Business English Class (Week 2, Day 1)

Unit: Discussions
Lesson: Effective Meetings

Materials: Polite Disagreement handout (1 copy, cut up), Effective Meetings PPT, Team Leader
handout (4 copies), Case Studies handout (1 copy)

Goals:
1. Students will feel prepared to plan and execute their own meetings.
2. Students will be prepared to lead effective meetings.

Objectives:
Terminal:
1. Students will develop plans for effective group meetings, including a written meeting
agenda and follow-up email.
2. Students will establish at least four principles of effective leadership in their groups.
3. Students will make a decision as a group about the case study assignment.
Enabling:
1. Students will review their experiences with business meetings in order to learn and
apply strategies for effective meetings.
2. Students will review characteristics of good leaders to establish for themselves the
most valuable traits.
3. Students will use disagreement speech acts to politely navigate group discussions
relating to the case study.

Agenda:
Warm-Up (8 minutes): Vocabulary presentation: Check the schedule online to see who is
presenting today, and time his/her presentation (maximum of two minutes).
Students select and research the word they want to focus on this week.

Review (15 minutes): Review speech acts for disagreeing politely by asking the class about
specific methods that they remember. Remind them of any alternative methods that they forgot.
Then, students find a partner to practice with an interactive activity. Pass out Polite
Disagreement handout so that partnerships are assigned character cards with opposite views. The
partnership proceeds to discuss the question presented on the card, politely disagreeing with each
other to navigate the conversation and eventually come to a solution they can both be happy
with. Switch character cards with a nearby group and repeat the scenario. Bring the class back
together and ask students what they thought was hard/easy/enjoyable/etc. about that activity.
 Transition: “This is an important skill to have when participating in or leading meetings.”

Overview (5 minute): Bring students’ attention to the agenda written on the board. Explain this
week’s presentation prompt. (Teams will receive a business case study to which they have to
come up with a solution. Groups will then present their proposed solutions and lead a group
discussion, responding to questions and concerns from the class. We will do two case studies this
week, and groups will have time every day to prepare.)
 Transition: “One of the most important things for your success in this assignment is the ability
to work well with your teammates through productive and efficient meetings”
Present (3 minutes): Ask students to read the first two slides in Effective Meetings PPT about
the importance of collaborative work out loud.
Practice (5 minutes): Ask students to reflect on their experiences in meetings. Students talk to a
partner about what makes a meeting effective, or conversely, ineffective.
Perform (10 minutes): We come together as a class to relate each group’s main points, and the
teacher records responses on the board in a chart.

(45 minutes) Present: Students move to sit with their teams. Introduce each of the eight
important factors of effective meetings using the Effective Meetings PPT. Students take turns
reading each bullet point.
Perform: For each important factor, groups make decisions about their first group meeting and
record them.
Evaluate: Monitor students as they make decisions and ask students whether they feel prepared
for their next meeting.

5-minute break

Present (5 minutes): Teams select their first team leader and read the Team Leader handout.
Practice (10 minutes): Groups discuss the most important points and write them on the Team
Leader handout. We discuss each group’s major points as a class.
Perform (20 minutes): Teams group together, and the first team leader guides group discussions
of the case study. They work on applying the information discussed in class as they come to an
agreement about the best solution to a case study and prepare for their presentation and Q&A
session tomorrow.

Homework: Notice how others use the vocabulary word you selected and look for opportunities
to use it yourself.
 Polite Disagreement Handout
Character A: The IT project is the most important thing going on right now.
Character B: Customer service is the most important aspect of our company.
Situation: Peter has proposed that we increase the budget for the IT project. What do you think?

Character A: My family is the most important part of my life.

Character B: I need to make more money so I can support my family.
Situation: Your boss has agreed to allow shorter workdays.

Character A: My vacation is set for next week.

Character B: Character A’s involvement is crucial to this project’s success.
Situation: The project is set to start next week.

Character A: I have worked hard for this job and I continue to work hard to earn my pay.
Exercise has nothing to do with my efficiency.
Character B: I have begun a new fitness regimen this year, but it’s hard to find time to exercise
with a busy work schedule.
Situation: Corporate has proposed that employees who attend the gym at least three days a week
will earn a pay raise. What do you think?

Character A: I have no kids because they distract me from my goals.

Character B: I love spending time with my kids, and I love showing them off.
Situation: Someone has suggested we institute Bring Your Kid to Work Day twice a year. What
do you think?

Character A: The IT project is the most important thing going on right now.
Character B: Customer service is the most important aspect of our company.
Situation: Peter has proposed that we increase the budget for the IT project. What do you think?

Character A: My family is the most important part of my life.

Character B: I need to make more money so I can support my family.
Situation: Your boss has agreed to allow shorter workdays.

Character A: My vacation is set for next week.

Character B: Character A’s involvement is crucial to this project’s success.
Situation: The project is set to start next week.

Character A: I have worked hard for this job and I continue to work hard to earn my pay.
Exercise has nothing to do with my efficiency.
Character B: I have begun a new fitness regimen this year, but it’s hard to find time to exercise
with a busy work schedule.
Situation: Corporate has proposed that employees who attend the gym at least three days a week
will earn a pay raise. What do you think?
 Team Leader Handout
Effective Team Leaders
• “The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority” -Kenneth H. Blanchard
• “Leadership is a series of behaviors rather than a role for heroes” -Margaret Wheatley
• “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader,
success is all about growing others.” -Jack Welch
• “A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
they will say, ‘We did it ourselves’.” -Lao Tzu
• “May we be men and women of honesty and integrity in everything we do.” -Thomas S.
Monson
• “My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to take these great people we have and to push
them and make them even better” -Steve Jobs

How do I run a meeting?

