An experiment was designed to test four hypotheses concerning the communications media that managers would choose for their business discussions. Six groups of 16 subjects experienced six different types of telecommunication system designed for small business discussions. They then made a decision about hypothetical participation in a business discussion, either (a) by using the telecommunication system they had just experienced, or (b) by travelling to a meeting between the discussants. Significantly more subjects chose to telecommunicate: when the discussion was given a non‐person‐oriented rather than a person‐oriented description; when subjects were told the discussion involved acquaintances rather than strangers; and when the travel time associated with holding the discussion by meeting face‐to‐face was long. The type of telecommunication system did not have a significant effect. It was concluded that technological improvements in telecommunication systems may be less important in determining the impact of communications technology on management styles than other factors unrelated to the technolo