150 | busines Communication for Mangers | 0 ‘According to an MC Conferencing White Paper, 91 percent of professionals who attnd meetings ona regular |" information basis admit dayreaming during the mestings Nnety-sic per cent miss elie meetings, while 5 percent | Bytes 8.1 miss pats of. Seventy-three per cet af the people surveyed admited to binging other work ometngs, | nd 39 per cent even dozed off during mectings. Further, professionals also lose 31 hous r roughly fur | working days month attending unproductive meetings. nthe Unite States, approximately 11 milion eet ings occur each day and mos rofssionas attend an average of 61.8 meeting very math Research alsa inicats that 50 percent of the time spent in meetings wasted ‘Sauce: Mactngs in Areca: A tayo eats, Cost and Attudes ovat Business ave ean and Pir Ingato rot, k Network MC Caferecing Wh Paper (Grarach CE MFOCOMM, 15,10. the team leaders expressed conviction in their meeting, heavy management styles and its abil ity to positively influence participants. This depicts the increasing perceptual divide between ‘managers and team leaders regarding issues at the workplace including meetings. ‘The cost of unproductive meetings is high. According to this report, most professionals attend an average of 61.8 meetings per month. Research from Nelson and Economy indicates that over 50 per cent of this meeting time is wasted.* Assuming each of these meetings is an hour long, professionals lose 31 hours per month in unproductive meetings, or approxi ‘mately four work days! In spite of criticism, face-to-face meetings are here to stay. In today’s business scenario, where value-added services have become a core concern, the challenge for managers is fin. ing ways to make meetings more productive. MEETINGS: DEFINITION AND TYPES ‘A meeting isa gathering of people with a common cause and a common agenda. Meetings can be characterized as having “multi-party talk” that is “episodie in nature” This “talks governed by a set of conventions. Essentially designated as a communicative event’ mect ings involve framing and coding of the agenda, deciding participation criterion and channel selection, and establishing the norms of speaking and interaction.* Meetings, thus, ince “serious meeting talk” interspersed with “chat” As long as agenda integrity and temporal integrity are adhered to in a meeting, this is perfectly acceptable” ‘Meetings are of many types—for instance, staff meetings, planning meetings, and problem solving meetings. However, there are certain basic objectives that are common to all meetings Sharing information I Improving performance and productivity 1 Dealing with any gaps in communication Addressing the concerns of employees 1 Removing doubts 1 Formulating policy 1 Fixing targets 1 Ensuring proper implementation of policies ‘Thus, meetings serve numerous valuable functions, including: 1 Enhancing employees’ confidence: A major soft drinks company hes internalized practice of regular meetings with employees. The CEO and president of Coca-Cola, Atv Singh, moved to India from China in 2005 with the intention of hauling Coca-Colt India out of the myriad controversies that were adversely affecting its business, In 0:2