Organizations Manual - Student Activities

STUDENT ACTIVITIES

SECTION 3: ORGANIZATIONAL RESOURCES

HEALTHY ORGANIZATIONS

A “healthy” and productive organization is determined by more than the size of its membership and skills of its leaders. The more that the functions and tasks of the organization are performed by different members rather than by the designated leader(s), the more effective the organization will be in achieving its objective.
The components of a “healthy” organization include:

organizational goals and objectives in which all members have the opportunity to provide input
effective delegation of tasks and responsibilities to different members and committees of the organization
current and functional constitution and/or by-laws

This section contains information with which you can evaluate the “health” of your organization and function in a more efficient manner.

DOES YOUR ORGANIZATION NEED A WELLNESS PROGRAM?

Complete the following quiz to determine how healthy your organization is. Place a check mark beside the answers that reflect how most of your members function in your group.

This quiz is only available in the PDF version of the manual, which you may download by clicking here.

CHARACTERISTICS & RESPONSIBILITIES OF A GOOD GROUP MEMBER

This list is only available in the PDF version of the manual, which you may download by clicking here.

CHAIRPERSON RESPONSIBILITIES

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CONDUCTING BUSINESS IN A COMMITTEE

Conducting business in a committee should be as simple and informal as possible in order to allow all committee members maximum opportunity to discuss the matter before them. The chair is free to discuss the topic and should assume an active role. Recommendations of the committee should be agreed upon by consensus. After the committee considers business with which it is charged, it should report to the parent organization. The chair or a designated member should draft a written report and present it to the membership as a whole. The organization then will act on the recommendations of the committee.
Committees can be important tools of an organization when they are used properly. When working with committees one should remember that they are servants of the organization, not masters. Ultimate authority rests with the organization until it specifically delegates the power to the committee.

GOAL SETTING: A KEY TO MOTIVATION

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
Alice in Wonderland
An organization without goals is like the character in Alice in Wonderland, it has no direction to get it from where it is to where it wants to be. The members in a group without well-defined goals often have little commitment to the organization, because they see nothing to which to be committed. They usually work towards the accomplishment of personal goals which may not further the tasks that the group needs to accomplish. Goals get people involved, motivate them to work on tasks, and give them a sense of accomplishment when they are fulfilled.

HOW TO SET GOALS

People support what they help to create, so everyone in the organization should be involved in setting the goals for the group. In large groups, it may be more efficient to have a small group begin to formulate the goals, but ultimately all members should discuss the goals and agree upon them.
Goals should reflect the purpose of the group and address problems or help the organization to move towards something it wants to be. Because of this there is some “homework” that needs to be done before you begin to actually set goals. All of your members need a basic understanding of the organization with which they work. They must understand the nature, functions, and potential of the group. Time should be spent identifying problem areas and exploring what the organization can become.
Once you feel that the members have a good feel for what their organization is about, you can set goals. Goals are a desired state of affairs which the organization attempts to realize. Organizations should have a few very broad goals that they work on from year to year. (Example of a goal - Increase awareness of the problems of world hunger.) Each year the group should develop specific ways - objectives - to fulfill that goal. Objectives are outgrowths of goals. They are concrete statements of what you wish to accomplish at a particular time in the future. (Examples of an objective - Hold a seminar for the presidents of service clubs on November 3 to discuss what they can do to make people more aware of world hunger.)
Once the goals and objectives are established, their accomplishment should be delegated to specific people. There should be periodic checks to evaluate progress and to determine if certain objectives need to be redesigned.
When an objective is accomplished, it should be acknowledged and those who worked on it should be recognized. It will make everyone want to take on the next task.

