Meeting Management Skills of District Directors of National Education According to Perceptions of School Managers

The purpose of this research is the examination of meeting management skills of District Directors of National Education according to the perception of school managers. Scanning model, as one of the Quantitative methods, was used in the research. The research universe is the managers of schools in districts of Maltepe, Sultanbeyli, Kartal and Pendik. 309 school managers formed the sample of the research which was determined by a random sampling method. According to the education level of school managers, in their perception of meeting management skills of District Directors of National Education, no significant difference was found in sub-dimensions of participant management, time management, and management of meeting room facilities, management of meeting agenda, and management of minutes of meeting. However, a significant difference was found in the sub-dimension of meeting management skills and in total scale. Managers with a B.A degree evaluated more positively the District Directors of National Education than managers with a graduate degree. According to the duties of the school managers, there was a significant difference in the sub-dimension of participant management among the arithmetic averages (mean) of the groups in the meeting management skills of the District Director of National Education. While there was a significant difference in total scale and in skills of meeting management and time management regarding school managers’ perception of meeting management skills of the District Director of National Education according to the age of school managers, there was no difference in other sub-dimensions.


Background
The world has been formed of small groups that come together with the purposes of exchange of information, preparation of plans, praying and worshipping, taking decisions or revising the weaknesses of previously adopted decisions (Doyle ve Straus, 1998, p. 9). "Strategic management is the process of making decision, planning, coordinating and taking some actions by the top managers of a company in order to achieve set goals and objectives" (Nuraini, E., et al.,2015, p.161). At the same time, quality management is a part of management strategy aimed for organizational goals (Sharma, S., & Chandra A.K., 2018, p.82). Meetings are very important structure for strategic management process. Meetings are an essential part of the life of every organization and your ability to run effective meetings with your management skills is a critical part of your success in meeting management (https://www.briantracy.com/blog/leadership-success/improve-meeting-management-and-management-skills-for-effecti ve-meetings/, Online, 24.07.2018). Meeting is termed as a process of discussion on certain topics in which the managers meet to find a solution for existent problems and a gathering for talking about an agenda. In the dictionary of TDK, meeting is a gathering of more than one individual in line with a certain goal (Dogan, 2013, p. 4).
Public institutions may need to hold a meeting due to the reasons such as scientific searches, training and security  (Cakıcı, 2006, p. 35). Various definitions of meeting in literature are as follows: (Ozturk, ve Keskin, 2011, p. 3): •"Gathering of more than one individual for discussing a problem, an event or a phenomenon is a called as a meeting." •" A session that related parties come together to discuss the topics on the basis of an agenda."

The Importance of a Meeting
Meetings are hold in order to ensure the productivity of work, support the order, become systematical and give the spirit of unity at work place.
The situations where meetings are required to hold (Dogan, 2013, p. 4): • "The need for clarification of employees on a specific issue" • "Expressions of the employees' opinions" • "When prompted to receive information from the team" • "Where there is a need to resolve a problem or to make a decision" • "Motivating employees, providing feedback, persuading interlocutors, training and developing, strengthening status" • "In the event that employees request a meeting, this demand must be evaluated." Today, meeting management has had a professional structure with the emergence of different task definitions and responsibilities such as meeting organizer, meeting planner. As emerging effective management approach has raised success on the agenda, the importance given to the planners has been increased and enterprises have adopted the professional perspective (Tavmergen ve Aksakal, 2004, p.5).
The main purpose of organizing meetings in organizations is to share information among managers or between managers and employees and to get the opinions and suggestions of the participants and to ensure that the decisions to be taken are correct and complete. The decisions taken as a result of such meetings make management's work easier because they are the kind that everyone accepts (Mısırlı, 2013, p. 3).