Relationships: A few years ago, Google spent millions of dollars gathering and analyzing data,
trying to optimize its teams. Its data on successful teams did not easily yield commonalities.
After years of research, Google found only two common factors in its most successful teams:
‣ Equality in the distribution of conversational turn taking. Everyone on the team spoke
about the same amount over time.
‣ A high average social sensitivity. Members quickly and accurately read how other
teams members felt, as indicated by tone, expression, and nonverbal cues.

Roles: Make sure people at your meetings know what their responsibilities are. Some managers
like to assign roles like timekeeper, facilitator, recorder, questioner, etc. For solving problems or
group writing, some like the model of assigning figurative roles like architect, madman,
carpenter, and judge. You can also randomly divide the team into Blue Hats (who are free to
find flaws and criticize) and Red Hats (who can only comment on positives, despite personal
opinions). Ensure that everyone has input.

Results: While simultaneously paying attention to the relationships and roles in your group, you
must also move your tasks to completion. Quickly refocus wandering conversations and keep
desired results visible so you’ll all move toward them. “Let’s check the agenda and move on.”
“Our main goal here is to . . .” Write your meeting’s purpose on a whiteboard or a poster.

What are the most important features of good team leaders

that my team can incorporate?
 Case Studies Handout
CASE STUDY
In 2003, after thirty years teaching math at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Maria
Victoria Marshall (PhD in mathematics) founded Compumat SA, a company that develops
software called E-Mat. E-Mat is a learning platform that allows students between 8 and 14 years
old to learn math on line at their own speed to improve their performance and practice 100% of
their skills.

The major potential markets for this product are public schools, private schools, and the home.
The results of using the software, based on independent public tests, have been outstanding.

Although the software has been used by 85 schools and approximately 13,000 students, the
company has not reached the breakeven point after four years of commercial operation. Defining
the growth path and the profit model are critical. Next week, Maria Victoria will meet with an
investor who has asked to review the strategic plan of the company.

This is a decision-making case that illustrates a common crossroads for many entrepreneurs
when a venture does not achieve the desired profitability level: is it simply matter of time or do
fundamental changes need to be made to the business model? As stakeholders in this company,
decide what your next steps should be.

CASE STUDY
Andres Ungar, a master pastry chef, and his brother Johnny, a businessman, opened Cory
Austrian Pastries, dividing the pastry and management sides of the business between them. Their
business is a continuation in Chile of a three-generation family tradition that began in Austria. In
addition to selling pastries in eight shops located in shopping malls, they run a factory called
Gloriet, which produces baked goods and ice cream for their stores and fills special orders for
other companies, generally in large quantities. The factory orders have become the most
profitable part of the business.

The brothers are now considering how to grow their business. Johnny Ungar likes change: 'We
live in a dynamic world, which is why we are considering offers for franchises to be built in
shopping malls in different areas of the city and region. We have the necessary technology to
take on these challenges.' Franchising, however, carries the risk that Cory will no longer control
the quality of their products, and quality has been central to their reputation since they began
making pastry in Vienna.

As stakeholders in this business, decide what your next steps should be.
CASE STUDY
In recent years, Google has been under major scrutiny for gender discrimination, and the
Department of Labor is investigating Google for a potential gender pay gap, especially because
research shows that the gender disparity in tech jobs is pervasive and widespread. As a result,
Google has made a major push to create a more diverse and inclusive work culture.

In 2017, one of Google’s employees, James Damore, sent a private email stating that Google
discriminates against certain employees and offers development opportunities “only for people
with a certain gender or race.” He states that Google has lowered the bar by hiring diverse
candidates. Damore’s memo also states that one of the central reasons there are fewer women
than men in tech is women are biologically different from men. Damore then references
scientifically unfounded gender stereotypes to support this line of reasoning. Some of the
stereotypes he uses include: women are more neurotic than men; women are less capable of
handling stress; and women are better at relationships than men because men are better at
“things.”

This memo was leaked to the press, further pushing Google into the spotlight for unfounded
gender discrimination.

As major stakeholders of Google, decide what steps should be taken. Is free speech within a
large corporation more important than the company’s best interest?

CASE STUDY
Rachel works as a Quality Assurance Engineer at a large electronics company. She is responsible
for the final testing of her company’s servers and is part of a team which decides when new
products will be shipped to distributors for sale.

Rachel’s company has a contract with another company which makes the chips which are
incorporated into the servers Rachel’s company makes. The business model for this product is to
release a new generation server approximately every six months, meaning Rachel has a limited
timeframe to conduct her Quality Control tests.

Because there is such a short amount of time between the release of each next new product, the
Quality and Assurance department cannot perform every possible test on the servers to ensure
they are defect free. Rachel will not ship a product if there is any possibility that the server could
malfunction and cause physical harm to the customer. However, she will ship a product that has
a higher likelihood of failure resulting in data loss for the customer, because she knows that if
she doesn't, her company's competitor will.

Is this an ethical way to conduct business? How should she determine when to ship a product
with known defects?