Meetings as 'doing the organisation' (in collaboration with Vesa Leppänen)

In this chapter we outline our theoretical argument: meetings are central organising arenas and social situations - a primary mode of collective action - which members of most organisations turn to when understanding the organisation, its history, and future. Organisations know themselves through their past, and it is not unusual that founding and memorable meetings are important parts of their collective memory. The organisation also knows itself through meetings which project its future aims and plans. Both its near future and distant visions involve meetings with relevant partners. This touches on the importance of how the organisation comes about as it interacts, competes, or compares itself with other organisations. Finally, employees organise their everyday work-life according to past and upcoming meetings. To put it somewhat dramatically: many organisations are their meetings to a significant degree. The concept of meeting chains is introduced as both a way of understanding what organisations are and a device for how to study organisations.