Why The Wide Use Of Committees

(a) Committees may be used because they are likely to produce more information for decision-making, especially when they are made of experts from different fields.

(b) Use of committees ensures that authority is distributed as decisions are made by a group.

(c) Committees are likely to facilitate coordination—each committee member may be reporting about or representing each of the functional areas in the organization.

(d) Committees may foster support for decisions—usually through the use of committees employees are given the opportunity to participate in the decision making process as they are allowed to represent their viewpoints.

(e) Committees can lead to employee development. Because of the expensive contact with people from different fields, committee members get to broaden their knowledge. Young managers can learn a lot by sitting in committees.

Limitations Of Committees

(a) They are expensive both in terms of time and resources.

(b) Committees often lead to slow decision-making especially due to the consultations they need for consensus.

(c) Committees could lead to compromise solutions in a bid to avoid conflicts.

(d) Since it is a group decision making with no one person responsible for the results, members may lack commitment on that account.