Business 101 Week 6

Business meetings can have many obstacles to overcome. Conflict and positive productivity are two of the biggest of these obstacles. Thomas Kayser codified some key elements that could foster a positive, productive, and successful experience with business meetings in the book Mining Group Gold. Kayser’s approach is comparable to such employee diagnostic tools such as the Jobs Characteristics model which is “a model suggesting that five core job dimensions influence three critical psychological states that determine motivation, performance, and other outcomes” (Bovee & Thill, 2013). As such, Kayser’s approach is similar in the way it takes on group meetings. The first two of five basic steps in Kayser’s Mining Group Gold is to “1. Determine the purpose of the session or meeting” and “ 2. Determine the desired outcomes of the session or meeting” (Kayser, 1995). These are grouped together because they both hold the a comparable value…the value of purpose. Practically, no purpose will result in no purpose. It is a highly demoralizing agent in the meeting room and essentially anywhere else. The third through fifth points are to “3. Assign the roles of facilitator, scribe, and timekeeper. 4. Set the agenda. 5. Establish the time allocation for each item on the agenda.” (Kayser, 1995). These are grouped together because they ultimately serve the purpose of organization. Personally, an analogy I use to describe these points is to use a building that is to be constructed. The first two points are the purpose; the building materials. The remaining three points are the organization; the blueprints and architecture. If any of these elements are missing, there will be no structure built. In this way, Kayser’s Mining Group Gold technique sets a tone and a pace for a well oiled and productive business meeting.

Kayser delves a little deeper beyond these basic steps, not only expanding into detail with the Mining Group Gold steps, but also with the issue of emotions in...