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SPONS AGENCYFEPORT NOPUB DATECONTRACTNOTE

AVAILABLE FROM

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EA 014 193

Smith, Stuart C., Ed.; And OthersSchool Leadership: Handbook for Survival.ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management, Eugene,Oreg.National Inst. of Education (ED), Washirgtot, D.C.ISBN-086552-076-X81

400-78-0007353p.; For individual chapters, see EA C14 194-204and ED 169 680.ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management,University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403 ($13.95;quantity discounts; make checks payable to ERIC/CEMPublications).

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC15 Plus Postage,DESCRIPTORS Administrator Characteristics; Administrator

Qualifications: *Administrator Responsibility;*Administrator Role; Communication (ThoughtTransfer) ; Conflict Resolution; Decision Making;*Educational Administration; Educational Environment;Elementary Secondary Education; *Leadership:Leadership Qualities; Leadership Styles; ManagementTeams; Meetings; Principals; Problem Solving; RacialDiscrimination; *School Administration; SexDiscrimination; Superintendents

IDENTIFIERS *Leadership Effectiveness; Participative DecisionMaking; School Based Management; Stress Management;Time Management

ABSTRACTBased on the assumption that the survival of the

nation's schools and thoir leaders depends on these leaders havingreal influence over the quality of schooling, this volume draws fromthe work of many authorities to look at leadership from threeperspectives: the person, the structure, and the skills- Chaptersfocusing on the person who holds the leadership positioT lock atcharacteristics of today's educational leaders, at what makes aneffective leader, at the scarcity of female and black school leaders,and at leadership style. The part of the volume focusing on structurelock's at the organizational supports that underlie school leadership.It examines school-based management, management support teams,participative decision-making systems, and determinants of schoolclimate. Chapters on leadership skills highlight several abilitiesadministrators must master to be effective leaders in educationtoday, This part of the volume looks at such skills as communicating,leading meetings, managing time and stress, managing conflicts, andsolving problems. Practical suggestions for using this information inschools are offered throughout. (Author/JM)

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION

CENTER (ERIC)

This document has been reproduced asreceived from the person or organizationoriginating itMinor changes have been made to improvereproduction quality

Points of view or orpi ions stated in this document do not net.essarily represent official NIE

position or policy

S61100MEA I LIP811 P

HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

Edited bySTUART C. SMITHJO ANN MAZZARELLAPHILIP K. PIELE

Clearinghouse on Educational ManagementUniversity of OregonEugene, Oregon 1981

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International Standard Book Number: 0-86552-078-XLibrary of Congress Catalog Card Number: 81-82931

Printed in the United States of AmericaERIC Clearinghouse on Educational ManagementUniversity of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403

This publication was prepared with funrIng from the National Institute ofEducation. U S Department of Education under contract no 400.78-0007The opinions expressed in this report do nor necessarily relied the positionsor policies of ME or the Department of Education

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ABOUT ERIC

The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)is a national information system operated by the NationalInstitute of Education. ERIC serves the educational communityby disseminating educational research results and other re-source information that can be used in developing more effec-tive educational programs.

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management,one of several clearinghouses in the system, was establishedat the University of Oregon in 1966. The Clearinghouse and itscompanion units process research reports and journal articlesfor announcement in ERIC's index and abstract bulletins.

Research reports are announced in Resources in Education(RIE), available in many libraries and by subscription for $42.70a year from the United States Government Printing Office,Washington, D.C. 20402. Most of the documents listed in RIEcan be purchased through the ERIC Document ReproductionService, operated by Computer Microfilm International Cor-poration.

journal articles are announced in Current Index to Journalsin Education. CUE is also available in many libraries andcan beordered for $90 a year from Oryx'Press, 2214 North Centralat Encanto, Phoenix, Arizona 85004. Semiannual cumulationscan be ordered separately.

Besides processing documents and journal articles, theClearinghouse has another major functioninformation analy-sis and sythesis. The Clearinghouse prepares bibliographies,literature reviews, state-of-the-knowledge papers, and otherinterpretive research studies on topics in its educational area.

