Whetten David A., Cameron Kim S. Developing management skills

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CONDUCTING MEETINGS SUPPLEMENT C 657

❏ Ask questions using the language of the partic-

ipants rather than using jargon or recondite

terminology.

❏ Encourage participants to share personal experi-

ences that relate to the topic being considered.

❏ Use examples from your own experience to

clarify points.

❏ Make eye contact with those to whom you are

talking and summarize their points when they

ﬁnish their statements.

❏ Ask group members for their reactions to

points made by other meeting participants.

❏ When appropriate, involve others in answering

a question asked of you.

❏ Remember communication comes in a strand of

two parts—the report part (information) and the

rapport part (connection and feeling). Be sure to

attend to both parts.

❏ As the leader, make certain you facilitate the

discussion rather than dominate it.

Summarize Close the meeting by summarizing

the decisions reached, tasks assigned, progress accom-

plished, key points discussed, and what was learned in

the meeting. Review action items that will be reported

on at the next meeting. Help meeting participants feel

a sense of accomplishment for having spent their time

in the meeting. This may be a good time to anticipate

the next meeting by identifying when minutes and the

next meeting’s agenda will be distributed and what

preparation will be required.

5. Perspective

The last P is perspective. Perspective directs us to

view the meetings from a distance. It means evaluating

each meeting and, every so often, the decisions of and

process of the meeting series. At the end of each meet-

ing, for example, you can use KSS methodology to do a

quick and simple assessment. Pass out a piece of paper

to each participant. Ask each participant to respond

under each of the three letters—K, S, and S. K means

“keep”—What went well about this meeting that we

should keep or expand. S means “stop”—What about

this meeting is nonproductive and should be stopped

or phased out. S means “start”—What about this

meeting is not happening and should be started. You

may get the usual irreverent responses (for example,

“better doughnuts”), but if you look for serious pat-

terns of feedback, you can constantly improve the

meeting series. The next week, give the participants

the results (in summary form) and let them know how

you are using their feedback to improve the meeting.

Suggestions for Group Members

So far in this discussion of effective meeting manage-

ment, we have focused on the role of the meeting

manager—the person who calls, plans, and serves

as the meeting’s “conductor.” This role is key to the

success of any group activity. However, meeting partici-

pants also bear responsibility for the meeting’s effective-

ness. It is important for each participant to appreciate

the impact of her or his contribution, both in shaping

the short-term outcomes of meetings and affecting

long-term career opportunities. The success of the

meeting is the responsibility of everyone present, and

even those not present, in the sense that these latter

folks have the responsibility to let their views be

known in advance. The best meetings are those in

which meeting managers and other participants each

take some responsibility for meeting leadership.

Following are several pointers for contributing to

the effectiveness of meeting from a non-manager’s

perspective.

1. Determine if you need to attend the meeting.

Don’t attend merely because you have been

invited. If you have doubts about whether the

meeting’s agenda applies to you, discuss with

the meeting manager why he or she believes

your presence is important. Under the rule of

three-fourths, you will know what is coming

up in fairly specific detail. This information

should help.

2. Prepare. Acquaint yourself with the agenda,

and prepare any reports or information that

will facilitate others’ understanding of the

issues. Come prepared with questions that will

help you understand the issues.

3. Be on time. Stragglers not only waste the time

of other participants by delaying the meeting or

by requiring summaries of what has happened,

but they also hinder effective team building

and hurt morale.

4. Ask for clariﬁcation on points that are unclear

or ambiguous. Often, you will find others in

this room have the same questions but were

too timid to speak out.

5. When giving information, be precise and to

the point. Don’t bore everyone with anecdotes

and details that add little to your point.

658 SUPPLEMENT C CONDUCTING MEETINGS

6. Listen. Keep eye contact with whomever is

speaking, and try to ascertain the underlying

ideas behind the comments. Be sensitive to the

effects of your nonverbal behavior on speakers,

such as slouching, doodling, or reading.

