Often procurement can occupy a bridging position between the world of the past and the future, or between the organization and some outside entity.
Much as no one would wish to burn the platform on which he (or she) is standing, there are great advantages in building consensus in support of a given plan of action.
In most organizations, the individual members represent different interest groups and concerns and bring differing expertise to the decision-making table.
Making decisions without canvassing the range of affected interests is unlikely to improve the popularity of a purchasing manager.
Currently, few of even the most junior organizations will be satisfied if the managers approach towards consultation is only to invite everyone in only to explain why a decision has already been made. Even if the manager is indeed a genius such an approach cannot but seem highhanded and arrogant.
On occasion, a manager or director must play an authoritarian role because the disadvantages of not doing so are obvious. However, any process of closed decision-making marginalizes part of the organization from the decision-making process, even though this may not be intended or immediately evident.
Purchasing managers do not need to be aggressive, demanding, risk-taking perfectionists. That so many individuals who have been placed into managerial positions chose to behave in this way begs the question as to why so many of them perceive that there is an advantage in doing so.
To get the best results, it is almost necessary to enjoy broad support. Managers who feel that barking out a series of firm commands dispenses with this need are deluding themselves.
There are a variety of tools that managers may employ in seeking to build consensus within the organization. These include identifying who the consensus leaders are within the organization and putting in the effort necessary to develop a good relationship with them.
To this end, casual conversations may be used to float ideas and to gain an initial response. Ideas can be modified considering that response. Thus, one treats initial unfavourable responses as steps towards reaching an eventual consensus.
Although a final decision may need to be a formal meeting, it is possible to sell ideas to individuals before trying to persuade the group. The first step in building consensus is to consider the reasons why people disagree.
Most disagreements can be attributed to a relatively narrow range of causes. These include:
- Misunderstanding about the nature or terms of a proposal and the reasons advanced in support of it. (Stage One Dispute)
- Differences of perspective, which may be attributable to different experiences, values, need or objectives, with the result that the dissident prefers an alternative over the one that has been offered. (Stage Two Dispute)
- Disagreement based on personal disposition or some other extraneous yet bona fide factor not directly related to the merits of the alternative offered. (Stage Three Dispute)
- Disagreement based upon personal hostility of the other party to the person putting forward the alternative in question. (Stage Four Dispute)
The appropriate solution to a dispute turns in large measure upon which of the above categories apply, the dispute in question, as well as the circumstances for each case.
Obviously, it is far easier to resolve a Stage One Dispute than a Stage Four. Therefore, it is important to determine the source of a disagreement as quickly as possible to avoid wasting time.
Disputes at the first stage may be resolved through a variety of simple techniques, such as:
- identifying and comparing alternatives;
- merging alternatives;
- building criteria lists and scoring alternatives; and
- exploring other options based upon shared needs or objectives.
Often a solution can be reached simply by affording both sides an opportunity to listen to each other and explore their respective ideas in full.
Stephen Bauld is a government procurement expert and can be reached at swbauld@purchasingci.com. Some of his columns may contain excerpts from The Municipal Procurement Handbook published by Butterworths.
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