BUSN20017 Effective Business Communication: Team Meetings Essay

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BUSN20017: EFFECTIVE BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION
Assessment Three: Individually Written
Essay
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In the old days, when a problem arises in a town or city, people gather together to discuss it and
to develop a solution for this. Further, that solution is implemented by the help of the formation
of the team. This method is still popular in the business and marketing where the members of
management gather together to discuss on any topic or to discuss for implementing changes and
solutions of the problem. Now they are termed as team meetings. The following essay will focus
on discussing team management and its impact. The essay will discuss the introduction of team
meetings, reasons to conduct team meetings, the importance of team meetings and the types of
team meetings in the organisation. Then it will discuss the measurement of the outcomes of team
meetings and the factors that need to take into mind for the success of team meetings. The main
objective of this essay is to determine whether the team meetings conducted in an organisation
are effective for the team of the management or employees and for the success of the
organisation, or not. Now, the introduction of the team meetings will be started in the next
section.
Team meetings are considered to be the best tool in the organisation because, in a meeting, there
is sharing of ideas, discussion about the various topics, making of the decision and related tasks
take place which helps the organisation in many ways. Team meetings are also considered as part
of the continuous improvement process. For the proper working of the team and to create good
communication between the team members, the team meetings are conducted in an organisation.
The team meetings and group discussions are just related to each other because, in both, the team
members or participants put their ideas among the group of people. The team meetings are also
preferred as an essential part of the organisation. It is important because it helps the organisation
and the team members in various ways. It helps the leaders to lead a team in an effective manner
and it also enhances the leadership skills of the leader. The environment of a team meeting is so
supportive which helps in the learning of the team members and also they can put their views
along with their feedback regarding any issue or activity that is going in the organisation (Bull
Schaefer, 2012). It also improves the relationship between the team members which can help in
building a productive team for the organisation (Dhenesh et.al, 2012). But along with these
advantages, one issue that is found in the team meetings is that sometimes the result of team
meetings can be zero which means conducting a team meeting becomes the wastage of time.
Even the employees get frustrated with the meetings in the organisation. Because of these types
of problems, the organisation has to think about the meetings they want to conduct or the topic
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on which there is a serious need for discussion (Liu, & Maitlis, 2014). It also diverse the
employees from their regular work and it causes a disturbance in the flow of the work of team
members. Before conducting a team meeting, one of the most important points is to decide the
factors and the things which can help in making a team meeting successful in every aspect. The
other most important role of team meetings in an organisation is that by the team meetings, the
chances of solving a problem increase because when the team members sit together in the
meeting room, they all have a different mindset. Due to their different mindsets, the solutions
developed will be in a very large number and there will be uniqueness in every solution, it will
help the management to use their ideas for the solution of the problem. If the team meetings are
conducted on a regular basis then it may frustrate the team members but if there is a specialty or
proper specification for every team meeting then the problem can be solved very quickly as
compared to the efforts or idea given by just a single person (Widmann et.al, 2016). The
decision-making process can also be quick and the chances of success and growth will increase.
All these points state that the team meetings are helpful for the growth of the organisation and
also can increase the cooperation of the team which will decrease the number of conflicts at the
workplace.
There are many purposes or the reasons to conduct team meetings on the basis of which the types
of team meetings is decided. Deciding the type of team meeting is also an important part before
conducting the meeting. The first one is problem focused on team meetings in which the team
members gather together to discuss a particular issue. The team members analyse the type and
nature of problems and on the basis of it, the members put their thoughts and use their
knowledge to handle the problem. They give their different ways of handling the problem and
give different solutions to it. In this type of meetings, knowledge is shared between the team
members who are either from different areas or different level of knowledge (Boerner et.al,
2012). The whole focus of this team meeting will be on developing the solution to the problem.
The next one is procedural team meetings in which the team members gather together to make
the decision by considering both the positive and negative sides of statements. In this type of
meetings, a procedure is followed such that every team member will get the chance to give their
views for the decision making in the organisational team meetings. It helps in interacting with
every member of the team and asking their thoughts and because of it an environment of equality
is formed. The team meetings in which the team members consider all the internal and external
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factors before taking any decision then it is known socioemotional team meetings (Lehmann-
Willenbrock et.al, 2014). In this type of team meetings, the team members discuss all the social
and economic factors which are related to the organisation and the management. Again here the
decision is decided by dividing the discussion between the positive and negative results. This
team meeting also helps in encouraging the team members to participate in the discussion and
put heir every view related to the different factors. The next and last type of team meetings is the
action-oriented team meetings. In this type of meetings, the team members gather together when
they are going to take action on any activity or problem. This type of meetings is also conducted
when the organisation is thinking or planning about implementing new strategy or policies in the
organisation. Here the whole focus of the team members is on making improvement in the
workplace or growth of the organisation. Action-oriented team meetings can also have negative
side instead of talking about making positive changes and discussing the actions to be taken, the
team members start complaining about the previous attempts or the system of the management.
The above-explained types of meetings are based on the communicational behaviour of the team
members. The outcomes of the team can be measured on the basis of three indicators, they are,
the satisfaction of the team members who are participating in the team meetings at workplace,
the chance in the performance of the team members after the team meeting and the last team
outcome can be measured by the change in the success of the organisation (Kauffeld &
Lehmann-Willenbrock, 2012).
