Leading Through Choice: How Can Media Affordances Perspective Improve

Communication As a Soft Skill, Especially For a New or Experienced Manager

Patty Yuan Andersson,

Kristina Gligorovska, and

Md Irtija Tahmid Hossain

TIA510 Introduction to Organizational Communication

Dr. Davide Girardelli

December 6, 2025

Word count: 840

Link to Video (view online):

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 Introduction

We explained Media Affordance Perspective in a video, based on an imagined context of it being

an onboarding video for incoming managers at Spotify. MAP provides an organized structure to

explore how communication tools affect interactions. Evans et al (2017, p. 35-36) refers to

affordances as rational frameworks between technology and the users that impact what actions

are accessible within the communication settings. Since it illustrates the way cue richness,

coordination, flexibility, and persistence impacts communication outcomes, this definition acted

as the basis of our analysis and study. Zhou (2021) demonstrated that even minor changes in

technological affordance can result in measurable changes in communication behavior.

Younger employees experience more loneliness in remote work and wish for more in-person

interaction compared to senior employees (Gallup, 2025, para. 4). This result validated our

concentration on cue richness because miscommunication is something that is caused by a lack

of cues. As stated by Van Zoonen et al. (2024, p. 516), an employee's ability to assess managerial

intent and dependability can be reduced by a lack of communication, and communication quality

has a greater impact on trust than frequency of communication. Furthermore, Singh and Denner

(2025, p. 1-2) emphasized the importance of informal communication for morale, harmony, and

collaboration, although they claimed that working remotely reduces spontaneous

communications that usually occur in an in-person setup.

Our goal in creating this video was to introduce the main concept of MAP and apply it in a real

organizational setting to help managers make intentional communication choices that balance

digital efficiency with the relational value of face-to-face interaction.

Our target audience is newly joined managers at Spotify, who may be unfamiliar with Spotify's

work culture. Spotify has a very young work-force with an average age of 34 (Human Resource

Executive, 2023, para. 7), and operates on a “work from anywhere” (Spotify, n.d., para. 2) policy

which requires intentional and effective communication through different channels. Among the

Gen Z and Millennial employees, 85% put more emphasis on learning soft skills such as

communication and leadership (Deloitte, 2025, para. 6). To communicate that learning MAP is

directly beneficial for the incoming managers, we begin the video with the hook “If you want to

lead well & grow fast, it starts with communication. MAP gives you the framework to do it with

clarity and confidence” (Yuan, Gligorovska, & Hossain, 2025).

Chosen Medium and Format

We chose an animated video as the format for our onboarding training material because it offers

media richness that podcasts lack. McKinsey & Company reports that video formats account for

the highest total consumption hours among twenty different media types (The Attention

Equation, 2025, p. 3). It is both a common media for entertainment and education. Uslu et al.

(2022) found that learning sessions paired with discussions are the most effective way for the

best possible result. They also mentioned that training with pause and reflection moments

increases engagement and the high chance of remembering the learning sessions. This research

guided us to use short prompts in our video for the audience to have discussion opportunities. In

addition, research shows that digital content must capture its audience within the first 15-32

seconds (Munsch, 2021; Talker Research, 2024), which guided our development of a concise

opening that signals to new managers why this training matters. Ads that evoke emotion capture
attention, and humor is more likely to be recalled (Munsch, 2021, p. 19-20), and popular music

has the potential to capture attention (Munsch, 2021, p. 20). Hence, we kept the overall visuals

and tone light and fun and added sound effects and music.

Then we simply introduced “Media Affordance Perspective” as suggested by Evans et al’s

(2017, p. 35-36). This segment is followed by an explanatory segment that applies MAP in both

digital and face-to-face interaction using the research on trust and cue richness (Van Zoonen et

al., 2024, p. 516).

Division of Responsibilities

All the group members contributed to the initial research and concept development. After

selecting the topic, Patty and Irtija started working on the chosen medium and format, and

Kristina deep dived into research to support all our decisions with academic literature and refined

theoretical direction. Then Patty started working with the animation since she has expertise in it,

and Irtija drafted the written hand in. All the members then collaborated on voice-over and

revision to ensure clarity.

Conclusion

This group project helped us understand how communication theory supports leadership practice.

The Media Affordance Perspective offered a useful structure for addressing how choosing a

channel affects clarity, trust, and collaboration. Incorporating research on exponential learning,

attention, and digital communication enabled us to generate content that is relevant to our target

audience. Through animating a theory, we developed a training experience that addresses the

needs of a new generation workforce.

We used ChatGPT to develop the ideas and generate the video script. We also used it to organize

all our research and match it to our script. All the final content was reviewed, edited, and

rewritten by the group members.

References

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conceptual framework for understanding affordances in communication research. Journal

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