Meetings at work: Perceived effectiveness and recommended improvements

This study investigates why a large proportion of meetings continue to be regarded as a poor use of time, despite a substantial body of literature on how to make improvements. Employees from 41 countries provide comments on the effectiveness of their typical meetings and how to improve effectiveness. Less than half the respondents describe meetings as an effective use of time. The results suggest that employees are often invited to meetings of little personal relevance and many meeting organizers fail to apply fundamental meeting design practices. The findings show differences in response patterns for country of origin, job status (part- or full-time), and organizational type, but not for gender, supervisory status, and organizational tenure. The study provides illustrative comments about forms of effectiveness/ineffectiveness and forms of improvement, and discusses the implications with respect to theory development, future research, and practice.