Meetings are a pervasive yet much criticised mode of communication in most organisations. As they are likely to
remain a vital vehicle for solving problems and making decisions, we need to find ways of improving the effec
tiveness of meetings and lessen the amount of time invested in them. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the techni
que of Process Observation as one tool for improving meeting effectiveness. The author briefly outlines the
methodology of Process Observation and indicates some experiences and practical difficulties in using the technique.
