According to Lussier (2010), meeting planning is necessary in five areas, which include objectives, participants and tasks, agenda, time and location of meeting and leadership. I recently attended a meeting with a group of architects and clinicians at a Boston area hospital where it was evident that the project manager had used meeting scheduling. For example, the project manager laid out the objectives at the start of the meeting. This allowed us to stay focused on our task. Additionally, each member present had a particular skill set, specific to the project and the meeting. The project manager relied on each person to provide feedback and expertise to move the meeting forward and achieve goals. The group had a pre-established weekly date and time that worked with everyone's schedule. At the end of the meeting, the project manager reviews the achieved objectives and assigns the new tasks to the appropriate person. Lussier (2010) believes that organizations rely on groups to come up with new ideas and ways of doing business. “There are a variety of techniques to use, including brainstorming, synetics, nominal clustering, consensus mapping, and the Delphi technique” (Lussier, 2010, p. 465). In the following five paragraphs, I have listed examples where it would be appropriate for a manager to use each technique. “Brainstorming is the process of suggesting several alternatives, without evaluation, to solve problems” (Lussier, 2010, p. 465). The research and development department of a shoe company has just developed a brand new shoe ready for market. They pass it to the marketing department but it doesn't have a name. The marketing department is therefore responsible for naming this new shoe. In the middle of the document, I discovered that they had more alternatives when using creative group techniques. Additionally, employees are more likely to accept decisions because they have been involved in the process. This can lead to high morale within the organization. The majority of organizations are moving towards collective decision-making (Lussier, 2010). However, this has potential drawbacks. Group decision-making tends to take more time and takes the employee away from their daily work. Additionally, employees may feel peer pressure to conform to a certain idea. This could be counterproductive for the organization. Works cited Lussier, RN (2010). Human relations in organizations: applications and skills development. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Loops.OODA: Understanding the decision cycle. (nd). Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_78.htm