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22 - Finding the Gorilla

The Impact of Complexity and Diversity on Meeting Process

from Tools and Models for Promoting Meeting Success

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2015

By
Cheri Winton Brodeur
Edited by
Joseph A. Allen ,
Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock  and
Steven G. Rogelberg
Joseph A. Allen
Affiliation:
University of Nebraska, Omaha
Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Steven G. Rogelberg
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
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Summary

Abstract

Experienced leaders with decades of successfully leading organizations are much more likely today than in the past to make poor decisions or to be unceremoniously removed from their positions of authority. The underlying causes of these actions seem to be the failure to realize that complexity is the “new norm.” The new norm is responsible for subtle changes that are affecting meeting process, team composition, and the way problem solvers need to view the world as it grows more diverse. This chapter provides an understanding of the causes and impacts of complex systems on modern meeting planning. It introduces the concepts of a collective knowledge team (CKT) that uses diversities in a positive way to solve complex, nonlinear problems and of cognitive style theory as a powerful tool for managing team diversity and change. It also identifies 10 team task and work task competencies that appear to be crucial to team process success. Finally, it presents a complex meeting process model that incorporates complex theory, team and cognitive theory, critical skills and competencies, and the management of diversity and change into a meeting process model that, when used effectively, could increase success in modern-day problem solving.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Meeting Science , pp. 504 - 532
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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