Handout2 Business Class Meetings

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Meetings

I NTRODUCT ION

1 Discuss the following questions.

1 What are the main reasons for holding a meeting?

2 What ISthe role of the chairperson?

3 Why are so many meetings unsuccessful?

2 Describe a meeting that you have attended recently. How effective was it

and why?

VOCABULARY

Complete the following sentences with appropriate words from the list.

agenda

apologies

casting vote

chairperson

consensus

Items

mmutes

ansing

CIrculate

conduct

1 In all formal meetmgs and most informal meetmgs, there ISa

Job It ISto the business of the meeting and to ensure that the

meeting s objectives are achieved

2 It IShelpful 10both formal and informal meetings to have an

the points that are to he discussed It ISusual to

that particrpants can prepare adequately for the meeting

3 If there are too many on the agenda, It ISinevitable that the meetrng

will be over-long and so less effective

4 After formal meetings, the secretary wntes up the

of the discussion that has taken place

5 If you cannot attend a meetmg, It IScustomary to send your to the

chairperson, who reads out the names of any absentees at the beginrung of the

meeting After nammg absentees, the chairperson may ask If there are any matters

out of the minutes of the last meetmg

6 When decisions must be taken, the chairperson hopes there will be a

on what should be done Otherwise, a vote must be taken and

sometimes the votes for and against are equal If this happens, the only way to break

the deadlock ISfor the chairperson to give his or her

whose

, hsting

this 10 advance so

, an official record

UNIT 12 MEETINGS 113



Make meetingswork for you

1Do you dread meetings more than Mondaymornings? Do you find them boring,unproductiveand far too long?Meetings arecentral to most organisations;people need to5know what their colleagues are doing and

then take decisions based on sharedinformation and opinions. How well youpresent yourself and your ideas, and howwellyouworkwith other people, is crucial to

10your career.

RUNNING A MEETINGOnly call a meeting if you (and yourcolleagues) are quite clear about its purpose.Once you are certain of your objective,ask

15yourselfwhether it could be better achievedthrough alternativemeans, such as a memo.Meetings called on a routine basis tend tolose their point. It's better to wait until asituationor problem requires a meeting. If in

20 doubt,don't waste time havingone.

lf you're sure a meeting is the solution,circulate a memo several days in advancespecifying the time and place, objectives,issues to be discussed, other participants

25 and preparation expected. Meetings shouldbe held in the morning, if possible, whenpeople are usually more alert, and should

TEXT 1

Read the text and complete the following chart

last no more than an hour. Six is theoptimum number of participants for a good

30 working meeting. Inviting the wholedepartment (more than 10) increasesemotional undercurrents such as, 'Will my

suggestions be taken seriously?' Largermeetings can be productive as

35 brainstorming sessions for ideas, providedparticipants can speak freely without feelingthey willbe judged.A successful meeting alwaysleads to action.Decisions should take up the bulk of the

40 meeting minutes, including the name of theperson delegated to each task, and adeadline for its completion. Circulate theminutes after the meeting and again justbefore the next one.

45 Draw out quieter members of the group.Encouragement helps create a relaxed andproductive atmosphere. Do not single outany individualfor personal criticism - they

will either silently withdraw, upset and50 humiliated, or try to come up with excusesrather than focusing on the problems inhand. Save critical comments for a privateoccasion.Ifyou're talking for more than 50 per cent of

55 the time, you're dominating the meeting.

Preparation 15 the key to success

ATIENDING A MEETING

However informal the meeting, itpaysto prepare a fewkey points in noteto put across or discuss. If

60 unprepared, you will not beconcentrate on what your colleaguessaying and others are less likelyto listenyou because you willeither waffleorhesitant.

65 Don't memorise notes or read them outa sermon. This inhibites yourgestures: the eye contact and body ,....,!>ualS'.that is essential to effectivecommunicationH youcannotanswera question,don'tbe

70 to say, 'I don't know but I'll find out andback to you by .. .' (givea definitedate).Phrase your criticisms andpositively.Seek to offer solutions ratherto complain.

75 Arrive early and sit close to theto ensure that you aren't l);llVl<OU.

late, apologise and find a seatquietly. Don't try to sneak in as if

invisible.

DON'TsOs

© Cosmopolitan

chairperson 1 have a clear purpose

2 .

3 .

1 go on for more than an hour

2

3

4 ..

5

6

participants 1 .

2

34

1 .

2

3 sneak in if you're late

114 UNIT 12 MEETINGS



L ISTE N ING 1

You are going to hear Roger

Myddleton, Legal Director and

Company Secretary at Grand

Metropolitan, talking about meetings.

listen and take notes under thefollowing headings.