The Issues That Need to Be Considered About the Meetings
Even if all directing policies are followed for an effective meeting, there may still be something wrong with it (Morgan, 2006, p.64). The important thing is to make meetings effective. In order to do this, it is necessary to know how to prepare for meetings, the ways of continuing the meeting effectively, the need to combine the objectives and how to finalize the meeting without neglecting what the meeting was intended for (Linkemer, 1993, p. 1) The primary functions of a decision-making meeting are to make decisions, solve problems, determine a strategy or plan (Feigelson, 1998, p.16).
Many realize the need for agendas in order to provide general structure of the meeting and control of the outcome of the meeting. In addition to this, the agenda also allows the participants to prepare for the meeting. This agenda facilitates the management of meeting follow-up and issues to be discussed (Payne ve Payne, 1998).
It is very important that a meeting start in a positive atmosphere. At the beginning of the meeting, the responsibility of comforting the environment falls largely on the manager of meeting. For this purpose, it is useful to provide the following points in order for the meeting to start and continue in a positive atmosphere. Therefore, to comply with the protocol and courtesy rules applied at meetings (Mısırlı, 2013, p. 13): • Come to the meeting just in time.
• Contact the participants in the meeting closely.
• Briefly summarize the purpose of the meeting.
• Create a democratic and participatory environment.
• Handle the issues which are difficult to resolve at the beginning of the meeting.
• Take on a unifying and conciliatory role.
• Thank very often.
• Establish eye contact with all participants.
• Make your criticisms to the views, not to the person • Do not allow negative and aggressive behavior.
• Do not extend the meeting period unnecessarily.

Aims of the Meeting
It can be one of the most effective management studies since meetings are aimed at an open goal or are determined for which purpose they are held and a step towards achieving that goal (Dogan, 2013, p.10). Before gathering people, the agenda of the meeting and how long the items on the agenda will take should be determined and the time limits should not be exceeded unless they are enforced. However, it is very important to be flexible when needed; according to situation, some issues should be given for a shorter or longer time (Adair, 2003, p.128) Create and use basic rules -the basic rules are clear rules that the group agrees to follow to make it easier for the group to be productive. The basic rules show the expectations of "what needs to be done in meetings". Examples of the basic rules that are typically used include: Start the meeting on time; stick to the agenda; involve everyone; be realistic when accepting follow-up tasks; focus on interests and not on positions; diverge the problem from people; respect different perspectives; share responsibility for compliance with the basic rules (Rebori, 1997).

Evaluation of the Meeting
No matter how well the meeting manager has organised, maintained and concluded the meeting, the meeting manager must evaluate the implementation results of the decisions taken. For this purpose, the meeting manager has to monitor the participants and evaluate whether the decisions taken after the meeting are complied with. (Dogan, 2013, p. 57). After the meeting, it is up to you as the leader of the meeting to write a brief summary of the key decisions that need to be followed, steps that need to be taken, responsible people, and a one-page timeline. This summary should be sent to all concerned persons, including those who are present at the meeting and are not required to be present (Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2006). Make sure that the meeting minutes or actions are reported. Returning to members for a week at most (this helps keep pace going) (Carter, 2002).
While working on goals, these three golden rules should be considered (Barker, 2000, p. 21.): 1. Every Meeting Is Unique.
If a meeting is held without a good reason, it's very expensive. If you can't find a reason, or if you can reach your goals by other means, ask yourself if organizing a meeting is necessary.

The Success of A Meeting Is Judged According To The Results Obtained.
At the end of the meeting, if everyone agreed to hold another meeting, it means that some things went seriously wrong. After the meeting, consider writing a work list and review the work list; ask yourself if you can accept any of these works without holding the meeting. It will help you make the next meeting more effective.

