| What is a Memorandum of Understanding? | | | | provide team building training to staff at the |
| Traditionally a memorandum was a short, semi-formal | | | | Nhulunbuy office of the agency. Our respective |
| document used to transmit messages inside an | | | | responsibilities are detailed below: |
| organisation. Memoranda were used to document | | | | What We Will Do |
| agreements (understandings) between internal | | | | The agency will provide: |
| departments, work units and individuals and thus the | | | | |
| memorandum that documented these | | | | 1. a conference room with white board, overhead |
| "understandings" became a "Memorandum of | | | | projector and seating for 20 people |
| Understanding" or MOU. Eventually usage widened to | | | | 2. mixed sandwiches, tea, coffee and fruit juice |
| also encompass organisations and individuals outside | | | | refreshments for lunch for attendees and instructors |
| the originating organisation. Today MOUs are | | | | 3. a payment of $12,345.00 including goods and |
| commonly formatted as letters, memos and other | | | | services tax to you by electronic transfer within 14 |
| documents. | | | | days of the program closure |
| Irrespective of how they are formatted, MOUs | | | | 4. instructional materials up to 100 pages for each |
| should detail the agreement between individuals or | | | | attendee |
| organisations (or even countries) succinctly and in | | | | What you will Do |
| unambiguous terms. Each partner to the agreement | | | | We will provide: |
| needs to sign indicating agreement. | | | | |
| Why are MOUs Important? | | | | 1. team building training as per our course outline, to |
| Here's an example of a situation when an MOU may | | | | 20 people at the Nhulunbuy office of the agency at |
| have saved the day. An infection control conference | | | | an all inclusive cost of $12,345.00 including GST |
| had been organised and it ran for three days. A | | | | 2. submit our tax invoice within two days of course |
| conference organiser had been hired by a friend of | | | | delivery |
| mine who was primarily responsible for organising the | | | | 3. a work book titled, "Effective Team Building" to |
| conference, but no written agreement between the | | | | each student and an additional copy for the agency |
| two existed. The second day into the conference | | | | library |
| there was a dispute between my friend and the | | | | Please read this MOU and if you agree to the |
| conference organiser about whose responsibility it | | | | responsibilities shown for this agency and yours, |
| was to collect payment from conference attendees | | | | please sign it and return the original to the agency." |
| who wanted to visit local tourist attractions; my | | | | A genuine MOU would have had more items in both |
| friend said the conference organiser had verbally | | | | lists, but this gives you the general idea. Everything |
| agreed to do it; the conference organiser said it was | | | | each signatory to the agreement will do is specified, |
| my friend's responsibility and that he had made no | | | | usually in bulleted form. |
| such agreement. | | | | Accessing the Terms |
| Eventually, one of the members of the organising | | | | Once you have your MOU in place, signed by both |
| committee collected and banked the money and | | | | (or all) parties, you can refer to it whenever |
| coordinated visits to tourist spots about town. | | | | necessary either to refresh your memory about your |
| This was an occasion on which an MOU would have | | | | obligations or to help resolve a dispute. If it's in black |
| prevented a dispute. By referring to the MOU, both | | | | and white and you agreed to it, then it's difficult to |
| parties would have known exactly what was, or was | | | | argue the contrary. |
| not their responsibility. | | | | Obviously if there is a lot of money involved, or a |
| How to write an MOU | | | | project is complex, it's more appropriate to have a |
| Usually a summary at the beginning of the MOU to | | | | legal practitioner draft up a formal contract. For those |
| set the scene is required and then simply use two | | | | activities however, when a contract is not necessary, |
| other paragraphs titled something like "What We Will | | | | an MOU can help reduce the chances of disputes or |
| Do" and "What You Will Do". Like this: | | | | misunderstandings. |
| "I refer to our discussions wherein you agreed to | | | | |