Staff meetings can be classified into the following types:
1. Formal meetings:
2. Informal meetings.
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3. Planned informal meetings.
4. Emergency meetings.
1. Formal Meetings:
These include committee’s large briefing groups and some project-progress meetings. They are routine meetings often held at regular intervals. Sometimes it is the only way to control large groups covering varied topics.
Such meetings have rigid, structured agendas with a specific time allotted to subjects by agreement with participants. There is a strict adherence to time limits. Examples of agenda of formal meetings include:
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(a) Formulating a curriculum.
(b) Classification of students.
(c) Allotment of duties and subjects to be taught to teachers.
(d) Preparation of time-table.
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(e) Decisions concerning co-curricular activities and other school/college celebrations.
(f) Issues concerning examinations such as fixing dates for examinations, time-table for examinations, paper-settings, allotment of supervision and assessment duties and so on.
(g) Institution’s progress.
(h) Personnel policies.
(i) Discipline, enforcement of rules and regulations.
(j) Adoption and implementation of new teaching and evaluation methods.
2. Informal Meetings:
These can be ad hoc in nature. Such meetings are conducted when the group feels “It’s time we need to talk”. Such a meeting could also be a sub-group of a formal meeting. Typically, they are convened to deal with specific issues, rather than an entire subject.
Little notice is needed for convening such a meeting. This type of meeting could include a small group of two people or a larger group of up to six people. The outcome of such a meeting is usually a plan, a solution or a request to hold a larger, formal meeting.
3. Planned Informal Meetings:
For a leader responsible for planning institutional tasks and activities, such a meeting is the most useful. The principal decides the objectives of such a meeting, identifies and selects participants, prepares his/her case and deals with staff members singly or in groups.
It is necessary to think about all the possible individuals who could provide help in the process of planning before conducting such a meeting so as to avoid random results, misunderstanding and waste of time and energy.
4. Emergency Meetings:
These meetings are convened when unforeseen or unexpected situations arise. Such meetings are called at a short notice. Examples of situations when such a meeting is convened include:
(a) The visit of an educational or government official, a dignitary or an inspecting authority to the school/college.
(b) A case of gross misbehaviour, negligence or indiscipline by students and in some cases by a teacher.
(c) Sudden strike-call given by students, teachers or lion-teaching staff.
(d) Some unforeseen calamity such as fire, flood, riots, attacks by hooligans and so forth.
(e) If request for a meeting comes from a few staff members.