Consensus Decision-making LO7969

Ben Compton (BCOMPTON@novell.com)
Wed, 19 Jun 1996 16:16:18 -0600

Replying to LO7940 --

Abdul-magid wrote:

> The definitions that come from such notable institutions
> are fine. However, what I think may be in the back of
> Rol's mind when he wrote 'avoid consensus
> decision-making', is what many of the writers on
> 'wonderful' 'super' 'terrific' teams are worried about.
> Namely, that 'consensus' suggest that there are
> 'trade-offs' between members, who let their own feelings
> be sacrificed for 'the good of the team as a whole'.

A couple of years ago I toyed with the idea that consensus
might actually be, at various times, an immoral method for
making group decisions. My thinking at the time was that
consensus might actually force someone to comply with a
decision which contradicted their personal moral or ethical
beliefs. I decided this was not as probable as I originally
thought, as a decision, reached through consensus, is not
likely to violate a single persons value system; it would
more than likely violate more than one persons values,
which would prevent the group from reaching any type of
consensus.

> The problem is that it is difficult to determine whether
> 'consensus' has been used in a 'positive' (for want of a
> better word] or a 'negative' (ditto) way. For example,
>we know from the work of Janis et al, that a 'consensus'
> can lead to terrible consequences of 'Groupthink' (i.e.
> Challenger disaster, Bay of Pigs etc.) . The
> trouble is, it seems that these judgements are only made
> 'after the fact', and hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Given your examples, the "negative" use of consensus
probably occurs because people are afraid to rock the
boat. Certainly the people involved in making a decision by
consensus should be at liberty to express their concerns
and objections. If not, then I'd say "consensus" is nothing
more than a quaint way of saying "the person in charge is
always right; deal with it. "

We recently hired three new people, and we used team
consensus to decide who we should hire. I had a serious
problem with hiring one of the people who everyone else on
the team favored. I expressed my position clearly and
objectively. I concluded by stating that I was aware that I
my point of view was probably not as accurate as the point
of view shared by everyone else, and I would trust the
wisdom of the team.

At least my objections were heard. The decision was made,
and only time will tell whether we made a good choice or
not.

-- 

Benjamin B. Compton ("Ben") | email: bcompton@novell.com Novell GroupWare Technical Engineer | fax: (801) 222-6991

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