Consensus-Building CaseEssay Preview: Consensus-Building CaseReport this essayConsensus-building(Adapted from Kenneth Crow – “Consensus Decision-making”, and John Abrams – “Finding Common Ground Through Consensus Decision-making”.)What is consensus and why do groups use it to make decisions?Consensus-building is a problem-solving process that utilizes the resources of a group to create a reasonable decision that all members of the group can accept. The defining characteristic of consensus-building is that a group of individuals with differing interests in a common issue builds a decision together, rather than choosing among one or more proposals that are brought to the group. While it may seem more difficult and time consuming to reach an agreement through consensus than through a majority vote or an autocratic decision, decisions arrived at through consensus are likely to work, to be supported by the group, and to last. The process itself tends to build cooperation among group members and to foster healthy relationships. Consensus-building is an ideal process where there are significant differences in perspectives or interests among group members, and resolution of the issue is important to the on-going success of the group. Decisions are more likely to be supported by group members because the process considers and addresses their interests and perspectives relative to the groups purpose. Consensus-building tends to engender mutual trust and respect among team members, and can foster ownership in decisions and a willingness to make them work.
A consensus-based problem-solving process makes it possible for each individual to have the opportunity to express his or her opinion, be listened to, understand others perspectives and interests, and be a part of creating a group solution that considers all relevant factors and is based on logic and feasibility. Differences will likely remain, but they become part of a collaborative process rather than reasons for adversarial behavior. A consensus-based decision in not likely to be the decision that each group member would make if working alone; however it is a decision that each member can accept as reasonable and implementable.
Key attributes of successful participation include:Curiosity – willingness to listen to others and understand their perspectives;Cooperation – willingness to focus on interests instead of positions;Adventure – willingness to go beyond conventional solutions and explore new ideas;Flexibility – willingness to share ideas without insisting they are the best ones;Commitment – willingness to stay positively engaged with the group and remain focused on group goals and outcomes that meet interests of all stakeholders.
When should a group use consensus-building?Consensus-building helps a group create decisions that address complex issues. This is especially true when the issues involve conflicting interests (wants, needs, limitations) among group members. Consensus-building provides opportunities to recognize, validate, and respond to everyones interests in both the definition of the problem and in the solution. This makes it particularly helpful when there is potential for strong disagreement among group members. Taking time to build consensus may not be necessary where a group already has clear agreement about the decision, when a decision must be made quickly, or the decision is not critical to group success; however, the basic underlying principal of considering all pertinent interests before making a decision can still apply.
If no consensus can be reached, a group’s decision is probably a bad one. To be sure, there exists a lot of disagreement about whether a consensus is a good one. Sometimes one’s opinion on a issue matters in an obvious way; for some reason, if the issue has big, influential people behind it, one’s opinion will fall short. In such cases it is quite feasible to disagree about the need for a consensus and a group will try to find a way to accomplish this.
A quick example is to consider one group of people who disagree about a question:
The first group of people who said we should get a human rights ruling!
The second group of people who said we should find a new legal order!
The third group of people who said we should get some other court order!