Over the last years, the global market environment has rapidly evolved. Disruptive innovations have altered the technological landscape and turned existing business models and ways of operating upside down. In this highly dynamic environment, organizations and leadership face a multitude of different challenges, as new market players have emerged and fierce competition is on the rise.
Today, it is crucial to embrace specific organizational skills and behaviors to stay relevant in the future. In a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) business context, these are key to stay competitive and to lay solid foundations for future growth.
To facilitate this, organizations have strived to make their processes as efficient and effective as possible. Remarkably, they have yet not unlocked the improvement potential that is associated with business meetings.
As a matter of fact, business meetings have not only become an indisputable part of daily business operations all around the world, but also a subject that is often perceived as costly, unproductive and dissatisfying.
The purpose of this work is to both advance the current research on business meetings at the intersection with leadership and provide actionable insights for businesses on how to enhance their organizational performance in practice.
By using a quantitative study to analyze 301 responses gathered from an online survey and test associated hypotheses, insights about the current state of meeting usage and their implications on organizational performance, based on perceived meeting satisfaction and outcomes, were identified.
Essentially, when trying to optimize their performance trajectory, organizations need to focus on a triad of meeting performance, consisting of meeting design, behavior and communication, and meeting technology.
If the insights are taken seriously and the suggested solutions are implemented in practice holistically, organizations will have the opportunity to reap the benefits of enhanced performance while cutting costs by around USD 8.5 million annually.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Importance for Meeting Science and Business Practice
1.3 Need for Optimization
1.4 Structure of the Work
2 Business Meetings and Effective Leadership
2.1 Business Meetings
2.1.1 Meeting Definition
2.1.2 Meeting Process and Design Characteristics
2.1.3 Meeting Types
2.1.4 Meeting Purposes
2.1.5 Meeting Time Demand
2.1.6 Meeting Expenditures
2.2 Effective Leadership
2.2.1 Leadership Definition
2.2.2 Leadership Styles and Effective Leadership Skills
2.2.3 Effective Leadership in Business Meetings
2.3 Roles and Responsibilities Matrix for Business Meetings
3 Statement of Purpose and Research Design
3.1 Statement of Purpose
3.2 Research Questions and Hypotheses
3.3 Research Design
3.4 Target Group and Sample
3.5 Instruments and Procedures
3.6 Data Analysis
4 Results and Hypothesis Testing
4.1 General and Social Demographics
4.2 Meeting Design Characteristics
4.2.1 Effects on Perceived Meeting Outcomes
4.2.2 Effects on Perceived Meeting Satisfaction
4.3 Meeting Behavior and Communication
4.3.1 Effects on Perceived Meeting Outcomes
4.3.2 Effects on Perceived Meeting Satisfaction
4.4 Meeting Technology
4.4.1 Effects on Perceived Meeting Outcomes
4.4.2 Effects on Perceived Meeting Satisfaction
4.4.3 Effects on Meeting Process
4.5 Roles and Responsibilities Matrix
4.5.1 Effects on Meeting Outcomes
4.5.2 Effects on Meeting Satisfaction
5 Discussion
5.1 Implications for Meeting Science
5.2 Implications for Organizations and Leadership
5.3 Levers to Enhance the Perceived Performance Trajectory
6 Conclusion
6.1 Summary
6.2 Limitations
6.3 Further Research
Objective and Research Focus
The primary objective of this study is to identify levers to enhance the organizational performance trajectory by analyzing the interplay between leadership and business meetings. The research investigates how meeting design, communication behavior, and technology influence meeting satisfaction and outcomes, with the goal of providing actionable insights to optimize these processes in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) business environment.
- Analysis of the current state of business meeting usage and practices.
- Evaluation of the impact of meeting design characteristics on perceived performance.
- Investigation of the role of leadership behavior and communication patterns in meetings.
- Assessment of the influence of new communication technologies on meeting processes.
- Examination of the potential for the RASIC matrix to improve decision-making and accountability.
