Discuss five situations when face-to-face meetings are most appropriate to use. Discuss the limitations of face-to-face meetings and electronic meetings

Answer 1

Face-to-face meetings continue to be the most-used meeting format in most organizations. They offer distinct advantages and are appropriate in the following situations:
a. When you need the richest nonverbal cues, including body, voice, proximity, and touch
b. When issues are especially sensitive
c. When participants do not know one another
d. When establishing group rapport and relationships is crucial
e. When participants can be in the same place at the same time
While face-to-face meetings provide a rich nonverbal context and direct human contact, they also have certain limitations. In addition to the obvious logistical issues of schedules and distance, face-to-face meetings may be dominated by overly vocal, quick-to-speak, and high-status members.
Electronic meetings have the following limitations:
a. They cannot replace face-to-face contact, especially when group efforts are just beginning and when groups are trying to build group values, trust, and emotional ties.
b. They can make it harder to reach consensus, because more ideas are generated and because it might be harder to interpret the strength of other members' commitment to their proposals.
c. The success of same-time meetings is dependent on all participants having excellent keyboarding skills to engage in rapid-fire, in-depth discussion. This limitation might be overcome as the use of voice input systems becomes more prevalent.