked where IT needs to improve most to help managers make better decisions, the top two priorities are to make it easier to analyze and drill down into information (40 percent) and improve the quality of data (31 percent). Only 12 percent of executives see ensuring access to information anywhere as a priority for improvement.

n 39 percent of the respondents complained about too much information being available as a major drawback of knowledge sharing and an impediment to decision making.

Online survey of 122 senior executives in western Europe, 68 of whom were based in the UK. Participants were selected from large organizations with over $1bn in annual sales revenue, and from a cross-section of indus-tries, with a particular emphasis on financial services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and professional services companies


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20

Basex:

Information Overload Strategies

2006/ 2007

n Interruptions occupy 28 percent of the work-day of a typical knowledge worker.

n On average, employees loose 2.1 hours per day thanks to unnecessary interruptions.

A survey of 1,000 knowledge workers.

Autobytel / Kelton Research:

The State of Search

2007 n Three out of four online users leave their computers without finding the piece of in-formation they were looking for.

n 72 percent of online searchers are experi-encing “search engine fatigue,” meaning they become impatient or frustrated when they are unable to quickly find the exact in-formation they need.

n 86 percent of consumers feel big search en-gines have limitations or drawbacks

Study conducted in May 2007, which involved a representative sample of 1,001 Americans, all aged 18 or older with Internet access.



21

Chapter 3

Chapter Summary

In this third chapter we provide six sub-

stantiated, relevant and practical recom-

mendations about how to shape commu-

nication to reduce overload for receivers.

We phrase these principles as paradoxes

that stimulate communicators to apply

message reduction and transformation

mechanisms in a balanced manner and

reduce overload. These six communication

principles are: familiar surprise, detailed

overview, flexible stability, simple complex-

ity, concise redundancy and unfinished

completeness. The recommendations help

communicators to get attention, compre-

hension and retention of their messages.

3.1 Resolving the Information Paradox—a Balanced Approach to Communication

The problem with communication is the illusion

that it has been accomplished.

— George Bernard Shaw

In overload situations, communicators

face what we call an information paradox:

The more information you convey, the less

your messages are informative (because of

the cognitive constraints of your audience

and the mental shortcuts that they will

inevitably take).

In order to overcome this paradox,

we require, so to speak, counter paradoxes

that help us deal with the dilemmas and

trade-offs of business communication. The

information reduction and transforma-

tion mechanisms that we have identified

from our literature review (discussed in

depth in Chapter 4, Table 6) inevitably

lead to such trade-offs: How can you com-

press your messages (making them more

concise) while simultaneously elaborating

them (making them more understand-

able)? How can you standardize your

messages, while trying to adapt them

to personal preferences and individual

information needs (personalization)? To

deal with these dilemmas we present six

recommendations in this chapter that

help communicators find a balanced

approach to communicating in overload

environments.

These recommendations help to

achieve three distinct goals that commu-

nicators must achieve with regard to their

audience: They must get their attention

and interest, they must enable compre-

hension or insight for their messages,

and their messages should be retained

or remembered (or even applied) by their

audiences.

Below, we explain how the reduction

(compress, aggregate, stage) and trans-

formation mechanisms (contextualize,

standardize, personalize, elaborate, visual-

ize) can be applied through six communi-

cation principles. Examples that contain

a backward (jj ) sign have been shown in

the first chapter of the report.

Applying these principles carefully,

communicators can avoid the typical fate

of many messages in overload environ-

ments, namely being ignored, being mis-

understood or being quickly forgotten.

3.2 Six Communication Principles for Overload Environments

To apply the information reduction and

transformation mechanisms (see Chap-

ter 4 for an in-depth discussion of these

mechanisms) adequately in a communica-

tion process, we have structured them into

six communication principles. We phrase

these principles as paradoxes in order to

motivate communicators to apply those

mechanisms carefully, e.g., balancing

reduction and transformation based on

the specific communication context. Their

sequence follows the aforementioned

goals of:

1. Getting attention.

2. Ensuring comprehension.

3. Fostering retention.

Recommendations: Shaping Messages to Reduce Overload

22

For each principle, we provide examples

and point to the reduction or transforma-

tion mechanisms to apply them in busi-

ness communication (for their scientific

background, see the appendix).

Recommendation 1

In overload environments, there is a risk

that your message will be ignored; hence

the first task is to intrigue your receivers by

communicating in a novel, yet understand-

able and unobtrusive manner—commu-

nicating in a way that resonates with your

audience, but is also pleasantly surpris-

ing to them. We call this the principle of

Familiar Surprise.

Examples

For an e-mail, use an unusual but clear ■n

subject header (i.e., a question).

For an intranet, provide an intriguing ■n

graphic that represents information in a

new way (jj Bashiba Panorama).

For a report, visualize content in an un-■n

usual visual metaphor (jj vasp strategy

metro map).

For a meeting, instead of using a slide ■n

presentation, revert to alternative media

such as a flip chart, napkins or sketch

pads (jj UBS Hand Drawing Library).

Mechanisms

transform: elaborate, visualize

Recommendation 2

Before diving into the details of a message,

employees want to know what they can

expect from it and what it will provide to

them (without being overly general). Hav-

ing caught your audience’s attention, you

must provide them with an overview of

what they will learn from your communica-

tion. You will ideally do this by providing

pointers to the details that are discussed in

your report, web site, presentation or e-mail

attachment. We call this the principle of

Detailed Overview.

Examples

For a report, include an executive sum-■n

mary.

For an intranet, use a site map (■n jj

Bayer) or a tag cloud.

For a meeting/presentation, use a graphic ■n

navigator or conceptual framework as a

basis for group discussions (jj reflact).

Mechanisms

reduce: compress, aggregate

Recommendation 3

One of the causes of overload is a high

degree of novelty of message format and

content. To ease the cognitive load of new

information on your audience, standard for-

mats, structures and terminology that are

already known by receivers should be used.

These, however, should allow for enough

flexibility and personalization. We call this

the principle of Flexible Stability.

Examples

For e-mail and reports, use standard-■n

ized memo structure (jj P&G memo

template).

For intranets, use a set of standardized ■n

web page layouts (jj Information Map-

ping method).

Mechanisms

transform: standardize, personalize

Recommendation 4

The main driver of information overload

is information quantity. A key mechanism

against overload is thus to reduce mes-

sages to their essential elements. By leav-

ing out unessential elements and relating

new information to already known facts

(for example, through visual metaphors)

complexity can be reduced (but without

distorting or oversimplifying it). We call

this the principle of Simple Complexity.

Examples

In training meetings, use large-scale ■n

maps to discuss complex issues in

groups (jj Trainiac learning map).

For e-mail, call instead of writing an ■n

e-mail.

For the intranet and presentations, use ■n

step-by-step animation to develop com-

plex topics visually (jj UBS).

Mechanisms

reduce: compress; transform: visualize,

contextualize

Recommendation 5

In overload environments, important

messages need to be provided in multiple

formats to ensure that different informa-

tion consumers can understand them

equally well. This redundancy, however,

should remain concise. We call this princi-

ple Concise Redundancy.

Chapter 3Recommendations: Shaping Messages to Reduce Overload

23

Examples:

For an intranet, provide multiple views ■n

on intranet content (jj Bayer, UBS).

For reports and meetings, present ■n

things through facts and numbers,

models and diagrams, and stories and

vivid images (jj Trainiac).

Mechanisms

transform: elaborate, personalize

Recommendation 6

Information should stimulate and lead

to action. It should invite readers to

think further and fill the gaps of how to

implement the information. Although the

provided information should be complete,

it should still leave opportunities for

recipients to elaborate on it. We call this

principle Unfinished Completeness.

Examples:

For the intranet,■n use Web 2.0 function-

alities such as the talk-back function

(jj IBM).

For e-mail, write e-mails with tick boxes ■n

at the end to speed up the answering

process.

For meetings, use polling, voting or ■n

open questions to involve participants;

provide empty thinking templates

(jj Grove).

