PROCEDURAL INFLUENCE IN 2-STEP GROUP DECISION-MAKING - POWER OF LOCALMAJORITIES IN CONSENSUS FORMATION

Procedural influence in consensus formation across multiple subgroups was examined. When a cross-sectional decision must be established by a joint conference of all members, 2 consensus procedures are conceivab le. The 2-stage procedure encourages each subgroup to coordinate its m embers' opinions prior to the joint conference; discussion follows 2 s teps, first at the subgroup and then at the entire group level. In con trast, the single-stage procedure calls for the joint conference immed iately to minimize the opportunities for opinion exchange at subgroups . It was predicted and confirmed that, compared with the single-stage method, the 2-stage procedure enhanced the power of local majorities a t the subgroup level and hampered the tendency for the global majoriti es to prevail in the final decision. Numerical simulations further exp lored theoretical implications of distinguishing the local and global majorities for collective decision making.