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Instructors: Dr. Fabian Hattke; Friederike Elisabeth Redlbacher
Event type:
Seminar
Displayed in timetable as:
MIBAS_Int.Man10b
Hours per week:
2
Credits:
6,0
Language of instruction:
English
Min. | Max. participants:
10 | 30
Comments/contents:
Managers spend around 75% of their working time on meeting-related activities. For employees, the average time spent in meetings is 6 hours per weeks. Millions of people travel for meetings around the world. In the US, there are 25 million meetings per day, with a rising trend.
Why do we spend so much time in meetings? Some say, if you don’t want to work, just hold a meeting. But what happens during a meeting? What purposes do meetings fulfil? And which broader impact do meetings have?
So far, only fragmented insights into the purpose, functionality, and effectiveness of meetings exist. A field of meeting science has yet to emerge. In this course we approach the highly relevant social practice of meetings in an exploratory way. Building on the state-of-the-art of meeting research, students will develop their own empirical research designs for the analysis of particular aspects of meetings.
Learning objectives:
The objectives of the seminar are:
- Gain a detailed view on academic literature in the young field of meeting science
- Use different organizational theories to assess the phenomenon of meetings
- Enable students to develop feasible research projects with empirical research designs
- Enable students to write a winning research proposal (like it’s needed for a master thesis)
- Practice to give and work with feedback
Didactic concept:
Seminar (2 SWS)
In the first part of the course, we explore ways to analyze meetings, dive into “meeting science” and get prepared to work with this body of literature. The sessions are held in an interactive way, allowing discussions and feedback. In addition, students receive training on “how to write a research proposal and how to design a research poster”. Together, we develop a portfolio of research designs to empirically analyze meetings, for example observations, interviews, experiments or surveys. Students may draw on these research designs when writing their research proposal.
The second part of the seminar is dedicated to write an individual research proposal. The subject of the research proposals is the identification of a research gap in “meeting science”, the definition of a solvable problem with an appropriate research question, the presentation of a neatly worked-in theoretical background as well as the choice of an empirical context, including the sketching of a methodical approach that is appropriate to the research question.
During the block seminar (June 8-9) students present a research poster which outlines their research proposal. All students give and receive feedback. Afterwards they will have time (3 weeks) to integrate the feedback and hand in their final research proposal on June 29th.
Literature:
Allen, J. A., Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., & Rogelberg, S. G. (Hrsg.). (2015). The Cambridge Handbook of Meeting Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Online im Internet <https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107589735> .
Additional examination information:
This seminar is a project seminar (block course). As proof of course participation, students must deliver and receive a passing grade on a term paper of approx. 10 pages, for which they are solely responsible (2/3 of overall contribution). They are also required to give a presentation that introduces their research results (1/3 of overall contribution). The seminar will be held in English.
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