Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Unit8
Unit8
Structure
8.1. 8.2. 8.3. 8.4. 8.5. 8.6. 8.7. Introduction Objectives TypesofMeetings BeforetheMeeting SelfAssessmentQuestions1 DuringtheMeeting SelfAssessmentQuestions2 AftertheMeeting CommonErrorsmadeinMeetings SelfAssessmentQuestions3 Summary TerminalQuestions AnswerstoSAQsandTQs 8.1 Introduction Studies have indicated that business executives spend about half their time on the job attending meetingsofsometypeortheother.Weoftenfindthatsomeonewearetryingtocontactisbusyina meeting.Irrespectiveofthesizeoftheorganizationorthejobdesignation,businessmeetingsarea part and parcel of the everyday work routine. While meetings are common, they are not always productive and efficiently conducted. Therefore it is important to understand how to plan, conduct andparticipateinmeetings,sothattheyproducegoodresults.Inthisunit,wewillexaminemeetings bothfromtheperspectiveoftheparticipant,aswellasfromthatofthepersonchairingthemeeting. Somecommonmistakesmadeduringmeetings,alongwithsomeguidelinesforcorrectingthemwill alsobeexplained.
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LearningObjectives: Afterstudyingthisunit,youshouldbeabletounderstandthefollowing.
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3.InformationSharingMeetings Insomeorganizations,thesetypesofmeetingsmaybecalledregularlyforthemainpurposeof exchanginginformationonatopicofrelevancetotheorganization.Suchmeetingsmaytakeplace betweencoworkers,ormayalsoinvolvetopmanagement. Examples 1.TheManagingDirectorofacompanymaycallhisseniormanagerstoshareinformationaboutthe companysjointventures,overseascollaborationsorplansforacquisition. 2. A weekly meeting of top executives may be held to discuss the activities of the companys internationaldivisions. 3. The members of the R& Ddepartment maymeet regularly, to comparenotesonthe resultsof theirresearchefforts. 4.ProblemSolvingorDecisionMakingMeetings Thistypeofmeetingisthemostchallenging,sinceitinvolvestakingsomekindofaction,making majordecisionsorchangingtheexistingpoliciesandprocedures.Therefore,allinterestsand departments of the organization are represented at such meetings. They also tend to be time consuming. ExampleThemarketingstrategyofthecompanymayneedtoberevised,sincesalesareonthe decline. Or, a new product is to be launched and a meeting may be called to discuss the launch strategy. Sinceproblemsolvingmeetingsarethemostcomplicatedtypeofmeetings,theguidelinesofferedin thisunitaremorerelevanttothesemeetings. 8.3 BeforeTheMeeting Aspointedoutearlier,meetingsneedtobeplannedinadvance,sothattheyaresuccessful.Before anyplanningcanbedonehowever,abasicquestiontobeaskediswhethertoholdameetingatall. Theanswerstothefollowingquestionswouldhelptodecidewhetherameetingisnecessaryinthe firstplace Canthematterbedecidedordiscussedoverthetelephone? Canthematterbeexpressedinwriting,intheformofamemo,oranemailmessage? Arekeypeopleavailabletoattendthemeetingandaretheyprepared?
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Isthetimeallottedforthemeetingsufficient?
Iftheanswerstothefirsttwoquestionsareyesandtheanswerstotheothertwoquestionsareno, thereisnopurposeincallingameeting. Oncethe needfora meeting has been determined,the next step is to start planningthe meeting. Firstofall,thetypeandnumberofparticipantsshouldbedecided.Aproblemsolvingmeetingshould include representatives from all departments, since the decision would otherwise be incomplete. Shareholders,whoaretheownersofthecompany,shouldalsobeincluded.Intermsofnumbers,the sizeofthegroupcouldbeanywherebetweensevenandelevenmembers.Anexceptiontothisisan information sharing meeting, where the numbers could be larger, so that a maximum number of peoplebenefitfromtheinformation. Thesecondandmostimportantstepinplanningameetingistoindicatethepurposeoragendaof the meeting to the participants in advance. An agenda is essentially a list of topics that will be discussedduringameeting.InthewordsofAdlerandElmhorst,Ameetingwithoutanagendais likeashipatseawithoutadestinationorcompass:nooneaboardknowswhereitisorwhereitis headed. An agenda is prepared by the Chairperson of the meeting, or the person who calls the meeting. Apartfromalistoftopics,acomprehensiveagendashouldalsoincludethefollowing 1.TheTime,VenueandDurationoftheMeetingThestartingtimeandlengthofthemeeting needstobeindicated,sothatparticipantsknowhowmuchtoprepareandcanplantheirother activitiesandmeetingsaccordingly. 2.AListofParticipantsItisimportanttoletallmembersknowwhowillbeattendingthemeeting, sothattheyknowwhomtoexpect. 3.BackgroundInformationThiscouldbeintheformofnewinformation,repetitionoffactsasa reminder,orabriefexplanationoftheimportanceofthemeeting. 4.AClearListofItemsandGoalsTheseshouldbeincludedinordertoensurethatthemeeting hasanoutcome.Participantsneedtohaveaclearideaoftheirroleinthemeeting.Goalsshouldbe statedsothattheysoundspecific,resultorientedandrealistic.