CONSTITUTION AND BY LAWS

The constitution and/or by-laws of an organization contain the rules that govern the action and activities of the group. The document(s) should:

State the purpose of the organization.
Define the characteristics of the organization and criteria for membership.
Prescribe how the group functions and identify the parliamentary procedure by which business will be conducted.
Include all rules that the group considered so important they (1) cannot be changed without previous notice to the members and the vote of a specified large majority (such as two-thirds vote), and (2) cannot be suspended.
State the rights of members of the organization whether present or absent from a meeting and the limitations placed on the powers of the members attending a meeting.

NOTE: A student organization’s constitution must be consistent with the policies and procedures contained in the SMU Student Code of Conduct.

HOW TO RUN AN EFFECTIVE MEETING

There are four components to running an effective and efficient meeting:

Before the meeting: Develop an AGENDA to know what items need to be addressed.
During the meeting: Follow PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE in conducting the meeting.
During the meeting: Facilitate good DISCUSSION on the relevant issues.
After the meeting: Write and distribute MINUTES to document what took place during the meeting.

AN AGENDA

Making an agenda involves thinking over the topics to be discussed and listing them in appropriate order of discussion. This eliminates wasted time in your meetings and promotes efficient and productive discussion. In advance of the meeting, discuss the agenda with the other officers and your advisor. If the meeting is one that will include some discussion requiring careful thought, it would be helpful to drop your members brief notes a few days before the meeting, outlining the agenda and requesting them to give the items listed some consideration.
A typical agenda would include:

A. Opening

1. Call to Order

2. Roll Call

3. Approval of minutes of the previous meeting.

4. Review of the agenda for the meeting

a. (This is unnecessary if members have been given copies of the agenda.)

B. Reports

1. Officers

2. Committees

C. Business

1. Unfinished (old) business

2. New business

D. Announcements

E. Adjournment

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE

Parliamentary procedure is a set of rules or a method of conducting meetings. It allows everyone to be heard and to make decisions without confusion. It is based on the democratic concept that individuals of a group are capable of making decisions for themselves. Parliamentary procedure can be flexible and adapted to fit the needs of any organization. It is necessary; however, that everyone understand the principles of parliamentary and agree to follow them correctly. As organizations develop their constitution and/or by-laws, it is important to identify a standard parliamentary procedure for running meetings and solving problems.

An extended discussion of Robert's Rules of Order is available in the PDF version of the manual, which you may download by clicking here.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING

One of the most important tasks of an organization is keeping official records of the group’s business. After each meeting, concise, readable and accurate minutes of the meeting should be written. They should then be distributed and/or read at the next meeting, corrected as needed, and approved by the group. The minutes should be signed by the secretary once corrections have been made. They should then be filed or kept in a notebook and passed on from year to year to serve as a reference for future years.

MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT, ELECTIONS AND TRAINING

In order for an organization to thrive, it must recruit, orient, and retain members, and elect and train good officers.

RECRUITMENT
An organization may recruit by word-of-mouth, special invitation or through an organized recruitment drive. Some of the following ideas may be used in a membership campaign.

An ad in The Daily Campus.

Interview on KPNI.

Publicize meetings.

Speak in residence halls at floor meetings or study breaks.

Contact activity chairperson of fraternities and sororities.

Letters of invitation to new students.

Participation in the Organizations Fair.

Plan events and publicize them...people have a tendency to join an organization that is doing things.

ELECTIONS

The Leadership of an organization is determined through nomination and election process. Procedures for nomination for election should be identified in the group’s constitution or by-laws. These should be reviewed occasionally and amended if they do not include procedures, which will insure that the best possible candidate appear on the ballot.
Nominations of officer candidates may be handled in a variety of ways:

Self-nomination

Open nominations from the floor

Interviews and nominations by a nominating committee which has been carefully and democratically selected.

Election of officers may also be conducted in several ways:

Written secret ballot vote

Hand or voice vote

Approval of a nominating committee’s slate of officer candidates (by acclamation).

