Studies suggest that employees spend many hours each week in meetings. Get invited to a real meeting that will last at least 30 minutes. Consult the box ‘Analysing oral interactions in a group’ on page 359, making several copies of the oral interaction score sheet that you will find there. Read and follow the instructions detailed in the box. After 30 minutes of silently observing and scoring, excuse yourself and leave the meeting quietly.

After you have added up your scores, write a brief report which comments on

(a) the way this group as a whole was working,

(b) the roles played by its individual members, and

(c) the adequacy of your scoring sheet and its underlying assumptions.

Make recommendations as to how your group members’ interactions could be improved.

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