7. Be supportive of other group members.

Following the guidelines on supportive commu-

nication, acknowledge and build on the com-

ments of others. (“As Jane was saying ...”)

8. Assure equitable participation. Take the lead

in involving others so everyone’s talents are

used. This is especially important if you know

that critical information from particular points

of view are not being included in the discus-

sion. This can be rectified by encouraging

those who rarely participate. (”Jim, your unit

worked on something like this last year. What

was your experience like?”)

9. Make disagreements principle-based. If it is

necessary to disagree with, or challenge, the

comments of others, follow the guidelines for

collaborative conﬂict management in the text.

For example, base your comments on com-

monly held principles or values. (“That’s an

interesting idea, Bill, but how does it compare

with the president’s emphasis on cost cutting?”)

10. Act and react in a way that will enhance the

group performance. Leave your personal agen-

das at the door and work toward the goals of

the group.

Summary and Behavioral Guidelines

Meetings are a pervasive part of organizational life,

especially for managers. Few important initiatives are

forged without extensive and intensive group efforts.

However, meetings are one of the most maligned

aspects of organizational membership. To avoid poorly

managed meetings, a Five-Ps approach was presented.

1. Purpose Use meetings to accomplish the

following purposes:

❏ Decisions

❏ A complex problem needs to be resolved

using the expertise of several people.

❏ Group members’ commitment to a decision,

or to each other, needs to be enhanced.

❏ Brainstorming

❏ Ideas about a problem need to be explored,

such as:

❏ Precipitating and predisposing causes

❏ What is the root cause?

❏ Are there more effective and efﬁcient ways

we could approach this problem?

❏ What is the evidence?

❏ What does the evidence prove?

❏ Announcements

❏ Information needs to be shared

simultaneously among several people.

2. Participants Make decisions regarding who

and how many to invite based on the following:

❏ The size of the group should be comparable

with the task. (For interactive groups, ﬁve to

seven participants tend to work best.)

❏ A balance between individuals with strong

task orientations and others with strong

group-process orientations should be sought.

❏ Individuals should share some common goals

or values.

❏ All relevant experience and knowledge need

to be represented.

❏ The group’s composition should reﬂect the

goals of the meeting. (Homogeneity encour-

ages solidarity and commitment; heterogeneity

fosters creativity and innovation.)

❏ Be sure the general skills of problem knowing,

problem solving, resource controlling, and key

decision makers are on board.

3. Plan In preparing for the meeting, be sure to

do the following:

❏ Provide for adequate physical space, audiovisual

equipment, and so on.

❏ Establish priorities by sequencing agenda items

and allotting time to each item.

❏ Prepare and distribute an agenda before, or at

the beginning of, the meeting.

❏ Choose the most appropriate decision-making

format structure for each item (for example,

ordinary group discussion, brainstorming, or

one of several consensus-building techniques).

4. Process In managing the group dynamics,

specify the target time length, and highlight

speciﬁc tasks by doing the following:

❏ Establish process ground rules, such as how

decisions will be made.

❏ Allow members to become acquainted (if

necessary) and make them feel comfortable.

❏ When critical thinking is important, refrain

from expressing strong personal opinions.

Also, assign the role of critical evaluator to a

group member.

❏ Sustain the ﬂow of the meeting by using

informational displays.

CONDUCTING MEETINGS SUPPLEMENT C 659

❏ Encourage the group not to stray from assigned

tasks.

❏ Manage the discussion to achieve equitable

participation.

❏ Discourage the premature evaluation of ideas.

❏ Prevent “social loaﬁng” by assigning speciﬁc

responsibilities and stressing the importance of

group tasks.

❏ Discourage “conceptual misers”—those who

opt for the “quick ﬁx.”

❏ Counteract the natural tendency for groups

to make risky decisions by touching base

with participants prior to the meeting so

discussion-induced trends can be detected.