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CONTENTS

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FOREWORD xvii-

INTRODUCTION 1

Powerlessness and Frustration 2What Is Leadership? 4Leading to What? 6Leadership and Effective Schools 7How This Book Was Written 9Overview to

PART 1- THE PERSON 13

Introduction to Part 1 -15

CHAPTER 1- PORTRAIT OF A LEADER 17Nature and Nurture 19IQ 20 . . . Birth Order 21 . . . Childrearing Variables

22 . . . Socioeconomic Variables 23 . . . Implicationsfor Administrator Selection 24

Person to Person 24Social Participation 25 . . . Communication 27 . . .

Listening 27 . . . Implications for Selection, Evaluation,and Training -28

Character Qualities 29Goals 30 . . . Security 31 . . . Proactivity 32 . . .

Implications for Selection, Evaluation, and Twining 33

Conclusion 35

CHAPTER 2 TWO SPECIAL CASES:WOMEN AND BLACKS

Introduction 37Quality Education and Effective Leadership 37 . . . ToLeaders and Aspiring Leaders 39 . . . What about OtherRacial Minorities? 39

The Woman Administrator 40Where Is She? 40 . . . A Woman's Place 42

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SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

Can a Woman Succeed? 44The Obstacle of Negative Attitudes 46 . . . SomePractical Problems 47

The Black Administrator: Still Segregated48Disappearance of the Black Leader 49 . . . PersistentDiscrimination 51A Program for Change 53

Conclusion 56

-011-VTER-3--LEADERSHIP STYLES 58

Introduction 58.History of Style Theory 59 . . . Practical Applications

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What Is It?-- 60Components of Style . . . People or Work 63

The Ideal Style 64Risk Taking 65 . . . What Is the Situation? 66 . . .

Situation and Personality -69

Can You Change Your Style? 70Identifying Your Style 70 . . . Style Flex 71 . .

Synthesizing the Theories 74

So What? 75Becoming a Better Leader 78 . . . Training Programs82 . . . Leader Selection 85

Conclusion 85

PART 2- THE STRUCTUREIntroduction to Part 2 91

CHAPTER 4 SCHOOL-BASEDMA.NAGEMENT

The Rationale 95Autonomy and Control through History 95 . . . TheDeficiencies of Centralization 97 . . . The Efficiency ofDecentralization -- 98

Examples of Implementation to Date 99Florida 100... California 107... Lansing, Michigan

111 . . . Edmonton, Alberta 113 . . . Cherry CreekSchool District, Colorado 114

The Transfer of Authority 116The School Board 116 . . . The Central Office: Facilitator

117... The Principal: School Leader 119

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CONT:NTS

Three Critical Control Areas 121Curriculum 122... Personnel 122... Budget 123Shared Decision- Making -124Staff Involvement 125 . . . Community Involvement126

Conclusion 128

CHAPTER 5 - TEAM MANAGEMENT130

Organizational Considerations 132Power and Trust 133 . . . The Board-AdministratorAgreement 134 . . . Membership and Organization136 . . . Decision-Making 138Examples of Successful Teams 139-,_ Yakima, Washington 140 . . . Rio Linda, California142 . . .Attleboro, Massachusetts 145Conclusion 148

-C-HAMIR 6 - PARTICIPATIVEDECISION-MAKING

150Advantages ofParticipation 153.Quality of Decisions 154... Organizational Effectiveness155... Teacher Satisfaction156Guidelines for Implementation 159Varying Decision-Making Style -- 159... WhoShould BeInvolved 161 . . . Extent of Involvement 162 . . .Areas of Involvement162 . . . Forms of Involvement163 . . . Moving to PDM 163

Approaches to Involvement 165Conclusion 167

CHAPTER 7 SCHOOL CLIMATE 169Measuring School Climate 171The Importance of School Climate 175Improving School Climate 178The Stability of Climate 179... The Process ofChange180 . . . Practical Sug,,-c:::tions 183

Conclusion 186

PART 3 THE SKILLS189

Introduction to Part 3 191

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SCHOOL LEADERSHIP HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

CHAPTER 8 -- COMMUNICATING 194

Learning to Communicate 194How the Process Works 195... Communication Skills

1% . . . Exercises for Improvement 200 . . . ThePrincipal's Responsibility 202 . . . Communicating inSmall Groups-203

Reaching the Public 4- 205Public Relations Strategies 206 . . . Parents 207 . . .

