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02 / 13 personalquarterly
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high potential employee initiatives, and overall creating talent
and cultural processes/practices that instill and reinforce the
meeting ideal that a good leader is a good steward of others time.
As for intercultural differences, a dearth of carefully designed
cross-cultural work exists. Yet, it is clear that we could expect
differences across cultures on meeting relevant variables re-
lated to the use and management of time in meetings, role of
power in meeting, social versus task focus in meetings, struc-
tured vs unstructured agendas in meetings, and importance of
consensus seeking behaviors, etc. I would very much like to see
cross-cultural research on meetings.
PERSONALquarterly:
In many organizations, participants commu-
nicate on different levels during meetings, e.g. by sending each
other emails or instant messages during the meeting, simultane-
ously searching for information online, etc. How do you view the
influence of new media on meetings?
Steven Rogelberg:
From my perspective, these are generally all
meeting coping behaviors. They reflect poorly run non-strategic
meetings. These participants are trying to regain a sense of con-
trol and productivity. To do so they engage in these coping be-
haviors. These behaviors are indicators that the leader is failing
the participants. It is a direct form of feedback that something
must change in the meeting. With this said, depending on the
nature of the meeting, the modality the meeting is conducted in
and the size of the meeting itself, technology can most definitely
be leveraged to maximize effective group processes.
PERSONALquarterly:
Where do you see the field of meetings re-
search five years down the road? Which upcoming trends do you
predict for meetings research?
Steven Rogelberg:
Research on meetings appears to be on the
rise across the board. I have seen multiple special features in
journals on the topic. The work can be found in many of our
top journals. In five years, the topics of meetings will be a focal
area for many. Meetings will not just be seen as interesting
containers for the study of social science phenomenon, but will
be considered worthy of study in and of themselves.
PERSONALquarterly:
Which specific research questions should we
examine now in order to create a rosy meeting future?
Steven Rogelberg:
In addition to the cross-cultural work I mention
above, I am intrigued by pre-meeting activity/talk and post
meeting activity/talk. I believe those areas are ripe for study.
I am also excited about the prospect of experimental research
on meetings where it is demonstrated how certain practices
(e.g., starting late) effect actual processes and outcomes. In ad-
dition, I am interested in impression management in meetings
– faking and hiding emotions in a meeting context. Finally, I
would like to see more research taking a longitudinal perspec-
tive to the study of meetings.
PROF. DR. STEVEN ROGELBERG, PhD
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
e-mail:
Prof. Dr. Steven Rogelberg gilt als Begründer der organisations-
psychologischen Forschung zu Meetings im US-amerikanischen
Raum und hat dieses Forschungsfeld in den letzten Jahren stark
vorangetrieben. Er leitet das Institut für Organizational Science
und ist Gründer und Leiter der Organizational Science Consulting
and Research Unit an der University of North Carolina in Charlotte.
Steven Rogelberg hat über 70 wissenschaftliche Beiträge u. a.
zu den Themen Meetings, Teameffektivität, Führungs- und zu
organisationalen Forschungsmethoden publiziert. Rogelberg ist
Herausgeber der Zeitschrift „Journal of Business and Psychology“
sowie der „Talent Management Essentials“-Buchserie. Als Guest
Editor hat er 2012 in der Zeitschrift „Small Group Research“ ein in
der Presse viel beachtetes Special Issue zu Meetingprozessen in
Organisationen herausgebracht.