For reports, provide springboard ques-■n

tions for readers (things to think about).

Mechanism

transform: elaborate, personalize

3.3 Summary and Implementation Aids

In the following visual metaphor of a light

house, we have summarized these six

principles, as well as their basis, namely

the eight message mechanisms and the

seven information attributes identified in

our literature review. The light house be-

low also contains, as three small icebergs,

the three communication goals that the

mechanisms and principles should help to

achieve.

Business communicators can use the

six communication principles as simple

checkpoints in the following manner:

1. Familiar Surprise: How can I convey

my message in a motivating and origi-

nal, yet accessible way?

2. Detailed Overview: How can I put de-

tails into context and give my audience

an overview and preview?

3. Flexible Stability: Which recurring,

efficient format or structure can I use

in my communication that is easily rec-

ognized but also sufficiently flexible?

Figure 2: The six principles

and their context in overview


24

4. Simple Complexity: What does my

target group really need to know? What

can I leave out? How can I relate my

message to what people already know

(leverage previous knowledge)?

5. Concise Redundancy: How can I

make my message accessible to differ-

ent people in different ways? How can

I provide different gateways to under-

standing?

6. Unfinished Completeness: How can

I involve, stimulate and engage my

audience? How can I get them to apply

the information and transfer it to their

own context?

We can also view the principles as a

shift in the way that communication is

conceived in business. In the table below,

we contrast this principled approach of

overload-aware communication (on the

right) with some of the more traditional

assumptions regarding employee commu-

nication (see Table 3, left column).

Standard Employee Communication Overload-aware Employee Communication

I will use the same style and bureaucratic tone to inform employees so that they recognize the message is coming from me.

From novel annoyance...

I will try to reframe my message in an unex-pected way that helps employees to under-stand the topic because it lets people connect what they already know with the new infor-mation I provide.

....to familiar surprise

I should get right to the point and provide the necessary details.

From detail overload....

I must first provide a context and an overview before I present the details.

...to detailed overview

I should vary my communication and always choose a new format, structure and style in order not to bore my audience.

From arbitrary variation...

I should ease the cognitive burden on my audience by communicating in a flexible but standardized structure so that they become familiar with the logic of my messages.

...to flexible stability

I should try to simplify things as much as pos-sible in order not to confuse people.

From complex simplifications...

I should try to transform the complex mes-sage into something intuitive that is accessible to my audience, for example, through meta-phors, analogies or images.

...to simple complexity

The more I communicate the same message, the more likely my audience is to get the message I want to convey.

From mindless repetition...

I should communicate my messages when the audience is most receptive to them and in a way that makes them accessible to different people.

...to concise redundancy

I must avoid ambiguity or missing elements at all cost and answer up front every conceivable question that my audience might have.

From definitive sterility...

I should make my messages somewhat open to multiple interpretations and stimulate my audience to adapt the content to their own context.

...to unfinished completeness

Table 3: Regular versus

overload-aware business

communication


25

It goes without saying that overload-aware

communication requires extra effort by

communicators (in the short run) when

preparing their messages. In the long run,

however, these efforts will become seam-

less and part of an established commu-

nication routine. Consequently, business

communicators will profit from greater at-

tention, deeper understanding and longer

retention of their messages. In the short

run they need the support of their organi-

zation to implement the mechanisms and

principles discussed in this report. They

need to overcome the implementation gap

in overload-aware communication.

3.4 Scientific Background of the Six Communication Principles

The following table compiles some of

the scientific background behind the six

communication principles outlined in this

chapter.

Table 4: The scientific

underpinning of the six

communication principles

Principle Background Rationale and Findings Select References

Familiar Surprise Surprise Enhances Attention and Learning Novelty and the feeling of surprise lead us to reallocate our attention-related resources to the unexpected event and provides an initial moti-vational impetus for reviewing our current ways of knowing. Neurologi-cal research finds that surprise and novelty are instrumental for memory formation and associative learning.

Meyer, W., Reisenzein, R. & Schützwohl, A. (1997). Toward a process analysis of emo-tions: The case of surprise. Motivation and Emotion, 21(3), 251–274.Ranganath, C., & Rainer, G. (2003). Neural mechanisms for detecting and remembering novel events. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4 (3), 193–202.

Familiarity Reduces Information Overload The more novel a piece of information to a person, the more effort he/she needs to retrieve its relevant aspects and to understand and incor-porate it. This is why more experienced people suffer less from informa-tion overload. Novel information can be understood more easily if it is presented in a structure and language (e.g., importance of analogies) that is already known to its audience.

Schneider, S.C. (1987). Information overload: Causes and consequences.Human Systems Management, 7(2), 143–153. Swain, M. R., & Haka, S. F. (2000). Effects of information load on capital budgeting decisions. Behavioral Research in Accounting, 12(1), 171–199.

Detailed Overview Overview Requires Interconnecting Details Communicators, who aim to convey an overview on a complex issue, often cannot start top-down by explaining the broad concepts and then moving to details. Instead, they have to weave in details and examples and relate them to broader categories to make the latter meaningful.

Ringach, D. L. (2003). Look at the big picture (details will follow). Nature Neuroscience, 6(1). Shneiderman, B. (1996). The eyes have it: A task by data type taxonomy for information visualizations. Visual Languages, 1996. Pro-ceedings. IEEE Symposium, 3(6): 336–343.

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26

Flexible Stability Stability Through Standard Representation Facilitates Quick Orientation Uncertainty, ambiguity and variety of information increase the per-ceived information load. To better cope with this, information and information processes should be standardized. In a report with a standardized structure, the general orientation is easier and relevant information can be more quickly located. In relation to this insight, Ber-ghel proposed to promote information brands for specific standardized forms of information.

Bawden, D., Holtham, C., & Courtney, N. C. (1999). Perspectives on information overload. ASLIB Proceedings 51(8): 249–255. Berghel, H. (1997). Cyberspace 2000: Deal-ing with information overload.Communications of the ACM, 40(2), 19–24.

Standardized but Flexible Information Objects Enable Inter-disciplinary Communication Flat organizations, teamwork and interdisciplinary collaboration are key causes of information overload. Research has found that in order to facilitate communication and collaboration in multidisciplinary teams, information objects need to be characterized both by flexibility and sta-bility. Flexibility enables the various specialists to make the information meaningful in their specific context, while stability allows for a structure that is common to the various fields of expertise and that can thus serve as a means for translation and mediation.

Star, S. L., & Griesemer, J. R. (1989). Insti-tutional ecology, “translations” and bound-ary objects: Amateurs and professionals in Berkley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907–39. Social Studies of Science, 19(3): 389–420. Carlile, P. R, (2002) A pragmatic view of knowledge and boundaries: Boundary objects in new product development. Organization Science, 13(4), 442–455.

Simple Complexity

Activating Previous Knowledge Reduces Complexity and Cognitive Load Extraneous information load can be reduced by representing complex information in a way that activates previous relevant knowledge. In this way the amount of communicated information can be considerably reduced. Previous knowledge can be activated through comparisons, analogies or metaphors. Researchers have demonstrated the positive effects of such methods for learning experimentally.

Newby, T. J., Ertmer, P.A., & Stepich, D.A. (1995). Instructional analogies and the learning of concepts. Educational Technology Research and Development 43(1), 5–18. Ortony, A. (Ed.). (1993). Metaphor and thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Adequate Representation Reduces Cognitive Effort Schneider has found that complexity of information adds to informa-tion overload. The simpler a piece of information can be represented (without distorting it), the less cognitive effort is needed to understand it. Unessential elements or repetitions should be eliminated. In addition, using schemas or categorizations also helps to absorb complexity.

Schneider, S.C. (1987). Information overload: Causes and consequences. Human Systems Management, 7(2), 143–153.

Pollock, E., Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (2002). Assimilating complex information. Learning and Instruction, 12(1), 61–86.