Excerpt from the Thesis
2.1.1 Meeting Definition
Even though there are common key characteristics, every meeting consists of unique and dynamic attributes. Thus, it is imperative to be aware that every meeting is different. The same is true when developing a definition for business meetings.
As soon as people are involved, things get complex and dynamic. The reasons are diverse educational and professional backgrounds, personal and professional goals, embeddedness in distinct social systems with different individual mentalities, and exposure to and (pre-)determination by a multitude of regional as well as organizational cultures and expectations. Jointly, these will act as a filter for perceptions. Thus, it will have a material impact on the different individual and situational views and perceived realities, which vary broadly among individual scholars and practitioners, even on one and the same topic and how it is experienced and judged, especially when people are geographically spread. This is the reason for the existence of a variety of different meeting definitions and approaches on how to characterize them.
In the 1980s, first research on meetings found that a meeting represents a communicative event that organizes interaction in a variety of ways. More precisely, a meeting is constituted by a gathering of at least three people with the purpose of discussing ideas and opinions, developing procedures and policies, solving issues, making decisions and framing recommendations. This definition is extended by adding that meetings are also used to create and solve issues, exchange information and misinformation, as well as to forge or restrain a sense of group identity and team spirit among meeting attendees. It is further argued that meetings pos-
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: This chapter outlines the global business environment (VUCA), identifies the research gap regarding business meetings, and justifies the need for organizational optimization.
2 Business Meetings and Effective Leadership: This chapter provides a theoretical framework for understanding meeting definitions, processes, and types, alongside an analysis of effective leadership styles and the role of the RASIC matrix.
3 Statement of Purpose and Research Design: This chapter defines the research goals, outlines the deductive quantitative methodology, and describes the data collection process via an online survey.
4 Results and Hypothesis Testing: This chapter presents the statistical analysis of the 301 survey responses and tests the ten research hypotheses regarding meeting design, behavior, technology, and organizational roles.
5 Discussion: This chapter contextualizes the empirical results within existing meeting science literature and provides practical recommendations for organizations to enhance their performance trajectory.
6 Conclusion: This chapter summarizes the research findings, highlights the limitations of the study, and suggests directions for future academic inquiry.
Keywords
Business Meetings, Effective Leadership, Meeting Science, Organizational Performance, VUCA, Meeting Design, Communication Behavior, Meeting Technology, RASIC Matrix, Quantitative Research, Meeting Satisfaction, Meeting Outcomes, Decision-making, Accountability, Performance Trajectory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fundamental scope of this master's thesis?
The thesis explores the intersection of business meetings and leadership, specifically focusing on how these meetings can be optimized to enhance organizational performance and reduce wasted time and resources.
What are the core thematic fields addressed in the research?
The work covers three main pillars of meeting performance: meeting design characteristics, participant behavior and communication, and the implementation of meeting-related technology.
What is the primary research question?
The research aims to determine the influencing factors at the intersection of leadership and meetings that serve as levers to enhance an organization's perceived performance trajectory.
Which scientific method was applied?
The author conducted a quantitative, non-experimental study using a structured web-based survey to analyze 301 responses, utilizing statistical tools such as ANOVA and Pearson correlation.
What topics are discussed in the main body?
The main body examines meeting definitions and types, leadership styles and emotional intelligence, the application of the RASIC matrix for accountability, and the impact of technological changes on meeting effectiveness.
What keywords characterize the study?
Key terms include Business Meetings, Effective Leadership, Organizational Performance, VUCA, Meeting Design, and the RASIC matrix.
How does the RASIC matrix specifically benefit business meetings?
According to the findings, the RASIC matrix provides a structured, common language framework that clarifies roles, decision-making authority, and accountability, thereby reducing ambiguity and improving meeting outcomes.
Does technology improve the process of conducting meetings?
The study found that while new communication technologies have changed the frequency and type of meetings, they do not necessarily improve the meeting process or outcomes, though they significantly enhance perceived meeting satisfaction.
- Citar trabajo
- MBA, B.Eng Eric Scheithauer (Autor), 2017, Business Meetings and Leadership, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/384213
