Good Decisions Between Consensus and Consent

Who decides and how can good decisions be taken? For a long time, this question did not even arise in many hierarchical organizations. In case of doubt, the decision is up to the boss or a small high-ranking leadership circle, which in the best case features a high degree of diversity and honors disagreement but which in the worst case scenario only consists of claqueurs. As more and more organizations try to become more agile, new answers to the question of who decides and how to decide are of central importance. After all, agility means subsidiarity, i.e. that decisions must be made as decentralized as possible in self-organizing teams. Only how?

Democratic Majority Decision

Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

George Bernhard Shaw

The days of autocracy, in which an absolute ruler decides at will, are fortunately over in most states since the Enlightenment. It has been followed by (parliamentary) democracy, in which the decision-making lies with a (representative) group elected by the people. The method of choice for decision-making in this group is majority voting, i.e. the vote of the majority is decisive.