Why have a meeting?

A great many important matters are quite satisfactorily conducted by a single individual who consults nobody. A great many more are resolved by a letter, a memo, a telephone call, or simple conversation between two people. Sometimes five minutes spent with six people separately is more effective and productive than a half-hour meeting with them all together.

Certainly a great many meetings waste a great deal of everybody’s time and seem to be held for historical rather than practical reasons, But having said that, we cannot deny that meetings fulfill a deep human need. Man is a social species. In every organization and every human culture, people come together in small groups at regular and frequent intervals, and in larger “tribal” gatherings from time to time.

If there are no meetings in the places where they work, people’s attachment to the organizations they work for will be small, and they will meet in regular formal or informal gatherings in societies, clubs, or pubs when work is over.

There is a world of science fiction, and a world of human reality; and those who live in the world of human reality know that it is held together by face-to-face meetings. A meeting still performs functions that will never be taken over by telephones, teleprinters, Xerox copiers, tape recorders, television monitors, or any other technological instruments of the information revolution.

If all other things fail, we can always have a meeting. Meetings have become the standard default means of exchanging information and sharing ideas at work, and often we do not consider the alternatives that could save us time and allow us to achieve more.

You may view meetings as a delight, a place where decisions are made, or try to avoid them like the plague because they take up too of your time. Many people see them as a necessary evil rather than considering the positive properties they bring. But whatever your view, meetings are here to stay, as they perform a valuable role as a forum for discussing useful information and making informed decisions.

In business, meetings are for moving the company forward, a process or framework on which the business relies to enable future growth. Meetings can be described as being forward thinking, and while they may discuss the background or history to an event, the reason for this is to influence the future and aid in developing a solution. Business needs meetings, whether large board meetings or informal one-to-ones.

Discussing the reading. Talk about your answers to these questions:

a) Why do we still have meetings?

b) What are the aims of having a meeting?

c) Are meetings important in business? Why? Why not?

d) What two types of meetings in business are mentioned in the text above?

e) What do most people dislike about meetings?

Part 1. TYPES OF MEETING

I. Meetings come in all shapes and sizes. Here are some of them:

1. chat (informal discussion) with colleagues at the coffee machine;

2. brainstorming among colleagues: where as many ideas as possible are produced quickly, to be evaluated later;

3. project meeting/team meeting of employees involved in a particular activity;

4. department/departmental meeting;

5. meeting with suppliers, for example to negotiate prices for an order;

6. meeting with a customer, for example to discuss a contract;

7. board meeting: an official, formal meeting of a company’s directors;

8. AGM: annual general meeting (BrE); annual meeting (AmE) where shareholders discuss the company’s annual report;

9. EDM: extraordinary general meeting – a shareholders’ meeting to discuss important issues such as a proposed merger.

II. Meetings are still the foundation of business and in this case they can take the form of:

a) an information point – where many people can hear the same information in the

same way and everyone feels included (e.g. a team group meeting);

b) a discussion group – where information may be discussed or aired, and many

people can contribute to the input (e.g. a team coming together to discuss a

childcare plan);

c) a problem-solving session –where many people gather to solve key business

problems (e.g. a meeting to discuss the best way to generate additional income

from current sale);

d) a decision-making forum – where decisions of any scale are formally taken

(e.g. a meeting with contractors to agree the terms of a new contract).

III. Read the following text to find the answers to the questions.

Use a dictionary to find a meaning to the words in bold type.

1)What are the functions of a meeting?

2) What types of meetings are mentioned in the text?

A meeting does more than get people together, it can be the launch pad for new ideas (the idea of the Post-it note was generated during a meeting), a short cut to gaining clarification over issues, and a way of agreeing decisions. In essence, it should save time because, if everyone is present, the information / decision only has to happen once. Of course, not all meetings keep to time or structure.

Meetings can be regular or a one-off situation. They might be light-hearted in their tone - as in a meeting to arrange a social calendar – or they could be serious – such as a meeting to discuss an office move. They may involve everyone you know, as in a team meeting, or you may be faced with complete strangers. They can be short or long. Whatever form or tone the meeting takes, it is important that it presents itself in the right way and that all these aspects are considered.

Meetings are not just static event or time wasters; they are a useful conduit towards actions. People come together to consider and debate issues that should resolve in some outcome or action.