Key Communicators 208 . . . Citizen Grotips 209 . . .The Media 211 . . . Surveys 213 . . . A Time-SavingSuggestion 213

Conclusion 214

CHAPTER 9 - LEADING MEETINGS 215Choosing a Leadership Pattern 216

Goals and Values of Meetings 219Meetings with Purpose 219 . . . Is a Meeting Necessary?

223... Hidden Values of Meetings 224Basics of Meeting Planning 224The Agenda and Time Considerations 225 . . . WhoShall Attend? 229 . . . Seating Arrangements-231 .

The-Meeting_Room 232

The Art of Leading fice-Meeting_ 233The What and How of Meeting Managemerit=- 234 . . .

Task Functions 235 . . . Maintenance Functions 237. . . You as a Participant 239 . . . Utilizing Minutes240 . . . The Interaction Method 242

Tools for Evaluating and Improving Meetings243

Conclusion 245

CHAPTER 10 - MANAGING TIMEAND STRESS 247

Blocks to Time/Stress Management 248

Boosts to Time/Stress Management 249Self-Control 250 . . . Job-Control 250

Time Management Strategies 251Goal-Setting and Prioritizing 252 . . . The Daily TimeLog 253 . . . Managing Time Wasters -255Stress Management 263Daily Stress Log 266 . . . Managing Controllable Stres-sors 269 . . . Managing Uncontrollable Stressors 272

CONTENTS

Conclusion 273

CHAPTER 11- MANAGING CONFLICT 275

The Value of Conflict 275

Understanding Conflict 276Types of Conflict 277 . . . Sources of Conflict 279 . . .

Stages of Conflict 281

Techniques for Managing Conflict 282Avoiding Conflict 284 . . Superordinate Goals 286. . . Creative Problem-Solving 286 . . . Compromiseand Use of a Third Party 288 . . . Authoritative Com-mand 288 . . . Altering Organizational Structure 289

. . .Preparing for Conflict Management 291 . . . SomeFinal Advice 292

Conclusion 292

CHAPTER 12 SOLVING PROBLEMS 294

Understanding a Situation: Force-FieldAnalysis 2%

Finding Solutions: The Nominal GroupTechnique 299An Alternative to Brainstorming 301 . . . The NominalGroup as an Intervention Technique 303 . . . PlanningNew Programs 303

Achieving Consensus: The Delphi Technique305History and Assumptions of Delphi 306 . . . The NewForms of Delphi 307 . . . Sample Applications308... Using the Delphi 313 . . . The Consensus Phe-nomenon 315 . . . A Comparison of Nominal Groupand Delphi 316

Conclusion 317

BIBLIOGRAPHY 319

INTERVIEWS 342

.xi

PREFACE

School leadership has long been a priority topic forpublications of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Man-agement. Our interest in leadership has been born out of adual motivation. Convinced by overwhelming research evi-dence proving that good leadershipespecially at the schoolsitedoes improve the quality -of schooling, we have pre-pared numerous publications with the purpose of helpingadministrators be more effective leaders of their schools.

Reinforcing this purpose is the Clearinghouse's man-date, as part of a federally funded information center, torespond to the expressed needs of its clientele. With a fre-quency that has increased dramatically in recent years, indi-vidual principals, superintendents, other administrators, andofficials of the major national and regional associations rep-resenting them have communicated to us their need for prac-tical materials on leadership effectiveness.

This book was conceived when we took stock of thevariety of our publications aimed at school leaders and decidedthe materials would better fulfill our purposes if compiled intoa single volume. Titles outof print would be brought up todate. As the book's contents were outlined, it also becameclear that a lot of new materials would have to be written. Thisresulting handbook is offered as a practical resource for schoolleaders as they confront the unique problems of schools in theeighties.

One regret we have in publishing this volume is that wecould not include thirty or forty chapters instead of twelve.Leadership's many dimensions and requirements extend wellbeyond the outline of topics presented in these pages. Ratherthan write generally about many topics, however, we decidedto deal expansively with a few. Our intent has been to expoundeach topic with sufficient detail to suggest specific directionsfor school practitioners. Space limitations forced us to excludea substantial amount of materials earlier prepared by the Clear-inghouse on topics related to management of resources (per-sonnel, pupils, facilities), community relations, and instruc-tional leadership. These materials have been reserved forpossible compilation into subsequent volumes.

