Abstract
In geographically spread organisations the cost of meetings can be significantly higher than it is in single location enterprises. The use of technology to support meetings simultaneously held in multiple locations has been promoted as a potential solution. Traditional cost/benefit analysis used in justifying the implementation of this technology shows that success should be assured. The time lost in travel is a visible and easily measured cost of running a meeting, savings in travel (absolute travel and accommodation costs together with notional time lost costs) can be used to justify significant investments in meeting support technology.
There are, however, many problems in successfully changing an organisation’s meeting culture so that it freely embraces the use of technology. Many organisations have difficulty in the implementation and use of meeting support technologies. Further, after the initial flush of enthusiasm, facilities are often poorly utilised resulting in significant lost opportunities. There are less tangible costs of corporate meetings which are often more significant than the easily measured savings from travel avoided. The identification of these costs might aid the longer term acceptance of meeting support technology.
Key among the problems to be addressed is the difficulty some meeting chairs have in successfully running a meeting, spread over several locations and supported by technology such as video and audio facilities. These difficulties can be traced to poor pre-meeting preparation and poor understanding of the technologies chosen. They are exacerbated by the failure of participants to understand the true nature of the potential savings available. The result is often failed projects or poorly utilised facilities.
It is with this in mind that this paper has been developed. Only some of the “Pluses and Minuses” in the use of video and audio meeting technology are addressed, along with some of the issues that could be used to develop a “briefing to participants paper” for use in minimising some identified problems in the use of the technology in support of formal meetings Finally, several unanswered questions are posed. Questions which should be subjected to further study and analysis.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
DeSanctis, G., and Gallupe, B. (1993). Group Decision Support Systems: A New Frontier. In S. R. H. and W. H. J. (Eds.), Decision Support Systems New Jersey: Prentice-Hall International.
Gray, P., and Nunamaker, J. F. (1993). Group Decision Support Systems. In S. R. H. and W. H. J. (Eds.), Decision Support Systems New Jersey: Prentice-Hall International.
Hewett, W. G., and Symons, I. (1992). A TCF Organisation In a Changing Environment: Some Analysis For The Writing Of An Australian Case Study. In The Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference, December 6–91992.,. Sydney.
Renton, N. E. (1994). Guide for Meetings and Organisations Volume 2 Meetings. Sydney: The Law Book Company Limited.
Shockley-Zalabak, P. (1991). Fundamentals of Organizational Communication Second Edition. White Plains: Longman Publishing Group.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hewett, W.G. (1996). Meetings bloody meetings: a transition in the concept of meeting as technology reduces dependency on time and geography. In: Glasson, B.C., Vogel, D.R., Bots, P.W.G., Nunamaker, J.F. (eds) Information Systems and Technology in the International Office of the Future. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35085-1_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35085-1_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-5489-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-35085-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive