Group process, that is, the process of individuals interacting with each other in a group, is a richly complex and intriguing phenomenon. The shifting alliances and rivalries of subgroups and the emergence and clash of dominant personalities can be fascinating to study. Yet, as anyone who has attempted to work with a group to a practical end will attest, the emergence of some kinds of group dynamics can thwart, or completely sabotage, achievement of the group's goals.

Systematic rules of parliamentary procedure have gradually evolved over centuries. Their purpose is to facilitate the business of the group and to ensure an equal opportunity for all group members to contribute and participate in conducting the business.

Robert's Rules of Order, first published in 1876, is the most commonly used system of parliamentary procedure in North America. The current edition, on which this resource is based, runs to over 300 pages. An attempt has been made to extract the most important ideas and most commonly used procedures, and to package these in a short, simple, accessible and understandable form.

To successfully play a game, one needs to know the rules. These are the basic rules by which almost all committees and associations operate. After browsing this resource, the reader will hopefully feel comfortable to confidently participate in the intriguing process of the committees and assemblies of his or her association.

The purpose of parliamentary procedure is to make it easier for people to work together effectively and to help groups accomplish their purposes. Rules of procedure should assist a meeting, not inhibit it.

All members have equal rights, privileges and obligations. One of the chairperson's main responsibilities is to use the authority of the chair to ensure that all people attending a meeting are treated equally--for example, not to permit a vocal few to dominate the debates.

A majority vote decides an issue. In any group, each member agrees to be governed by the vote of the majority. Parliamentary rules enable a meeting to determine the will of the majority of those attending a meeting. The rights of the minority must be protected at all times. Although the ultimate decision rests with a majority, all members have such basic rights as the right to be heard and the right to oppose. The rights of all members--majority and minority--should be the concern of every member, for a person may be in a majority on one question, but in minority the on the next.

Every matter presented for decision should be discussed fully. The right of every member to speak on any issue is as important as each member's right to vote.

Every member has the right to understand the meaning of any question presented to a meeting, and to know what effect a decision will have. A member always has the right to request information on any motion he or she does not thoroughly understand. Moreover, all meetings must be characterized by fairness and by good faith. Parliamentary strategy is the art of using procedure legitimately to support or defeat a proposal.

Although a chairperson will use the various rules of order in conducting a meeting, there are things the chair can do prior to the meeting to help ensure that things will go smoothly.

One of the most fundamental ways to ensure a successful meeting is often overlooked because it is so obvious--ensuring that the room selected for the meeting is suitable and comfortable. The room should permit a seating arrangement in which no one's view is blocked. Moreover, careful attention should be paid to such matters as lighting, acoustics and ventilation, for such factors can play major roles in the success or failure of a meeting.

By far the most important thing a chairperson can do to ensure a successful meeting is to do his/her homework. The chair should become thoroughly familiar with all the business to be dealt with at the meeting, including any reports to be made by committees or task forces, any motions already submitted by members or groups of members, and insofar as is possible, any new business likely to be introduced. Such preparation will enable the person to stay on top of things while chairing the meeting, and to anticipate most of the questions likely to be asked, information needed, etc.

The chair should also ensure that key people needed by the meeting (for example, the treasurer, committee chairs) will attend the meeting.

The agenda consists of the items of business to be discussed by a meeting.

Usually the chair or another designated person is charged with the responsibility for preparing the agenda. The person preparing the agenda can, of course, seek assistance with the task.

The agenda can be amended either before or after it is adopted. Until the meeting adopts the proposed agenda, the latter is merely a proposal. When a motion to adopt the agenda is made, therefore, the meeting can, by motions requiring simple majorities, add items to, delete items from, or re-arrange the order of items on the proposed agenda.

Once the agenda has been adopted, the business items on it are the property of the meeting, not of the groups or individuals who submitted the items. Any change to the agenda, once it has been adopted, can be made by motion, but any such motions require two-thirds or larger majorities to pass.

If an individual has submitted a motion for debate by a meeting, but decides, after the agenda has been adopted, not to present the motion, the individual cannot simply withdraw the motion from the agenda; that action requires a two-thirds majority vote, because the effect is to amend the agenda. The individual may choose not to move the motion, but it is the right of any other person attending the meeting to move the motion if he or she wants to do so.

To expedite progress of the meeting, the chair may announce that the individual would like to withdraw the motion, and ask if there is any objection. If no one objects, the chair can go on to the next item of business, because a unanimous lack of objection is, in effect, a unanimous vote to delete the item from the agenda.

Once the agenda has been adopted, each item of business on the agenda will come before the meeting unless: (1) no one moves a motion, (2) no one objects to withdrawal suggested by the sponsoring individual or group, (3) a motion to delete an item from the agenda is made and passed with a two-thirds or larger majority, or (4) the meeting runs out of time before the item can be discussed.

In summary, the agenda can be changed before or after it has been adopted. Before adoption of the agenda, motions to amend the agenda require simple majority votes. After adoption, motions to amend the agenda require two-thirds or larger majorities to pass.

The orders of the day means the agenda or the order of business. If the order of business is not being followed, or if consideration of a question has been set for the present time and is therefore now in order, but the matter is not being taken up, a member may call for the orders of the day, and can thereby require the order of business to be followed, unless the meeting decides by a two-thirds vote to set the orders of the day aside. Such a motion can interrupt another speaker, does not require a seconder, is not debatable, is not amendable, and cannot be reconsidered.

If the chair admits that the order of business has been violated and returns to the correct order, no vote is required. If the chair maintains that the order of business has not been violated, his/her ruling stands unless a member challenges the ruling. A motion to sustain the chair is decided by a simple majority vote.

Sometimes the chair will admit that the agenda has been violated, but will rule that the debate will continue on the matter before the meeting. In such a case, a vote must be taken and the chair needs a two-thirds majority to sustain the ruling. (The effect of such a vote is to set aside the orders of the day, i.e., amend the agenda, a move that requires a two-thirds majority vote.)

Calls for orders of the day are not in order in committee of the whole.

The orders of the day-that is, the agenda items to be discussed, are either special orders or general orders.

A special order specifies a time for the item, usually by postponement. Any rules interfering with its consideration at the specified time are suspended. (The four exceptions are rules relating to: (1) adjournment or recess, (2) questions of privilege, (3) special orders made before this special order was made, and (4) a question that has been assigned priority over all other business at a meeting by being made the special order for the meeting.) A special order for a particular time therefore interrupts any business that is pending when that time arrives.

Because a special order has the effect of suspending any interfering rules, making an item a special order requires a two-thirds vote, except where such action is included in the adoption of the agenda.

A general order is any question that has been made an order of the day (placed on the agenda) without being made a special order.

When a time is assigned to a particular subject on an agenda, either at the time the agenda is adopted, or by an agenda amendment later, the subject is made a special order. When the assigned time for taking up the topic arrives, the chairperson should announce that fact, then put to a vote any pending questions without allowing further debate, unless someone immediately moves to lay the question on the table, postpone it or refer it to a committee. Any of those three motions is likewise put to a vote without debate.

Also permissible is a motion to extend the time for considering the pending question. Although an extension of time is sometimes undesirable, and may be unfair to the next topic on the agenda, it is sometimes necessary. The motion requires a two-thirds majority to pass (in effect, it amends the agenda), and is put without debate.

As soon as any pending motions have been decided, the meeting proceeds to the topic of the special order.

Before a meeting can conduct business it requires a quorum--the minimum number of members who must be present at the meeting before business can be legally transacted. The requirement of a quorum is a protection against unrepresentative action in the name of the association by an unduly small number of people.

The by-laws of an association should specify the number of members that constitute the quorum. Ideally, that number should be the largest number that can be depended on to attend any meeting except in very bad weather or other extremely unfavorable conditions.

Robert's rules state that if the by-laws do not specify what the quorum shall be, it is a majority of the members of the association. In some organizations, however, it is often not possible to obtain the attendance of a majority of the membership at a meeting. Most associations should therefore have a provision in their by-laws for a relatively small quorum. An actual number can be listed, or a percentage of the membership can be specified. No single number or percentage will be suitable for all associations. A quorum should be a small enough number to permit the business of the association to proceed, but large enough to prevent a small minority from abusing the right of the majority of the members by passing motions that do not represent the thinking of the majority.