(The rule of halves helps with getting this

information.)

❏ Deal with disruptive members by using

supportive communication and collaborative

conﬂict management skills.

❏ Conclude the meeting by summarizing what

was accomplished, reviewing assignments,

and making preparations for subsequent

meetings, if necessary.

5. Perspective Evaluate each meeting using the

KSS (Keep, Stop, Start) methodology by asking

the following:

❏ What went well in this meeting that we

should keep?

❏ What was nonproductive that we should stop

or phase out?

❏ What didn’t happen in this meeting that we

want to start in the future?

6. Group Members Foster constructive group

dynamics as a participant by doing the following:

❏ Take time to prepare for the meeting, and gain

a clear understanding of the purposes of the

meeting.

❏ Respect other group members by arriving

on time and leaving personal agendas at the

door.

❏ Listen to other group members, be supportive

of them, and clarify and build upon points

made by others.

❏ Encourage participation by all members.

660 SUPPLEMENT C CONDUCTING MEETINGS

EXERCISES FOR CONDUCTING MEETINGS

Preparing and Conducting a Team Meeting at SSS Software

Part 1

Refer to the SSS Software In-Basket exercise at the end of this section. Assume the role of

Chris Perillo. Since you are new to your position, you decide to hold a meeting with some

or all of your direct reports tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday). You want to be brought up to

date as well as to handle the items of business introduced in your e-mail, phone messages,

and memos.

1. Review each of the 16 items in the SSS Software In-Basket exercise. This is the

“business” to be covered in this meeting.

2. Determine the purpose of the meeting, the participants (who should attend), the

plan (write an agenda; establish a time limit for the meeting) as well as the meeting

process you will use, using the appropriate Behavioral Guidelines.

Part 2

3. Now select the nine other individuals who will be attending the meeting and

assign them their roles in the Health and Financial Services Group. Each team

member should realistically play the role assigned to him or her, even if not much

speciﬁc information exists for the role in the memos. Each team member should

play the role as though he or she were attending the ﬁrst team meeting with a

new leader. Each person should be prepared to make recommendations for each

in-basket item pertaining to their role. The team should consist of:

Chris Perillo, Vice President

Bob Miller, Group 1 Manager

Wanda Manners, Group 2 Manager

William Chen, Group 3 Manager

Leo Jones, Group 4 Manager

Mark Mclntyre, Group 5 Manager

John Small, Group 6 Manager

Marcus Harper, Group 8 Manager

Armand Marke, Customer Service Manager

Michelle Harrison, Ofﬁce Administrator

4. At the conclusion of the meeting, assigned observers will provide feedback, using

the Meeting Evaluation Worksheet as a guide.

Role Diagnosis

This exercise is intended to help you identify and practice effective role performance in

meetings.

Listed on the next page are a set of roles organized into three categories. As you are

observing a team meeting, put check marks by the roles performed by the team members

you are observing each time they make a comment or display behaviors that match one of

the roles listed on the next page. If you are analyzing your own team after it has completed

SKILL

PRACTICE

CONDUCTING MEETINGS SUPPLEMENT C 661

its meeting, put names of team members next to the roles they played. (See the chapters on

Building Effective Teams and Teamwork for more information about these roles.)

Task-Facilitating Roles

Direction-giving

Information-seeking

Information-giving

Elaborating

Coordinating

Monitoring

Process-analyzing

Reality-testing

Enforcing

Summarizing

Process (Relationship-Building) Roles

Supporting

Harmonizing

Tension-relieving

Energizing

Developing

Facilitating

Processing

Blocking Roles

Overanalyzing

Overgeneralizing

Fault ﬁnding

Premature decision making

Presenting opinions as facts

Rejecting

Pulling rank

Dominating

Stalling

What suggestions do you have for improvement in the team members’ performance?

Identify some specific suggestions for more effective role performance in the meeting.

Who could have done more and who could have done less? Why?

