What You Should Know About Majority Rule Decision Making

Rebecca Mott đź’ˇ
LeadUp
Published in
3 min readJun 2, 2021

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And How It May be Impacting Your Inclusion and Equity Efforts

Imagined by Rebecca @ Canva.com

The most popular of all group decision-making methods is “the majority rule.” It usually goes something like this:

“Everyone who wants to X, raise your hand.”

And by a count of the hands raised, we decide if the group is for or against a proposal. Super easy, and the task is completed. Majority-rule decision-making serves as the foundation for democratic forms of government. And it works. Until it doesn’t.

Over time, supportive ways of ensuring that the dissenting viewpoint is heard have emerged. Whether it is hearing arguments for both sides before the vote or having the dissenting viewpoints written after the fact, governing bodies who choose to use this rule understand the damaging aftereffect on the minority — they have to live with the decision of the majority.

This becomes strategically important and relevant when looking at organizations that endeavor to promote diversity and inclusion. The entire basis for starting such an initiative is centered on the fact that there is a minority population or several minority populations within the majority culture. This means that on any given day during any given meeting, decisions made by the status quo will automatically have an advantage…

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Rebecca Mott đź’ˇ
LeadUp

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