The quorum for a committee of the whole is the same as that for a regular meeting, unless the by-laws of the association specify otherwise. If a committee of the whole finds itself without a quorum, it can do nothing but rise and report to the regular meeting. In all other committees and task forces a quorum is a majority of the members of the committee or task force.

In any meeting of delegates, the quorum is a majority of the number of delegates who have been registered as attending, even if some of them have departed.

In the absence of a quorum, any business transacted is null and void. In such a case, however, it is that business that is illegal, not the meeting. If the association's rules require that the meeting be held, the absence of a quorum in no way detracts from the fact that the rules were complied with and the meeting held, even though it had to adjourn immediately.

The only actions that can legally be taken in the absence of a quorum are to fix the time in which to adjourn, recess, or take measures to obtain a quorum (for example, contacting members during a recess and asking them to attend). The prohibition against transacting business in the absence of a quorum cannot be waived even by unanimous consent. If an important opportunity would be lost unless acted upon immediately, the members present at the meeting can--at their own risk--act in the emergency in the hope that their actions will be ratified at a later meeting at which a quorum is present.

Before calling a meeting to order, the chair should be sure a quorum is present. If a quorum cannot be obtained, the chair should call the meeting to order, announce the absence of a quorum and entertain a motion to adjourn or one of the other motions allowed, as described above.

If a meeting has a quorum to begin with, but members leave the meeting, the continued presence of a quorum is presumed unless the chair or a member notices that a quorum is no longer present. If the chair notices the absence of a quorum, it is his/her duty to declare the fact, at least before taking any vote or stating the question on any new motion. Any member noticing the apparent absence of a quorum can raise a point of order to that effect at any time so long as he or she does not interrupt a person who is speaking. A member must question the presence of a quorum at the time a vote on a motion is to be taken. A member may not at some later time question the validity of an action on the grounds that a quorum was not present when the vote was taken.

If a meeting has to be adjourned because of a lack of a quorum, either before it conducts any business or part way through the meeting, the association must call another meeting to complete the business of the meeting. The usual quorum requirements apply to any subsequent meeting unless the association has specified in its by-laws a procedure to be used in such a situation. (The by-laws could stipulate, for example, that if a meeting had to be terminated for lack of a quorum, another meeting will be held days or weeks later, and that the number of members attending that meeting will constitute a quorum.)

If the by-laws do not provide for a special procedure, all the usual requirements for calling and holding meetings apply.

Business is accomplished in meetings by means of debating motions. The word motion refers to a formal proposal by two members (the mover and seconder) that the meeting take certain action.

Technically, a meeting should not consider any matter unless it has been placed before the meeting in the form of a motion. In practice, however, it is sometimes advantageous to permit limited discussion of a general topic before a motion is introduced. A preliminary discussion can sometimes indicate the precise type of action that is most advisable, whereas presentation of a motion first can result in a poorly worded motion, or a proposal for action that, in the light of subsequent discussion, seems inadvisable. This departure from strict parliamentary procedure must be used with caution, however. The chair must be careful not to let the meeting get out of control.

Normally, a member may speak only once on the same question, except for the mover of the main motion, who has the privilege of closing the debate (that is, of speaking last). If an important part of a member's speech has been misinterpreted by a later speaker, it is in order for the member to speak again to clarify the point, but no new material should be introduced. If two or more people want to speak at the same time, the chair should call first upon the one who has not yet spoken.

If the member who made the motion that is being discussed claims the floor and has already spoken on the question, he/she is entitled to be recognized before other members.

Associations may want to adopt rules limiting the time a member may speak in any one debate-for example, five minutes.

The mover of a motion may not speak against his or her own motion, although the mover may vote against it. The mover need not speak at all, but when speaking, it must be in favor of the motion. If, during the debate, the mover changes his or her mind, he or she can inform the meeting of the fact by asking the meeting's permission to withdraw the motion.

This motion permits a member to draw the chair's attention to what he/she believes to be an error in procedure or a lack of decorum in debate. The member will rise and say: I rise to a point of order; or simply Point of order. The chair should recognize the member, who will then state the point of order. The effect is to require the chair to make an immediate ruling on the question involved. The chair will usually give his/her reasons for making the ruling. If the ruling is thought to be wrong, the chair can be challenged.

A point of order can interrupt another speaker, does not require a seconder, is not debatable, is not amendable, and cannot be reconsidered.

