Common Sense Rules

[Tomm]

Our Club is currently rewriting our Rules and Regulations. One member of the committee wants to simply state that “All meetings to be conducted according to Common-Sense Rules of Order”. I’m trying to implement RONR but some argue that it’s too complicated. I argue that it is Common-sense…one speaker speaks at a time, one question is decided at a time, speakers must be respectful, and everyone’s rights are protected!

Is there any wording in RONR where it describes itself as “common sense” rules?

[Shmuel Gerber]

If RONR consisted simply of common sense, it wouldn't be an 800-page book.

The reason for having a parliamentary authority is so that the rules are spelled out beforehand and don't have to be worked out at each meeting based on what each member imagines is common sense.

[Weldon Merritt]

It seems to me that the more "common sense" solution is to select a parliamantary authority and adopt it, and then also adopt some special rules of order to vary from the PA if there is a perceived need to do so.

[Shmuel Gerber]

1 minute ago, Weldon Merritt said:

It seems to me that the more "common sense" solution is to select a parliamantary authority and adopt it, and then also adopt some special rules of order to vary from the PA if there is a perceived need to do so.

There is apparently a book from 1912 called "Common Sense Rules of Order", and maybe this member knows where to get copies for the organization; or maybe there is some newer publication with that title. (That doesn't mean it's a good idea to adopt it.)

[Weldon Merritt]

2 minutes ago, Shmuel Gerber said:

There is apparently a book from 1912 called "Common Sense Rules of Order", and maybe this member knows where to get copies for the organization; or maybe there is some newer publication with that title. (That doesn't mean it's a good idea to adopt it.)

I thought maybe the member was referring to a particular book, but I couldn't find it with my quick search. If there indeed is such a book, then they could adopt it (or any of several other parliamentary authorities) in lieu of RONR. But I agree that whether they should do so is a different question entirely.

As an aside, I have heard of several instances where an organization has adopted a different parliamentary authority, and then in some instances where that authority varied from RONR, they wound up using the RONR rule anyway, sometimes apparently without even realizing that there were not following their adopted PA. 

[Tomm]

It seems that many members are afraid of RONR. They apparently have no interest in spending the time it takes to learn the proper PA.

It's my opinion that those members don't deserve to hold a position of any authority! Sorry to say but I've found most of those people to be either constant complainers or those who think they know what's right and wrong!

[Atul Kapur]

It would be good to introduce them to the In Brief book. It is a much less daunting tome and will still cover the vast majority of situations that can be expected to occur in an ordinary organization.