Meeting Evaluation Worksheet

It is important individuals planning, conducting, and participating in meetings are asked

periodically to evaluate the effectiveness of the time spent meeting together. The follow-

ing worksheet can be used for this purpose.

To gain experience evaluating meetings, use the following questions to assess the

effectiveness of a class or work-related project or staff meeting:

1. What is the speciﬁc purpose of the meeting?

2. Who was invited to attend? How were they contacted? Was the way in which the

meeting announced appropriate (e.g., face-to-face, e-mail, secretary phone call)?

662 SUPPLEMENT C CONDUCTING MEETINGS

3. Was the agenda that was constructed consistent with the following rules?

❏ The Agenda Rule (use action words)

❏ The Rule of Sixths (two-thirds current items, one-third past and future items)

❏ The Rule of Thirds (one-third warm up, one-third work, one-third wind down)

❏ The Reports Rule (reports nonexistent; content reordered into speciﬁc items—

announcements, decision, and brainstorm issues)

❏ The Agenda Bell Rule (agenda ordered according to a bell-shaped “level of

difﬁculty” process)

❏ The Temporal Integrity Rule (start and stop on time)

❏ The Minutes Rule (someone assigned to keep minutes)

4. What was done especially well in preparing for this meeting?

5. To what extent were the rules of effective meeting process followed in the

meeting? Rate each step in terms of its effectiveness in the team meeting:

Ineffective Effective

1. Review purpose ________ ________

2. Make introductions ________ ________

3. Establish ground rules ________ ________

4. Use informational displays ________ ________

5. Ensure participation ________ ________

6. Summarize conclusions ________ ________

6. What could have been improved upon? What was omitted?

SSS Software In-Basket Memos,

E-Mails, Faxes, and Voice Mails

ITEM 1 – E-MAIL

TO: All Employees

FROM: Roger Steiner, Chief Executive Ofﬁcer

DATE: October 15

I am pleased to announce that Chris Perillo has been appointed as Vice President of

Operations for Health and Financial Services. Chris will immediately assume responsibility

for all operations previously managed by Michael Grant. Chris will have end-to-end respon-

sibility for the design, development, integration, and maintenance of custom software for

the health and ﬁnance/banking industries. This responsibility includes all technical, ﬁnancial,

and stafﬁng issues. Chris will also manage our program of software support and integration

for the recently announced merger of three large health maintenance organizations

(HMOs). Chris will be responsible for our recently announced project with a consortium of

banks and ﬁnancial ﬁrms operating in Tanzania. This project represents an exciting opportu-

nity for us, and Chris’s background seems ideally suited to the task.

Chris comes to this position with an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from the

California Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Virginia. Chris began as

a member of our technical/professional staff six years ago and has most recently served for

CONDUCTING MEETINGS SUPPLEMENT C 663

three years as a group manager supporting domestic and international projects for our

airlines industry group, including our recent work for the European Airbus consortium.

I am sure you all join me in offering congratulations to Chris for this promotion.

ITEM 2 – E-MAIL

TO: All Managers

FROM: Hal Harris, Vice President, Community and Public Relations

DATE: October 15

For your information, the following article appeared on the front page of the business

section of Thursday’s

Los Angeles Times

In a move that may create problems for SSS Software, Michael Grant and Janice Ramos

have left SSS Software and moved to Universal Business Solutions Inc. Industry analysts

see the move as another victory for Universal Business Solutions Inc. in their battle with

SSS Software for share of the growing software development and integration business.

Both Grant and Ramos had been with SSS Software for over seven years. Grant was most

recently Vice President of Operations for all SSS Software’s work in two industries: health

and hospitals, and ﬁnance and banking. Ramos brings to Universal Business Solutions

Inc. her special expertise in the growing area of international software development and

integration.

