Two Social Functions of Stepwise Transitions When Discussing Ideas in Workplace Meetings

Using conversation analysis and audio recordings of workplace meetings, we analyze stepwise transitions in discussions about ideas during meetings. We demonstrate that, in this context, stepwise transitions have functions related to maintaining cooperative social relationships by offering a way to (a) resist the presuppositions of the presented idea without explicit disagreement and (b) smoothly bypass ongoing or evolving disagreements when assessing the idea. Thus, the mundane view of stepwise transitions as a random disruption to meeting interactions is misleading. We discuss the results in relation to the literature on group interaction related to idea development and topic management and disagreements in workplace meetings.