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ExamplePatwillexplaintheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofswitchingtoanewsupplier,sothat wecantakeafinaldecisiononthis. Agoalstatedlikethishelpsparticipantstoprepareadequatelyforthemeeting.Goalsmaybesetby thepersonwhocallsthemeeting,orinconsultationwiththeparticipants. 5.AdvancePreparationbyParticipantsAgoodagendatellsparticipantshowtocomeprepared forthemeetingforexample,byreadinganarticle,bringingimportantdocuments,collectingfacts, orjottingdowntheirideasonaparticularissue.Incasecertainmembershavetoprepareina specificway,thiscanbementionedontheirindividualcopyoftheagenda. Ingeneral,theitemstobediscussedarelistedinthedescendingorderofpriorityintheagenda i.e.,fromthemostimportanttotheleastimportantitem.Sometimes,thesimpleissuesmaybelisted firstandthenthemorecomplicatedissues. Asampleformatforacomprehensiveagendaisshownbelow
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AGENDA
th DATE: March5 ,2008
TO
: (Namesofallmeetingparticipants)
PLACE: FourthfloorConferenceRoom. BACKGROUND: TheinaugurationofthenewManipalUniversal th LearningOffice,willtakeplaceonMarch15 ,aspreviouslyscheduled. Completionofthefollowingtaskswillkeepusontargetandensurethat thenewofficebecomesfunctional. Wewilldiscussthefollowingitems: 1. OfficeEquipmentNeeds(Nameofpersonresponsiblefor makingapresentationandinitiatingdiscussion). 2. OfficeDecoration(Nameofpersonresponsibleformakinga presentationandinitiatingdiscussion). 3. AdvertisingandPublicity(Nameof personresponsiblefor preparingadvertisementsandpressreleases).
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8.4 DuringTheMeeting
Thetaskofconductingandmoderatingthemeetingrestswiththechairperson.Heorshemustbe wellversedwiththeproceduresforopeningthemeeting,encouragingbalancedparticipation,solving problemscreatively,concludingthemeetingandmanagingtimeefficiently.Weshalldiscusseachof theseproceduresindetail. 1.Opening the Meeting The manner in whichthe meeting is opened is important, since agood opening will ensure that the restof the meetingwill proceed smoothly. There are different waysof openingameeting.Generally,itisbesttosumupwhathasbeenstatedintheagendaincludingthe goals,backgroundinformationandexpectationsoftheparticipants.Itisalsoagoodideatoprovide anoutlineofhowthemeetingwillproceed,aswellasatimebudget. Example WewillbeginthemeetingwithatenminutepresentationbyPatonnewofficeequipment, followedbyafifteenminutepresentationbyChrisonofficedecoration.Thelasttwentyminuteswill bereservedforbrainstormingamongthegroupforcreativeideasfortheadvertisingcampaign. 2. Encouraging Balanced Participation It is also the responsibility of the chairperson to encouragesilentmemberstocontributetothemeetingandtomoderatethedominantmembers,so thattheydonothijackthemeeting.Thereareseveraltechniquestoencourageparticipation EncourageParticipationintheReverseOrderofSeniorityThismeansgettingthejunior memberstospeakorairtheiropinionsfirst.Iftheseniorpeoplespeakfirst,theymayfeel suppressedorbeafraidtodisagreewiththeirsuperiors. NominalGroupTechniqueInthismethod,themeetingparticipantsareencouragedto workandcontributetheirideasindependently.Itconsistsoffivedifferentstages
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Encourage Participation In Turns In this method, the chairperson goes around in turns, to makesurethateachmembercontributestothemeeting.Thisisagoodwaytobreaktheinitial silenceandstartoffameeting.
