The Importance of Meetings

Meetings, an understudied aspect of organisational life, play a key role in theformulation of strategy and strategic change within organisations. More importantly,the likelihood of proposals for strategic change being made, and how those proposalsare received in the wider organisation, depends on the type of strategy meeting,and how it is conducted.This briefing provides a framework for understanding the different types of strategymeeting and the effects that they have on strategic change in organisations.How favourable an environment a meeting is for bringing about strategic changedepends, in part, on how effectively it suspends the everyday social structuresand hierarchies in the organisation. Setting aside these structures allows peopleto contribute more freely to the discussion, and make suggestions which departfrom existing strategy.Meetings can be open – not restricted to senior management, and incorporatinga wide range of participants (widely viewed as a more democratic forum) – or closed– restricted to senior management. [...]