Re: Re: Consensus & Majority Voting
From: Gary.Stewart (Gary.Stewartxtra.co.nz)
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 21:57:01 -0600 (MDT)
our system is that we have two attempts at consensus and then a fallback
position of 75% majority vote

in the 7 plus years our group has been going voting has only happened twice

how we know consensus hasn't worked is because we use the coloured card
system and if a decision has been double red carded twice then it can go to
a vote if anyone wants to take it that extra step.

For me the orange card part of our consensus process (that allows me to
state a strong objection and also state that I won't block consensus) is
much more empowering than the simple yes/no of voting

I also think there is a difference in the 'building the project' stage and
the 'living together' stage - the part which has really only happened for us
this year.

We are now coming into decisions that don't have the same money/time
penalties associated with them that construction decisions often have, and
some are multi-choice with no obviously 'right' answer like - do we have
combination locks, key locks or no locks on the common house.

This sounds similar to the 'garden wall' question that started this thread

Disgruntlement can occur either in a minority voted against or with people
blocked by a lack of consensus, and in either system the way a proposal is
phrased, or the first 'group' to raise an issue in a particular way can
hugely affect the agenda.

as I've said before I believe either system can be helpful and productive or
not.  I think the issue is not so much consensus v voting as inclusive and
co-operative v exclusive and divisive.

I believe the consensus model (particularly with cards) is more likely to be
inclusive and co-operative, however improperly understood or implemented is
unlikely to produce any happier results than majority voting

Gary Stewart
Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood
17 units built & occupied, 15 still to come
http://www.earthsong.org.nz

----- Original Message -----
From: "don i arkin" <shardon5 [at] juno.com>
To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Cc: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Friday, July 19, 2002 10:32 AM
Subject: [C-L]_Re: Consensus & Majority Voting


> Rob writes that:
> >
> >In a healthy consensus process, I have watched functional groups....make
> 5-6
> >consensus decisions in one 3 hour meeting [because] They understand
> consensus, all the members are trained in it as a requirement to
> participate, they have outstanding facilitation, and communication is a
> priority.


_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l

Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.