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SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: ISANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

Work on the book actually began in 1974. That was theyear the Clearinghouse teamed with the National Associationof Elementary School Principals to launch a series of publica-tions called the School Leadership Digest. As the Digest'sforeword explained, the purpose of the series was to provide"school administrators with concise, readable analyses of themost important trends in schools today," as well as point up"the practical implications of major research findings."

Only two of the twenty-five issues of the School Leader-ship Digest have made their way, following substantial revi-sion, into this book. The series' contribution to this volume issignificant nonetheless, consisting not so much in content asin methodology. The School Leadership Digest summarizededucational literatureespecially research literatureso thatits readers, chiefly school principals, might better grasp andapply knowledge useful for the operation of the schools. Re-search findings were surveyed, synthesized, and interpretedwith a view to pointing out their relevance for educationalpractice.

Over the years the Clearin ouse has continued to applyand refine this method of info ation analysis. Although theSchool Leadership Digest ceased in 1976, the format wasreborn the following year in 44e School Management Digest,this time with the Associatiod of California School Adminis-trators as the partner. Of the twenty-oneissues in this more recent eries, four are reprinted here,having undergone varying egrees of revision.1Of the other six chap ers, half are entirely original andthe other half substantiallypo. The Clearinghouse has writtenextensively about school le/idership in yet another publication

formatihe Research Actipn Brief series. Portions of five issuesof this seriesoriginally distributed by the National Associa-tion of Secondary School Principals and the American Asso-ciation of School AdminiPtratorshave been incorporated intothree different chapters/The chapters' authors are research analysts and writerswith a special interestim education who were commissionedby the Clearinghouse/ When an older piece was updated byanother author, both /authors' names appear. Appreciation isdue all the authors for their skill in organizing and bringingclarity to the volumeP of information that attended their topics.

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PREFACE

We owe special gratitude to Thomas Sergiovanni for hisinsightful and prompt critique of each chapter. Seldom does areviewer read so thoroughly or respond so helpfully. Becauseof Professor Sergiovanni's contribution, the concept of leader-ship expre4s2d in these pages is broader and better articulatedthan it would have been otherwise.

We also thank Linda Wisner for the book's attractivedesign, Mary Russell for her tireless supervision of production,Susan Davie for her painstaking proofreading, and Ellen Ricefor her unequalled expertise in mechanical editing and inpreparing the bibliography.

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FOREWORD

In recent years the educational community has adopteda public policy orientation. More and more, we have looked tostate and federal levels for answers to our school problems:This has resulted in a shift away from giving attention to localschools and local school leadership. Forays into managementscience, accountability systems, teacher-proof curricula, com-petency testing, and other technologies in search of easyanswers have further distracted -us from attention on localschool leadership. But the dust is settling and once againattention is being focused on the principalship and the localschool site.

This book, School Leadership: Handbook for Sivival, isthus timely as well as effective. It is clear that no single personis more key to school effectiveness than the principal and thatthe deciding factor in determining this effectiveness is theleadership he or she brings to the school. The survival meta-phor included in the book title suggests that the going is toughand indeed that the principalship is under attack. Despite therelative accuracy of this portrayal, a welcome feature of thisbook is that it interprets survival more broadly. The strugglefor existence must continue at two levels competency andexcellence. It is obvious that school excellence is beyond thereach of the incompetent principal or school. But the qualitystakes for American education are too high to assume thatroutine competence is in itself all that is needed for schoolsurvival. Competence mid more is the slogan needed in thedecade ahead. The survival stakes have been elevated to newheights in this book, and this characteristic itself is worthcelebrating.

Embedded in the book's chapters is ,a comprehensiveframework for quality leadership that I will conveniently sum-marize as five Fs: Prerequisites, Purpose,' Passion, People,and Principle.

Prerequisites refers to the management and informationskills so necessary in developing a competent and effectiveschool. Lest we deceive ourselves, management basics andknowledge of technical skills provide the critical base upon

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- --.which to build excellence. Routine leadership competence is,therefore, a prerequisite to school excellence.

Leadership without purpose is a contradiction. Effectiveleaders have a keen sense of what they hope to accomplishand are able to communicate this sense in a meaningful way toothers with whom they work. Although I would not want tochoose between the two, what the leader stands for and be-lieves in is more important than what the leader actually doesor how he or she behaves with respect to leadership style.

