A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly. Committees often serve several different functions:

• Governance: in organizations too large for all the members to participate in decisions affecting the organization as a whole, a committee (such as a Board of Directors) is given the power to make decisions. A committee of this type is a form of a deliberative assembly.

• Coordination: individuals from different parts of an organization (for example, all senior vice presidents) might meet regular to discuss developments in their areas, review projects that cut across organizational boundaries, talk about future options, etc. Where there is a large committee, it's common to have smaller committees with more specialized functions - for example, Boards of Directors of large corporations typically have an (ongoing) audit committee, finance committee, compensation committee, etc. Large academic conferences are usually organized by a co-ordinating committee drawn from the relevant professional body.