Training of Officers
The transition and training of newly elected officers is critical to the continuity and growth of an organization. There should be some time between the election of new officers and the end of the outgoing officer’s terms during which to exchange information and records about the organization and to discuss ideas, procedures and recommendations for the upcoming year. Beyond simple exchange of the organizational information, leadership training is important in making the officers more effective leaders. A leadership development/training program may include the following:

1. Who’s Who on Campus- or who is helpful in the functioning of the University and the organization.

2. How to get things done on campus.

How to fill out a check request

How to apply for appropriations

When are organization’s leadership reports due

Where is the organization’s mailbox

What is the Mandatory Organizations Meeting

How to reserve a room for a meeting

Other policies and procedures necessary for the smooth functioning of the organization

3. Consideration of issues relevant to effective leadership.

Group Dynamics

Leadership Styles

Communication

Goal Setting

Motivation

Decision-making

4. Time Management

Time together as officers to set individual and group goals.

5. Become familiar with information specific to your group.

Become familiar with Constitution/By-Laws.

Become familiar with policies and procedures of your parent organization

Acquire knowledge of past programs and practices.

The Coordinator of Student Organizations and Student Activities Center staff are available to help design a leadership training program to meet your officers’ and organizations’ needs.

HOW TO CONDUCT A SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM

Conducting programs is an important part of many student organizations. It provides the group members with the opportunity to explore new ideas and participate in interesting and fun activities. Programs can be educational in nature or can provide a social or recreational outlet. For the person who is planning these activities, it also can be a learning experience as well as an enjoyable task.
Conducting a successful program requires some planning and organization. The more complicated the program idea the more elaborate the planning must be. Provided below is an outline of the steps that you should follow in planning any program. By using them you will insure that your program will be well planned and hopefully your efforts will result in a successful event.

STEPS TO PLANNING A PROGRAM

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PROGRAMMING CHECKLIST

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PUBLICITY AND PROMOTION

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AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS

EVERY ORGANIZATION WILL ENTER INTO SOME FORM OF AGREEMENT OR CONTRACT SOMETIME DURING THE YEAR, but it does not have to be anxiety producing or complicated.
Some form of written agreement should be used for most things with which your organization gets involved. The best reason to develop written agreements or contracts is so that all parties involved know what they are expected to do and know what they can expect others to do. Every situation may not warrant a lengthy document, but the responsibilities of everyone involved should be outlined in writing in as specific terms as possible. A written document helps to avoid misunderstanding and guards against false assumptions being made. The written agreement should specify fully for what each person is responsible. No one associated with the program can be held accountable for anything that is not outlined in the agreement.
The other reason that you should function under some kind of written agreement is so that the written agreement can be used to resolve problems between the parties involved in the agreement. It is important to note that even if you do not feel your program is large enough that problems will end up in a court of law, a written agreement can help to avoid conflict and can better assure that everyone will do his part.
For what should an agreement be drawn up?
The obvious things that you contract for are the services of a speaker, artist, or performer. Even a local person who is being paid a token honorarium or maybe not being paid at all should have a letter of agreement to outline when and where the event will be held and for what the speaker and you will be responsible. An agreement should be drawn up with any company or group with which you will co-sponsor an event - who will pay for what, who will be responsible for what, and how profits will be divided. When you reserve a facility or rent equipment you will be entering into a contractual agreement. You will be given a catering contract or facility or rental agreement. If one is not provided for you, you should formulate something in writing. Any service that you are arranging should have a contract made. It should specify what service is to be provided and when it is to be done.
Review of agreements and contracts
The Student Code states that all contracts entered into by Chartered student organizations must be reviewed by the Office of the Vice President of Legal Affairs and signed by the Vice President for Student Affairs. This review is designed to protect you and your organization from potential problems. All contracts for the services must be reviewed. If you are arranging for any goods or services and the person you are dealing with does not provide you with a contract or agreement, one will need to be drawn up by you. The Coordinator of Student Organizations, whose office is in the Activity Center of the Student Center, is available to help you. The contract review process is outlined on page 2 of the Policies & Procedures Section.