Linking pre-meeting communication to meeting effectiveness

NegotiAct: Introducing a Comprehensive Coding Scheme to Capture Temporal Interaction Patterns in Negotiations

In the present research, we developed NegotiAct, a comprehensive coding scheme for negotiations, comprising 47 mutually exclusive behavioral codes. NegotiAct was derived by systematically integrating (i) 89 extant coding schemes for negotiations, (ii) pertinent findings from negotiation research, and (iii) specific interaction behaviors that were previously not considered in coding schemes for negotiations (e.g., active listening). To facilitate the application of NegotiAct, we designed a coding manual with precise instructions and with definitions and examples for every code. NegotiAct can be customized to address many research questions in experimental settings as well as field research by splitting codes into more specific behaviors. Thereby, differentiated codes can always be traced back to the original codes, preserving comparability across studies and facilitating cumulative research. In combination with interaction analytical methods, NegotiAct enables scholars to detect and investigate specific communication patterns across the negotiation process. As a first empirical validation of NegotiAct, we demonstrate a substantial interrater reliability for 18 videotaped negotiations (κ = .80) and conduct an exploratory validation analysis, studying the relation of multi-issue offers, active listening, and joint gains.

One-on-one meetings between managers and direct reports: A new opportunity for meeting science

Meeting science has advanced significantly in its short history. However, one-on-one (1:1) meetings have not been studied empirically as a focal topic despite making up nearly half of all workplace meetings. While some meeting science insights may apply to 1:1 meetings, others may not (or may function differently) due to conceptual, theoretical, and practical differences between meetings involving dyads and groups. Although 1:1 meetings come in various forms (e.g., peer-to-peer, employee-to-customer), we chose to use manager-direct report 1:1 meetings as an exemplar given their prevalence, theoretical relevance, and practical implications. In this paper, we first review some conceptual differences between dyads and groups. We then discuss how these differences likely manifest in the meeting context (before, during, and after meetings), and outline related propositions. Last, we leverage this conceptual framework and subsequent propositions to provide guidance for future research and theory on 1:1 meetings. In doing so, we hope this paper will act as the impetus for research and theory development on 1:1 meetings.

Plain Language Summary

Meeting science has flourished over the past two decades, with research and theory exploring best practices for leading and attending workplace meetings. However, a large portion of this research has focused on meetings of three or more people – despite the fact that meetings are often defined as a gathering between two or more people. Ignoring the one-on-one (1:1) meeting is a missed opportunity, as 1:1 meetings have a large presence in industry. It has been estimated that nearly half (47%) of all meetings are 1:1s, and these dyadic meetings often have unique purposes (e.g., performance appraisals) and involve different interactions (e.g., more interpersonal) outside of larger group meetings. Industry and practice have begun to explore these 1:1 meeting-especially meetings between managers and direct reports. For example, internal studies conducted at Microsoft and Cisco found that direct reports who had more frequent and effectively run 1:1 meetings with their managers were more engaged than their counterparts. While companies have seemingly acknowledged the importance of these meetings, research lags behind. Little empirical or theoretical investigations have explored 1:1 meetings. Yet, with the continued growth in the number of meetings worldwide, it is important to obtain empirical insights specific to 1:1 meetings. Doing so will help inform best practices when it comes to leading and attending 1:1 meetings. Thus, in this conceptual review of 1:1 meetings, we provide a future research agenda encouraging researchers (and practitioners) to investigate this unique (and important) meeting type – the one-on-one meeting between a manager and their direct report.

Remote work video meetings: Workers’ emotional exhaustion and practices for greater well-being

Meeting science literature provides a foundation for understanding workplace meetings as a source of stress. However, a new form of worker stress, “Zoom fatigue,” quickly emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic when organizations rapidly adopted video meetings for remote work-from-home. We sought to understand workers’ perceptions about video meeting experiences and how they relate to their sense of emotional exhaustion. Additionally, we were curious about what workers might see as ways to make video meetings less tiring and more beneficial. These insights could inform practical solutions for leaders and organizations to reduce the stress and resulting emotional fatigue related to video meetings. This mixed-methods study, based on survey data collected in August 2020 from 345 workers at a cross-section of U.S.-headquartered organizations, provides evidence of worker experiences related to video meeting stress. The quantitative and qualitative results show that workers feel psychologically depleted by video meeting load, an excess of load needed to do their job, video meetings that are not beneficial to them, video meetings that conflict with the time and energy needed to perform their other job responsibilities and fulfill their home responsibilities, and the perceived necessity to surface act. The data show these factors relate to diminished well-being in the form of emotional exhaustion. Participants’ qualitative responses corroborate the results and suggest supportive practices related to planning and inclusion and supportive interaction that can ease video meeting exhaustion.

