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5
Committees 
Within an organisation, committees can consist entirely of executives or may be instruments for joint 
consultation between employers and employees. They are a key part of organisational communication 
processes, which are covered in Chapter 18.
5.1 Purposes of committees 
(a) 
Creating new ideas
. Group creativity may be achieved by a brainstorming committee or think 
tank. 
(b) 
Communication
. They can be an excellent means of 
communication
. For example, they can be 
used to exchange ideas and get feedback before a decision is taken or to inform managers about 
policies, plans, actual results, and so on. 
(c) 
Democratic
. They are democratic, because they allow for greater 
participation 
in the 
decision-making process. 
Problem solving
can be facilitated by consultations between interested 
parties. 
(d) 
Combining abilities
. Committees enable the differing skills of its various members to be brought 
together to deal with a problem. In theory, the quality of committee decisions should be of a high 
standard. 
(e) 
Co-ordination
. Committees should enable the maximum co-ordination of all parties involved in a 
decision to be achieved, for example in co-ordinating the budgets of each department and 
compiling a master budget. 
(f) 
Representation
. Committees enable all relevant interests to be involved in the decision-making 
process and they bring together the specialised knowledge of working people into a working 
combination. 
(g) 
Recommendations
. Making 
recommendations
for others to follow is a key output from committee 
processes. 
5.1.1 The committee Chair 
There are a number of recognised qualities of a good Chair (though common sense may dictate many 
others, varying with circumstances). 
(a) 
The Chair will have to give