Sometimes I hear this phrase at the end of the meeting, as in "anything else for the good of the order?".
The context implies that it means "Does anyone else have something to say?". But I wonder what the origin of the phrase is, and if there is any meaning beyond what I am inferring.
I would have just intuititvely guessed that the "order" was referring to a sort of masonic / Knights Templar sort of "order". But when researching this myself, I came across this link which suggests it derives from parliamentary procedure. I also found this, which suggests its a way of asking for off-topic "general conversation" topics to be raised.
Can anyone here speak more authoritatively on the origin and correct usage of this term?
Best Answer
The phrasing will be familiar to those who participate in deliberative bodies which follow any of the many editions of Robert's Rules of Order, a system for parliamentary procedure, so-called because it is descended from the rules of conducting debate that originated in parliamentary government.
Robert's Rules are by leaps and bounds the most popular authority for parliamentary procedure in the United States, to the point where most people have heard of them, yet even experienced chairs may be unfamiliar with competitors like the Sturgis Standard (used by some academic bodies) or Demeter's Manual (adopted by some fraternal and labor organizations). A criticism of Robert's Rules is its use of old-fashioned or legalistic terminology, such as making a motion to previous question as opposed to close debate, or to order the yeas and nays instead of call for a voice vote. In my opinion, a call for the good of the order would qualify as well.
In any case, parliamentary manuals will have a set of rules for the order of business in a meeting, typically starting with a call to order, attendance, approval of minutes from the previous meeting, reports, and regular business. Then, the 11th edition says, chair may optionally call for
It is described thusly in Webster's New World Robert's Rules of Order Simplified and Applied:
In other words, this is the section of the meeting where people can bring up news or topics of general interest that are not on the main agenda for discussion. You don't need a full agenda item to say thanks for giving me a ride home after last month's meeting. I have seen it on some boards as a period for open discussion offering praise or criticism of officers or projects, and in others as the time to plug pet projects or ask for personal favors.
The phrasing is not found in the earliest editions of Robert's Rules, and may have been adopted from Freemasonry, where it appears in some rituals and oaths but is also found in casual use to refer to praise someone's contributions to the society— good in the simple sense of something beneficial, and order thus referring originally to the Freemasons. The alternative good and welfare is also found in Masonic texts, but is also something of a fixed binomial expression found in legal and other non-Masonic contexts.
In the modern day, order can also be read to mean the order of the day, in the narrow sense the daily agenda or the broader sense of the proper disposition of things and the smooth functioning of the organization. You can also read it as order meaning organization, as that term can loosely be applied to any organized group or class without any connection to fraternal or religious groups. The more modern term might be open forum.