Passion refers to the strength of leader beliefs and theability to stir the loyalty and commitment of others to thesebeliefs. Knowing what is important and being personallycommitted is not enough. These ideas and ideals need to beshared and con Ancingly accepted by others. Highly effectivework groups, for example, are characterized by loyalty andcommitment of members to each other, to a common purpose,and to the organization of which they area part. It is importantto remember that leadership has an emotional quality to it,and human responses to leadership share this characteristic.

Of course, others too must have a stake in what is goingon; indeed, a close correspondence exists between the qualityof their feelings and this stake. Sensitivity to people to theirneeds, preferences, beliefs, and ways of doing things com-petes favorably with the other P's for top billing. Principals aredependent Upon the cooperation and good will of others to getthings done. Obtaining this cooperation and good will isan artcultivated by attention tonotivation theory, shared decision-making, group process techniques, school climate concepts,leadership styles, and other topics included in this book.

Important to quality leadership are the principles thatform the basis for the principal's leadership. The leader'ssense of well-being, self-esteem, integrity, and conviction arekey here. Effective leaders are known quantities to followers.No mysteries exist with regard to what they stand for andbelieve in. Members know and understand whthe leader isabout and the principles upon which he or she stands. Theyconsider the leader as a highly principled person in 'suchdimensions as integrity, honesty, faime's, sensitivity, andforthrightness. They are confident, as weIl, that the leader isprimarily motivated by the welfare of the work group and ofthe school and not by self-interests or self-aggrandizement.

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FOREWORD

The leadership prerequisites are mastered by training.The other four P's are informed by training but are developedby growth in maturity, perspective, and experience. All fiveare accessiblein this book, for it indeed has its training com-ponents; but more importantly this is a book to live with, toread and reread, and to grow with. The array of offerings inthe book is varied, and the range of topics is large. But I likenthe book's contents and arrangementsmore to Hemingway'smoveable feast than I do to a smorgasbord. Unlike manyedited books, things hang together; a certain coherence limitsthe book's contents into a sensible whole, and more impor-tantly, the feast is uplifting. Demonstrating that the principal-ship is important and that skills can be learned is only part ofthe book's story. Capturing some of the more qualitativeaspects of leadership is the other part.

I have had the rare opportunity of reading sections ofthe book as they were being developed and was even invitedto comment on the material from time to time. With thisspecial advantage, I can .state with confidence that thisforward-looking book measures up to the standards of qualityand usefulness professionals have a right to expect.

Thomas J. SergiovanniProfessor and Chairperson

Department of Administration,Higher, and Continuing Education

College of EducationUniversity of Illinois at

Urbana -Champaign

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INTRODUCTION

LEADERSHIP FOR SURVIVAL

Administrators today are engaged in mortal com-bat. They are worried about survival this vol-ume does not appear to address that issue.

An Assistant Superintendent interviewed dur-ing the early stages of this volume.

Survival. A catchword that is quickly becoming a mean-ingless, or rather, too meaningful cliché. Everybody talksabout it, many are attempting to do something about it; .but,everybody means something different by it and is doingsomething different to survive.

Survival for school administrators does not mean en-during without a food supply, nor does it mean fending offphysical attack. Rather, for school administrators, the fight forsurvival is fought on two levels. On one level, administratorsare simply concerned with a fight to keep their jobs. As enroll-ment declines, so do jobs for educators; as schools are closed,the number of principalships declines. In 1979, E. MarkHan-son wrote in his textbook for school administrators, "As manyschool superintendents would admit, the toughest part of thisjob is keeping it." This quote becomes more and more trueevery day. 'One hears a lot these days about "top heavy"organizations: Many administrators are being classified assuperfluous, especially at the central office level. Who will bethe next to go?

On another level, administrators fight for survival oftheir peace of mind. As some administrators fight tooth andclaw for their positions, others, whose positions were secure,are quietly turning to their resignations. They are "burned-out." They can't take\ it any more. Managing schools is nolonger worth the trouble.

