Introduction
Group support systems have not been adapted well by many organizations. This is because of the fact that the role it plays has not been well understood by many. Meetings are important tools that are used to gauge the growth of an organization. In the recent past, meetings have been seen to be a source of contention for many companies, and it has been the reason as to why disorganization and disarray has been met. Group support systems are the mechanisms that are used to manage meetings and what becomes of them. Managers attend meetings most of the times, and there is, therefore, a need to ensure that the meetings are beneficial to the organization. Group support systems are the help in the management of meetings so that the agenda is well followed (Peloso, & Lunetta, 2011). This is because meetings are processes that are used to make important corporate decisions. There is a need to ensure important things are discussed. It should not be a place where power and strengths are measured. Most meetings are places where arguments are traded. In many meetings, planning is poorly done. This paper will look at the importance that group support systems play in managing meetings.
Statement of the problem
If not well managed, meetings cannot yield results that have been desired all along. There is a need to ensure that organizational meetings stick to the agenda that has been scheduled. Most meetings are not planned well. They either go beyond the time that was scheduled to take or take lesser time; no tangible benefits will be realized. This needs for organizers seek tools that will help them to make use of time and stick to the agenda that has been set. There have been many instances where communication has been nothing but accusations and counter accusations. There is a lack of clear streamlines of what needs to be achieved at the end of the meetings. It requires that organizers of the meetings should ensure the meetings serve the purpose which they were called for.
Meetings have been the reason why many people are not satisfied with their work. Instead of meetings discussing policies that should be implemented, they argue. Although there is a technology that can be applied to manage meetings so that the outcome can be improved, technology cannot solve the problem of quality of meetings.
Research objectives
This research will be guided by the following objectives:
- To find out the tools is used to manage organizational meetings.
- To investigate the extent to which meeting agenda is followed.
- To explore the role of group support systems in managing organizational meetings.
- To explore the extent in which organizations have adopted group support systems in managing organizational meetings.
Research questions
This research will be guided by the following research questions:
- What are the tools that are used to manage meetings in organizations?
- To what extent are meeting agendas followed?
- What role do group support systems play in managing organizational meetings?
- To what extent has organizations adopted group support systems in their meeting management?
Significance of the study
The study will help in enhancing management of meetings, being an important tool for decision making in organizations. The current researches that have been done in meetings have limited literature on the use of group support systems in managing meetings (Huber, Valacich, & Jessup, 1993). There is little research that concerns the use of tools to help plan and streamline the outcome of the meetings. It will also enhance the benefits of meetings as there will be more important that will be attached to it. With the systems of group support, there will be more quality talks that will be achieved from the meetings and the productivity will also be improved (Hoffman, & Parker, 2006).
Group management will help in science and management purposes. The research will, therefore, add to the knowledge that is already there (Kilgour, 2010). The research will also be helpful to managers as they will come up with strategies of managing groups for the benefit of the whole organization. The government will find the information useful as they will better manage the departments they have thus improved service delivery in the government (Elfvengreen, 2008).
Management of a given organization will find this information useful. They will find new ways to eradicate losses and how to better align the meetings with the objectives of the company/organization. There is a need to ensure that the meetings and the group interactions are in tandem with the objectives of the company that is being run (Kim, 2006).
Methodology
The section serves to review the research methods and approach, which will be considered most appropriate for the research, hence were used towards the achievement of the research objectives. The aim of the section is achieved through developing the foundation of the collection of the important research data, which will serve in the development of the theoretical and conceptual framework. In addition, the section describes the approach used in choosing the case study organization, hence being vital towards laying out the essential foundation for the analysis plan.
This research will heavily rely on primary and secondary data. The data will be obtained from websites of organizations and also from primary sources. Other information will be obtained from journals and company review magazines. The analysis includes the use of group support systems to help organizations manage their meetings.
It will also make use of qualitative research approach. This is engaged if the research philosophies, methodologies, and methods entail getting nonnumerical data (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2007). In addition, Bryman and Bell (2007) state that it is related to inductive approach and an interpretivist epistemological course. In addition, although the quantitative approach is related to practices, a qualitative approach is related to the postulation (Bryman, & Bell, 2007). The peculiarity amid qualitative and quantitative research is asserted by Bryman and Bell (2007) who argue “the former investigates the naturally occurring settings, while the latter is restricted to phenomena that are artificially created by the researcher” (p.72). Stressing on the significance of choosing the suitable approach, the approach that most relate itself to the research questions. In addition, Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007) state that the researcher should question his subconscious or make use of his mind for the same and take the process of research to be one with high creativity.
In view of this qualitative research relates itself with the detailed status and aids to examine many issues, which could not have been identified with the quantitative approach. It has helped to get the situations that could not be identified in numerical data.
References
Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2007). Business research methods, 2nd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Elfvengreen, K. (2008). Group support system for managing the front end of innovation. USA: VDM Verlag.
Hoffman, R., & Parker, G. M. (2006). Meeting excellence: 33 tools to lead meetings that get results. Boston: John Wiley and Sons.
Huber, G.P., Valacich, J., & Jessup, L. (1993). A theory of the effects of group support systems on an organization’s nature and decisions. In Group Support Systems: New Perspectives. New York: Macmillan.
Kilgour, D. M. (2010). Distributed Groups with Group Support Systems: A Study of the Effect of Group Leaders and Communication Modes on Group Performance. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, 18(2): 20 – 38.
Kilgour, D. M. (2010). Handbook of Group Decision and Negotiation. New York: Springer.
Kim, Y. (2006). Role of Group Support Systems. Journal of the Association for Information Systems. Vol. 9 Issue 10, p633-652, 21p, 2.
Peloso, G. M., & Lunetta, K. L. (2011). Choice of population structure informative principal components for adjustment in a case-control study. BMC Genetics, 12(1): 64 – 73.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2007). Research methods for business students. Edinburgh: Pearson.