Workplace meeting optimisation: an action research on factors driving meeting effectiveness

Abstract

Meetings have become a hot topic of discussion for researchers and practitioners alike. Practitioners and researchers have examined how meetings should be designed and run in order to promote high-quality outcomes. Works of the literature found that effective meetings will have a greater impact on employee engagement and performance. Effective meetings will motivate employees to make more contributions and increase their commitment to their work. Given that meetings are the most common avenues of interaction among Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) employees, it is crucial to understand ways to promote meeting effectiveness. This action research aims to examine the extent to which meeting design characteristics influenced meeting effectiveness and provides practical recommendations on optimising the effectiveness of the meeting. A mixed-method consisting of quantitative and qualitative approaches was applied in this study. The findings revealed a significant relationship between meeting design characteristics and meeting effectiveness. The results showed that the meeting management toolkit intervention plan has successfully enhanced the meeting design and subsequently the effectiveness of meetings in MCMC. The findings of this study have implications impacting employees’ meeting experiences and perceptions of meeting effectiveness. This study also provides a foundation and reference for researchers and practitioners who want to explore further into this subject.