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27

Concise Redundancy

Alternative Representation Formats can Foster Understanding if They Are Not Competing for Cognitive Resources Multi-modal (i.e., visual and verbal information) representations of the same information content can be beneficial to understanding and conducive to learning and remembering. This, however, is only the case if the redundancies in information presentation are not overly complex and remain concise.

Moreno, R. & Mayer, R. E. (1999a). Cognitive principles of multimedia learning: The role of modality and contiguity. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(2), 358–368. Sweller, J., Van Merriënboer, J., & Paas, F. (1998). Cognitive architecture and instruc-tional design. Educational Psychology Review, 10(3), 251–296.

Unfinished Com-pleteness

Incompleteness Forces Audiences to Make their Own Representations Explicit and Facilitates Sense Making and Learning By consciously leaving gaps or raising questions about an issue, readers or viewers have to activate their prior knowledge of an issue and make their own implicit representations explicit. This fosters understanding and recall. Audiences are encouraged to reconstruct knowledge rather than simply consume information.

Valcke, M. (2002). Cognitive load: Updating the theory? Learning and Instruction, 12(1), 147–154. Van Merrienboer, J. J. G., & Sweller, J. (2005). Cognitive load theory and complex learning: Recent developments and future directions. Educational Psychology Review, 17(2), 147–177.



28

Chapter 4

Chapter Summary

The existing literature on information

overload is fragmented and dispersed and

often emphasizes only a specific aspect of

the topic (such as the role of information

technology). This report, by contrast, re-

views the various insights into the academ-

ic and management-oriented literature to

present a comprehensive view of overload

symptoms, causes and countermeasures.

We then focus on information (or the

message dimension) and review seven

attributes of information that contribute

to overload, namely message intensity,

quantity, uncertainty, ambiguity, diversity,

novelty and complexity. These characteris-

tics should be taken into consideration in

business communication through message

reduction and transformation mecha-

nisms. Based on existing research and this

distinction, we present eight information-

focused strategies to reduce overload in

business communication: information

compression, aggregation, sequencing,

contextualizing, personalization, elabora-

tion, standardization, and visualization.

4.1 Introduction: An Overview of the Effects and Root Causes of Information Overload

Information overload is one of the pressing

issues of today’s increasingly fast- paced,

complex and communication-intensive

business world. Diverse, complex and

often ambiguous information reaches

receivers with high intensity and through

a multitude of channels (Hallowell, 2005).

As a consequence, employees experience

information fatigue (Wurman, 2001),

lose sight of the big picture (Schick et al.,

1990), are paralyzed by analysis (Bawden,

2001), confused about the value and im-

portance of information or simply refuse

to receive communication, and develop

radical filter strategies (Milgram, 1970).

Figure 3 gives a more systematic over-

view of the problematic consequences or

symptoms of information overload. First,

we can observe that because of informa-

tion overload, active information search

and retrieval practices may become

unsystematic and excessively focused

(Swain & Haka, 2000, Cook, 1993). Second,

information analysis and organization

become more arbitrary as peripheral cues

are overestimated and the relationship

between details and overall perspective

is lost (Owen, 1992). As a consequence,

decisions become less accurate (Chewn-

ing & Harrel, 1990; Hwang & Lin, 1999;

Pennington Tuttle, 2007), are frequently

delayed, and work is generally conducted

less effectively (Bawden, 2001). Finally,

on a personal level, people feel cognitive

strain, stress, and become gradually more

dissatisfied and de-motivated (Baldacchino

et al., 2002; Schick, 1990).

In order to counteract these various

problematic consequences of information

overload, several studies have addressed

the drivers or root causes of information

overload (Edmunds & Morris, 2000; Eppler

& Mengis, 2004). The most obvious driver

is the amount and intensity of received

information, but—as we will see—other,

more qualitative characteristics of infor-

mation also cause information overload.

In addition, it is not only information it-

self but also the characteristics of informa-

tion technology, work processes or tasks;

forms of organizing; and personality

traits (including skills), that contribute to

whether or not, metaphorically speaking,

the sea (or better lake) of information will

overspill its banks (see Figure 3).

Regarding the characteristics of work

tasks, for example, several studies have

found that if tasks are complex and inter-

dependent, and processes are often novel

or require constant modification, infor-

mation processing requirements increase

and information overload is more likely to

occur (Tushman & Nadler, 1975; Grise &

Gallupe, 1999, 2000).

The Causes of Information Overload—A Review of the Literature

29

Chapter 4The Causes of Information Overload—A Review of the Literature

Forms of organizing also contribute to in-

formation overload: With more interdisci-

plinary teams, coordination and commu-

nication needs rise, and employees—and

even more so managers—spend a consid-

erable percentage of their work time in

meetings (49–65 percent for managers;

Mintzberg, 1973; Tengblad & Jönsson,

2002) a phenomenon also referred to as

meeting overload (Rogelberg et al., 2007).

While Figure 3 provides an overview of

all types of causes of information over-

load, we will focus—in the following part

of this review—on information itself. The

rationale for this choice is that informa-

tion is the most readily changeable factor

contributing to overload. While not every-

one can change the organizational design,

the task characteristics, the personality

profiles, or the information technology in

an organization, each individual commu-

nicator can use mechanisms to make his

or her information more usable, informa-

tive and memorable.

In this way, we hope to give the readers

of this report practical information about

how to reduce information overload by

addressing information characteristics for

optimal reception and processing.

Symptoms of Information Overload

Limited Search & Retrieval

Highly selective search: omission ■■

(Edmunds & Morris, 2000)

Less systematic search strategies ■■

(Swain & Haka, 2000)

Arbitrary Information Analysis & Organization

Peripheral cues are overestimated (Owen, 1992).■■

There is a lack of critical evaluation (Shenk, 1997; ■■

Pennington & Tuddle, 2007).

Strenuous Personal Situation

Greater tolerance of error ■■

(Sparrow, 1999)

Confusion & cognitive strain (Jones, 1997)■■

Suboptimal Decisions

Decision quality lowered (Jacoby, 1984)■■

Potential paralysis and delay of decisions (e.g., ■■

Bawden, 2001)

Causes of Information Overload

Information Characteristics

Complexity of information (Miller, 2008)■■

Ambiguity of information (Sparrow, 1999)■■

Information Technology Properties

Push systems like e-mail (Bawden, 2001)■■

One message on multiple channels (Edmunds and ■■

Morris, 2000)

Personal Routines, Attitudes and Expertise

Poor motivation or skills (Muller, 1984)■■

Task Characteristics

Complex tasks (Speier et al, 1999)■■

High task interdependence (Tushman & Nadler, 1975)■■

Forms of Organizing

Disintermediation (Schneider, 1987)■■

Cross-disciplinary teams and high coordination needs ■■

(Grise & Gallupe, 1999)

Frequent task interruptions (Speier et al., 1999)■■

Figure 3: Symptoms

and causes of information

overload

30

4.2 Insights on Information Overload based on Existing Studies

Analyzing dozens of seminal studies on

overload from the last 40 years, we have

found four key insights on how to prepare

messages for overload environments.

These insights are reviewed below and

converted into action items for business

communicators.

Insight 1: Overload should not only be addressed by the receiver, but also by the communicator

Employees experience information

overload regularly in their daily work

practices (Edmunds & Morris, 2000). They

receive information through a multitude

of media devices; spend an average of

two hours each day to check, respond

and write e-mails (see: Thomas and King,

2006, on e-mail overload); skim through

mountains of lengthy reports; and try to

find the relevant and pertinent piece of

information in the over 165 million web

sites of the Internet (as of May 2008, see

netcraft.com). In order not to get lost in

this mass of information, employees use

and develop a variety of coping strategies:

They block out sources, delegate informa-

tion processing tasks to others, focus only

on confirming evidence, or use filtering

devices and automated clustering tools

(intelligent agents) for incoming e-mails

(Schuff et al., 2007; Edmunds & Morris,

2000). When using the Internet, they

may use social bookmarking sites and

other rankings to guide them in finding

valuable and helpful information. But in

addition to fighting information overload

as a consumer of information, the phe-

nomenon can also be addressed from the

side of the information producer. Com-

munication professionals play a decisive

role in the production side and are able to

influence future standards of communica-

tion formats and processes (IfF & Gallup,

1996). Because of their key role in fighting

information overload, the remainder of

this review focuses on how communica-

tors can shape and organize messages and

communication processes so that informa-

tion overload can be contained.

