Ineffective Meetings Selective In Nature †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Questions: How can a chairperson keep the meeting focused on the agenda? How does discussion impose the biggest challenge in a meeting? Answers: Contrast the characteristics of effective and effective meetings Firstly, effective meetings are inclusive while ineffective meetings are selective in nature. Effective meetings aim at including the ideas and opinions of each member who is involved in the meeting. On the other hand, ineffective meetings are selective. Those in authority make decisions their own decisions. The views of most of the members in the meeting are not represented. Secondly, the agenda in effective meetings can be fixed or flexible while in ineffective meetings, the agenda is fixed. In effective meetings, members are free to discuss agenda deeply where there is a need for such discussion. On ineffective meetings, seniors have hidden agenda and therefore such meetings tend to be rigid. Thirdly, in effective meetings, leaders do not use their power to oppress other members while in ineffective meetings, positional power is mostly used by leaders to dictate what should be done. Explain why it is important to have a meeting agenda, and how a meeting agenda could improve participants meeting engagement Agenda are important because they help those involved in a particular meeting, to identify the major topics of discussion of that day. Members, therefore, have knowledge of what should be discussed. Unplanned topics should not be brought to the table. Secondly, agenda help people to do away with excuses. The agenda of discussion of a meeting are prior given to the members to ensure that they prepare for the meeting. One can therefore not complain that he or she was not ready for discussion when the agenda is available. Thirdly, agenda help people to get serious and ready for discussions(A. Allen Beck 2014). When people have agenda to focus on, they become serious keeping in mind that their views are important in that particular meeting. They, therefore, do not waste time during the day of the meeting. To improve member engagement and participation, the agenda should be distributed among the participants to ensure that everybody actively participates in that particular meeting. Decisions on all the agenda will, therefore, be made from this discussion. Every member should feel free to share his or her ideas based on the agenda scheduled for that day. First of all, the chairperson should control the meeting by ensuring that the members do not deviate from the topic of discussion. The chairman interrupts with the opinions of a member who brings another issue of discussion, which is not part of the discussion of that day. Secondly, the chairperson, with the help of the members, should set a specific time of discussion for each agendum. This ensures that there is no extra time for discussion of unscheduled ideas. Thirdly, the chairperson should remind the members of the major ideas of discussion to ensure that they maintain their focus on those ideas. He or she should also remind the members of the same, as the meeting proceeds. Select and name the common pieces of accurate and error free documentation required for the meeting, and what attributes should they display? One of the key documents required for a meeting is the attendance sheet. This is a document designed by rows and columns, which is used to display the names of those who attended the meeting. The names of the attendees are filed in this document with respect to other information such contact and position in the organization. The code of conduct is another important document. It is also called the code of ethics. This document displays the rules and regulations which govern that organization. Every member in the meeting is required by the law, to abide by those rules. A copy of the previous meeting is also an important document in a meeting. This one should be accurately prepared. After confirmation, it is signed by the chairperson and the secretary. It displays the issues which were discussed in the previous meeting. Outline and organize the key factors to consider when distributing documents, and recording and producing minutes within the designated timeline When distributing documents, it is important to ensure that each member in a meeting gets a copy or access to the document distributed. This helps to make sure that everyone in the meeting is aware and contributes to discussions based on that particular meeting document. The documents should be neat and clear. When recording minutes and other meeting documents, accuracy should be an essential factor to consider. This helps to ensure that recorded issues are true and as discussed(Mandl, Hauser Mandl 2013). When producing minutes, care should be taken to ensure that the minutes do not fall into hands of third-hand parties. Discuss the task and maintenance roles of the members of a meeting and give examples of each role Some of the task roles are as outlined below. The information seeker has the role of looking for information from different primary and secondary sources while still putting into practice the relevant facts.An evaluator has the role of critically examining issues according to the basis of certain theories and logic. For example, an evaluator may use theories such as AbrahamsMaslows theory, to explain why some basic issues should be first dealt with, and not others. On maintenance roles, the harmonizer has the responsibility of uniting the members, when differences arise among them. His or her major role is to spread peace, harmony, and unity among the group members. For instance, when a certain member becomes aggressive, the harmonizer cools him or her down. A follower, on the other hand, is less involved in the discussion but keeps into account all that is being mentioned. He or she is usually not too talkative and does not actively participate in the meeting. For instance, such a member will record in a notebook; the issues discussed but may not raise any question regarding them. Explain the terms defensive role and dysfunctional role Defensive roles are those roles which aim at protecting an organization or a board when serious crises arise. These include lawyers, security officers among other experts in that field. On the other hand, dysfunctional roles refer to those roles, which are not in any way helpful to the organization. These roles are performed by aggressors, play personals, noise makers among many others. They have no positive contribution to the meeting or organization. Discussion, though a good method of expressing ideas may be very challenging in meetings. Meetings are scheduled to take place within a certain period of time. Discussion forces people to talk so much as they question and answer each other. Most of the issues might be repeated in discussions as different members air out their views and opinions. Discussions also give an opportunity to those who play dysfunctional roles, to intervene and brings compromising issues which might lead to disagreements and even wastage of time. Describe how the chairperson can guide the discussion. The chairperson can lead a discussion by following a certain criterion. If it is the first time the members are meeting, the chairperson should take the initiative to introduce the members by their names and possibly by their position, after which they should feel free to communicate and give their opinions. The chairperson can now proceed and deduce a topic of discussion. The topic should be understandable to all members in the meeting. He or she should now foster an open process through which the members can discuss their ideas and opinions in an orderly manner. In this process, the chairperson should make sure that all members in the meeting are actively involved. Those members who seem to be dormant or partially passive in the meeting should be provoked to air out their ideas. The chairperson, with the help of other members, should ask questions to enquire more advanced clarifications on disturbing issues. The chairperson should now guide the members to summarize their discussion and findings and finally come up with relevant solutions to issues discussed. He or she should now give his or her end remarks and guide the members to make plans for future discussion. By so doing, a chairperson can effectively lead discussions Identify the follow-up activities to a meeting. There are several follow up activities that may make meetings successful. To start with, the chairperson should follow up closely and ensure that they are published. Members are usually likely to react positively to issues when action towards them is taken promptly. The published minutes should be complete and error free, including important details such as date, venue and time, attendees, major agenda discussed, and agreements made. Additionally, the leader of the meeting should follow up members who are assigned tasks during the meeting, before the next meeting is conducted. This helps to make sure that all tasks are under constant progress and all activities are accomplished as per the stated dates and time. Debriefing is another major follow up activities which make meetings effective. This is the process in which the leader of the meeting questions the members on how issues and activities are handled. This is usually carried out after the meeting. Members give their opinions on the strengths of the meeting, and where implementation of changes should be done. What steps can the meeting chairperson take, both during and after meeting, to ensure that the minutes are accurate and reflect the decisions taken at the meeting? To ensure that minutes are accurate, the chairperson should keep a record of the major issues discussed and solutions of the discussion. This will help him or her, to compare his or her records with those of the secretary or the recorder of the meeting. Additionally, the chairperson should often remind the minute taker to record some major solutions to problems of the issues discussed, as the meeting proceeds. During the publication of the minutes, the chairperson should confirm that the meetings are accurately recorded before the final document, (which will be used as the previous minutes in the next meeting), is printed and published. Explain why it is important to take accurate minutes of a meeting but not to record the conversation verbatim Recording accurate minutes is very important. First of all, minutes are very important in providing protection to a company or organization. When crises occur, the court might ask for the previous minutes, to confirm issues discussed. An organization can fall into serious crises when this documentation is not available. Secondly, minutes are used to measure the success or failure of an organization. It is through the minutes that decisions made can be evaluated if they were put into practice. Additionally, the action is taken in reference to the issues discussed and recorded in minutes. References Allen, J Beck, T 2014, 'Understanding workplace meetings: A qualitative taxonomy of meeting purposes', Management Research Review, pp. 791-814. Mandl, C, Hauser, M Mandl, H 2013, 'Interdependency of Meetings and Organizations', In The Co-creative Meeting, pp. 21-27.