Why committees in Japanese animation productions?

We have seen them in the credits at the end of anime movies, TV shows and games:

Steamboy Committee
Akira Committee
EVA Production Committee (Evangelion)
The Soul Taker Production Committee

Etc.

As Milton said once: “a committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours”, I’m getting the impression that Japan is very effective in producing animation so I think our definition of a committee is not quite the same as the one they have in Japan. So, how do they work there? Is that the preferred way to produce animation in Japan?