Maintaining A Meeting Is The Responsibility Of The Entire Group.
The primary responsibility for the success of the meeting is in the hands of the President (or the organizer of the meeting). However, each participant must contribute to the execution of the meeting. As President of the meeting, you can also become a coach by managing meetings, improving people's skills and guiding them with examples.
Meetings are arrangements that provide communication between people, give opportunity to produce creative ideas, and are useful for the training of staff (Dogan, 2013, p.3). It is a standard and often necessary way of sharing information, planning, solving problems, developing strategies and making decisions. Planning will be the essence of your work. Managing effective meetings requires commitment and attention.
In National Education Institutions, District Managers of National Education frequently hold meetings with school administrators and attempt to find a common solution to the problems. In order for these meetings to be a solution-oriented, it is up to the District Managers of National Education who organize the meeting to prepare the meeting, to set the agenda and to review all phases of the meeting. That the District Managers of National Education has a good command of meeting management and principles of meeting will ensure the meeting to be more efficient.
The aim of the research is to determine the meeting management skills of District Managers of National Education according to the perception of school administrators working under the Ministry of National Education. With this research, the opinions of the school principals regarding the meetings have been determined and by providing suggestions, many ideas have been given to the district administrations. District Managers of National Education may have ideas for the parts to be improved in their frequent meetings they hold and for resolving the deficiencies that have been observed.
In this context, the need for arranging meetings properly in order to fulfill their functionality is a problem for many institutions and managers. This situation manifests itself in frequent meetings held within the National Education organization. In this context, The Problem Statement of the research were determined as "how is the meeting management skills of District Managers of National Education according to the perceptions of school administrators?"

Research Design
In the research, it was aimed to determine the meeting management skills of the District Managers of National Education according to the perceptions of the educational managers. Scanning model, as one of the Quantitative methods, was used in the research.
As the research tried to describe the current situation, it was arranged in accordance with the scanning model. Scanning models are a research approach that aims to describe without changing the situation. Time is not important in this research approach. The event, person or object taking place in these studies is tried to define without changing, as in their own terms. It's not going to affect them. There are those who do not want to be known, and they are there. What is important is to be able to observe and determine it appropriately (Karasar, 2003, p.77).

Population and Sample
The universe of the research was formed by school managers and assistant managers in Maltepe, Sultanbeyli, Kartal and Pendik districts. From this universe, a total of 309 school managers, determined by means of random sampling, formed the sample.
The basic characteristic of random sampling methods is that the sample has a high power to represent the universe. This is because the probability of being selected for the sampling units is equal for the units that are based on the sampling. With these methods, it is aimed to create samples with high representation power, where valid generalizations can be made to the universe (Buyukozurk et al., 2009).

Data Collection Tool and Application
Personal information form and meeting management skills scale (Calıskan, 2009) were used to collect data from managers in the sample group.

Personal Information Form
It is a questionnaire created to measure the demographic information of educational managers. Questions include personal variables such as duty, gender, graduation, vocational seniority and age.

Scale of Meeting Management Attitudes and Skills
In this study's scale (Meeting Management Skills Scale) was developed by Calıskan, which study's questions were collected under six dimensions in a scale which was developed to measure "meeting management attitudes and skills" of school managers in charge of primary education (Calıskan, 2009). These consist of factor analysis of 30 articles on "meeting management skills", 7 articles on "managing time control", 2 articles on "managing meeting room facilities", 4 articles on "managing meeting agenda" in the fourth dimension, 2 articles on "managing participants" in the fifth dimension, 2 articles on "managing minutes of meeting" in the sixth dimension. The scale was given in Appendix. Calıskan (2009) applied to the expert opinion for the validity of the data collection tool in the creation of sub-dimensions. According to the opinions of experts in the field, expressions of sub-dimensions represent these dimensions. Calıskan (2009) presented a draft form consisting of fifty-eight articles to a group of teachers and school principals' criticism, and the number of articles was reduced to 47 according to the feedback of the field experts. For the reliability study of the data collection tool, a teacher group of 134 people was pre-applied and then the internal consistency of the dimensions (Cronbach's alpha, 0.93) were checked by data obtained from these measures. The survey data were rated as (1) never, (2) sometimes, (3) neutral, (4) generally and (5) always.
As a result of the validity and reliability study conducted on the questionnaire, Calıskan (2009) prepared 47 questions for the survey data analysis and according to the reliability analysis results included in the questionnaire, Cronbach' s alpha reliability coefficient was calculated as 0.93. This value indicates that the reliability of the survey is quite high.

Data Collection
After sampling was determined in the 2016-2017 academic year and the necessary permissions for research were obtained through legal means, the schools were visited and the school administrators were informed. The scales were replicated by the number of education managers and applied. The scales were applied to 309 managers and collected by the researcher at the end of the survey. Analyses were carried out with 309 participants.

