只要提到電話會議，你很快就會發現，企業界對此的態度兩極分化得十分嚴重。
一方面，有人爲電話會議大唱讚歌，認爲它是一種能夠提高生產力的.商業工具，也有助於在預算緊張之際削減差旅成本。
而另一方面，也有人對電話會議深惡痛絕，認爲它很不實用，是實體會議的拙劣替代品。
但不論好惡，電話會議已成爲商界生活中一項無可避免的固定成分。
Mention conference calls and you will soon discover the corporate world is sharply polarised.
On the one hand are those who sing their praises as a productivity- boosting business tool that helps cut travel costs at a time when budgets are tight.
Then there are those who absolutely hate them, believing them to be unwieldy and a poor substitute for a meeting.
But, love them or loathe them, they are an unavoidable fixture in business life.
“I couldn’t do my job without them,” says Tony Reeves, European partner at Clifford Chance, based in Brussels. “My clients are all over the world, in different time zones. They’re the only way of getting people together.” However, he adds, there are two golden rules: “The first is that you have to have a disciplined chair with an agenda and the second is that you can’t have mobile phones without a mute function.”
Mr Reeves says without an agenda, a conference call can quickly become rudderless or hijacked. He also cautions that the agenda should be short, as participants’ attention drifts more quickly when they are on the phone and they forget where to come in on the conversation.
The reason mobiles need to be muted is simply that they are prone to pick up and amplify background noise, which can disrupt the virtual meeting when others are talking and greatly reduce its efficiency.
Jane Farrell, chief executive of the consultancy Equality Works, takes a similar view: “The rules that are important in conference calls are those which are important in meeting.” Like Mr Reeves, she’s a strong believer in a good chair. “You want someone who is going to direct the meeting, to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to speak. They will also direct the call – for instance, saying, ‘We need a bit more detail’ when someone has been unclear.”
Cary Cooper, professor of business psychology at Lancaster University School of management, says a good chair will also be adept at conflict resolution. “In conference calls, conflict can be much more difficult to defuse. In a meeting, if things get heated people will normally take a break.” Not being physically there, he explains, tends to make people less inhibited: “If you want to be obstinate and block things, or argue and behave badly, it’s far easier to do.”