Default Process: Other Committees

["B. Tommie Usdin" <btusdin@mulberrytech.com>]

>   Section 2. Other Committees
>
>      The corporation shall have such other committees as may
>      from time to time be designated by resolution of the Board
>      of Directors. Such other committees may consist of persons
>      who are not also members of the Board. These additional
>      committees shall act in an advisory capacity only to the
>      board and shall be clearly titled as "advisory" committees.
>

This brings to mind 2 issues:

    1.  What is a committee (as opposed to a sub-committee), and
    2.  The "advisory" label and mission of the committees.

1. Committee versus subcommittee:

This is probably the origin of confusion about what is a committee and what
a subcommittee.  If, as many have assumed, there is an OASIS Technical
Committee and an OASIS Marketing Committee, then the technical work has
been done by subcommittees of the Technical Committee.  But sometimes these
have been discussed as if they were committees (e.g. "The Tables Committee"
and "The Conformance Committee").

While it sounds trivial, the difference may be critical in areas of
scheduling and control.  If there is one Technical Committee with multiple
subcommittees the real work is one organizational level below where I
believe it should be, and the chair of the Technical Committee has
inappropriate burdens and responsibilities.

I suggest that each activity be a separate "committee", reporting to the
Board or to a designated member of the Board.


2.  Advisory

I started to say that I don't like the sound of this at all. It implies
that committees serve the Board not the membership, and that the Board
should accept or decline any advice from the committees.  Thus, it would be
Board who look at the work product of a committee and decide if it should
be promulgated by OASIS or not.

After a little thought, it seems to me that the Board should certainly be
allowed to form committees as envisioned by this paragraph.  That is, parts
of the Board, perhaps with a few additional people, who help the Board do
something within the scope of the Board.  Perhaps these should be called
Committees of the Board.

In contrast, perhaps, we should also describe Committees of the Membership.
I would like to see a statement that says that Committees of the Membership
are key to the functioning of OASIS. Such committees will be formed of the
membership, authorized by the Board, and will submit their workproduct to
the membership for approval.  Rather than saying that members don't have to
be members of the Board I'd rather specify that the committee chair must be
a member of OASIS, and then discuss who the other members may be (and
perhaps they don't have to be members of OASIS).

-- Tommie




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B. Tommie Usdin                        mailto:btusdin@mulberrytech.com
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
17 West Jefferson Street                           Phone: 301/315-9631
Suite 207                                    Direct Line: 301/315-9634
Rockville, MD  20850                                 Fax: 301/315-8285
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