The Structure of Interaction at Meetings: A Social Network Analysis

Abstract. Which factors contribute to effective meetings? The interaction among participants plays a key role. Interaction is a relational, interdependent process that constitutes social structure. Applying a network perspective to meeting interactions allows us to take account of the social structure. The aim of this study was to use social network analysis to distinguish functional and dysfunctional interaction structures and gain insight into the facilitation of meetings by analyzing antecedents and consequences of functional interaction structures. Data were based on a field study in which 51 regular meetings were videotaped and coded with act4teams. Analyses revealed that compared with dysfunctional networks, functional interaction is less centralized and has a positive effect on team performance. Social similarity has a crucial effect on functional interaction because participants significantly interact with others who are similar in personal initiative and self-efficacy. Our results provide importa...

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