For the success of a team meeting in the organisation, there are various things need to be
considered. There are some factors which need to be considered for every team meeting are the
reason of conducting the team meeting, the time of team meeting, rules and policies need to be
followed while team meeting, responsibilities that need to be taken, etc. The main and the most
important factor which needs to be decided before the meeting is a clear purpose of the team
meeting because the whole outcome is based on the objective and the goals which need to be
achieved from the team meeting. The objective and the purpose should be clear such that every
participant and members can understand it because if there is a complicated objective then
members may not give their best during the team meeting or even all the members may not able
to participate in the discussion. The topic of the team meeting should be kept very interesting so
that every team would love to discuss it in the team (Bang, 2012). One thing that needs to be
kept in mind is that while conducting team meeting, ask whether there is really the need for the
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team meeting. The next thing to make team meeting successful is to involve the team members
or the participants which are required in the team (Fibuch & Ahmed, 2018). This can be decided
by comparing the objective of the team meeting and the type of members required to generate the
outcome from the meeting. If the team members who are not required in the team meetings are
invited, then it will waste the time of them and it may also result in the failure of the team
meeting. Also if the required team members are not involved or invited in the team meeting then
surely the team meeting will result in failure because there are some team members in the team
without them the decisions cannot be taken or the outcome cannot be generated. Then the most
important factor as the objective of the team meeting is the timing of the meeting. The starting of
the team meeting should be at a suitable time such that every team member can report on time
without any delay because if a team member gets delayed then it will also waste the time of other
members. Also, the finishing time of the team should be fixed so that the team members don’t
get second thoughts related to their other works. The team meetings should be ended on the fixed
time because if the team meetings are extended more than the fixed tie then maybe it can affect
the outcome of the team meeting. Many of the meetings become a waste of time because of the
improper starting and end time. Also, the timing of the meeting should be proper and suitable
such that a proper outcome can be generated from the meeting and the team members don't need
to run over in the meeting. For the smooth team meeting, there should be a set of rules which
need to be followed by every team so that equality can be generated in the team and every team
member can get the chance to put his view in front of the team. If the team members are from
different region and their language is also different from one another then these rules helps in
deciding the language which should be used while the discussion in the team meetings. There
should be a proper time duration given to every team member so all the team members can
participate together and none of them feel left behind. The fruitful outcome that is useful for the
organisation should be generated after conducting the team meeting, only then it is considered a
successful meeting.
At last, it can easily be predicted and stated that if the team meetings are conducted with the
proper planning and objectives then the chances of success of the team meetings will be more. If
the team meeting gets successful then it will surely affect the workplace in a positive manner and
it will also help in the success and growth of the organisation. The type of meeting should be the
main thing which needs to be focused whether the management is conducting team meeting for
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developing a solution for the problem or the purpose of the meeting is to make a decision on
implementing new changes in the organisation. For this, it is recommended to take the team
meetings seriously and while conducting it, do all the efforts for its success. Also, the study was
only about the team meetings, it is recommended to cover the related topics too in it.
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References
 Kauffeld, S., & Lehmann-Willenbrock, N. (2012). Meetings Matter: Effects of Team
Meetings on Team and Organizational Success. Small Group Research,43(2), 130-158.
 Dhenesh, V., Sitnikova, E., & Slay, J. (2012). Lessons Towards Developing An
Integrated Tool-support for Small Team Meetings. International Journal of Information
Engineering and Electronic Business, 4(5), 42-49.
 Bull Schaefer, Rebecca A., & Erskine, Laura. (2012). Virtual Team Meetings:
Reflections on a Class Exercise Exploring Technology Choice. Journal of Management
Education, 36(6), 777-801.
 Boerner, S., Schäffner, M., & Gebert, D. (2012). The Complementarity of Team
Meetings and Cross-Functional Communication: Empirical Evidence From New Services
Development Teams. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 19(2), 256-266.
 Widmann, A., Messmann, G., & Mulder, R. (2016). The Impact of Team Learning
Behaviors on Team Innovative Work Behavior: A Systematic Review. Human Resource
Development Review, 15(4), 429-458.
 Liu, F., & Maitlis, S. (2014). Emotional Dynamics and Strategizing Processes: A Study
of Strategic Conversations in Top Team Meetings. Journal of Management
Studies, 51(2), 202-234.
 Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., Allen, J., Kozlowski, Steve W. J., & Chen, Gilad. (2014).
How Fun Are Your Meetings? Investigating the Relationship Between Humor Patterns in
Team Interactions and Team Performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(6), 1278-
1287.
 Bang, H. (2012). What prevents senior executives from commenting upon
miscommunication in top management team meetings? Qualitative Research in
Organizations and Management : An International Journal, 7(2), 189-208
 Fibuch, E., & Ahmed, A. (2018). BRINGING VALUE: BUILD A FUNCTIONAL
LEADERSHIP TEAM. Physician Leadership Journal,5(2), 60-63.
 Öster, S. (2015). Solution-Focused approach in a team working with social welfare
benefits in social service. InterAction, 7(1), 7-23
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