• formal and informal meetings

• objectives

• chamng meetings

• mrxed-nauonahty meetings

• participating m meetings

• minutes

WR IT ING 1

Using information from Text 1 and Listening 1, draw up a set of guidelines

entitled 'How to hold a successful meeting'. Itmay help you to think in terms of

the following areas.

• objectives

• the role of participants

• the role of the chairperson

• adrrurustratrve consrderations

L ISTE N ING 2

The informal discussion you are going to hear takes place in an advertising

agency and concerns Charles Drake, a copywriter who is to be made redundant.

Frank Harrison, Account Director, Derek jordan, Creative Director, and Jennifer

Walton, Personnel Director, are meeting to decide when, where and how heshould be told the news. Listen and note what they decide and why.

W RIT ING 2

Use your notes from Listening 2 to write the minutes of the meeting between

Frank Harrison, Derek jordan and Jennifer Walton.

115NIT 12 MEETINGS



116

LA NGU AGE P RA CT IC E

Match each item on the left with the correct description on the right. Then use

each phrase once only to complete the excerpts from Listening 2. When you

have flnlshed, listen again and check your answers.

I'm afraid I don't agree with you.

Could IJust come in here. . ?

In other words ...

Iabsolutely agree.

Ithink. .

Let's recap

How about .?

What do you think .. ."What we've got to do ...

We ought to move on.

making a suggestion

reformulatmg

moving to a new POInt

giving an opiruon

setting objectives

asking for an opnuon

interrupting

disagreeingsummansing

agreeing

Let's get started then 1

Charlie should go

jennifer: Well, I think It's usually useful to break this kind of news midweek, rather than doingIt on a Fnday afternoon

Frank: IS,er, diSCUSSow Derek's intervrew with

Frank: Certainly, 2

jennifer: There should be a package we offer him, and qurte a few details to sort out

Frank: Yes certamly Erm, I think 3 now, so the next question IS,erm, youknow, how are we gOingto do It, and where? 4 , Jennifer?

Derek: Ihaven't really thought this through, but, erm, Imean, I It

might be better to do It outside the office In a sense

jennifer: It needs to he you In your managenal role, not you Inyour role

as a personal fnend I certainly think It should be done, er, somewhere in theoffice, and preferably Inhis office rather than Inyours

Frank: Well,7 a lunch, Derek, m a quie t pub or restaurant?

Derek: So, the in-between thmg, It's a working lunch It's work, but It's not In the office Itcould be a compromise, yes

jennifer: Well, s please? I tend to think It might be better Ifyou did do It m

the office

Frank: I mean, Jenmfer, you've had a lot of expenence of this How do people react when

theyjennifer: People tend to be rather shocked, they tend to be angry, but rather bnefly, and they

do tend to

Derek: , they're not able to formulatean Immediateand rational response

Frank: Give him the background

Derek: Yes, I mean but bnefly, you're saying that I should get to the point and say 'youknow, Charlie, It has been decided that, basically, you are being made redundant, and

the normal terms and conditions of our contract Willapply

Frank: Ok, so ]()

telling Charles

Yes

And that you'll do It, er, inside the company, and you'll do It probably In your offu.eRight?

I think we're agreed, Derek, that you Willactually be

Derek:

Frank:

UNIT 12 MEETING'i



Some usefullanguage for participating in meetings

Giving an opinion

(strong) I'm convinced we should

use an agent.

I'm sure the Japanese

market has big potential.

I have no doubt the new

factory will make life a lot

easier.

(neutral) I think we need a bigger

sales force.

As I see it, we must build

up our middle

management.

In my opinion, we should

offera bonus.(tentative) It seems to me we should

try to diversify.

I tend to think our designs

are old-fashioned.

Ifeel our competitors are

more market-orientated.

Agreeing

(strong) I totally agree.

I agree entirely with Peter.

I quite agree.I couldn't agree more.

Absolutelyl/Preciselyt/

Exactlyl

(neutral) I agree with you.

I think you're right.

That's true.

(tentative) Mmm, maybe you Oreright.

Perhaps.

I tend to agree.

I suppose so.

Checking comprehension/re-

formulating

To put that another way, .

If I follow you correctly, .

So what you Oreaying is .

Does that mean ... ?

Are you saying. .. ?

Expressing reservations

You have a point, but ...I agree to some extent, but .

I suppose you're right, but .

Maybe that's true, but ...

Disagreeing

(strong) I don't agree with you at

all.

I totally disagree.

You're quite wrong about

that.

It's out of the question.

Of course not.

Rubbisbl/Nonsensel/No wayl

(neutral) I don't really think so.

I can't see that, I'm afraid.

I'm afraid I can't agree

with you there.

(tentative) Mmm, I'm not sure.

I tend to disagree.

Do you really think so?

Is that such a good idea?

Making a suggestion

(neutral) I suggest (that) we buy

from the French supplier.

I would suggest

strengthening our

management team.

My suggestion would be

to spend more on R&D.