What does the fight for survival have to do with thisbook? In a sense, the assistant superintendent quoted abovewas right there are no chapters here on keeping your job orkeeping your sanity. So why talk about survival? Because thepurpose of this book is to help school administrators be the

SO lOOL LEADERSIIII'. I IANDROOK FOR SURVIVAL

best leaders they possibly can be. Because excellent leaderslose their jobs and their sanity a lot less often than poor onesdo. Because leadership means both influence and.ability to getthings done, and both are necessary to suivive'in schoolstoday. And finally, because an understanding of the ideas andmethods and skills presented here is absolutely essential forthose who are going to succeed in school management in theeighties.

POWERLESSNESS AND FRUSTRATION

In 1978, Richard Gorton and Kenneth McIntyre, underthe auspices of the National Association of Secondary SchoolPrincipals, surveyed a carefully selected national sample ofsixty effective principals. The authors found that a majority ofthe respondents, some of the nation's most outstanding prin-cipals, did not intend to remain in the principalship. They didnot want to be principals any more.

One reason for such attitudes may be that administratorsare feeling powerless. These feelings were expressed by oneprincipal interviewed in a study by Arthur Blumberg andWilliam Greenfield a principal who had been identified asan unusually effective leader.

I think a good deal of my discontent is over loss ofpower. I mean a loss of power in the sense that I don'thave anywhere to fight. The population's changing,the neighborhood's changing, and the school system'schanging and I have no control over any of it. What Ihave to do now is try and eke out enough supplies forthe kids. That's not very exciting.

There are good reasons for the feeling of loss of power. DonaldMyers has noted that reasons for school administrators' loss ofpower may be

increased power of citizenscontrol of the school by the local school boardincreased independence.of teachers

4 increased power of studentsgrowth of teacher organizations and collectivebargaining

INTRODUCTION: LEADERSHIP FOR SURVIVAL

He might well have added declining resources and theloss of confidence and negative public image the schools arenow suffering.

The realization that power has been lost is not a lamentfor the good old days when "administrators were administra-tors" and were obeyed unquestioningly. The changes Myerslisted have been, ,on the whole, very good for schools. Yet aloss of formal power can be traumatic no matter how good thereason, especially if there is nothing to take its place. Whenpower is replaced only by feelings of powerlessness, thenfrustration and "burn out" begin.

Coupled with this loss of power, paradoxically enough,is an increase in responsibility. Roland Barth has aptly de-scribed this situation as it relates specifically to his perspec-tive that of the principal.

The principal is ultimately responsible for almost every-thing that happens in school and out. We are respon-sible for personnel making sure that employees arephysically present and working to the best oftheir ability. We are in charge of program makingsure that teachers are teaching what they are supposedto and that children are learning it. We are accountableto parents making sure that each is given an oppor-tunity to express problems and that those problemsare addressed and resolved. We are expected to protectthe physical safety of children making sure that theseveral hundred lively organisms who leave eachmorning return, equally lively, in the afternoon.

Over the years principals have assumed one-smalladditional responsibility after another responsibilayfor the safe passage of children from home to school,responsibility for making' sure the sidewalks areplowed of snow in winter, :Psponsibility for healtheducation, sex education. moral education, responsi-bility for teaching children to evacuate school busesand to ride their bikes safely. We have taken on lunchprograms, then breakfast programs; responsibility forthe physical condition of the furnace, the wiring, theplayground equipment. We are now accountable forchildren's achievement of minimum standards at eachgrade level, for the growth of children with specialneeds, of the gifted, and of those who are neither. Theprincipal has become a provider of social services,

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SCHOOL LEADERSHIP. HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

food services, health care, recreation programs, andtransportation with a solid skills education workedin somehow.

Blumberg and Greenfield believe the situation is similarfor superintendents. As evidence they point to the 1977 Sub-urban Superintendents Conference (organized by the Ameri-can Association of School Administrators), where a featuredhighlight was an all-day program entitled "Learning to Dealwith Stress: How to Cope."

