[A study in seat-taking in meeting situations: territorial maintenance and status in group]

The relationship between maintenance of territory (specified seating area) in seat-taking and members' status in a small group was investigated by means of observing a faculty meeting of a college from April '81 to March '83. In this period an addition of six new members with a net increment of two low status members demanded the redistribution of the space and the shift of the seating place of each member. Data obtained for 15 meetings held under the same chairman in the same meeting room were analyzed. The results verified the working hypotheses on dominant territorial maintenance by high status members: upper areas were customarily occupied by high status members who were fewer in number, and more territorial stability was seen among high status senior members. In addition, members of related specialties sat on the same (window vs. entrance) sides.