(tentative) We could sell the business.

Perhaps we should make

a takeover bid.

It might be worth setting

up a joint venture.

What about appointing a

new agent?

Why don't we borrow some

more money?




C R O S S - C U L T U R A L

PITFALLS OF INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS

1M o re th an six ye ars a go th e U S fu tu ris t

Jo hn N aisb itt w ro te : ' ... th e m ore te ch -

n olo gy in th is so cie ty , th e m ore pe oplew an t to ge t to ge th er.' B ut e ve n h e co uld

5n o t h av e e nv is ag ed th e d ramati c g row th

in th e n umb er o f in te rn atio na l m e etin gs

o ve r th e p as t fe w y ea rs .

Unique w ith all these m eetings,

w hich range in size from a few to m ore1 0h an a th ou san d, is th at m an y o fth e p ar-

ticipan ts leave their cult u ret 0

me e tin an 0 th e r. U nfo rtu na te ly,

what is not un ique is that m any o f the

m e etin gs fa il to a cc omp lis h th eir o bje c-1 5t iv es to a v er y h ig h d eg re e.

T he purposes of these m eetin gs are

v ari ed , ra ng in g from e xc ha ng in g in fo r-

m ation to rew arding perfo r-

ma n ce a nd c re ati ng o pp or tu n i-2 °ti es f or p ro fe ss io n al d ev el op -

m ent. O ften, as in the case o fIBM E uro pe an d o th er co mp a-

n ies, th e m eetin gs are stag edto in tro du ce n ew p ro du cts a nd

25m ake a sales pitch to to p cu s-

tom ers. IBM tries to get its

t op c us tome rs aw ay f rom th ei r

n o rma l b u si ne ss e n vi ro nmen t

and gather them in a locatio n30that creates an atm osph ere

t ha t 'p u ts t hem in t he r ig h t f r ame

o f m ind and then allow s us todo som e high level seIling '.

During the past year, I35 ha ve atten de d a n um ber o f i n-

ternational m eetings and w itnessed

firs t-h an d serio us ad min istra tiv e an d

pla nn in g pro blem s, all o f w hich u nde r-

m in ed th e c ha nc es o f s uc ce ss .40 A classic bungle was the arrival of

pa rtic ipa nts' m ateria l th ree da ys a fte r

o ne m e etin g e nd ed . In a no th er c as e, th e

audio visual equipm ent required by a

p re se nte r w as d eliv ere d a s th e m e etin g4 5w a s e nd in g. A t y et a no th er me eti ng , th e

au dio v isu al e qu ipm en t w as th e w ro ngfo rm at, a nd th e pre sen te r w as u na ble to

s how h is v id eo ta pe s.

I nte rn ati on al me et in g o rg an iz er s a re

5 0so me tim es gu ilty o f e ve n th e m ost fu n-d am e nta l b lu nd ers. F or e xample , a t o ne

118

m ee tin g, po rk w as th e o nly m eat se rve d

to the m any M oslem s attending. A t ath ree-day sem inar, staged by an

55 Am eric an co mp an y, th e a bse nc e o f a ny

sch eduled so cial activ ities drew com -

p la in ts from th e m a ny E uro pe an p artic i-

pants .C om pa ny ga th erin gs o fte n sh ow th e

60 m ost serio us sh ortcom in gs. O ne very

'p ro ce ss ' o rie nta te d m e eti ng re fle cte d

th e co rpo rate cu ltu re. It encouraged

sm all gro up discussion s an d gro up re-

p orts . M a ny o f th e p artic ip an ts w an te d,65 an d w ere expecting , m ore fo rm al pre-

s en ta ti o ns by s eni o r ex ecu ti ve s .In te rn atio na l m e eti ng s c an b e c os tly

to s ta ge , e sp ec ia lly i f t he y a re p oo rly o r-

ga nize d an d fail to a ch ie ve th e de sired

7 0 resu lts . T o h ave a ny c han ce o f su cc ess,

the fo rem ost issue to consider is the

pu rpo se o f t he m ee tin g. O nly w he n th at

h as b ee n c le ar ly a rti cu la te d c an o rg an iz -

e rs b eg in to pla n th e m ee tin g a nd de te r-

75 m i ne w he th er it h as b ee n a su cc ess.

A t i nte rn ati on al me eti ng s w ith p ar ti c-

ipan ts from m any differen t cultures,

unique issues are bound to arise. For

e xa mp le , th e tim in g o f m e als a nd th e se-8 0 le ctio n o f t he m e nu , th e lis tin g o f n am e s

a nd title s, th e u se a nd la ngu age o f b usi-

n es s c ar ds , th e n ec es si ty o f i nte rp re te rs

o r translators and getting m ateria lsth rough custom s are all factors that

85m ust b e taken in to accou nt by th e orga

nizers .

