Factors That Contribute to Dysfunctional Meeting Culture (Communications & Media Essay)

Reforming the Team
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Factors That Contribute to Dysfunctional Meeting Culture
The major factors contributing to the dysfunctional meeting culture are the absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, and inattention to results (Wilkinson, 2012). The absence of trust from members is a core indicator of a dysfunctional meeting. 
The members involved in the group tend to express their ideas due to insecurity issues they have among themselves. When trust among team members is broken, fear results.
Fear of conflict is another indicator of a dysfunctional meeting culture (Wilkinson, 2012). The members involved in a meeting could develop fear due to past betrayals or mistreatment. When people have anxiety, they tend to hold their opinions on the topic under discussion to avoid being judged by others. As a result, the final decision made in the meeting may fail to be substantial as some member’s views are not put in place. 
Moreover, dysfunctional meeting culture is characterized by a lack of commitment (Wilkinson, 2012). Many members involved in such a discussion may fail to share their ideas to avoid being assigned responsibilities. Therefore, some of the people participating in a meeting may seem withdrawn as a mechanism to avoid commitments. They neither argue for nor against any decision made.
Inattention to results also defines a dysfunctional meeting culture. The members may tend to focus on personal ego, success, and status at the topic's expense to discuss. Members may tend to personalize every issue discussed, thus becoming the source of conflict.  
Behaviors Noticed from BOS Members.
The specific behaviors witnessed from the meeting are withdrawn of some members, communication breakdown, blame and game, and formation of subgroups (Shaffran, 2003). During the meeting, several team members fail to give attention to the proceedings of the meeting. For instance, at the beginning of the meeting, two top officials: a meal and a female sited at the furthest right, fail to join the rest of the team when taking a photo. Also, the very same members barely participate in the sharing of ideas and opinions. The female’s character is more conspicuous as the gets in and out of the meeting room as it progresses. 
Communication breakdown is another behavior that is witnessed from the meeting. Different parties barely pay attention to what is discussed (Shaffran, 2003). Also, the rule of turn-taking is hardly observed as every member is allowed to express himself or herself without any order. At one point in the meeting, the meeting comes to standstill and directs its focus to individual gatherings.
Additionally, blame game and formation of small groups is quite evident from the meeting (Shaffran, 2003). Some members tend to pair and discuss personal issues instead of sharing their opinions on the topic under discussion. Also, the members fail to rea substantial agreement due to emotional problems. The chairperson blames the rest of the members for a failure on the painting or road and vice versa. At the end of the meeting, the members cannot make a clear decision due to conflict.
Illustrating of Facial Expressions and Body Language using Examples from the meeting
Facial expressions and body language have been misused during the meetings. The members use facial expression to indicate their disagreement and happiness in the meeting (Shaffran, 2003). From the beginning of the meeting to the end, the two top official members sited at the left handoff the meeting room wear a sad face throughout. This indicate they never agreed on anything that was being discussed. In some instance, the lady who is among the withdrawn top official member, puts on a frowned face to express he disappointment. Moreover, some of the members could be seen disagreeing through tilting of heads, rubbing of hands briskly, leading on the table and failing to focus on the speaker.
 Aspect of Division of the team
It is evident that there is rivalry from the group members. Some members side with the chairperson while others are not in support of him (Shaffran, 2003). When taking a photo for instance, two members deliberately exclude themselves from the process. They seem to be less concerned with what the rest of the team are doing.
 How Individuals Agenda on the BOS meeting affects the Town Overall
The disagreements on the way forward from BOS meeting could have underlying effects to the Town People. First, the team never agreed on how to repair the road (Shaffran, 2003). Instead of deciding the appropriate strategy to follow to solve the issue, the entire discussion was shifted to one person. Therefore, no amicable decision was attained. The Town people had to go back to the actual reality of the road and keep enduring the discomforts that comes along. Moreover, the behaviour of the meeting members may have portrayed a wrong image to the public. The Town people may fail to trust the members anymore as it was pointed out that some of the team members are very corrupt. They make use of the opportunity meant to help the general public for personal gain.
The view of Audience’s Behaviour as a Sign of Passive Aggressive.
The audience following the proceedings for the meeting can be said to be passively aggressive (Shaffran, 2003). This is evident from how they presented themselves from the outside. Some could roll their eyes, sighing loudly among others to show how disappointed and sad they were. It was quite unfortunate for the audience to be betrayed by their own leaders especially on the...