Analysis
The data obtained by the scales were encoded and analyzed with the help of the SPSS 21.0 package program. The distribution of frequency and percentage data about the first portion of the scale were taken; the arithmetic average (mean) and standard deviation for the determination of managers' perceptions were calculated; since the distribution is normal in binary comparisons, "t" test was used in order to illustrate the difference between attitudes; one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used in the comparison of the means of three or more groups. Scheffe Test (multiple comparisons) was applied when the difference was found to be significant. Whether there is a statistically significant difference among opinions or not was tested at the significance level of α < 0.05. Cronbach's alpha value of study for all subsets is 0.5, as normally the decision  In this study, questions were collected under six dimensions, according to the factor analysis of 47 articles on "meeting management skills", 7 articles on "managing time control", 2 articles on "managing meeting room facilities", 4 articles on "managing meeting agenda" in the fourth dimension, 2 articles on "managing participants" in the fifth dimension, 2 articles on "managing minutes of meeting" in the sixth dimension.

Results
As shown in Table 2, as a result of the scale applied to school managers about meeting management skills of District Directors of National Education, meeting management skills sub-dimension scores were ( x =114.20, sd=13,088), participant management sub-dimension scores were ( x =8,37, sd=1,343), time management sub-dimension scores were ( x =24,00, sd=4,350), meeting room management sub-dimension scores were ( x =6,14, sd=1,442), management of meeting agenda sub-dimension scores were ( x =15,08, sd=2,615), management of meeting minutes sub-dimension scores were ( x =7,34, sd=1,418) and total scale scores were ( x =175,13, sd=20,045). As seen in Table 3, as a result of T test conducted in order to determine whether there is a significant difference in the perception of meeting management skills of District Directors of National Education according to the duties of school managers who formed the sample group, the difference in the mean of the groups was (t 103)= -,730; p>0.05 for meeting management skills (MMS), t (103)  As shown in Table 4, as a result of t test conducted in order to determine whether there is a significant difference in the perceptions of meeting management skills of District Directors of National Education according to the gender of school managers who formed the sample group; the difference in the mean of groups was (t (103)= -, 445 p>0.05) for for meeting management skills, (t(103) =, 251 p>0.05) for participant management, (t (103)=, 329 p>0.05) for time management, (t(103)=,288 p>0.05) for management of meeting room, (t(103)=, 303 p>0.05) for management of the meeting agenda, (t(103)=-1.077 p>0.05) for management of minutes of meeting and total score was (t(103)=-,218 p>0.05). Therefore, any significant difference was not found in total score and in any of the sub-dimensions. As shown in Table 5, as a result of t test conducted in order to determine whether there is a significant difference in the perception of meeting management skills of District Directors of National Education according to the graduate level of the school managers who formed the sample group, the difference in the mean of groups was (t(103)=,172 p>0.05) for participant management, (t(103)=,746 p>0.05) for time management, (t(103)=-,438 p>0.05) for management of meeting room, (t(103)=1,360 p>0.05) for management of the meeting agenda, (t(103)=1,570 p>0.05) for management of minutes of meeting. While there was no significant difference in these sub-dimensions, a significant difference was found in total score (t(103)=2,167 p<0.05) and in the sub-dimension of meeting management skills (t(103)=2,681 p<0.05). The managers with an undergraduate degree evaluated the District Directors of National Education more positively than the managers with a graduate degree. As seen in Table 6, in the one way analysis of variance run in order to determine whether there is a significant difference in the perception of meeting management skills of the District Directors of National Education according to the seniority of the school managers who formed the sample group, there was no statistically significant difference among the mean of the groups in total score and in sub-dimensions (  As seen in Table 7, ANOVA was run in order to determine whether there is a significant difference in the perception of meeting management skills of the District Directors of National Education according to the ages of the school managers who formed the sample group. While the difference in the mean of the groups was significant in total score and in meeting management skills and time management, there was no significant difference in other sub-dimensions. Scheffe test was applied in order to understand among which groups there was a significant difference and results were given in Table 7.1. As seen in Table 7.1, as a result of Scheffe test conducted to determine which groups differ in the perceptions of meeting management skills of District Directors of National Education according to the ages of the school managers who formed the sample group, there was a significant difference in total score and in sub-dimensions of meeting management skills and time management by age groups of 22-35 and 43 and over. The age group of 23-35 was found to think more positively. Among other groups, there was no significant difference.