The Influence of Intrusions on Team Interaction: An Explorative Field Study

Despite their prevalence in daily teamwork, little is known about the influence of intrusions on teams. Therefore, the effect of intrusions on team interaction was investigated, focusing on relational communication. Three different theoretical perspectives regarding team interaction changes in response to a meeting intrusion are discussed. These perspectives were mapped onto fine-grained behavioral data from twelve teams ( N = 4,627 sense units) by means of lag sequential analysis. Teams’ use of relational communication changed in several ways in response to the intrusion. While these changes fit best with one perspective (task-focused), several results also align with other perspectives.

A comparison of business meeting practices in Germany and Spain

This article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO) presents a study on meetings, an important part of contemporary organizational life. What happens in meetings affects individual employee experiences, team processes, and organizational functioning. However, to date little is known regarding cross-cultural differences in meeting practices. This study leverages an organizational sample (N = 488) with a German and a Spanish site to compare how pre-meeting talk, meeting design, voice in meetings, and meeting follow-up actions differ across the two cultures. Hypotheses were derived from prior intercultural theory (i.e., the GLOBE study). Following Open Science principles, the study was pre-registered. Contrary to our expectations, we found no significant differences in meeting practices between monocultural German and Spanish workplace meetings. These findings suggest that cultural differences in workplace attitudes and work practices may be diminishing in an increasingly global workplace. We sketch implications for meeting science and cross-cultural research on business practices more broadly.

Ambidextrous Relationships and Social Capability as Employee Well-Being: The Secret Sauce for Research and Development and Sustainable Innovation Performance

This study examines the effects that ambidextrous relationships, i.e., oriented relationships within a firm towards the development of exploitation activities and oriented relationships towards the development of exploration activities, have on employee performance in terms of creativity, research and development (R&D), and sustainable innovation performance. We contend that informal relationships affect employee creativity and R&D. However, formal relationships affect employee creativity and sustainable innovation performance. The purpose of this study is to inject new positive relationships into firms by examining ambidextrous relationships and the moderating role of social capability in the relationships–innovation effect. We empirically tested our hypotheses by using multisource data collected from 245 Spanish firms across 14 industries. Our structural equation models suggest that these two types of relationship predict employee creativity, which in turn increases sustainable innovation performance and R&D. The results reveal that the effects between informal relationships and creativity are stronger, as are the effects between formal relationships and sustainable innovation performance. A multigroup structural analysis also reveals that effects between informal and formal relationships, employee creativity, R&D, and sustainable innovation performance are stronger within firms that have employees with high social capability. The efforts and investments made in employee social capital support the development of new ideas, R&D, and innovation success. Support is provided for an ambidextrous Human Resource Management (HRM) approach which is relevant for innovation, and several practical recommendations and implementation guidelines for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are provided. This study provides a plausible explanation of two important management mechanisms for enhancing creativity—R&D and sustainable innovation performance. Relationships are malleable, and this study suggests that fostering formal and informal relationships might hold the key to sustainable innovation performance and unlocking desirable employee behavior.

The Impact of Premeeting Talk on Group Performance

Interactions that occur prior to a meeting constitute premeeting talk (PMT). Of the different PMT types, research suggests that small talk PMT is especially meaningful. In this study, meeting participants’ interactions both prior to and during the meeting were video recorded, coded into sense units, and classified by coding schemes. This study investigated the influence of small talk PMT on both perceived and objective group performances, as well as the potential for positive socioemotional and problem-focused statements to serve as mediators. The results supported the mediating influence of both types of statements for only perceived performance. Our results suggest that a group-level babble effect can take place in meetings, such that groups who engage in more extensive discussion tend to believe that they achieved high performance, but objective ratings do not support this belief. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations of the study, and future research opportunities are discussed.

Would you please stop that!?

Purpose

– Meetings are ubiquitous in organizational life and are a great source of frustration and annoyance to many employees in the workplace, in part due to counterproductive meeting behaviors (CMBs). CMBs include engaging in irrelevant discussion, complaining about other attendees, arriving to the meeting late, and other similar, disruptive behaviors. Consistent with conservation of resources theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the potential resource draining effect of CMBs on two key workplace attitudes/behaviors, employee voice, and coworker trust.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors used Amazon’s MTurk service to recruit a sample of full-time working adults from a variety of industries who regularly attend meetings. Participants completed a survey with items relating to CMBs, trust, voice, and meeting load.

Findings

– The authors found that CMBs were indeed negatively related to both employee voice and coworker trust. Further, both of these relationships were even more negative for those who had fewer meetings (i.e. meeting load as a moderator).

Research limitations/implications

– The results of this study suggest that behavior in meetings may spill over and impact employees in other areas of their work life, perhaps harming other important work-related outcomes (e.g. performance). The cross-sectional nature of the sampling strategy is a limitation that provides opportunities for future research as discussed.

Practical implications

– The practical implications are rather straightforward and poignant. Managers and meetings leaders should seek ways to reduce CMBs and promote good meeting processes generally.

Originality/value

– The current study is the first to overtly investigate CMBs in workplace meetings and connect them to meaningful, non-meeting-related, outcomes. Further, the study shows the usefulness of conservation resources theory for explaining the dynamic processes that occur for meeting attendees.