Action Implication: Business communicators

should critically review their own contribution

to the information overload problem.

Insight 2: Overload is not just caused by too much information: information characteristics determine the degree of cognitive load

Contrary to the widespread belief that

information overload is simply the result

of too much information, research on the

phenomenon has consistently shown that

it is not only the amount of information

that contributes to information overload

but also more qualitative information

attributes or characteristics (Keller &

Staehlin, 1987; Owen, 1992; Schneider,

1987, Simpson & Prusak, 1995). In other

words, reducing overload is both a ques-

tion of how much information is provided

and what kind of information is commu-

nicated.

Table 5 outlines the various character-

istics of information that affect informa-

tion overload. Next to the amount of

information items and their intensity, five

other information characteristics contrib-

ute to overload. These include the level of

uncertainty (or reliability) of information,

its novelty, its complexity, the ambigu-

ity associated with the interpretation of

a piece of information, and the diversity

among various information items (for

example, with regard to format or style).

Regarding novelty, for example, the

more the format or content of a message

is unfamiliar to a reader, the less quickly

he or she can compare these ideas with

already acquired knowledge. Additional

time for elaboration is required, which

can easily lead to a feeling of overload.

Relating novel information to already

known contents is thus a key mechanism

to reduce overload. The same is true if the

format, structure, and style of the report

are unfamiliar to the reader or if such

formats constantly change (the diversity

attribute).

The practical lesson from this insight

is that business communicators must

reflect and act on these attributes of

information—e.g., by using a consistent

format and thus reducing novelty and

diversity, contextualizing messages to

reduce ambiguity, sequencing messages to

Chapter 4The Causes of InformationOverload—A Reviewof the Literature

31

reduce intensity and complexity, indicat-

ing sources or methods of a finding to

reduce uncertainty—and thus enhance

their audience’s capacity of processing

information (Simpson & Prusak, 1995;

Sparrow 1999).


should critically examine the information char-

acteristics of their own communication products

and evaluate them regarding key information

characteristics that contribute to overload, such

as diversity, complexity, ambiguity or intensity.

Information Attributes References

How much?

Intensity: Number of messages per time unit Schick et al., 1990 ; Simpson & Prusak ,1995

Quantity: Number of messages and amount of information per message. Bawden, 2001; Herbig & Kramer, 1994; Ja-coby, 1977, 1984; Malhotra, 1982; Schneider, 1987; Sparrow, 1999

What kind?

Uncertainty of information: The value of information is unclear as its sources are questionable, evidence is contradicting and the validity period uncertain.

Schneider, 1987; Sparrow, 1999; Tushman & Nadler, 1978

Ambiguity of information: On the basis of a piece of information, multiple interpretations are possible and equally likely.

Schneider, 1987; Sparrow, 1999; Sutcliffe, 2005; Lesca & Lesca, 1995; Mulder et al. 2006

Diversity of information: Contradicting information is at hand (e.g., studies with different findings, different sources), and similar information is present-ed in different styles and presentation formats.

Bawden, 2001; Iselin, 1988; Schroder et al., 1967; Speier, Valacich, Vessey, 1999

Novelty of information: Information entails new and unknown insights and is represented in unusual style or format.

Schneider, 1987; Miller, 2008; Herbig & Kramer, 1994

Complexity of information: The number of information items and their (types of) interrelations are high.

Schneider, 1987; Schroder et al., 1967; Miller, 2008

Table 5: Key attributes

of information contributing

to information overload


32

Medium

Mechanism

Guidelines for Reducing Information Overload

E-mail Intranet Report Meeting

Red

uce

Compress Compress individual infor-mation items by eliminating redundancies or digres-sions (Grise & Gallupe, 1999/2000; Hiltz & Turoff, 1985; Iselin, 1988; Koniger & Janowitz, 1995).

Limit e-mail to one topic per message.

Adjust content to screen size to avoid scrolling.

Provide an executive sum-mary.

Keep statements short and iterate contributions.

Aggregate

Aggregate, categorize and structure sets of information or their sources for easier overview (Ackoff, 1967; Grise & Gallupe, 1999/2000; Iselin, 1988; Koniger & Janowitz, 1995; Scammon, 1977; Meg-lio & Kleiner 1990; Nelson, 2001; Minto, 1995).

Provide digests of group discussions via e-mail.

Provide a dis-cussion thread (newsgroup) instead of e-mail conversations.

Provide a site map/portal and tag clouds if applicable.

Pyramid prin-ciple: Show the main implica-tion, key find-ings and under-lying facts as a report summary.

Clustering: Use ”war room”-like metaplan techniques to ag-gregate discussed information visually; use graphic facilita-tion tools such as lets-focus.com

Sequence/Bundle

Sequence information so that it arrives at the moment of need (Berghel, 1997; Eppler & Will 2001).

E-mail digests (summary mails)

Periodic notification services (RSS)

Just-in-time delivery instead of just-in-case

Jour fixe (set meet-ing day and time).

Insight 3: Communicative countermeasures against information overload must address key information characteristics through reduction and transformation mechanisms

Information overload is caused by both

quantity and quality of information

(Davenport & Prusak, 1998; Eppler, 2006;

Thomas & King, 2006). Quantity should,

whenever possible, be reduced, while

quality should be increased by trans-

forming information into a more useful

format (Ackoff, 1967).

Table 6 provides an overview of such

reduction and transformation mecha-

nisms focusing on information attributes.

These suggestions deal with the timing,

content and form of information (O’Brien

& Marakas, 2008). They help communica-

tors to get attention for their messages,

to enable quick and easy comprehension,

and generally to create information that is

remembered and acted upon.

Table 6: Message mechanisms

that help to reduce information

overload

Chapter 4The Causes of Information Overload—A Reviewof the Literature

Ì

33

Tran

sfor

m

Contextualize Embed information in the overall situation/environment; relate new information to pre-vious information (Davenport & Prusak, 1998; Eppler, 2006; Mulder et al., 2005).

Relate answer to previously sent e-mail sections.

Provide current position in navi-gation tree.

State target groups and goal of report; indicate related reports.

Show prior meet-ing results and time line; dialogues, not presentations.

Personalize Personalize and customize information, e.g., develop various versions of a message with various levels of detail for different target groups (Ansari & Mela 2003; Ber-ghel, 1997; Denning, 1982; Meglio & Kleiner, 1990).

Personal e-mail opening and closure

Customizable portal as starting page

Targeted sec-tions, stating implications for different target groups

Break-out sessions, one-on-one meetings

Elaborate Create value-added informa-tion, such as action items, ratings and rankings by the community on the useful-ness/value of provided infor-mation, stories, metaphors, etc. (Denning, 1982; Simpson & Prusak, 1995).

Flags on urgency and importance of message; informative subject header

Tags, rankings, indicators of page views, comment sec-tions

Examples or case boxes, illustrative anecdotes, analogies, etc.

Permanently visible meeting agenda (items to discuss and their sequence) and to-do list.

Standardize Define standards, e.g., set guidelines for information and communication formats, such as e-mail or report-ing etiquette (Allert, 2001; Bawden, 2001; Keller & Stae-lin, 1987; Meglio & Kleiner, 1990; Simpson & Prusak, 1995).

Standard e-mail structure (i.e., context, fact, implications, actions needed)

Web page templates and defined page typology

Memo structure (i.e., situation, complication, implication, pro-posal, rationale, alternatives)

Use standard meeting agenda and standardized meeting minutes.

Visualize

Visualize information: Use graphs and diagrams but also qualitative visualization methods like metaphors or sketches) (Shimoijma, 1996; Larkin & Simon, 1987; Lurie & Mason, 2007; Meyer, 1998; Tversky, 2005; Chan, 2001).