Recommendations
1. First of all, meetings are a managerial tool that conducts communication in organizations, prepares the basis for the transition to participatory democratic governance, ensures making effective decisions, contributes to the creation and development of organizational culture, and incorporates many features such as education, solidarity, and motivation. Meeting management training should be given to all District Directors of National Education and school managers who are currently working. Therefore, meeting management information, skills and attitudes can be provided.
2. Conducting required researches on this topic, the necessary regulations can be prepared by the Ministry of National Education.
3. In all departments of education faculties, a meeting management course can be put in line with the fact that each student is an executive candidate.
4. One of the important factors in meeting management process is communication skills. This process is completely governed by personal skills. It has been observed that when training activities are carried out in groups in organizations, there is an increase in the productivity of the employees after the training meetings. In-service training activities on this subject will improve the current situation. Another field in the management of the meeting is to use and read the body language.
5. Managers should receive feedback from the participants to improve their meetings and make the necessary improvements by evaluating them. In this context, managers' perceptions of meeting management can be investigated.
6. The effectiveness of meetings held in the central organization of the Ministry of National Education may be investigated. The level of achievement of the goals of the meetings can be investigated.
7. Qualitative and quantitative research can be carried out on the development of meeting management attitudes and skills. The leadership style of the manager on meeting effectiveness can be investigated.

Discussion
Calıskan (2009) found that the male teachers in the evaluation of the "meeting management skills" of school principals in primary schools were more positive than female teachers. Male teachers stated that decisions were taken within the framework of democratic principles at the meetings, that participants were given the opportunity to express their views at the meetings, and that they found an atmosphere in which the opinions of the participants would be expressed freely. Female teachers thought that certain groups are more effective at meetings. The reason for this is that females have a quieter nature compared to males and they are more reluctant to reflect their views than males. In Sencan's study (2008), no significant difference was found between the perceptions of female and male teachers in the sub-dimensions of "task leadership", "participation management" and "managing group dynamics" according to gender variable. In sub-dimensions of "process leadership" and "preparation", there was a difference between the perceptions of female and male teachers in favor of male teachers. Study's findings are similar in those literatures.
Similar to study findings, there was no significant difference among the perceptions of teachers with associate degree, bachelor degree and master degree education in the sub-dimensions of "task leadership", "process leadership" and "managing group dynamics" according to the level of education variable (Sencan, 2008). The perceptions of teachers who earned an associate degree were higher in the sub-dimension of "participation management" than those who earned an undergraduate and a graduate degree.
In the "preparation" sub-dimension, the perceptions of teachers with an associate degree were higher than those of teachers with a graduate level degree. In contrast to this finding, there was no significant difference according to educational variable (Taskın, 2005). In terms of management functions and meeting management's contributions to effective management, no difference was found at 0.05 level between the p values of the responses given by the managers and other employees regarding meeting management according to the education variable. According to the education variable, there was a harmony between the employees' opinions of management functions regarding meeting management and meeting management's contributions to effective management According to Calıskan (2009), when the level of education increases, dissatisfaction also increases on topics such as taking decisions within democratic frameworks, preparation for meetings sufficiently, managing meetings with appropriate managerial skills and managers' possession of the skills exposing group dynamics, effective presentation skill of managers and encouraging cooperation in solving problems, achieving the goals set in meetings, existence of bi-directional information flow and being fair in the distribution of tasks, informing those who do not attend meetings afterwards, taking into account interest, willingness and competency in the distribution of tasks, the managers' delivery of their messages in the right way, putting the decisions into practice, formation of the meeting with the participants suitable for the purpose, paying attention to the rules of courtesy by the managers. The reason for this is that the expectations required by the level of education are high.
Similar to study findings, it can be said that regarding directors' possession of sufficient managerial skills, dissatisfaction of teachers with less experience are more than that of experienced teachers. This may be due to the fact that they have contemporary management skills related to their new graduation. It can be said that teachers who are more senior are more dissatisfied with the facts that managers give opportunity to deepen the meeting and that they should pay attention to the rules of kindness in meetings, compared to teachers who are less seniors. It can be said that teachers who are less senior are more dissatisfied with the characteristics such as reaching the targets set in meetings, having bi-directional information flow, informing those who are not attending the meetings afterwards and distributing the tasks on the basis of desire and competence in the meetings than teachers who are more senior (Calıskan, 2009).
According to the working time variable (Sencan, 2008), there was no significant difference between groups in sub-dimensions of "task leadership" and "managing group dynamics". In sub-dimensions of "participation management", "process leadership" and "preparation", perceptions of teachers working with the same managers for 3-5 years are higher than those of teachers who have a working time of 0-2 years with the same manager.
Similar to study finding, there was a significant difference for the planning which is a management functions of the meeting management and for the age variable. It was understood that the difference was due to the answers given by those under 30 years of age and those ages between 40 and 49 years. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the employees under 30 years of age are uncertain about whether or not managers from each level attend the planning activities, and it can also be concluded that the employees between 40-49 years of age are of the opinion that managers at all levels are ensured to participate to planning activities by means of the meetings. According to this, the reason why young people are still undecided is because they are not invited to planning meetings.