UseOverheadQuestions Thesearequestionsthatareaddressedtotheentiregroup andwhichmaybeansweredbyanyoneinthegroup. ExampleCananyoneexplainthereasonforthesalesdecline? Thismethodisgood,aslongasallmembersparticipateequally. * UseDirectQuestions Thesearequestionsthatareaddressedtoindividual members.Theideaistogetquietmemberstospeakout. Example Whatisyouropiniononthisissue,Pat? Directquestionsshouldbeusedtactfully,sincetheytendtocreateaclassroom atmosphere.,whichmayberesentedbythemeetingparticipants.
3. Managing Time There is no prescribed length for a meeting. The duration of a meeting will dependonthetypeandpurposeofthemeeting.Generally,problemsolvingmeetingswilltakelonger
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thanotherroutinemeetings.Inanycase,thechairpersonshouldsetatimebudgetforthemeeting, dependingontheagendaandensureadherencetothetimelimit. 4.KeepingtheMeetingFocusedOften,alotoftimeiswastedduringmeetingsbygoingofftrack and by discussing topics that are irrelevant. In such situations, it is the responsibility of the chairperson, or the person moderating the discussion to make sure that the discussion remains focusedonthetopicsmentionedintheagenda.Someofthetechniquesthatcouldbeusedtodothis are
Reminding Membersof Time ConstraintsWhen members dwell ona topicfor too long, or engageinirrelevantdiscussions,thechairpersonmustintervenetoremindmembersthattimeis runningoutandrequestthemtoproceedtothenextitem
SummarizingandMovingOnWhenanitemontheagendahasbeenfullydiscussedbutthe discussion rambles on, the chairperson can quickly summarize the ideas, acknowledge the contributionsandmentionthenextitemtobediscussed. Example I think we have generated a sufficient number of excellent, creative ideas for the advertisingcampaign.Maybeweshouldmoveontodiscussthemediaplan.
Postponing Discussion of Irrelevant Ideas Sometimes, participants may waste time by coming up with ideas that are not relevant to the topic being discussed. In this case, the chairpersonshouldbefirmbutpolite,byappreciatingtheideaandpromisingtodiscussitafter themeeting.
1. Ensuring Convergence Convergence means hearing the points of view of all the members and then arriving at a decision. It is again the responsibility of the chairperson to bringthemeetingtoapointwhereanopinionemergesoneachitemoftheagenda. 2. Summing Up This means summing up the different points of view, the decisions and the actionstobetaken.Thisshouldbedonebythechairperson,identifyingtheroleofeachperson oneachitemoftheagenda,alongwithaspecifieddeadline.
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Example Chris will take the responsibility of contacting the media and sending material for
th advertisementsandpressreleasesbyMarch13 .
7.ConcludingtheMeetingThewayameetingisconcludedisasimportantastheopening,since it will influence thefollowup action taken on decisions made during the meeting. The chairperson shouldknowwhenandhowtoconcludethemeeting. The meeting should normally be concludedat the scheduled closing time,unless important issues still remain to be discussed and members are willing to extend the meeting. Sometimes meetings may be concluded before the closing time, when key decision makers are not present, or when importantinformationsuchascostfiguresarenotavailable. Therearedifferentwaysofconcludingameeting.Onewayistosignalandindicatehowmuchtime isremaining,sothatthegroupcanwrapupthediscussions.Anotherwayistosummarizewhathas been discussed and decided and to mention the followup action to be taken. The role and responsibilityofeachmembercanalsobementioned,sothateveryoneisclearaboutwhatistobe done after the meeting. An important point to be remembered is to retain the goodwill of the participants, by thanking them for their contributions. Members who have made significant contributionsshouldbeacknowledgedindividually. Example I must thank all of you for coming up with so many wonderful ideas for making this inauguration a success. A special thanks to Chris for negotiating and getting a good deal on the officeequipment.AndtoPatfortheexcellentdesignofthenewofficefloorplan. 