THE MANAGEMENT OF MEETINGS IN UGANDAN ORGANIZATIONS

This volume explores the management of meetings, prompted by the growing concern and anecdotal evidences in Ugandan organizations that meetings had become unproductive.Meetings are perceived to be for fire fighting, have befallen into time wasters,their outcomes are mismanaged, and take valuable resources.Their relevance has increasingly come under question.The study examined policy framework,practices,preparation,processes and effect of external factors on managing meetings. From the findings organizations have policy frameworks for meetings with clear reasons for convening them.The preparation and process are affected by organizational, personal and external factors. Meetings are a key tool for consultation, communication,handling grievances and team building. Preparation and process issues like communication, venue setting, material needs, hidden agendas, lack of fair participation,inconsistencies, among others have shaped the opinion that meetings are not productive as expected.We recommend further scholarly investigations into this key function. Practitioners should assess how meetings are managed.The findings are useful to students of management,scholars and policy makers.

Autorentext

The authors are lecturers at Makerere University Business School,Faculty of Management and pursuing doctoral studies.VincentBagire at the University of Nairobi,Kenya(Strategicmanagement),Jolly Byarugaba at Witwatersrand,S.Africa(Humanresource management),Janet Kyogabiirwe at Maastricht School ofManagement,The Netherlands(Knowledge management)