ABSTRACT
Staff meetings can have a number of purposes: giving and receiving information; generating ideas/suggestions; solving specific problems; and making decisions. Frequently, a staff meeting will combine a number of these purposes. It is important to recognize that staff meetings can fulfil other functions for a group of staff, which are concerned with group processes rather than the content of the agenda. The diversity in the composition of the staff group may mean that some staff are virtually strangers to others, only united by their presence in the meeting and their commitment to the staff group. In a team, staff are engaged in frequent face- to-face work, often with the whole group working together. By contrast, in a network, people come together to undertake particular tasks and individuals come and go throughout a working cycle. The responsibility for team development is an important part of a social care manager’s role.