8. Keeping Minutes of the Meeting Since meetings are called to take important decisions concerning the organization, it is important to maintain a permanent written record of the proceedings,whichcanbereferredtoatalaterstage,orserveasaguideforaction.Sucharecord isknownasminutesofthemeetingandmaybedoneinaninformalorformalmanner,depending onthetypeofmeeting. In the caseof routine meetings, minutes are written in an informal manner, in theform of abroad summaryoftheproceedings.Ontheotherhand,minutesformoreformalmeetingssuchasboard and shareholder meetings are written in a specific format, recording the names and views of the
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differentparticipants.Theminutesmayberecordedbyanyoneofthemeetingparticipants.Asample formatforminutesforformalmeetingsisshownbelow
FormatforMinutes
MEETINGDATE_____________TIME_________PLACE_________________ PURPOSE____________________________CHAIR_______________________ PRESENT__________________________________________________________ ABSENT___________________________________________________________ ITEMNO.SUMMARYACTION BYWHENWHO 1 2 3
MINUTEDBY__________________COPIEDTO________________________
Sofarwehavebeendiscussinghowameetingshouldbeconductedfromthe
NEXTMEETINGDATE___________TIME_______PLACE______________
Sofar,wehavelookedathowmeetingsshouldbeconductedfroma chairpersons perspective. We will now look at how participants of a meeting should conduct themselves. There is a meeting etiquette, or code of conduct that needs to be followed by participants.
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2.DonotsaysomethingforthesakeofitParticipationinameetingdoesnotmeanjustsaying something,whetheritisrelevantornot. 3.ContributetoaddvalueAddingvaluemaybedonebyexpressinganewidea,through constructivedisagreement(e.g.,whynotdoitthiswayinstead?),byendorsinganotherpersons opinion(e.g.,Iagreewithyou)orbyseekingclarification(e.g.,Canyouexplainthatagain?). 4.GivecreditwhereitisdueItisgoodmeetingetiquettetoappreciatesomeoneelsesidea,if youthinkitisgood. 5.KeepanopenmindtofacilitateconvergenceDontimposeyourownideasonothers.Give othersachancetoexpresstheirideas,sothatdifferentviewpointsemergeonasingleissue. 6.DonotinterruptIfyouwishtosaysomething,alwayssignalthisbyraisingyourhandpolitelyat asuitablejuncture. 7.AlwaysaddressthechairpersonAvoidbilateraltalksandminimeetings,ordiscussions withotherparticipants,aswellasspeakinginanotherlanguage.Addressyourquestionstothe chairperson. 8.UsetoolsandtechnologywithcareAsmentionedearlier,meetingstodaycanbenonfaceto face,thankstotechnologicaladvances.Whenusingfacilitiessuchasinternalmessaging, teleconferencingandvideoconferencing,remembertobebriefandtoavoidusingthetoolforitsown sake. SelfAssessmentQuestion2 Matchthefollowing
1.NominalGroupTechniquea.Minimeeting 2.Convergenceb.Outlineofmeeting
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3.Minutes
c.Unbiased
4.Meetingetiquetted.Permanentrecord 5.Openingthemeetinge.Differentviewpoints 8.5 AfterTheMeeting Ameetingthatproceedssmoothlywillstillnotbesuccessful,unlessproperfollowupmeasuresare takentoensurethatthegoalsarefullyaccomplished.Followupmayinvolvethefollowingsteps 1. Plan for the Next meeting Very few meetings are conclusive and cover all the items in the agenda completely. It is the chairpersons responsibility to make anote ofthe items that have not beendiscussedandtoschedulethenextmeeting,alongwithafreshagenda.Allparticipantsmust beinformedthatafollowupmeetingisbeingplanned. 2. Check Progress on Followup Actions Members of the meeting may have been assigned different responsibilitiesanddeadlinesfor completion of tasks. Therefore, it is important to monitor theirprogresseverynowandthen,afterthemeetingisover,toensurethatthedeadlinesaremet. 3.DoYourOwnGroundworkApartfrommonitoringtheprogressofmeetingparticipants,itisalso importantthatyouasthechairpersonfinishanypendingworkbeforethenextmeeting. 8.6CommonMistakesMadeAtMeetings Sincemeetingsarepronetosomuchinefficiency,itwouldberelevanttoroundoff thisunitwithalistofcommonmistakestoavoid,bothfromachairpersonsaswell asaparticipantsperspective. 1.LackofStructureMeetingsshouldbestructuredintermsofanagendabeing senttoparticipantsinadvance,thediscussionbeinginitiatedbyaspecificperson andthechairpersonensuringthatdifferentpointsofviewemerge.Alooselystructured meetingwillnotbesuccessful. 2.NoGoalsorAgendaItwaspointedoutearlierthatameetingwithoutanagenda
