Meetings, Time, and Attention

Abstract

When the processes of meeting construction are examined, as they were in the previous chapter, one important characteristic that stands out is the fact that, in order to have a meeting, it is necessary for individuals to allot time to it. As has already been demonstrated, this is not an easy task in a system where there are many competing claims (most of them other meetings) on one’s time (see March and Olsen 1976, especially pp. 38–53). This means that it becomes important to understand how and why individuals decide to allot time to particular meetings or to other gatherings. Once individuals at Midwest agreed to allot time and attention to a meeting, however, there was a very good chance that the meeting would recur and that it might even proliferate. The dynamics of this process and its effect on the lives of individuals at the center are the subject of this chapter. I begin by describing the major types of meetings that existed at Midwest. This is followed by a brief portrait of a typical day as it was experienced “from meeting to meeting” from the perspective of a staff member and also the researcher. The idea of meeting cycles and their effect on the ability of individuals to do “things” in this context such as respond to issues, make decisions, resolve problems, and so forth is presented here in preparation for a more detailed discussion of these issues in Chapters 7 through 9.

The life cycle of the committee is so basic to our knowledge of current affairs that it is surprising more attention has not been paid to the science of comitology. The first and most elementary principle of this science is that a committee is organic rather than mechanical in its nature; it is not a structure but a plant. It takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts, and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom in their turn. Only those who bear this principle in mind can make real headway in understanding the structure and history of modern government.

C. Northcote Parkinson Parkinson’s Law (1957:33)