Hillary Collins, an industry analyst with Merrill Lynch, said “the loss of key staff to a com-

petitor can often create serious problems for a ﬁrm such as SSS Software. Grant and

Ramos have an insider’s understanding of SSS Software’s strategic and technical limita-

tions. It will be interesting to see if they can exploit this knowledge to the advantage of

Universal Business Solutions Inc.”

ITEM 3 – E-MAIL

TO: Chris Perillo

FROM: Paula Sprague, Executive Assistant to Roger Steiner

DATE: October 15

Chris, I know in your former position as a group manager in the Airline Services Division,

you probably have met most of the group managers in the Health and Financial Services

Division, but I thought you might like some more personal information about them.

These people will be your direct reports on the management team.

Group #1:

Bob Miller, 55-year-old white male, married (Anna) with two children and three

grandchildren. Active in local Republican politics. Well regarded as a “hands-off” manager

heading a high-performing team. Plays golf regularly with Mark Mclntyre, John Small,

and a couple of VPs from other divisions.

Group #2:

Wanda Manners, 38-year-old white female, single with one school-age child.

A ﬁtness “nut” has run in several marathons. Some experience in Germany and Japan.

Considered a hard-driving manager with a constant focus on the task at hand. Will be

the ﬁrst person to show up every morning.

664 SUPPLEMENT C CONDUCTING MEETINGS

Group #3:

William Chen, 31-year-old male of Chinese descent, married (Harriet), two

young children from his ﬁrst marriage. Enjoys tennis and is quite good at it. A rising star in

the company, he is highly respected by his peers as a “man of action” and a good friend.

Group #4:

Leo Jones, 36-year-old white male, married (Janet) with an infant daughter.

Recently returned from paternity leave. Has traveled extensively on projects, since he

speaks three languages. Has liked hockey ever since the time he spent in Montreal.

Considered a strong manager who gets the most out of his people.

Group #5:

Mark Mclntyre, 45-year-old white male, married (Mary Theresa) to an execu-

tive in the banking industry. No children. A lot of experience in Germany and Eastern

Europe. Has been writing a mystery novel. Has always been a good “team player,” but

several members of his technical staff are not well respected and he hasn’t addressed

the problem.

Group #6:

John Small, 38-year-old white male, recently divorced. Three children living

with his wife. A gregarious individual who likes sports. He spent a lot of time in Mexico

and Central America before he came to SSS Software. Recently has been doing mostly

contract work with the federal government. An average manager, has had some trouble

keeping his people on schedule.

Group #7:

This position vacant since Janice Ramos left. Roger thinks we ought to ﬁll this

position quickly. Get in touch with me if you want information on any in-house candidates

for any position.

Group #8:

Marcus Harper, 42-year-old African American male, married (Tamara) with two

teenage children. Recently won an award in a local photography contest. Considered a

strong manager who gets along with peers and works long hours.

Customer Services:

Armand Marke, 38-year-old male, divorced. A basketball fan.

Originally from Armenia. Previously a group manager. Worked hard to establish the

Technical Services Phone Line, but now has pretty much left it alone.

Ofﬁce Administrator:

Michelle Harrison, 41-year-old white female, single. Grew up on a

ranch and still rides horses whenever she can. A strict administrator.

There are a number of good folks here, but they don’t function well as a management

team. I think Michael played favorites, especially with Janice and Leo. There are a few

cliques in this group, and I’m not sure how effectively Michael dealt with them. I expect

you will ﬁnd it a challenge to build a cohesive team.

ITEM 4 – E-MAIL

TO: Chris Perillo

FROM: Wanda Manners, Group 2 Manager

DATE: October 15

CONFIDENTIAL AND RESTRICTED

Although I know you are new to your job, I feel it is important I let you know about some

information I just obtained concerning the development work we recently completed for

First National Investment. Our project involved the development of asset management

software for managing their international funds. This was a very complex project due to

the volatile exchange rates and the forecasting tools we needed to develop.

