An objective measure of consensus
W.J. Tastle1 and M.J. Wierman2
1School of Business, Ithaca
College, Ithaca, New York, NY, USA
2Computer Science Department, Creighton University, Omaha,
NE, USA
This paper describes a new measure of dispersion as an indication of
consensus and dissention. Building on the generally accepted Shannon entropy,
this measure utilizes a probability distribution and the measured distance
between categories of the distribution to produce a value confined to
the unit interval. Unlike other measures that need to be divided by some
maximum value, i.e., the maximum entropy, this measure is always a maximum
value at 1 and a minimum value at 0. The measure is applied to the Likert
scale to determine degrees of group consensus when dealing with decision-making,
though other scales are possible. Using this measure, group facilitators
can easily determine the proximity of a group to arriving at consensus.
The authors identify a set of criteria that a measure must satisfy in
order to be an acceptable indicator of consensus and show how the consensus
measure presented here satis.es all the criteria.
The problem of understanding the complexities of group decision-making
is well studied, but the ancillary problem of identifying a measure by
which to determine if a group of individuals is converging on consensus,
remains elusive although much work has been recently conducted.
It is common for a group of well-innstentioned individuals, engaged in
purposeful dialogue, to utilize the concept of conseus in making decisions,
especially when it is important to maintain some sort of collegiality.
Roberts Rules of Order, while effective, usually results in someone
or some group, loosing in the resulting decision if the chair
calls for a vote having sensed that all are in agreement.
Such feelings may be incorrect. Although consensus building is a typical
method used in decision-making, few measures exist which allow for the
easy determination of the degree to which a group is nearing the point
of agreement. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a mathematical
measure that is intuitive and easy to apply.
Paper presented
at Measuring Behavior 2005
, 5th International Conference on Methods and Techniques
in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The
Netherlands.
© 2005 Noldus
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