Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Sociocracy and Consensus

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On 3/30/2003 9:53 PM, "Rob Sandelin" <floriferous [at] msn.com> wrote:

> 
> I have to confess, I am entirely unclear what the difference is between
> these two? Would somebody be willing to illustrate the differences?

Not exactly sure which two you are referring to -- but I'll take a stab at
it anyway!

Consensus is a decision-making threshold analogous to a majority vote.
Consensus means everyone in the group has to be onboard in one way or
another. A majority vote is defined as a certain number of people. In
Democracy, a defined majority can make a decision no matter how the minority
feels. In Sociocracy there can be "no objections" before a decision can be
made. 

Sociocracy is a whole system of organizing groups of people into decision
making circles (teams, groups, etc.) that functions by consent. Small
circles are linked to other circles which in turn function by consent. Thus
Sociocracy is a system of governance like Democracy.

The sociocratic organizational structure and principles of decision making
are based on contemporary theories for managing dynamic (changing) systems.
"Steering" is the operative word. Living organisms need to steer within
parameters that allow optimal functioning. These parameters are always
changing. Sociocracy is a method of managing or functioning in response to
(not controlling) change.

I'm finishing some other projects just now but am working on a description
of sociocratic theory and structure in cohousing terminology. Working by
consensus would be so much easier if we had some structures that were
designed for it.

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org

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