PROMOTING CONSENSUS IN SMALL DECISION-MAKING GROUPS

Groups are sometimes convened to make decisions that promote wider acc eptance of and greater commitment to the results. To accomplish this o bjective, groups need to achieve an acceptable consensus level. Group support systems (GSS) offer a means of enhancing consensus. In this st udy, a consensus monitor incorporated in a GSS was used by small decis ion making groups in an experimental setting. Groups that used the con sensus monitor several times achieved higher post-meeting consensus th an groups that used the consensus monitor only once. However, these gr oups did not differ in terms of perceived decision quality and perceiv ed decision process quality. The implications of these findings are di scussed.