As part of this project, we had to integrate the software and reports with all their exist-

ing systems and reporting mechanisms. To do this, we were given access to all of their

CONDUCTING MEETINGS SUPPLEMENT C 665

existing software (much of which was developed by Universal Business Solutions Inc.). Of

course, we signed an agreement acknowledging the software to which we were given

access was proprietary and our access was solely for the purpose of our system integra-

tion work associated with the project.

Unfortunately, I have learned some parts of the software we developed actually “bor-

row” heavily from complex application programs developed for First National

Investment by Universal Business Solutions Inc. It seems obvious to me one or more of

the software developers from Group 5 (that is, Mark Mclntyre’s group) inappropriately

“borrowed” algorithms developed by Universal Business Solutions Inc. I am sure that

doing so saved us significant development time on some aspects of the project. It

seems very unlikely First National Investment or Universal Business Solutions Inc. will

ever become aware of this issue.

Finally, First National Investment is successfully using the software we developed and is

thrilled with the work we did. We brought the project in on time and under budget. You

probably know they have invited us to bid on several other substantial projects.

I’m sorry to bring this delicate matter to your attention, but I thought you should know

about it.

ITEM 5A – E-MAIL

TO: Chris Perillo

FROM: Paula Sprague, Executive Assistant to Roger Steiner

DATE: October 15

RE: Letter from C.A.R.E. Services (copies attached)

Roger asked me to work on this C.A.R.E. project and obviously wants some fast action.

A lot of the staff are already booked solid for the next couple of weeks. I knew Elise

Soto and Chu Hung Woo have the expertise to do this system and when I checked with

them, they were relatively free. I had them pencil in the next two weeks and wanted to

let you know. Hopefully, it will take a “hot potato” out of your hands.

ITEM 5B – COPY OF FAX

C.A.R.E.

Child and Adolescent Rehabilitative and Educational Services

A United Way Member Agency

200 Main Street

Los Angeles, California 90230

DATE: October 11

Roger Steiner, CEO

SSS Software

13 Miller Way

Los Angeles, California 90224

Dear Roger,

This letter is a follow-up to our conversation after last night’s board meeting. I appreciated

your comments during the board meeting about the need for sophisticated computer

systems in nonprofit organizations and I especially appreciate your generous offer of

666 SUPPLEMENT C CONDUCTING MEETINGS

assistance to have SSS Software provide assistance to deal with the immediate problem

with our accounting system. Since the board voted to ﬁre the computer consultant, I am

very worried about getting our reports done in time to meet the state funding cycle.

Thanks again for your offer of help during this crisis.

Sincerely yours,

Janice Polocizwic

Executive Director

ITEM 5C – COPY OF A LETTER

SSS SOFTWARE

13 Miller Way

Los Angeles, CA 90224

DATE: October 12

Janice Polocizwic

Executive Director, C.A.R.E. Services

200 Main Street

Los Angeles, California 90230

Dear Janice,

I received your fax of October 11. I have asked Paula Sprague, my executive assistant, to

line up people to work on your accounting system as soon as possible. You can expect

to hear from her shortly.

Sincerely,

Roger Steiner

cc: Paula Sprague, Executive Assistant

ITEM 6 – E-MAIL

TO: Michael Grant

FROM: Harry Withers, Group 6 Technical Staff

DATE: October 12

PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

Our team is having difﬁculty meeting the submission deadline of November 5 for the

Halstrom project. Kim, Fred, Peter, Kyoto, Susan, Mala, and I have been working on the

project for several weeks, but we are experiencing some problems and may need addi-

tional time. I hesitate to write this letter, but the main problem is our group manager,

John Small, is involved in a relationship with Mala. Mala gets John’s support for her

ideas and brings them to the team as required components of the project. Needless to

say, this has posed some problems for the group. Mala’s background is especially valu-

able for this project, but Kim and Fred, who have both worked very hard on the project,

do not want to work with her. In addition, one member of the team has been unavailable