Meeting analysis: findings from research and practice

Abstract

Meeting analysis, that is the study of meeting expenses, productivity, processes, and outcomes, is relevant to GSS practice and research for several reasons. Many reviews and surveys reveal that meetings dominate workers' and managers' time and yet are considered to be costly, unproductive and dissatisfying. Studies show that meetings are essential and that the number of meetings and their duration has been steadily increasing. Studies of managers and knowledge workers reveal that they spend between 25%-80% of their time in meetings, suggesting that meetings are an important part of one's working life. Estimates of meeting expenses range from costs of $30 million to over 100 million per year to losses between $54 million and 3.7 billion annually! Self estimates of meeting productivity by managers in many different functional areas range from 33%-47%.