Visualize e-mail trail.

Graphic site-map or visual site navigator

Summary and overview diagrams, sum-marize numeric tables through graphs

Graphic facilitation: framework-based discussions and instant visual meet-ing minutes

Medium

Mechanism

Guidelines for Reducing Information Overload

E-mail Intranet Report Meeting


34

Reduction and transformation mecha-

nisms thus aim at changing the format,

timing or scope of information to make it

more usable and informative. Specifically,

reduction processes either reduce the

complexity of a single message (informa-

tion compression) or of a set of messages

(information aggregation). Another type

of reduction strategy aims to reduce the

pace at which new information is commu-

nicated—for example, by communicating

information at the moment the receiver

can actually apply it. Transformation

mechanisms, by contrast, modify messag-

es to make them more valuable, reliable,

understandable and usable. They thus

reduce novelty, uncertainty, diversity and

ambiguity. Such transformation might

consist of adding contextual cues (such as

stating target groups); adapting informa-

tion to personal preferences or needs

(i.e., by stating implications for different

roles); elaborating its content through

metaphors or stories; adapting it to a well-

known, standard format; or enriching it

with intuitively understandable graphics.


should examine whether they systematically

integrate reduction and value-adding transfor-

mation mechanisms into their communication

work. They should look for ways to compress

or aggregate information (i.e., categorize);

improve the timing of their communication

(i.e., bundle); and add value to information

through contextualization (i.e., relate message

to prior information), personalization (i.e., filter-

ing), standardization (e.g., recurring structure),

elaboration (i.e., storytelling), and visualization

(i.e., diagrams).

Insight 4: These mechanisms can be implemented and scaled through standards, training, tools, roles, and processes

While the above mechanisms can be used

by any individual business communica-

tor, only their organizationwide adoption

will reduce overload consistently (Mulder

et al., 2006). Thus, the reduction and

transformation mechanisms compiled

above require some degree of collective

effort and as such cannot be implemented

easily. They require standards that define

how communication can be optimized,

which in turn may require formal train-

ing (Allert, 2001) and supporting tools

(Alessandrini, 1992; Winston, 1994), and

in some cases even new communication

roles or processes (such as communication

quality officers, information aggregators

or information compression or overload

monitoring processes).


should devise ways to institutionalize reduction

and transformation mechanisms for informa-

tion and make them compatible with their

established practices. They should frequently

measure the perceived information overload

through surveys.

4.3 Conclusion: Overcoming the Implementation Gap

As we have seen from this chapter, reduc-

ing information overload is also the

responsibility of communicators and not

just of those receiving information. Com-

municators should address the informa-

tion characteristics that drive the overload

problem, and they should do this in an

orchestrated manner. Message reduction

and transformation mechanisms are well

known, but their implementation still

remains a challenge. The literature review

we have conducted has also shown that

reasons for insufficient deployment of

such strategies have not been researched

thoroughly. Hence, reasons for insufficient

use will be addressed by our IABC survey

in the next chapter.

Chapter 4The Causes of Information Overload—A Reviewof the Literature

35

Chapter 5

Chapter Summary

In June and July 2008 we surveyed 568

IABC members, mostly active in internal

or external communication, regarding

their views on visualization as a counter-

strategy against information overload. The

results of the survey show that these expe-

rienced professionals see great potential in

this approach, especially for aggregating

or synthesizing information and relating

it to make it more comprehensible. They

see their own limited time and knowledge,

and the lack of adequate visualization

tools, as the biggest implementation bar-

riers.

5.1 Objectives of the Survey

The survey presented in this chapter had

three main objectives with regard to the

implementation gap in reducing overload

in business communication:

1. Explore the potential of visual formats

to effectively reduce information over-

load in internal communication.

2. Shed light on the actual use of concep-

tual diagrams and visuals metaphors in

meetings, presentations, reports or in

e-mail communication.

3. Gain an understanding of the major

benefits, but also challenges and draw-

backs, when using visual formats in

internal communication.

5.2 Results

5.2.1 Demographics: Who Participated in the Survey?

A total of 568 IABC members responded

to the survey, of which 293 answered the

questionnaire version on visual metaphors

and 275 the one on conceptual diagrams.

Of the respondents, 77.7 percent (432)

were female, while 22.3 percent (124)

were male (see Figure 4). On average, the

respondents were 43 years old; half of all

respondents were younger than 44 years

old (see: Figure 5).

Visual Communication to Reduce Overload—Results from a Survey of IABC Members

2Information on the method with which we have conduct-

ed the survey can be found in Appendix 1. The question-

naire distributed for the survey can be found in Appendix

2. It shows the version dedicated to conceptual diagrams

as it was distributed to half of the sample. For the other

half of the sample, the same questionnaire was distributed,

yet the questions regarded visual metaphors. The example

visual metaphors provided are depicted in Appendix 3.

Figure 5: Age distribution among

respondents

Figure 4: Gender distribution

among respondents

77.7%

22.3%

femalemale

What is your gender?

80706050403020

How old are you?

50

40

30

20

10

0

Freq

uenc

y

Mean =43.48 Std. Dev. =9.344

N =556

36

The largest percentage of the respond-

ents works in internal communication

(24.7 percent), followed by corporate com-

munication (20.8 percent), advertising/

marketing communication (8.3 percent),

external communication (6.2 percent), and

public relations (6.2 percent) (see Figure

6). Respondents indicated that they have

on average 13 years of experience in their

current job profile.

The industries in which the respond-

ents work vary greatly. The greatest

percentage work in the following four

industries:

1. Consulting (9.7 percent of all respond-

ents)

2. Finance/banking (9.5 percent)

3. Education (7.9 percent)

4. Government/military (7 percent)

5.2.2 Familiarity: Are Visualization Methods such as Conceptual Diagrams and Visual Metaphors Known by Communications Managers?

The short answer: The IABC members

indicate that they are quite familiar with

visualization methods, such as conceptual

diagrams or visual metaphors.

Figure 7 gives a first overview on

respondents’ expressed familiarity. While

they seem to know visual metaphors and

conceptual diagrams rather well (if asked

generally) and indicate also a rather good

understanding of the contexts in which

these visuals can be used, they express

less confidence when asked if they know

the conventions used to build such visuals

and whether they could develop them

themselves.

When comparing means across

individual familiarity and organization-

wide familiarity, we see that respondents

indicate higher familiarity with visual

forms of communication for themselves

rather than for the other members of

their organization. In addition, they be-

lieve that their colleagues might be more

familiar with conceptual diagrams than

with visual metaphors, yet they say they

are equally familiar with both types of

visualization.

34

77.7%

22.3%

femalemale


Figure 4: Gender distribution among respondents

80706050403020

How old are you?

50

40

30

20

10

0

Freq

uenc

y

Mean =43.48 Std. Dev. =9.344

N =556

Figure 5: Age distribution among respondents

The largest percentage of the respondents works in internal communication (24.7 percent), followed by corporate communication (20.8 percent), advertising/marketing communication (8.3 percent), ex-ternal communication (6.2 percent), and public relations (6.2 percent) (see Figure 6). Respondents indicated that they have on average 13 years of experience in their current job.

Figure 6: Job functions of the respondents

other (20.25%)technology (0.18%)

strategic planning (1.23%)

public relations (6.16%)

public information (1.23%)

public affairs (1.41%)

new media/electronic (0.7%)

media relations (1.58%)marketing (5.81%)

issues management (0.35%)

investors relations (0.18%)

corporate communication (20.77%)

community relations (1.06%)

advertising/marketing communication (8.27%)

external communication (6.16%)

internal communication (24.65%)

What is your function in your organization?

Chapter 5Visual Communication to Reduce Overload—Results from a Survey of IABC Members

Figure 6: Job functions

of the respondents

Figure 7: Familiarity with conceptual

diagrams and visual metaphors

I am familiar with visual formats such as the ones shown before (although I might not know the specific ones shown here)

I know in which contexts it is suitable to use such visual formats


I am familiar with visual formats such as the ones shown before (although I might not know the specific ones shown here)







marketing (5.81%)


media relations (1.58%)








technology (0.18%)

other (20.25%)





marketing (5.81%)










technology (0.18%)

other (20.25%)





marketing (5.81%)










technology (0.18%)

other (20.25%)





marketing (5.81%)










technology (0.18%)

other (20.25%)





marketing (5.81%)










technology (0.18%)

other (20.25%)

37

5.2.3 Use: Are Visual Methods Used in Employee Communication?

The short answer: Visual communication

does not seem to be highly used for inter-

nal communication, and there is a rather

clear gap between the familiarity with

visuals and their actual use.

Visual metaphors were reported to be

used more often than conceptual dia-

grams for internal communications (see

Figure 8). This is not true when asking

for respondents’ individual use of visual

communication as opposed to the visual

communication practices of their organi-

zation in general. One can interpret this

finding to indicate that communication

professionals perceive themselves, as the

arbiters of organizational communica-

tion, to be more innovative and creative in

their ways of communicating than their

colleagues.

If we look at the use of visual com-

munication for specific media channels

(see Figure 9), we see that both conceptual

diagrams and visual metaphors are most

frequently used in presentations, fol-

lowed by reports and meetings. The more

analytic and number-driven conceptual

diagrams are said to be more important

for reports than visual metaphors.

Figure 8: Use of visual formats

(i.e., conceptual diagrams,

visual metaphors) for internal

communication

Figure 9: Media-specific use

of visual communication


How often do you use visual metaphors/conceptual diagrams?

Visual M

etaphors

Conceptual Diagram

s

1.84

2.9

2.95

3.54

in presentations

as e-mail attachments

in reports

in meetings

1.82

2.73

3.03

3.21

1 2 3 4 5

in presentations

as e-mail attachments

in reports

in meetings

never extremely often

* mean values

*

Do you personally use.. ..visual metaphors.. ..conceptual diagrams..

..in your communication?

When you prepare workshops, meetings, presentations, reports, or other documents, do you use ..

.. visual metaphors? .. conceptual diagrams?

Are..

.. visual metaphors.. ..conceptual diagrams.. .. part of your normal communication toolbox?





Are..






Are..






Are..


38

5.2.4 Benefits: Why Should Visual Formats Be Used in Internal Communication?

The short answer: Visuals seem to be

most beneficial for 1) aggregating differ-

ent types of information and showing

their interconnections; 2) compressing

and synthesizing information; 3) making

information more easily understandable;

and 4) making information more quickly

understandable (as emphasized by arrows

in Figure 10). Figure 10 shows the mean

values for the various potential benefits of

visualization. Respondents rated visuals

to be in between “rather effective” and

“effective,” and for some areas even to be

above “effective.” Overall, IABC members

appreciate visuals as an effective way of

communicating within the organization.

Regarding the question whether using

visualization brings benefits that are said

to reduce information overload, we see

that visualization is said to be beneficial

for compressing and aggregating informa-

tion. For other aspects relevant to reduc-

ing information overload, visualization is

deemed to be less effective: With regard

to standardizing, bundling or adjusting

information to the preferences of your

audience, visualization is not the most

effective method. Finally, if asked directly

whether the use of visualization is an

effective way to reduce information over-

load, people responded rather positively

with an average of 3.66 (between “rather

effective” and “effective”).

Figure 10: Benefits of using visual formats

in internal communication

Table 7: Major Benefits of Visual Metaphors and Conceptual Diagrams (mean values

in parenthesis, ranging from 1 = “not effective at all” to 5 = “very effective”)

Visual Metaphors Conceptual Diagrams

1. Make information more easily understand-able (4.21)

2. Make information more quickly under-standable (4.21)

3. Compress and synthesize information (4.18)

4. Make information more easily memorable (4.13)

5. Aggregate different types of information and show their interconnections (4.11)

1. Aggregate different types of information and show their interconnections (4.02)

2. Compress and synthesize information (3.93)

3. Make information quickly understandable (3.79)

4. Make information more easily understand-able (3.76)

5. Add value to the message you aim to convey (3.76)


Rate the Effectiveness of Conceptual Diagrams/Visual Metaphors

3.35

3.44

3.53

3.66

3.78

3.81

3.87

3.99

4.01

4.07

4.07

1 2 3 4 5

to standarize the way with which you can convey information

to better bundle and time your messages in the communication

to adjust your message to the knowledge and preferences of your audience

to reduce information overload

to embed information in a context that is meaningful to your recipient

to make people remember my messages better

to add value to the message you aim to convey

to make information more quickly understandable

to make information more easily understandable

to aggregate different types of information and show their interconnections

to compress and synthesize information

Not effective at all

very effective

*

* M

ean

valu

es


3.35

3.44

3.53

3.66

3.78

3.81

3.87

3.99

4.01

4.07

4.07

1 2 3 4 5













very effective

*

* M

ean

valu

es


3.35

3.44

3.53

3.66

3.78

3.81

3.87

3.99

4.01

4.07

4.07

1 2 3 4 5













very effective

*

* M

ean

valu

es


3.35

3.44

3.53

3.66

3.78

3.81

3.87

3.99

4.01

4.07

4.07

1 2 3 4 5













very effective

*

* M

ean

valu

es

39

A further interesting finding is that

visual metaphors are perceived as signifi-

cantly more beneficial than conceptual

diagrams with regard to involving emo-

tions in one’s communications, making

people remember one’s communications

better and making information more

quickly understandable.

5.2.5 Barriers: What Challenges Need to Be Addressed to Exploit Visual Formats?

The short answer: The major impediments

to using visuals—such as visual metaphors

or conceptual diagrams—are that employ-

ees do not have enough time to develop

them and that they lack simple tools

to quickly develop them. They also lack

design and visualization know-how, and

find that visuals are often difficult to use.

Instead, little problems cause organiza-

tional barriers, such as a lacking accept-

ance by the organization in using visual

formats for internal communication. It

also does not seem to be the case that the

use of visuals goes against current organi-

zational practices, values or routines.

Thus, visualization has great potential

for internal communication, but because

of a lack of know-how and access to time-

efficient tools, they are not yet widely

used. Figure 11 shows potential reasons

why visuals might not be used more often

(both in terms of personal and organiza-

tionwide use).

When comparing the results for visual

metaphors and conceptual diagrams,

we find little difference. It is interesting

to note, however, that conceptual dia-

grams are perceived as more problematic

than visual metaphors with regard to

their complexity and thus are perceived

to be difficult to use. The use of visual

metaphors, instead, is believed to be more

problematic for the costs involved in pro-

ducing them.

Figure 11: Challenges in the use of visuals

(mean values represented, range from: 1 = “com-

pletely disagree” to 5 = “completely agree”)


If you occasionally find it problematic to use conceptual diagrams/visual metaphors, why may this be the case?

2.6

2.605

2.72

2.885

2.99

3.13

3.24

3.595

3.79

3.88

1 2 3 4 5

It is not compatible with our existing practices, values and/or routines

Visualizations are too simplistic to communicate one's ideas

There is a lacking acceptance by other members of the organization to use visualizations

Visualizations are too costly to produce

Visualizations do not provide enough value added

Visualizations are difficult to use

Visualizations are often too complex to be understood quickly

The necessary design and visualization know-how is missing

There is a lack of simple tools to quickly develop and adapt visuals

There is not enough time to develop a visual

completely disagree

completely agree

* M

ean

valu

es

*

40

5.3 Conclusion: Over coming the Implementation Gap Regarding Visual Solutions against Overload

The results from the survey on the use of

visualization in internal communication

and its potential for reducing informa-

tion overload indicate that visualization

is deemed as particularly important for

synthesizing and aggregating information

by showing the interconnections of vari-

ous types of information, and thus mak-

ing information more easily and quickly

understandable. For other aspects, which

are important for reducing information

overload—such as personalization or

standardization—visualization is consid-

ered to be a less effective instrument.

