Committees

Definition: The Committees are the association of organizational people who come together to analyze, investigate and discuss the issues of concern and reach to the final conclusion. The committees are usually formed at different levels in the organization.

The power and authority of the committee members are restricted to the extent delegated by the appointer. Also, there is a maximum limit on the number of members a committee can have because, if it increases, then the communication tends to become centralized, and each member does not get an adequate opportunity to speak out his mind.

The committee is required to deal only with those problems that are assigned to it and cannot act on the activities which are beyond the defined jurisdiction. Each member has the authority to study the problem in depth and can exercise this through the voting power given to each.

The committees can be formed at any organizational level and any individuals, irrespective of their positions in the hierarchy, can become a member of it. Thus, there can be several types of committees such as finance committee, budget committee, welfare committee, marketing committee, grievance redressal committee etc.

The major purpose behind the use of the committee is to pool the knowledge and experience of each member such that effective decision is made. But however, certain problems hamper the processing of the committees such as high cost involved in forming the committee, slow decision making due to major conflicts among the members, splitting of responsibility, etc.