This paper introduces the normalized and signed gradient dynamical systems associated with a differentiable function. Extending recent results on nonsmooth stability analysis, we characterize their asymptotic convergence properties and identify conditions that guarantee finite-time convergence. We discuss the application of the results to consensus problems in multi-agent systems and show how the proposed nonsmooth gradient flows achieve consensus in finite time. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.