The major impediments for the imple-

mentation and use of visual methods—

such as visual metaphors or conceptual

diagrams—is not only the lack of time to

develop them, but also the lack of knowl-

edge in which contexts to use which types

of visualization and how to construct

them. In addition, their relative complex-

ity represents a further difficulty both in

producing and in using them. This is why

IABC members believe that there is poten-

tial in more frequently using simple visual

tools for internal communication.


41

Conclusion

While many studies on information

overload are limited to assessing the level

of information overload in organizations,

this report took information overload as

a given and aimed to propose practical

principles, mechanisms and examples how

business communicators can contain infor-

mation overload as information producers.

A fundamental insight from the cur-

rent research on information overload is

that it is not only the amount of informa-

tion that makes us feel overloaded, but

also qualitative aspects of information,

such as its ambiguity, diversity, novelty

or its complexity. For example, the more

complex a message, the quicker I feel

overloaded. Because of these two main

causes of information overload (quantity

and quality), we have focused our recom-

mendations both on how communication

professionals can reduce and transform

their messages. We have to know both

means for compressing, aggregating, or

sequencing (bundling) information (to re-

duce the amount of information), and for

standardizing, elaborating, personalizing,

and contextualizing information (to re-

duce its complexity, ambiguity, etc.). Based

on these considerations, we have proposed

six practical recommendations business

communicators can use in overload-aware

communication. We have framed these

recommendations as paradoxes and have

called them:

1. Familiar surprise

2. Detailed overview

3. Flexible stability

4. Simple complexity

5. Concise redundancy

6. Unfinished completeness

We have started the report not by burden-

ing you with causes, mechanisms and

principles, but by presenting—what we

believe are—compelling examples that

make you understand intuitively the six

principles that help you to contain infor-

mation overload. For example, by learning

about the Learning Map and how it is used

during group trainings, the advantages of

a detailed overview are easily understood:

The map provides both a bird’s-eye view of

an organization (i.e., by showing intercon-

nections of work processes), and it allows

groups to zoom in to specific “scenes” and

“rooms” to understand details of their

work.

At the end of the report, we were left

with one major challenge in dealing with

information overload: the implementation

gap. While we are often quite aware of the

techniques to counter overload, we still do

not use them. As an information users, we

know, for example, that we should check

our e-mails only during clearly dedicated

times in order not to be interrupted

constantly. However most of us check the

inbox almost constantly. How can we start

closing this gap between knowing and

doing? We have aimed at answering this

question specifically for one technique

that seems particularly promising for

reducing information overload: informa-

tion visualization (as it is used in dia-

grams or visual metaphors). Visualization

is said to be a useful technique to reduce

information load as it helps to aggregate

information, show the interconnections

of the various types of information, make

information more easily understandable

and finally make it more memorable. We

have conducted an online survey of IABC

members, and from the 568 respondents,

we have learned that the major impedi-

ments to using visualization for internal

communication are a perceived lack of

visualization skills, a need for simple tools

to use visualizations effectively, and an

insufficient amount of time to develop

visuals. This is a call for organizations to

provide more training and tools for their

employees so that they can engage in

communication practices (such as the use

of visualizations) that reduce overload on

their employees.

We would like to point to one major

limitation of this report. Our recommen-

dations are focused on how business com-

municators can shape information itself;

the report does not address other aspects

that also contribute to overload (i.e., forms

of organizing work, the characteristics

of the task at hand or the properties of

information technology used to process in-

formation). Yet because information is the

element communication professionals can

influence directly, we hope that this re-

port can give you actionable ideas to shape

the information landscape, so that we can

see the forest in spite of all the trees.

Conclusion

42

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Martin J. Eppler is a chaired professor of

information and communication manage-

ment at the University of Lugano (USI),

Switzerland where he teaches managerial

communication and knowledge manage-

ment, and conducts research on strategic

decision making and strategy communica-

tion. He has published over 80 academic

papers and eight books on knowledge

communication. He teaches strategic com-

munication in the graduate programs of

several European and Chinese universities.

He has been an adviser to organizations

such as KPMG, Ernst & Young, Daim-

ler, the United Nations, UBS, the Swiss

Government, Swiss Re, and others. He is a

fellow of Cambridge University (U.K.) and

guest professor at the Central Univer-

sity of Finance and Economics (CUFE) in

Beijing. He is on the scientific board of

the International Institute of Education

Research of Germany and the Institute for

Communication Research (Switzerland).

He is a member of several editorial boards,

including Studies in Communication Sci-

ences and Information & Management.

Jeanne Mengis is a senior researcher at

the University of Warwick, Warwick Busi-

ness School, U.K. In addition to this engage-

ment, she is a lecturer at the University of

Lugano (USI), Switzerland, at the faculty of

communication sciences where she teaches

decision making. She publishes and con-

ducts research on knowledge integration in

interdisciplinary collaboration and works

on a communication approach to the man-

agement of knowledge in organizations.

During 2007/2008, she was a post-doctoral

fellow at Boston University’s School of

Management and in 2004/2005 a visiting

fellow at the Kennedy School of Govern-

ment at Harvard University. She completed

her Ph.D. at the University of Lugano on

the integration of expertise in decision

making. She has teaching experiences

at the universities of Lugano, St. Gallen,

Lausanne, Freiburg, and the Swiss Federal

Institute of Technology, Zurich. She further

conducted executive training for organiza-

tions as the United Nations, the Chamber

of Judges and Attorneys of Ticino, UBS, and

the St. Gallen Cantonal Bank.

Biographies Biographies

45

Appendices

Appendix 1: Our Research Methodology

In this report, we rely on three sources

of information: 1. previous research on

information overload (as presented in our

literature review in Chapter 4); 2. mini

case studies from 16 corporate contexts,

in which we present interesting solu-

tions for overload-aware communication

(see Chapter 1); 2. a survey among IABC

members specifically on visual methods

and how they can reduce information

overload (see Chapter 5).

Literature Review

We based our review on over 100 scientific

articles. To screen the relevant articles

within the literature on information over-

load between 1970 and 2008, we used the

electronic database provided by EBSCO-

host (limited to Business Premier Source).

We conducted a keyword search (key-

words: information overload, information

load, cognitive overload, cognitive load,

e-mail overload, meeting overload, com-

munication overload) and then verified

that information overload is a dominant

theme in the article and systematically

addressed the issue. We further gained

focus in our data set through additional

selection criteria (the topic is addressed in

a corporate context, e.g., marketing, MIS,

accounting, organization studies, and the

article is peer reviewed).

Mini Case Studies

For the selection of the examples from

the 16 corporate contexts, we relied on a

variety of criteria. First, their communica-

tion solutions effectively reduce cognitive

load on employees through a simple, but

powerful idea. Second, these solutions

represent, taken together, an informative

mix of traditional, long-tested solutions

and emergent solutions that are novel

and innovative. Third, the examples illus-

trate the current diversity of media and

communication contexts for overload-

conscious communication. In addition

to these criteria of commonality among

the 16 cases, we also selected the cases

based on difference: It was important

that the examples stem from different

industries (e.g., finance: UBS, consumer

goods: Procter & Gamble, information

technology: Microsoft), have different

sizes (e.g., from SMEs such as Crealogix,

reflact and Trainiac to large corporations

such as Microsoft and IBM)), and are based

in different geographical locations (such

as South Africa, Germany, the U.S. and

the U.K.). With this diversity, the reader

can gain a better sense of the practices of

overload-aware communication that are

not specific to a specific industry, type of

organization or geographical area.