Voting Most motions are decided by a majority vote-more than half the votes actually cast, excluding blanks or abstentions.

Some motions require a two-thirds majority as a compromise between the rights of the individual and the rights of the meeting. To pass, such motions require that at least two-thirds of the votes actually cast (excluding blanks and abstentions) are in the affirmative. If 60 votes are cast, for example, a two-thirds vote is 40. If 61 votes are cast, a two-thirds vote is 41. If 62 votes are cast, a two-thirds vote is 42. If 63 votes are cast, a two-thirds vote is 42.

A plurality vote is the largest number of votes when three or more choices are possible. Unless the association has adopted special rules to the contrary, a plurality vote does not decide an issue unless it is also a majority vote. In a three-way contest, one candidate might have a larger vote than either of the other two, but unless he/she receives more than half of the votes cast, he/she is not declared elected.

The Society Act specifies that the majority required on all special resolutions is three-quarters. All amendments to by-laws are special resolutions, and therefore require the three-quarters majority vote.

Robert's rules state that if the presiding officer is a member of the group concerned, he or she has the same voting rights as any other member. The chair protects impartiality by exercising voting rights only when his or her vote would affect the outcome. In such cases the chair can either vote and thereby change the result, or can abstain. If the chair abstains, he/she announces the result of the vote with no mention of his/her own vote.

The outcome of any motion requiring a majority vote will be determined by the chair's action in cases in which, without his/her vote, there is either a tie vote or one more vote in the affirmative than in the negative. Because a majority of affirmative votes is necessary to adopt a motion, a tie vote rejects the motion. If there is a tie without the chair's vote, the chair can vote in the affirmative, thereby creating a majority for the motion. If the chair abstains from voting in such a case, however, the motion is lost (because it did not receive a majority).

If there is one more affirmative vote than negative votes without the chair's vote, the motion is adopted if the chair abstains. If he/she votes in the negative, however, the result is a tie and the motion is therefore lost.

In short, the chairperson can vote either to break or to cause a tie; or, when a two-thirds vote is required, can vote either to cause or to block the attainment of the necessary two-thirds.

The chair cannot vote twice, once as a member, then again in his/her capacity as presiding officer.

A roll call vote places on the record how each member votes. It has the opposite effect, therefore, of a ballot vote, which keeps each vote secret. Roll call votes are usually used only in representative bodies that publish their minutes or proceedings, since such votes enable the constituents to know how their representatives voted on their behalf. Roll call votes should not be used in a mass meeting or in any group whose members are not responsible to a constituency.

If a representative body is going to use roll call votes, the organization of which it is a part should include in its by-laws or procedures a statement of what size of minority is required to call a roll call vote. If the organization has no provisions in its by-laws or procedures, a majority vote is required to order that a roll call vote be taken. (In such instances a vote to have a roll call vote would probably be useless, because its purpose would be to force the majority to go on record.)

Roll call votes cannot be ordered in committee of the whole.

The procedure for taking roll call votes is to call the names of the representatives or delegates alphabetically, and to have each person indicate orally his/her vote.

When the roll call vote has been concluded, the chair should ask if anyone entered the room after his or her name was called. Any such people are permitted to vote then. Individuals may also change their votes at this time. After all additions and changes have been made, the secretary will give to the chairperson the final number of those voting on each side, and the number answering present (abstaining). The chairperson will announce the figures and declare the result of the vote.

The name of each delegate or representative is included in the minutes of the meeting, together with his or her vote.

A member can propose to close the meeting entirely by moving to adjourn. This motion can be made and the meeting can adjourn even while business is pending, providing that the time for the next meeting is established by a rule of the association or has been set by the meeting. In such a case, unfinished business is carried over to the next meeting.

A motion to adjourn may not interrupt another speaker, must be seconded, is not debatable, is not amendable, cannot be reconsidered, and requires a majority vote.

If the motion to adjourn has been made, but important matters remain for discussion, the chair may request that the motion to adjourn be withdrawn. A motion can be withdrawn only with the consent of the meeting.

The motions to recess and to adjourn have quite different purposes. The motion to recess suspends the meeting until a later time; the motion to adjourn terminates the meeting. The motion to adjourn should, however, be followed by a declaration from the chairperson that the meeting is adjourned.