Published by: sadikshya
Published date: 01 Jun 2021
A committee is a group of people with various kinds of knowledge, which is formally constituted to solve specific problems of the enterprise. During the course of operation, many problems may arise in the enterprise, and to solve such problems; the management constitutes committees by gathering members from the areas concerned.
According to Fred Luthans,” Committee consists of a group that is formed to accomplish specific objectives”.
According to Newman,” A committee consists of a group of people specifically designed to perform some administrative acts. If functions only as a group and required the free exchange of ideas among its members.”
In other words, the committee can be defined as a group of organizational members who discuss and develop solutions to problems.
The following are the advantages of committee organizations:
1. Quality Decision
A quality decision is one of the advantages of a committee organization. Here, members having knowledge of various fields and experiences are gathered. They discuss and interpret the problem from various angles and finally come to the decision. They evaluate alternate decisions in various ways and finally choose the best conclusion.
2. Setting objectives, plans, and policies
This is the primary task of a committee. All organizations are established for a definite objective and for this, it is essential to prepare plans and policies. They provide a framework for setting an organization’s objectives. They also provide suggestions and information for making plans and policies to achieve defined objectives.
3. Participative management
The committee organization ensures the participation of competent members in management. Here, all members have the right to put forth their ideas and views in the decision-making process. Other members of the committee cannot ignore the ideas and knowledge of the members. The democratic process is taken into consideration in the decision-making process.
4. Reduces bias and conflict
Committees facilitate the development of relationships among members and their relation with line management. They also help in maintaining close communication and transformation of information among related authorities. Thus, there is less probability of bias or mistakes in a decision.
5. Dealing with complex problems
Committee organization facilitates in dealing with complex and difficulties of problems. In some situations, during operation, many complex or critical problems may arise in an organization. It is more difficult to solve such problems by a line authority and even by the top management. In such a case, committees are formed by pooling experts from the concerned fields so that it becomes easy to resolve such problems in a systematic manner.
6. Commitment to implement
A committee is formed to resolve complex and specific problems that arise in an organization. Generally, members of the committee are experienced and expert in their own fields. Besides, expert representatives from top-level management are also involved in committees. They come to a conclusion after detailed discussion and evaluation of the impact of alternatives decisions.
7. Pooling authorities
In the process of investigation and research, some authority of the top management is also shared among the committee members. The committee members can perform their works independently by remaining within the defined area. All members have equal authority in the committee. Thus, the executive level comes to a conclusion with the help and mutual consent of all committee members.
The following are the disadvantages of committee organizations:
1. Creating conflict
In some situations, a committee organization creates confusion or conflict in the decision-making process. Ideas or views of a member may be a conflict with the views of other members. In such a situation, the concept of groups may arise in an organization.
2. Delay in decision
This is a common limitation of a committee organization. The committee members take more time to discuss the various factors of a problem. The valuable time of the committee members is spent on the discussion. The delay in decision results in an extra financial burden to the management.
3. Probability of decision
In some cases, committee discussions may be diverted to other subject matter. In such a situation, committee members cannot come to a conclusion within the given time frame. They have to gather several times to come to an appropriate conclusion.
4. Tendency of shifting
It is common to shift the tendency of the decision to the committee when the executives feel difficult to make decisions in important problems, they often shift it to the committee. Generally, top management authorities have the attitude that members of the committee are experts in their own fields.
5. Lack of secrecy
Maintaining the secrecy of internal matters is difficult in a committee organization. Here, many members are involved in the decision-making process. All members of the committee discuss the problems in detail and in the process they get knowledge about internal matters of the organization. Thus, there is more probability of leakage of internal plans and strategies of the organization.
6. Distribution of reasonability
In a committee organization, many members are involved in the decision-making process. In some situations, the committee may take a wrong decision and in such a case no member individually takes the responsibility for the wrong decision on behalf of all the members. Everyone wants to shift responsibility to other members of the committee.
7. Splits accountancy
In a committee organization, nobody is held accountable for a decision made by a committee. A committee’s decision is known as nobody’s decision just because it is everybody’s decision. Problems in an organization may arise when any mistake is made in the decision making process.