Summary_Successful Meeting skills_Mod6

SUMMARY OF SESSION ON SUCCESSFUL MEETING SKILLSWith increasing trend towards participative management, team working and group decisions are becoming more popular. Ability to participate, speak and conduct business meetings successfully have become skills of strategic importance. Meetings enable participation, face-to-face interactions and taking decisions with persons and groups involved; participants gain a sense of recognition, importance, involvement and commitment. Disadvantages of meetings are that they are expensive and if participants are pressurized to perform, they may abandon responsibility in such decisions. If not conducted effectively, meetings can be frustrating and counter-productive.All meetings are characterized by group dynamics as, besides discussing work-related tasks, participants have hidden agenda – they tend to play roles of self-seeking, group-maintenance and task-facilitating. Also norms of behaviour in business meetings may be positive with strong commitment to one another and strong motivation for the group to succeed or they may be negative when they become susceptible to ‘groupthink’ and individuals, setting aside personal opinions, go along the group even when it is wrong. All groups go through orientation phase of forming, conflict phase of storming, emergence phase of norming and reinforcement phase of performing.Organizing successful business meetings should be planned properly by determining the purpose, selecting the participants, setting the agenda and preparing the venue carefully. Leaders and participants have the responsibility to make useful contribution to the successful outcomes, A few common blunders to be avoided are – monopolizing, clowning, losing control, scolding, allowing interruptions, resenting questions and coming unprepared for the meeting. Successful organizers draw up check lists for preparing, conducting and following up the outcomes of the business meetings.In the global world, managers and leaders should learn to organize international business meetings, seminars and conferences by doing proper homework, learning elementary rules of holding meetings in foreign countries, knowing rank and status of participants, using correct form of addressing, dressing for the occasion, acceptable style of bargaining, role of business lunches, dinners and entertainment and still keeping the pace of communication in line with the local customs. 6.12KEYWORDS(1)Meeting – It is an assembly or gathering of people to discuss and decide on matters of interest. (2)Group dynamics – It is the action of forces, physical and emotional, on individuals when they assemble, interact and work together.(3)Role playing – It is a part or character actors play in a performance. It is the roles played by participants in meetings besides work related tasks.(4)Norm – It is a standard, model or pattern of achievement represented by the average (median) of a large group.(5)Groupthink – It is the phenomenon that happens when individuals, setting aside personal opinions, go along with the group even when they are wrong.6)Forming – It is the process of putting together something that outlines its pattern, formation and organization.(7)Storming – It is a strong disturbance, upheaval of a political or social nature. It is a tumulous attempt to capture the group.(8)Norming – It is the process of fixing norms or standards for achievement.(9)Performing – It is the process of acting to accomplish, complete and execute tasks according to requirements.(10)Blunder – It is to work blindly, clumsily, carelessly and flounder, fumble and make foolish mistakes.(11)Culture - It is the refinement of thoughts, emotions, manners, taste etc relating to concepts, habits, skills, arts, instruments and institutions of people in different time periods.