Allen, J. A. & Lehmann-Willenbrock, N. (2022). The Science of Workplace Meetings: Integrating Findings, Building New Theoretical Angles, and Embracing Cross-Disciplinary Research. Introduction to the Special Issue. Organizational Psychology Review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/20413866221122896.

Given the focal role that group and team meetings play in shaping employees’ work lives (and schedules), the scarcity of conceptual and empirical attention in extant organizational psychology research is a major oversight that stalls scientific understanding of organizational behavior more broadly. With the explosion of meetings that has occurred in recent years, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some even wonder why organizational psychology has not already figured out meetings from both a science and practice perspective. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the science of workplace meetings by identifying the core features of the phenomenon and sorting the extant literature along these features. The five core features identified include leading, interacting, managing time, engaging, relating. We couch these features within a larger framework of how meetings are the intersection of collaboration in organizations and a major key to organizational success. Against this conceptual backdrop, we reviewed a total of 253 publications, noting opportunities for future research and discussing practical implications. We conclude our review with an overview of the special issue on workplace meetings, which is an overt attempt to launch research that will fill the theoretical and conceptual gap in the science of meetings.

Lubstorf, S., Allen, J. A., Eden, E., Kramer, W., Baak, M., Reiter-Palmon, R., & Lehmann-Willenbrock, N. (2023). Digging into “Zoom Fatigue”: A Qualitative Exploration of Remote Work Challenges and Virtual Meeting Stressors. Merits, 3(1), 151-166. DOI: 10.3390/merits3010010.

Purpose: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, employees suddenly had to work remotely and realize all work-related social interaction in virtual formats. The sudden shift to the virtual format came with new workplace stressors. To understand the stressors of remote work and videoconferences, we present two qualitative studies. The aim of this study is to better understand the stress associated with remote work and videoconferencing, with an emphasis on how workers cope with the added stress. Methodology: We applied thematic analysis to open-ended survey data from employees in the US (n = 349) and in-depth telephone interviews of 50 meeting leaders from the US and Germany. Findings: We identified the work–home interface, technology, and communication issues as key challenges of remote work. Further, we found camera usage, early meeting phases, and multitasking to be central stressors of videoconferences. Finally, we identified individual- and team-level coping strategies to reduce the impacts of virtual meeting stressors on employees. Originality: Our research contributes to the emerging field studying the effects of virtual work and videoconferences on employees. We provide an overview of the challenges of remote work at the early stages of the pandemic, and we present an overview of the stressors that emerge in virtual meeting environments. We discuss insights into why videoconferences may fatigue employees. Including German and US samples, our research allows a cross-cultural comparison of videoconferencing stressors. Finally, we present actionable practical recommendations to improve videoconferences.

Boydston, A., Wallach, H., Young, D., & Allen, J. A. (2023). The role of humor in work group dynamics in times of crisis: Evidence from the federal open market committee (FOMC). Small Group Research. DOI: 10.1177/10464964231173335.

Humor is a key indicator of the health of work groups, including during times of crisis. Moreover, studies of newly formed groups show that the type of humor used can change as members of a group get to know one another and form bonds. Yet in the context of a relatively established work group, can the nature of the group’s humor evolve in response to a crisis? We address this question in the context of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), examining whether the FOMC was able to pivot its use of humor following the 2007 financial crash. As hypothesized, we find a post-crash increase in “affiliative” humor in general, and “playful banter” specifically, indicating effective group dynamics among members (which bodes well for the global economy). The FOMC thus offers evidence that established work groups can use humor as a dynamic mechanism for adapting to new circumstances.

Allen, J. A., & Lehmann-Willenbrock, N. (2023). Story-telling, well-organized, or solution-focused meeting? Investigation of behavior-based group profiles and group performance. Small Group Research. DOI: 10.1177/10464964231182098.

Insights into the behavioral profile of groups during meetings help us understand why some groups outperform others on meeting and work tasks. The presented studies investigate behavior-based group profiles in meetings and their relation to group performance. A total of 101 problem-solving meetings took place in two studies in a laboratory setting; data were coded using the act4teams coding scheme and analyzed using INTERACT software. The findings indicate there are four distinct group profile clusters: story-telling, well-organized networking, solution-focused, and problem-focused profiles. These behavior-based group profiles were meaningfully and differentially linked to group performance in the context of a meeting task.

Allen, J. A., Eden, E., *Castro, K. C., *Smith, M., & Mroz, J. (2023). “So, why were you late again?”: Social account’s influence on the behavioral transgression of being late to a meeting. Merits, 3, 459-477. https://doi.org/10.3390/merits3030027.

People often offer an excuse or an apology after they do something wrong in an attempt to mitigate any potential negative consequences. In this paper, we examine how individuals employ social accounts when explaining their interpersonal transgression of meeting lateness to others in actual work settings. We examined the different combinations of social accounts and the social outcomes (forgiveness, helping behaviors, and intentions to continue interaction) of being late to a meeting. Across two studies using complementary experimental and survey methods, we found that a majority of late arrivers’ explanations included remorse and that including remorse significantly influences helping behaviors. Furthermore, we found no interaction between excuses and offering remorse. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.