I t's e sp ec ia ll y impo rta nt t o a ll ow p a r -

ti ci pa nts w ho t ra ve l l on g d is ta nc es suff i -

c ie nt tim e to r es t, p hy si ca ll y a nd mental90 ly , b efo re th e m e etin g b eg in s. O ne la rg e

US -ba sed o rg ani za ti o n i gno re s t hi s com-

pletely, expecting travellers from

E uro pe a fte r a n in e-h ou r-p lu s fligh t to

atte nd a fo ur-h ou r m ee tin g th e d ay th ey95arrive. The fo llow ing day , m eetings

are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m

and continue until 10 p .m . Most

E uro pe an p artic ip an ts a re e xh au ste d b y

the dem anding regime and find that1 00th ey b en efit o nly m arg in ally fro m th e

meet ings .

A m in i-c he ck list fo r a ny in -

ternational m eeting shou ld

b egin w ith efforts to iden tify1 05 th e n ati on ali tie s o f p ote ntia l

participants and m ake provi-

sio ns th at c ate r to th eir speo-fi e cu l tu ra l needs.

W a rn in gs to a vo id n atio na l110 te reo ty p es , c o nde s cendi ng a t-

titudes and above all jokes,

which are easily m isunder-

stood, are am ong the tips

g iv en to o rg an ize rs a nd s pe ak -1 15e rs a t in te rn atio na l m e etin gs

by D r Ernest D ich ter, a m oti-

v atio na l p sy ch ol og is t. H e s ug -

g es ts th at h on ou re d a tte nd ee s

sho uld b e w elco med and th at,1 20w he n a pp ro pria te , d efe re nc e s ho uld b e

sh ow n to partic ipan ts b ecau se o f theirh igh- rank ing pos it ions .

Speakers m aking presen tations in

E nglish at an in ternatio nal m eeting in125a country w here it is not the national

lan gu ag e, sh ou ld ta ilo r th eir p re se nta-

tion so that it w ill be understood I

b y th e e ntire a ud ie nc e. T he re a re im p or-

ta nt c on si de ra ti on s fo r p ers on s respon- I

1 30sib le fo r th e in tro du ctio n o f sp ea kers

For exam ple, perso nal info rm ation or

th e sh arin g o f i nsigh ts a bo ut o ne 's fa rm -

ly life, which is common in North

Americ a, is n ot a pp ro pria te in E uro pe o r13 5As ia.

© International Management



TE XT 2

1 Before you read the article on the opposite page, think about the title and

try to predict some of the 'pitfalls' the writer will mention. Then quickly

scan the article to see how accurate your predictions were.

2 Read the article and note the key points under the following headings:

• recent trends in international meetings

• reasons for holding international meetings

• typical problems at International meetings

• avoiding the pitfalls of international meetings

D ISCUSS ION

What advice could you give an international

conference organiser about the specific

cultural needs of business people from your

country and any other countries you know

well? Work in small groups and outline yourrecommendations on paper.

SK IL LS P R AC TIC E

Until three years ago, Eastern Architects and Designers Ltd. (EAD)was a highly profitable

business with more work than it could comfortably handle. But then the property jnarket

collapsed and, like many architectural firms, EADfound itself struggling to survive.

EADboss, Barry Jones, had always been on excellent terms with the architects who

worked for him. A close-knit group, everyone at EADgot on well with everyone else.

They worked hard in the office - and socialised a great deal after work. However, Barry

was beginning to wonder how long the friendly atmosphere could last. Losses for two

years running meant EADcould no longer afford to keep everyone on - there simply

wasn't enough work to go round. He had to get rid of some of his staff to survive The

question was which of his architects should be made redundant? And how could he say

to them, 'Thanks very much, but goodbye.'?

Barry thought about the problem and identified four possible approaches to reaching a

fair decision:

1 Last in - first out (LIFO): those architects with the shortest periods of service In

the company should go first.

2 Voluntary redundancy: a generous severance package would be offered to

anyone willing to take early retirement.

3 Selection on merit: Barry would decide which employees were least useful to

the company and make them redundant.

4 Peer selection: the employees would meet to decide which of them should leave.




Role-play: Meeting

1 Work in groups of between five and eleven. One of you plays the role of

Barry Jones, chairing the meeting to discuss which of the four approaches

- or a combination of these - should be chosen. Each of the other group

members plays the role of one of the architects described in the role cards

on pages 146-147.

Discuss which role each person will play and prepare carefully for the

meeting by reading the role card and thinking about your situation. Barry

Jones should read all the other group members' role cards.

2 Now hold a second meeting using the approach(es) selected to decide

which architects should be made redundant. For groups of four to six, two

should leave; for groups of seven or eight, three should go; and for groups

of nine or ten, four should leave.

120 UNIT 12 MEETINGS

Documents

Handout2 Business Class Meetings