Implication of Leadership on Consensus Building to reach Quality

agreement
Farzana Ashraf

Abstract:
Purpose- The purpose of this study aims to better understand the role and implication of
leadership on consensus building and how a leader can effectively manage a team or group of
people in an integrated environment to achieve a common goal or objectives by having a quality
agreement, a quality agreement can only ensure a quality execution of the statement of work
associated with that agreement and on the basis of that contracts can be awarded; but if
agreement is not sufficient in all manner it can not only damages the repute but also led to a fail
state or can end up at litigations.
Design/Methodology/Approach- The information for this research is gathered & categories by
using qualitative approach, for this purpose seven experienced high level professionals
associated with the social sector were selected & interviewed. After that the result/answers
obtained are evaluated systematically to authenticate the findings.
Findings-The article draw attention toward the importance of consensus building in a leadership
trait and present a six step guidelines specifically focusing the social sector projects and
environment
Originality/Value- This study helps the leaders to manage the team successfully by following
the procedure specified for consensus building in this article, also it help to surmount the
problems because the process improves the opponents' relationship so much that they are able to
work together effectively in the future to overcome implementation problems.

Keywords-Consensus Building, Leadership, Change

Introduction:

In real world whenever a system opt any kind of change in its process through process
reengineering and /or if any new system replaces an existing one it requires systems owner
willingness which eventfully led to an agreement with the stakeholders; The quality and level of
this agreement determines the worth of the system output and ensure its smooth transition to
satisfied the project stakeholders needs so it is important that each and every component of this
change should be aligned and directed towards a common goal at a suitable time which is only
possible through the consensus building process to get a high performance work system ,
building such agreements which can led to an acceptable changes we need to have effective
leadership which has the ability to Inform , involve & acknowledge, have system knowledge and
can initiate the dialogue posses ability to create awareness , can present a case , shared vision &
can offer continuous support for ongoing process and to take responsibility.
Before starting the discussion on the role of leadership it is important to know the importance of
consensus building for an institution.
For broad based planning to short term planning institutions required to build consensus among
all stakeholders not only to initiate the project but to get desired outcomes and to effectively
address the common project constraints Cost, Time, Schedule and quality, globally 65 % projects
fails every year just because of these constraints for this it is important that whoever is
performing at senior level must possess effective consensus-building skills whereas it is found
that most of the leader are mere executives/CEO rather they possess true leadership capabilities
and know how to build consensus. which make it a hard reality that many leadership readiness
frameworks ignores or cant able to effectively explain the importance of consensus building
skills which make such leaders prone to these skills and cannot effectively participate in this
specific role.

Literature Review
Consensus Building:
Linda Finkle in 2010 defines consensus as a situation where all people are in agreement and
leader is capable to bring all persons on the same page. Developing consensus requires some
shared understanding and common commitment (Markoczy, 2001, p.1).
Tim Hartnet in one of his publication define consensus is a decision making process used by
groups seeking to generate widespread levels of participation and agreement. Although level of

agreement among different group is different but consensus is at least all group are agree at a
level where leaders are able to achieve the result.
Tjosvold and Field (1983) define consensus when leader get majority vote it is a situation when
all participant accepted the decision when it really required.
So consensus is a process where feedback and suggestion of all participation is carefully taken
and the result reflected the best outcome. It is a coherent decision on a common point where all
participants or stakeholders are agreed.
Leadership role in consensus building:
A leader of successful organizations never acts in isolation. An effective leader is a people person
who always remains in touch with the functional groups & its members.
Kanungo in 1987 found that enigmatic leadership lead to high internal cohesion that enhance
interconnection and lead to high consensus.
Burns 1978 define that there are two types of leaders transactional" and "transforming".
Transactional leadership is when "one person takes the initiative in making contact with others
for the purpose of an exchange of valued things." On the other hand transforming leadership is
defined as "one or more persons engage with each other in such a way that leaders and followers
raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality." Consensus building is the
competency of transforming leadership where the leaders involve every stakeholder within the
process to reach at common destination.
In fact that leadership is the skill of an individual to stimulate confidence and support in all
stakeholders who are required to achieve the desired goals (Kim.A.and Maubourgne R.A., 1992)
It is a mixture of behavior, which leads to certain constancy in dealing with all stakeholders
(Dubrin A.J, 2004).
It can be concluded that consensus building involve- sharing the common goal-----getting
feedback---- clear misunderstandings--- conduct group discussions----review feedback and reach
at common point of action.
Leaders gather team member to share vision and thus gathering them to conduct a meeting to
conclude their differences and clear their misunderstanding to reach on common action and
develop strategy on the basis of it they achieve desired objectives and goals. Although it is a

difficult process but successful leaders lead teams by engaging them fully in the process that
keep them motivated because they own the process as they know that why this is happening and
their ideas and suggestions are being taken care of and specially how to remain consistence with
the same environment throughout the process.
Consensus if made effectively proves to be a very influential tool of leaders that can lead to
outstanding results.