IABC Survey

The online survey was conducted from 11

June to 18 July 2008, and was sent out to

5,000 members of IABC. The selection of

these members took place in a random-

ized fashion. The survey was published in

two versions: half of the sample received

a version of the survey focused on graphic

metaphors (the key question being are vis-

ual metaphors such as icebergs, temples,

bridges, etc., known and used, and what

are the challenges and advantages when

using them?) The second half received a

version of the survey that focused on con-

ceptual diagrams, such as Venn diagrams,

matrices, time lines, etc. The conceptual

diagram version of the questionnaire can

be seen in Appendix 2. For the analysis,

we relied both on descriptive analysis of

the questionnaire and means comparison

through ANOVA.

Appendices

46

Appendix 2: Questionnaire (Version on Conceptual Diagrams)

Thank you for taking this survey.

With the following questions we aim to

gain a better understanding of your prac-

tices in using visual support in your daily

communications within your organiza-

tion. In particular, we are interested in:

1. How you value certain visualization

techniques for making information

more digestible and reducing informa-

tion load.

2. What difficulties arise in using them.

Filling out this questionnaire will not take

more than 15 minutes of your valuable

time. We would like to emphasize that all

questionnaires will be treated anonymous-

ly, and there will be no trace between your

person and your answers.

In advance, thank you very much for your

time!

We start by showing you three examples

of conceptual diagrams. We would like

to know how familiar you are with them,

what the main difficulties in using them

are and how you assess them for your

communication. Have a look at them with-

out trying to understand their content in

detail.

Appendices

49



With the following questions, we aim to gain a better understanding of your practices in using visual support in your daily communications within your organization. In particular, we are interested in:

1. How you value certain visualization techniques for making information more digestible and reducing in-formation load.


Filling out this questionnaire will not take more than 15 minutes of your valuable time. We would like to emphasize that all questionnaires will be treated anonymously, and there will be no trace between your person and your answers.

In advance, thank you very much for your time!

We start by showing you three examples of conceptual diagrams. We would like to know how familiar you are with them, what the main difficulties in using them are and how you assess them for your communication. Have a look at them without trying to understand their content in detail.

Example of a conceptual diagram: Venn diagram

49



With the following questions, we aim to gain a better understanding of your practices in using visual support in your daily communications within your organization. In particular, we are interested in:

1. How you value certain visualization techniques for making information more digestible and reducing in-formation load.


Filling out this questionnaire will not take more than 15 minutes of your valuable time. We would like to emphasize that all questionnaires will be treated anonymously, and there will be no trace between your person and your answers.

In advance, thank you very much for your time!

We start by showing you three examples of conceptual diagrams. We would like to know how familiar you are with them, what the main difficulties in using them are and how you assess them for your communication. Have a look at them without trying to understand their content in detail.

Example of a conceptual diagram: Venn diagram

50

Example of a conceptual diagram: Time Line

Example of a conceptual diagram: Matrix

1. Please rate the extent to which you agree with the following statements.

Comple-tely

disagree

Comple-tely

agree

Noanswer

I am familiar with conceptual diagrams such as the ones shown before (although I might not know the specific ones shown here).

I know in which contexts it is suitable to use such con-ceptual diagrams.

I know the conventions used when building such con-ceptual diagrams and can construct them myself.

These conceptual diagrams are well-known in my or-ganization.

People in my organization are well aware of the con-texts in which it is suitable to use such conceptual diagrams.

The members of my organization know how to use and construct such visual diagrams.

I don’t know conceptual diagrams that well, but I use something similar, namely:

Example of a conceptual

diagram: Venn diagram

Example of a

conceptual diagram:

Time Line

Example of a conceptual

diagram: Matrix

47

1. Please rate the extent to which you agree with the following statements.

Completely disagree

Completely agree

No answer

I am familiar with conceptual diagrams such as the ones shown before (although I might not know the specific ones shown here).

I know in which contexts it is suitable to use such conceptual diagrams.

I know the conventions used when building such conceptual diagrams and can con-struct them myself.

These conceptual diagrams are well-known in my organization.

People in my organization are well aware of the contexts in which it is suitable to use such conceptual diagrams.

The members of my organization know how to use and construct such visual dia-grams.

I don’t know conceptual diagrams that well, but I use something similar, namely:

AppendicesQuestionnaire

48

2. Please indicate how frequently you or other members of your organization use conceptual diagrams.

NeverExtermely

oftenNo answer

Are conceptual diagrams used in your or-ganization for internal communications?

Have you encountered such conceptual diagrams in internal reports in your orga-nization or during presentations and work-shops or on web sites?

Are conceptual diagrams considered to be a part of the communication toolbox that is used in your organization?

Do you personally use conceptual diagrams in your communications with your col-leagues?

When you prepare workshops, meetings, presentations, reports or other documents, do you use conceptual diagrams?

Are conceptual diagrams a part of your normal communication toolbox?


49


3. If you have used conceptual diagrams, in what contexts and how frequently?

NeverExtermely

oftenNo answer

In meetings

In presentations

In reports

As e-mail attachments

If you have used conceptual diagrams in other contexts, please tell us which ones.

50

4. How would you rate the effectiveness of conceptual diagrams...


Very effective

No answer

to compress and synthesize information?

to aggregate different types of information and show their interconnections?

to adjust your message to the knowledge and preferences of your audience?

to add value to the message you aim to convey?

to embed information in a context that is meaningful to your recipient?

to standardize the way with which you convey information?

to better bundle and time your messages in the communication process?

to reduce information overload for the people receiving it?

to make information more easily under-standable?

to also involve emotions in your communication?

to make information more quickly understandable?

to make people remember my communications better?


51

5. Please consider your personal use of conceptual diagrams. If you occasionally find it problematic to use conceptual diagrams,

why may this be the case? (Please rate to which extent you agree with the following statements.)

If there are other reasons, please tell us.


Completely disagree

Completely agree

No answer

They are often difficult to use.

They are often too costly to produce.

They are often too simplistic to communicate one’s ideas.

They are often too complex to be understood quickly.

They often do not provide enough added value.

I often do not have enough time to develop them.

I often lack design and visualization know-how.

There is a lack of simple tools to quickly develop or adapt the diagram.

It is not compatible with our existing practices, values, and/or routines.

52

6. Now, we ask you to consider the use of conceptual diagrams in your organization. In your opinion, why might your organizati-

on sometimes be reluctant to use conceptual diagrams in its internal communication? (Please rate to which extent you agree with the

following statements.)

If there are other reasons, please tell us.


Completely disagree

Completely agree

No answer

They are often difficult to use.

They are often too costly to produce.

They are often too simplistic to communicate one’s ideas.

They are often too complex to be understood quickly.

They often do not provide enough added value.

The employees in our organization do not have enough time to develop them.

The employees in our organization lack design and visualization know-how.

There is a lack of simple tools to quickly develop or adapt the diagram.

There is often a lacking acceptance by other members of the organization.

It is not compatible with our existing prac-tices, values, and/or routines.

53


7. Please rate to which extent you agree with the following statements.

Completely disagree

Completely agree

No answer

I consider myself a visual thinker.

I generally like working with images.

I feel I am rather gifted at working with images.

In my organization, there is often a lacking acceptance by other members of the organization when someone uses visualization techniques.

In my organization, it is not compatible with our existing practices and/or routines to use visualization techniques.

In my organization, it is not compatible with our existing values to use visualization techniques.

In my organization, there are very tight standards about how to communicate, and there are thus rigid restrictions for the use of visualization.

Thank you for sharing your insights on your knowledge and experience with conceptual diagrams. We would like to end this questionnaire by as-

king you some questions about your person and about the organization for which you work. These will uniquely help us to better understand your

earlier answers but will in no way threaten the anonymity of the questionnaire.

How old are you?


Male

Female

How many years of experience do you

have in your current job?

In which industry are you active?

What is your function in your

organization?

54

Appendix 3: Visual Metaphors Used in the Questionnaire

The visual metaphors we have used in the

second version of the questionnaire (sent

out to 2,500 IABC members) are shown

below.

Appendices

54


The visual metaphors we have used in the second version of the questionnaire (sent out to 2,500 IABC members) are shown below.

54


The visual metaphors we have used in the second version of the questionnaire (sent out to 2,500 IABC members) are shown below.

55 55

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