Along with loss of power and increased responsibility,school administrators today are suffering from a sense ofisolation. Blumberg and Greenfield, from interview data andobservations of principals at work, determined that "theirposition is one of relative isolation, particularly with regard towork relationships with other principals." They note that

For some, the singular fact of being isolated frommeaningful work relations with peers may create anemotional drain for which they must somehow com-pensate. This lack of integrated work relationshipsamong principals may additionally result in their beingdeprived of personal and professional stimulation andlearning experiences, which may be important both totheir own private sense of themselves and to the en-thusiasm and skill with which they perform their jobs.A return to an era (if indeed it ever existed) when the job

was simple, when school administrators ruled with an ironhand, and when principals felt more connected with theirstaffs and communities is of course impossible, even if desired.But neither should school leaders resign themselves to feel-ings orRowerlessness and overwork and isolation as all thatremain. Mminish-ators in many places are finding that goodleaders do \not have to be isolated, that they can reach out andget some Help from colleagues and staff, and that somethingnew can replace formal power something called "influence."And influence is what leadership and this book are allabout.

WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?

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Probably more has been written and less is known

INTRODUCTION. LEADERSIIIP FOR SURVIVAL

about leadership than any other topic in the beha-vioral sciences.

Warren Bennis

Literally hundreds of definitions of leadership have beenoffered. Some emphasize change or moving forward (implicitin the verb "to lead"), such as James Lipham's definition ofleadership as "that behavior of an individual which initiates anew structure in interaction within a social system."Other definitions see the leader as a facilitator or helper,such as this from Charles Bird: "Ideally, leadership is a form ofmutual cooperation through which the superior skill of aperson enables the led to attain ends or to satisfy motives."Other definitions differentiate between management and lead-ership as Carl Welte does. Welte defined management as the"mental and physical effort to coordinate diverse activities toachieve desired results" and included in this process "plan-ning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling." In con-trast, he saw leadership as "natural and learned ability, skill,a nd'personal characteristics to conduct interpersonal relationswhich influence people to take desired actions."

This emphasis' on personal relations occurs in manydefinitions of leadership, Fred Fiedler, Martin Chemers, andLinda Mahar have noted' that leadership includes-"the ability'to counsel, manage conflict, inspire loyalty, and imbue subor- -dina tes with a desire to remain on the job."One of the best definitions-of leadership was suggestedby George Terry, who called it "the activity of influencingpeople to strive willingly for group goals." This is the definitionof leadership on which this book is based. The goal of the bookis to suggest the knowledge, structure, and skills necessary toincrease administrator influence.Another, simpler and yet somehow more elegant way ofputting the same definition was offered by Scott Thomson,

executive director of the National Association of SecondarySchool Principals: "Leadership is best defined as 'getting thejob done through people.' " This definition means that twothings are necessary for effective leadership: accomplishment(getting the job done) and influencing others (through people).These two are intertwined. An ability to get things donemakes leaders more influential.I.

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SO TOOL LEADERSHIP. HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

A study by James Balderson revealed that teachers wereinfluenced most by principals who had "expert power," aterm that simply means competence. These teachers were notinfluenced by the principal's power to punish, by his or herstatus or position, or even by the power to reward. They wereinfluenced by their perception that the principal was an expert,was competent, could get the job done. The goal of this book isto give school administrators more "expert power" by helpingthem become more competent at what they do.

LEADING TO WHAT?

At this point we must ask some important questions:Influence for what? Leadership to what? Survival for what? Asterrifying as loss of job or sanity may be, there are other moreimportant motivators of school administrators. Those who areconcerned only , '-)out the monthly paycheck or even personaljob satisfaction are not' true educational leaders because theyhave lost sight of the true goals of education. Thomas Sergio-vanni reminds us of thiS when he says, "Leadership skills areimportant, but they cannot bring genuine leadership if theleader does not have a sense of purpose and direction." Ofcourse, those who want only money or a "fun job" c.:.) notbecome educational leaders. Those who do become educationalleaders care about something else educational excellence,which is the "purpose and direction" of which Sergiovannispeaks.

Yet there is a great deal of disagreement about what"educational excellence" is. The goals of education havebeendebated since ancient times and will continue to be debated byevery generation to come. It is not the purpose of tl :s,book toaddress what those goals ought to be; rather, we are hereconcerned' with leadership as one of the key means to achievethem. Lest we become ensnared by utilitarianism, however,we do well to heed Sergiovanni's warning that such goalsmust not be forgotten. Those who lead must not lose sight ofwhere they are going.

Speaking in more general terms, James MacGregorBurns has been led by his extensive study of leadership toexpress similar concerns.