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lacksdirection. 3.NoPremeetingOrientationThisisthejobofthechairperson.Membersmustbe briefedonhowtoprepareforthemeeting. 4.InadequatePreparationThisisamistakemadebymemberswhoattendthemeeting withoutpreparation. 5.NotFocusingontheSubjectThisisacommonmistakemadebyparticipants whodiscussmattersthatarenotrelevanttothemeeting. 6.MeetingsthatareTooLongThechairpersonmusttrytoavoidthis,byensuring adherencetothetimelimit. 7.DisorganizedMeetingsAgain,thisisthechairpersonsresponsibilitytoseethatthe meetingiswellorganized. 8.InconclusiveMeetingsThechairpersonmusthearoutallthepointsofviewand thenarriveatadecision. 9.IneffectiveLeadershipThisisthefaultofthechairperson,iforshehefailsto givedirectiontothemeeting.. 10. TimeWastedParticipantsmayengageinunrelateddiscussionsandthe chairpersonmaybeinefficientatmanagingtime. 11.DominatingtheDiscussionAfewmembersmayspeakallthetime,whileothers remainsilent. 12.NoFollowupActionThemeetingmayproceedsatisfactorily,butnothingis doneafterthemeetingeitherbythechairpersonortheparticipants,toensurethat themeetinggoalsareaccomplished. SelfAssessmentQuestion3 FillintheBlanks 1.Afterthemeeting,followupmustbedonebythe___________________and the___________________________. 2.Ameetingwithoutanagendaandconvergenceisameetingthatlacks ______________________. 3.Ameetingwherethereareunrelateddiscussionsisonewhichlacks _________________.
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4.Meetingsareefficientlyconductedwhentheyare___________________and _____________________. 5.Meetingsareineffectivewhen___________________arenotmade. 8.7 Summary Business executives spend a good deal of time on the job attending different types of meetings. Meetingsfallintofourbroadcategories
Meetingsneedtobeplannedinadvanceandinvolvealotofgroundwork.Themostimportanttaskto beaccomplishedbeforethemeetingistoprepareacomprehensiveagenda,oralistoftopicstobe covered. Ideally, anagenda shouldalso includethe time, duration, location, listof participants and thespecificgoalsofthemeeting.Participantsshouldalsobebriefedonhowtocomepreparedfor themeeting. Conductingameetingisessentiallytheresponsibilityofthechairperson.Thisincludesthefollowing steps
Openingthemeetingbyrepeatingtheagendaandgoals,givingbackgroundinformationand outlininghowthemeetingwillrun.
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Concludingthemeetingbyindicatingthetimelimit,summarizingdecisionsandactionsand acknowledgingcontributions
Keepingminutesofthemeeting
Participantsofameetingneedtofollowacodeofconductormeetingetiquette,whichincludesthe following
Lackofstructure Lackofanagenda Nopremeetingorientationandpreparation Startinglateandexceedingthetimelimit Lackoffocus Lackoforganization Noconclusion Individualsdominatingdiscussions Noproperfollowup Poorleadership Toomanyinterruptions
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TerminalQuestions
1. ImaginethatSikkimManipalUniversityisconsideringrestructuringitsMBAprogram.Youhave
been selected to chair a committee to represent the students viewpoints. Decide who the committeememberswillbeandprepareanagendaforthefirstmeetingofthecommittee.
2. Choose a sector or industry which is of interest to you. Conduct an interview with a couple of
businessexecutivesinthatsector,tofindoutthefollowing1)Whattypesofmeetingsaremost common intheir workplace?2) Howeffectively are these meetings conducted? 3)Whatarethe commonmistakesmadeduringthesemeetings?
3. Explainthepurposeofkeepingminutesofameeting.Whatgoesintothecontentsofminutesofa
meeting? AnswerstoSelfAssessmentQuestions SelfAssessmentQuestions1
1. c 2. e 3. d 4. a 5. b
SelfAssessmentQuestions3
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