Conclusion
According to the duties of the school managers, there was no significant difference in any sub-dimension except for the participant management and the meeting management skills of District Directors of National Education. In the sub-dimension of participant management, school managers evaluated the meeting management skills of District Directors of National Education more positively and according to the gender of the education managers, there was no significant difference in total score and in any of sub-dimensions regarding the meeting management skills of District Directors of National Education.
According to the graduate level of the education managers, there was no significant difference in sub-dimensions of participant management, time control management, meeting room facilities, meeting agenda management and management of meeting minutes in the perception of meeting management skills of District Directors of National Education. However, a significant difference was found in total score and in the sub-dimension of meeting management skills. The managers who graduated from an undergraduate program evaluated the District Directors of National Education more positively than the managers with a graduate degree. 2. Adequate preparation is done for meetings.

APPENDIX
3. Meetings are means of approve managers' decisions and notification.
4. Managers manage the meetings with appropriate administrative skills.

5.
The manager of the meeting has appropriate skills to direct the meeting in accordance with the purposes.
6. The manager of the meeting has appropriate skills to extract the group dynamic and lead it accordingly.
7. The managers of the meeting have appropriate presentation skills and effective uses the related material.
8. The manager of the meeting allows distractions from the predetermined topics and lets the meeting be prolonged. 9. A meeting is organized for the circumstances that can not be solved otherwise.
10. Participants are given opportunity to state their thoughts.
11. Cooperation is encouraged in order to solve the problems during the meetings 12. Meetings are directed with a democratic approach.
13. Leaders talk too much during the meetings.
14. The managers of the meetings treat everyone fairly during the discussions.
15. The meetings reach the predetermined aims.
16. Two-way flow of information is provided at the meetings.
17. Assignments are commissioned fairly at the meetings.
18. Participants are provided an environment that they feel free to express their dissenting opinions. 19. The individuals who were not able to attend the meeting are later informed regarding the content of the meeting and the decisions that were taken during the meeting.
20. Distribution of roles is based on interest, willingness and capability.
21. The manager of the meeting is an example with his/her grooming and appearance.
22. The managers convey their messages in the most correct way at the meetings.
23. The managers exhibit an upbuilding and tolerant attitude in case of negative situations and criticism.
24. The manager of meeting allows jokes when it is appropriate.
25. The manager of meeting has broad knowledge regarding the theme of the meeting.
26. The decisions taken at the meetings are applied.
27. The meetings are consist of participants that are relevant to the purpose of the groups.
28. The meetings are organized because of the obligation imposed by the regulations.
29. The manager of meeting pays attention to the protocol rules.
30. Certain groups are effective during the meetings.
31. Everyone who has to participate joins the meeting.
32. All related managers and teachers join the meetings.
33. Meetings are organized at the right time.
34. Time is used effectively and efficiently during the meetings.
35. Meetings are organized in appropriate intervals.
36. Start time and end time of the meetings are certain.