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American Communication Association Board of Directors :: General :: Meeting 3/14-3/18 :: Agenda Item 2 - BOD Membership Procedures
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Jon Radwan
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Agenda Item 2 - BOD Membership Procedures
« Thread Started on Mar 14, 2005, 8:30am »
Having a consensus procedure for "acclaiming" BOD members seems odd to people used to democratic governance. ACA has not done well with voting procedures in the past -- when a virtual non-paid volunteer group has a close vote on a controversial issue, half of the group can (and has) simply walk away, crippling the organization. Simply put, we are not like other organizations (countries, corporations, etc.) because there is nothing but volunteer spirit keeping us here. I propose that we continue to "acclaim" anyone who wants to volunteer to help, and that if multiple people want to hold the same office or help w/ the same area then we will have co-chairs and even co-presidents.
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Jon Radwan -- ACA Secretary, Parliamentarian
Ann Rosenthal
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Re: Agenda Item 2 - BOD Membership Procedures
« Reply #1 on Mar 14, 2005, 11:56am »
Jon,

This sounds a bit like chaos to me. If everybody is doing something, what ususally happens is that it does not get done.

Ann
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Ann Rosenthal, Ph.D., Lt.Col., USAF (ret)
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Stephen D. Cooper
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Re: Agenda Item 2 - BOD Membership Procedures
« Reply #2 on Mar 14, 2005, 12:55pm »
I've got some reservations about decision-making by consensus, in general. I'm not sure that the issues actually get thrashed well enough (premature declaration of consensus), or assured that people will be candid when they disagree (like Noelle-Neumann's spiral of silence theory, in mass comm).

Or the opposite: that a single objection to an idea kills any further consideration of it (everybody's got a veto).

Just thinking (cyber)aloud...but I can see some disadvantages to consensus, over good ol' voting, as a group decision making procedure.
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Jon Radwan
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Re: Agenda Item 2 - BOD Membership Procedures
« Reply #3 on Mar 14, 2005, 12:59pm »

Quote:
Jon,

This sounds a bit like chaos to me. If everybody is doing something, what ususally happens is that it does not get done.

Ann


Yes, everyone working on a task would be chaotic, but a committee or co-chair is not everyone, it is specific people who have volunteered to take responsibility for a task, like we have now with the accreditation team.

If we ever got to the point where 15 or 20 people all wanted to work on accreditation at the same time, that would be a very good problem to have and we would probably have to change to some kind of vote-based procedure to resolve it. Our problem now is not enough workers, and my point is that we should not turn away any volunteer. Instead we should say, "Thanks!" and when everyone agrees put them on a team with the other people interested in that issue.
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Re: Agenda Item 2 - BOD Membership Procedures
« Reply #4 on Mar 14, 2005, 1:15pm »

Quote:
I've got some reservations about decision-making by consensus, in general. I'm not sure that the issues actually get thrashed well enough (premature declaration of consensus), or assured that people will be candid when they disagree (like Noelle-Neumann's spiral of silence theory, in mass comm).

Or the opposite: that a single objection to an idea kills any further consideration of it (everybody's got a veto).

Just thinking (cyber)aloud...but I can see some disadvantages to consensus, over good ol' voting, as a group decision making procedure.


Good points Stephen. The bylaws attempt to prevent premature declaration of consensus by having agenda items announced well in advance and meetings that last for several days so everyone has a chance to thrash. We could make it even longer, is there a decision from the last meeting you thought was too hasty?

Spiral of Silence or groupthink certainly apply. Each of us is responsible for speaking up when we have something important to say, and the veto power gives us serious ability to affect outcomes. So, the responsibility and power go hand in hand with consensus. With voting, there is only a little power and responsibility is diffused.

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Dale Cyphert
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Re: Agenda Item 2 - BOD Membership Procedures
« Reply #5 on Mar 14, 2005, 1:29pm »
Is this a decision item?

We have discussed the pros and cons of concensus decision-making for two or three years now, during which time Jon, Jesse and I researched, pondered and spent countless hours soliciting and incorporating input from past and current BOD members. If this is just another discussion session, I will simply say that I stand by the by-laws committee's recommendation and their subsequent adoption by the BOD.

If the BOD is trying to determine whether another round of by-laws revisions is in order, I think such a process, painful and slow as it is, is ridiculously premature. We haven't even learned how to USE the current by-laws yet.
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Jon Radwan
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Re: Agenda Item 2 - BOD Membership Procedures
« Reply #6 on Mar 14, 2005, 2:06pm »
Good points Dale, I'm not up for going through it all again either, but I do think the new people might need some explanation about why voting does not work here.

The decision item Jim put on the agenda is clarification of the acclamation procedure for new BOD members. Maybe we should come up with steps?

1. Volunteer in an email to the BOD
2. Describe what specific task you'd like to take on
3. Describe any qualifications
4. BOD puts Volunteer X on the agenda and discusses
5. Volunteer X is acclaimed or not
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Re: Agenda Item 2 - BOD Membership Procedures
« Reply #7 on Mar 16, 2005, 9:48pm »
I have faith in the members of ACA to both avoid premature declaration of consensus and to speak up when needed.

This is definitely a model worth continuing… and besides, the worst thing that can happen is that we all have to quit our jobs to work on speaking engagements for fortune 500 companies on how to make consensuses decision making work ;-)

Now about that acclamation procedure, mind if I build on your work Jon?… too bad, I liked it, so I’m using it anyway :-)

I think we should document both the procedure and our reasoning a bit and either add it to the Rules of Order on the web page or have another page specifically on BOD membership.

Something like:

The American Communication Association (ACA) Board of Directors (BOD) are appointed through a consensus of the existing Board of Directors or by the general membership at each Annual Discussion of Members.

To nominate yourself for a leadership position with the ACA you should send an email to the ACA BOD at email@goes.here, with a subject of “ACA BOD Nomination” describing the specific task or operation of the ACA that you would like to take on, your contact information and qualifications.

The nomination will then be put on the agenda for the next BOD meeting or, at your request, the next Annual Discussion of Members.

The nomination will then be discussed and with the consensus of the group the person will be appointed to the BOD to fill an existing opening or into a newly created position on the board.
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Re: Agenda Item 2 - BOD Membership Procedures
« Reply #8 on Mar 17, 2005, 9:15am »
Looks good to me Jesse, does anyone else have opinions?
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Re: Agenda Item 2 - BOD Membership Procedures
« Reply #9 on Mar 17, 2005, 7:03pm »
I'm coming late to the party after a busy week, but
the previous two posts make a lot of sense to this
newbie.
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