TWU Home > Student Life > Center for Student Development

Student Organization Manual
Organizational Basics

Committees

How to Get Your Group to Work for You

Definition
A committee is a select group of people who are brought together to do work on a particular matter that is referred to it by its parent organization.

Why Form Committees?
Unless your organization is extremely small (under six members), the work of the group can better be accomplished if it is delegated to a committee. Delegation to committees spreads out the work of the organization among all of the members and allows a few people to investigate, develop alternatives, and make recommendations for action to the organization as a whole. There are several kinds of committees that are responsible for various kinds of activities.

1. Standing Committees: these committees are established through the organization's constitution or by-laws. They have a specific function in the organization to handle a certain aspect of the organization's business. Standing Committees are a permanent part of the organization.
2. Investigating Committees: these committees are created out of a need that the organization has to look into a particular matter. The committee would do its investigation, report back to the organization, and be dissolved.
3. Planning Committees: these committees do the planning for a particular event or program. They collect the information, develop alternatives, and make a presentation of their recommendations to the parent organization, once the report is made the committee is dissolved.
4. Action Committees: these committees are responsible for undertaking the work of a particular aspect of the organization. They do the work, report its completion to the organization, and are dissolved.

Conducting Business in a Committee
Conducting business in a committee should be as simple and informal as possible in order to allow all committee members maximum opportunity to discuss the matter before them. The chair is free to discuss the topic and should assume an active role. Recommendations of the committee should be agreed upon by consensus. After the committee considers business with which it is charged, it should report to the parent organization. The chair or a designated member should draft a written report and present it to the membership as a whole. The organization then will act on the recommendations of the committee.