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Having studied in Japan and worked at Tri Petch Isuzu Sales - a Thai-Japanese joint venture - I am a strong supporter of "team decision-making". I believe a high-performing team is a powerful force in assessing complex business environments and formulating masterly strategies for successful implementation. Good personal relationships in the workplace are, hence, the key to ensuring a consensus on putting proposed ideas into smooth practice.

Capable managers must be able to persuade, influence and precipitate consensus skilfully among all parties concerned for policy development and implementation. Consensus is a process in which all team members are involved.

Anyone initiating an idea wants to put it into practice without strong opposition from a key person wanting to abort that proposal. So it is important to increase the chances of a proposal being accepted by laying the groundwork for it before the formal advancement.

Prior consultation with all concerned - to take their opinions into account - not only helps resolve divergent views, but also results in valuable feedback. This in turn will allow the initiator to modify his proposal to eliminate conflicts, making it more likely to be accepted before it is officially presented during a corporate meeting.

Once a decision-making team reaches a consensus, perhaps no one, not even the initiator himself, will be completely satisfied with the outcome, but everyone will accept it.

Consensus is not a unanimous decision, but rather an agreement that all of the team members will support. Even though some may not be completely happy with the consensus, they will be forced to comply with it, because they have already been sounded out, and some of their ideas have been incorporated into the proposal.

In today's volatile business environment, the Japanese-style of team decision-making, in which matters are discussed with all concerned to gather their ideas for potential agreement, is worth considering before actual implementation, particularly if one must deal with controversial issues requiring the holistic efforts of the entire organisation.

I still believe that the old saying, "Many heads are better than one," is never wrong.