Barry wrote:
> I read this morning some postings about decision-making
> which make reference to consensus. Rol stated "Avoid
> consensus decision-making". He then proceeds in the
> next sentence to describe consensus decision-making.
> Perhaps I am missing a piece of this conversation.
He then spends some time defining the word "consensus."
America was built on the idea of compromise (perhaps a
crude form of consensus), if I recall my history correctly. I
believe it was at the Constitutional Convention that one of
the most heated and frequently debated subjects was
whether there should be popular representation in both the
House and the Senate. Of course, the small states were
opposed to popular representation in both legislative
bodies, as they felt it gave too much power to the larger
states. The larger states, I believe at the time, were
philosophically convinced that popular representation was
the only way to effectively prevent the rise of tyranny in
America.
The issue went to committee a couple of times, and the
small states even went as far as to suggest an a new
constitution -- contending that the Virginia plan (James
Madison's construction) favored the larger states. In the
end, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington (I believe)
encouraged the larger states to make the compromise and
settle for popular representation in the House and equal
representation in the Senate.
What emerged was a democratic republic -- an essentially
new form of government that has served its country
phenomenally well!
Here's what I get out of the following bit of history:
1) Consensus is not always bad; and dialogue, if engaged
in long enough, will either bring shared meaning to the
group, or it will inspire people to seek for consensus so the
dialogue can be ended (in other words, the mind can
comprehend what the seat can endure).
2) It is often through the process of seeking consensus
that some of the best ideas surface -- especially if people
within the group remain open minded and don't
dogmatically defend their position.
3) Only time will tell if a decision made through consensus
was a wise one.
IMHO the options for making a decision are limited:
1) Dictatorial decision making -- a very poor and ineffective
form of decision making.
2) Consensus decision making -- a constructive and often
synergistic form of decision making.
3) Shared meaning -- the ideal form of decision making,
where there is absolute commitment to the decision by all
those involved in the decision making process.
--Benjamin B. Compton ("Ben") | email: bcompton@novell.com Novell GroupWare Technical Engineer | fax: (801) 222-6991
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>