A motion is a formal step to introduce a matter for consideration by a group. It is a common concept in the procedure of trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

s, students' union

Students' union

A students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools...

s, corporation

Corporation

A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...

s, and other deliberative assemblies

Deliberative assembly

A deliberative assembly is an organization comprising members who use parliamentary procedure to make decisions. In a speech to the electorate at Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke described the English Parliament as a "deliberative assembly," and the expression became the basic term for a body of...

. Motions can be oral

Speech

Speech is the human faculty of speaking.It may also refer to:* Public speaking, the process of speaking to a group of people* Manner of articulation, how the body parts involved in making speech are manipulated...

 or in writing, the written form being known as a resolution

Resolution (law)

A resolution is a written motion adopted by a deliberative body. The substance of the resolution can be anything that can normally be proposed as a motion. For long or important motions, though, it is often better to have them written out so that discussion is easier or so that it can be...

.

Proposing motions

A motion is generally proposed by an individual, usually a member of the body, for the consideration of the body as a whole. With the exception of certain incidental and privileged motions, the person making the motion, known as the mover, must first be recognized by the chairman as being entitled to speak; this process is known as obtaining the floor.

Once the mover has obtained the floor, the mover states the motion, normally prefixed with the phrase "I move." For instance, at a meeting of the board of directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 of a corporation, a director may state "I move that the corporation delays the launch of the new product from April to July." If the motion was in writing, the mover would say "I move the resolution at the desk" or "I move the following resolution" and would then read it. Generally, once the motion has been proposed, consideration by the assembly occurs only if another member of the body immediately second

Second (democracy)

In deliberative bodies a second to a proposed motion is an indication that there is at least one person besides the mover that is interested in seeing the motion come before the meeting...

s the motion.

Main motions

A main motion is a motion whose introduction brings business before the assembly. If the motion has been proposed in advance of a conference

Meeting

In a meeting, two or more people come together to discuss one or more topics, often in a formal setting.- Definitions :An act or process of coming together as an assembly for a common purpose....

 or similar assembly, it may then be composited

Compositing (democracy)

In deliberative procedure, compositing is the process of combining several motions into one composite motion.The process of compositing motions may be desirable for two reasons. First, it can save the time of an assembly by avoiding presenting two or more similar motions...

 with other motion with related proposals.

A common next step is to allow the submission of amendment

Bill (proposed law)

A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....

s to the motion, which are motions in their own right. Again, these must often be seconded.

The motion is then considered by the assembly. A common procedure is to first read the motion, then take votes on each amendment to it in turn. In many cases, sections of motions and amendments can be debated and voted on separately by taking [the motion] in parts.

Once the amendments have been voted upon, the motion, with the adopted amendments, is debated and voted upon. Depending on the nature of the motion and the assembly, it may require a simple majority

Majority

A majority is a subset of a group consisting of more than half of its members. This can be compared to a plurality, which is a subset larger than any other subset; i.e. a plurality is not necessarily a majority as the largest subset may consist of less than half the group's population...

, a two-thirds majority

Supermajority

A supermajority or a qualified majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level or type of support which exceeds a simple majority . In some jurisdictions, for example, parliamentary procedure requires that any action that may alter the rights of the minority has a supermajority...

 or some other formulation in order to be adopted.

If the motion is adopted, it becomes part of the assembly's policy

Policy

A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol...

.

Motions are also used in debating

Debate

Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...

 events and competition

Competition

Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...

s that mimic legislative assemblies

Legislature

A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...

 or other deliberative bodies. Motions in this case are often prefaced with the phrase

Phrase

In everyday speech, a phrase may refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words which form a constituent and so function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. A phrase is lower on the grammatical hierarchy than a clause....

This House..., e.g. This House would ban smoking in public places.