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From RECL 3P25 Fall 2011 - Group 01 - Consensus Decision-Making

Consensus Decision-Making

Consensus decision-making is a group decision making process that works to creatively include all people in making final decisions. When working to come to a common decision, you have to give and take. Contributions of all group members are collaborated and synthesized to come to a solution that everyone can agree on. It is important to remember that this is not a voting process it is a decision making technique to help to come to an agreement on the topic at hand that everyone agrees on. Not everyone will be happy with the result, but everyone will be able to live with the outcome.

Decisions are developed collaboratively, involving each member of the group. Any individual who has concerns regarding the direction in which the decision making process is going, are encouraged to voice their concerns to ensure that they are incorporated regarding the outcome of the decision.

History

Consensus decision making is the process of people meeting as a group, and coming to a final conclusion or decision unanimously. The consensus decision making process developed through many of the historical movements and people through history, many of whom are still actively using consensus in their own versions for decision making.

One of the most widely cited historical roots for consensus decision making is the Quakers, and the better known descendants, the Mennonites. They referred to this process of consensus decision making as “the rule of sitting down” or “sitzrecht”. When a group of people sat together and came to a final decision, it was said that they were part of God’s “divine will”. The first concrete appearance of this technique was at the Martyr’s Synod in 1527.

When it comes to the size of the group involved in this process, when the group became too big, the group had to divide to keep the personal face to face advantage of this style of decision making. This outlines how this can be a very useful tool when it comes to community development. The face to face ideology behind consensus is great for a collection of people’s thoughts and ideas to come together in one place. By having decisions made at the local level, the community is able to better come to a consensus on the needs and wants of the members themselves.

Application

Consensus decision making can be used when a decision needs to be made about an issue, rules, dates within a city, business, family, school, etc. It can be used anywhere if people are willing to have other people opinions matter in the final decision. It should be used when groups of people get together to make a decision about an issue or event that they have some common ground on. It should not be used if there are more disagreements then there are agreements otherwise coming to a final decision will take a lengthy process. Usually managers or a committee will use consensus decision making to try and resolve an issue or make changes to their business to make it a better place.

Consensus decision making has been utilized within a democracy government. A committee comprised of members will get together and come to a consensus on developing platforms and laws that they think would be best for the citizens with the citizen’s opinions and thoughts in mind. In the past, Walmart managers have also used consensus decision making to decide what specific companies they will use for suppliers for certain items in their stores. School board committees have also used consensus decision-making as an effective technique when considering changes regarding policy. The board members will have to get together and come to a decision on a situation (e.g. rule implementation or changes etc.)based on the best interests of the students. Additionally, the Ontario Public Interest Research Group is a group of students at McMaster University who work on issues of human rights, the environment and social justice. They use consensus decision making principles to help guide their organization.