Blog 8

What are the preconditions necessary for using consensus decision making in a group or organization?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of the process?

The preconditions for using consensus decision making are respect for individual thoughts, common purpose, and trust. Respect is necessary for each idea to be heard. A common purpose is necessary to bind the group together and move it along towards its goal. Trust allows the group members to follow the best course of action while not worrying about alterative goals or if they are against the verdict, to know that the group will not support decisions that will hurt them.

The strengths of the process are a close-knit community, reaching better decisions (based on two-heads are better than one), and creating a community that is more invested in the decisions made for their community. The weaknesses are that anytime trust in the group is threatened or someone does not want to meet the goal given then everything grinds to a halt. Also if the group is uncaring about the decision the facilitator seems to just make an executive decision in order to keep the group moving. This is necessary but not the best for the group. In my opinion this style of decision making can be used but only in very specific situations.

For example, if I tried to use it with my residents in Patterson Hall, depending on the questions, I would most likely get apathy or a decision that would get me fired (like let’s get alcohol for the next hall meeting).  While I respect my residents for the great, smart, compassionate young women they are I do not trust them to keep decisions within the confines of Patterson Hall’s rules (because they do not have the same amount of responsibility to them as I do) and I work toward different goals. I work towards having a unified hall and getting certain criteria done put down by my bosses. My residents are not aware of these goals (nor should they be, its not their job) and while they would like to meet the girls in the rest of the hall, it would not be a personal victory like it would be for me. For most decisions I would get apathy because it would not affect them much.