ABSTRACT
Unresolved disputes, personal quarrels, late responses to questions, delayed approvals for designs or expenditure can all spell disaster for projects that might otherwise have been successful. Most day-to-day project communications are informal but occasionally meetings are needed to build relationships, motivate people, resolve problems, reach decisions by consensus and generally put communications on a formal basis. Meetings should not be timed to start too early in the day if that would cause inconvenience to visiting delegates (especially those from a potential or an actual project client). However, some people argue that meetings should be scheduled fairly late in the day so that there is an incentive to get proceedings over and done with as quickly as possible. Arguments in meetings can provoke creative discussion and may not be undesirable, but they must be resolved before the meeting ends so that people do not leave feeling resentment or dissatisfaction.