Methods:
Participants and Setting:
For data convenient sampling is used and seven senior high level professionals from social sector
organization are requested to take part in the study. Series of face to face interviews were
conducted in which each individual was asked specified questions related to the topic and their
response is recorded.
Design/Data Collection Method:
Qualitative research method is used to reflect the viewpoints of all participants. In depth
interview has been taken and recorded.
Data Analysis Method:
The interview were recorded and transcribed through a general approach called constant
comparative analysis. This approach was originally developed to use in the grounded theory
methodology introduced by Glaser and Strauss. Data is evaluated and common viewpoint related
to the subject have been identified and analyzed
Findings:
Total six systematic questions were tailored to ascertain the data and professionals opinion
where they have asked to indicate the role of leadership in consensus building that lead to quality
agreement. Every individual was agreed that to reach on a quality agreement consensus building

is very important and it reflect the leaders eminence that how he/she use this to bring along team
members to the common ground.
On the basis of evaluation of the answers received from participants, consensus building cycle is
developed that can be adopted for successful agreement:
Consensus building cycle:

Step 1

Step 2

Identify the
stakeholders

Define the
goals &
objectives

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Get
feedback

Analyze the
feedback and
address the
concerns

Consensus on
the best
alternatives

Having a
quality
agreement

Identify the stake holders:

The stakeholders who have interests and those who have powers to influence the project should
be identified and categorized to address and to monitor their involvement and interests it is very
important that before the commencement of consensus building process those stakeholders
should be identified who will remain involved throughout the process to reach on an agreement.
Many participants emphasizes the importance of identification of stakeholders .Like one of the
respondent said that If you do not know who are the primary and secondary stake holders,It is
not possible for you to plan ahead.

Define the goals & objectives:

The clarity of objective and goals can help the stakeholders to better understand their role and
interest and through which a leader can able to involve them in the process of consensus building
effectively.
In view of the answers received against one of my question related to how you initiate the
process for taking all member of group on the same page. One of the professional responded
that;

You should first develop a shared vision and then on the basis of that you will be able to build
consensus
Other responds that:
Every member of group should learn the objective by heart that should be reflected from their
day to day task, only then you are successful leader who can build consensus among team and
move forward.
So it is concluded that leader should first of all clear objectives, communicate the shared vision
so that all members of the team knows that where they are heading to, what will be their
responsibilities. When the team fully owns the project/Process, they are more participative and
can generate maximum output toward the right direction to achieve a common goal.
Stakeholders feedback:
After having clarity of vision and course of action the team members or stakeholders able to
generate their own opinion about the process; which they can share as a feedback to have a
quality agreement, It is important that each and every participant should be encouraged and
facilitated to share his/her opinion so that it can be registered and accounted for to have a
common ground of action. Many researchers stresses on the importance of feedback in the
process. Like Gillespie. S in 2000 emphasizes that the feedback with consultation is very
important as it helps to maintain ownership throughout the process. As many respondents
highlight feedback an important part of the process.
Working without getting and analyzing feedback is like working in a closed room with no light
in it.
To make my team strong, I emphasize on consensus building and to do this I encourage healthy
feedback and enable such environment where all members can exchange their views, suggestion
and input.
If no one knows that what are they going to achieve, how they will they do that, they will not
accompany you or can leave you alone; so share with them, develop a mechanism of continuous
feedback.
Effective leader encourages feedback and criticism because at the initial point opposing such
activity will encourage the opponent to oppose the action(Kotter.J.P., 1996)

Consensus on the best alternatives:

The process of having a common ground of action requires the best alternatives from many. The
most common techniques used to evaluate the best options from many option is Fish bone
technique or through regular meeting or interactions with the stakeholders bring them together
and they can be able to agree upon on same agenda to move forwarded a leader should asses
those points and can further shortlist the best course of action.
If leader feels that stakeholders does not seems to be agreed on the same agenda he/she can
change the initial plan and again he/she has to start the consensus building process from stage#1
the process can be repeated as many time as required until the desired results achieved.
As one of the respondent says that It is compulsory that you should initiate the process by
taking all group members in to confidence, listened their concerns and give weightage to their
suggestions

Having a quality agreement

Agreement shows the formal willingness of all the stakeholders and some time it has legal
obligation associated with it so it is very important to have such an agreement which is workable
and formulated with the consensuses of all the parties, a quality agreement can only ensure a
quality execution of the statement of work associated with that agreement and on the basis of that
contacts can be awarded; but if agreement is not sufficient in all manner it can not only damages
the repute but also led to a fail state or can end up at litigations. It is although not necessary that
everyone is happy with the end decision but at least maximum suggestions are being taken care
of and logically represented in the agreements.
During the information gathering many respondents suggest that, to work in an integrated team
environment it requires a lot of efforts and to avoid any teams conflicts and future barriers you
need to build consensus among members, and once you do that you will be able to generate
quality agreements.

Discussion:
This study reveals the importance of effective leadership and how consensus building helps to
reach at the quality agreement. This research also identifies the process that leaders should
follow to reach at the quality agreement.
In past there is as such no specific research conducted on the same topic but many researches
shows the importance of consensus building like Kasim .R.and Abdul Ghaffar.C in 2012 proved
through their research that most of people believe consensus leadership style and are evidently
considered important for organization success.
So importance of consensus building and the way leader adopts it is very significant for any
project/process success as it ensure participation of each member and empowers them to work
more diligently, It also helps to remove differences and make the process more efficient that led
to better decision .

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