Менеджеры и менеджмент (Executives and Management). Коломейцева Е.М - 44 стр.

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218
Meetings
This unit deals with different sorts of meetings, their procedure and peculiarities.
T a s k 1. Read the text and give its gist.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Business people spend quite a lot of time in meetings, and meetings come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from
formal committee meetings to informal one-to-one meetings.
There are several reasons why meetings are held:
• reaching decisions in a meeting means that all the participants can feel more committed to the decision;
• more information is available;
• different and unexpected ideas can be contributed;
• meetings can lead to more imaginative and informed decisions – often more courageous decisions than one
person might feel brave enough to make.
Some of the drawbacks of meetings are:
• more time is required than if one person made the decisions;
• there's more talk (and this is sometimes irrelevant and repetitive);
• there's more group pressure.
The larger the meeting, the longer it may take to reach a decision. There seem to be ideal sizes for meetings, de-
pending on the purpose. A meeting where information is being given to people can be quite large, because there is not
likely to be much discussion, and questions may be asked by a few individuals on everyone else's behalf.
The way a committee operates often depends on the chairperson: he or she may control the proceedings very
strictly, or let everyone speak whenever they want. An effective chairperson should be flexible. In some committee
meetings the members have to take a vote before a decision can be made: formal proposals or 'motions' may have to be
tabled, seconded and discussed before a vote can be taken. Other meetings may require a consensus of the members:
everyone agrees with the decision – or at least no one disagrees.
Most meetings have an agenda. For a formal meeting, this document is usually circulated in advance to all partici-
pants. For an informal meeting, the agenda may be simply a list of the points that have to be dealt with. The purpose of
an agenda is to speed up the meeting and keep everyone to the point. The agenda for a formal meeting must be organ-
ized in logical order. Often the agenda shows not only the topics but the meeting's function regarding each topic (' to
receive a report on...', 'to confirm...', 'to approve...', etc.). Ail items on which a decision is to be taken should appear on
the agenda, which would usually have this format:
1. Minutes of previous meeting.
2. Matters arising.
3. Items.
Any other business (AOB)
Taking minutes, and writing them up later, are special skills, involving decisions like 'Do we need to know which
person made every point?' and 'Is this point worth mentioning?' Minutes usually report details of the time, date and du-
ration of the meeting and the names of those present, but the content of the report itself may be detailed or brief, de-
pending on the anticipated readership.
Even one-to-one or small informal meetings are structured (usually with an agenda) and planned. They are differ-
ent from chance conversations in a corridor or over coffee. Small informal meetings may also take place or continue
during a meal.
T a s k 2. Read and discuss the following information.
Problem – solving and idea – generating meetings
A frequent mistake you as an executive may make, is your failure to define a meeting's purpose, either to yourself,
or those taking part. It is extremely important to clarify this in advance because there are basically two different kinds of
meetings, which call forth two quite separate approaches.
There are routine, problem-solving meetings, and there are occasiona1, idea-generating sessions.
Problem-solving meetings Idea – generating meetings
1. Keep a tight control of the
meeting.
2. Only consider realistic so-
lutions.
3. Maintain an economy of
words.
1. Maximum participation; di-
verse thoughts need time to surface.
2. Egalitarian leadership; no-
body should dominate the meeting.
3. Emphasize the collaborative
spirit.

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