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INTRODUCTION: LEA DERSI I W FOR SURVIVAL

Above all, the absorption with short-run, specifiablegoals may dilute attention to the likely final outcome ofa long and complex process of leadership-followershipinteraction. Attention may continue to center in thepredictable, visible matters of technique and processand personality rather than in theprospects and natureof fundamental, substantive alterations in people'slives and welfare and opportunities of "real change."Political leadership, however, can be defined only interms of, and to the extent of the realization of. pur-poseful, substantive change in the conditions of peo-ple's lives.

LEADERSHIP AND EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS

Another way to express the goal of educational leader-ship is "effective schools." Like educational excellence, thisterm can be defined in many ways; but no matter how it isdefined, research has revealed that good leadershipvis impor-tant to achieve it. In response to those who see principals andsuperintendents as mere functionaries or facilitators has comeresearch to show that school leaders have great effects onschools, that it very much matters what school leaders do,who they are, and how they operate.

Gilbert Austin, after reviewing studies of school effec-tiveness in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland,summarized the factors that distinguish effective schools fromothers. The first four factors in his list reveal the importance ofthe role of principal.

Strong principal leadership (for example, schools"being run" for a purpose rather than "running"from force of habit);

Strong principal participation in the classroom in-structional program and in actual teaching;Higher expectations on the part of the principal forstudent and teacher performance advancement;Principals felt that they had ii.ore control over thefury-Honing of the school, the curriculum andprogram, and their staff.

This evidence suggests that principals can and do have

7

SCHOOL LEADERS! IIP. I (ANDROOK FOR SURVIVAL

influence over what happens in schools and that this influencehas real and measurable effects. Again, we point out that thiskind of influence is precisely what we mean by leadership inthis book.James Lipham and John Daresh reviewed a number ofstudies done on individually guided elementary (IGE) schoolsand discovered principles that can be extended not only toother innovative schools but to all types of schools. One studyfound that "instrumental, support. ve, and participative leader-ship" on the part of the principal was related to an effectiveinstructional program. Another found that the leadership be-havior of the principal (irrparticular "work facilitation, supportinteraction facilitation, and goal emphasis") increased job sat-isfaction in the school. Clearly, the principal's behavior doesmake a difference.

Ronald Edmonds too reviewed studies done on effectiveschools and found leadership to be a key factor. In his summaryof the "indispensable characteristics" of effective schools, helisted as first "strong administrative leadership without whichthe disparate elements of good schooling can be neitherbrought together nor kept together." He saw leadership as notonly important, but the most important factor in schooleffectiveness.This emphasis on the importance of the role of theschool administrator is not new. In 1971, Keith Goldhammerarid his colleagues looked at the differences between out-standing schools (called "beacons of brilliance") and extremelypoor schools (called "potholes of pestilence").In the "beacons of brilliance," the principals are_char-isma tic leaders; they seem to instill enthusiasm in theirteachers. The teaching staffs seem to be working asteams because their morale was high, their servicesextend beyond normal expectations. Teachers andprincipals, along with parents, constantly appraise theeffectiveness of the schools in an attempt to devisenew programs and strategies to overcome deficiencies.Programs of study are adaptable and emphasis in theinstructional program is placed on children's needs.Principals are confident they can provide relevant,purposive learning without having to lean on tradi-tional crutches.

The "potholes of pestilence" were just the opposite, and

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INTRODUCTION. LEADERSHIP FOR SURVIVAL

these authors maintain, the result of w\eak, leade?ship andofficial neglect.Perhaps this report from. the 1972 Senate Select' Com-

mittee on Equal Educational Opportunity says it best:In many ways the school principal is the most impor-tant and influential individual in any school. He is theperson responsible for all of thactivities that occur inand around the school building. It is his leadershipthat sets the tone of the school, the climate for learning,the level of professionalism and morale of teachersand the degree of concern for what students may ormay not become. He is the main link between theschool and the community and the way he performs inthat capacity largely determines the attitudes of stu-dents and parents about the school. If a school is avibrant, innovative, child-centered place; if it has areputation for excellence in teaching; if students areperforming to the best of their ability one can almostalways point to the principal's leadership as the key tosuccess.

HOW THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN

The purpose of this b- is not to present new views orthe authors' views of leadership. The authors of these chaptershave attempted instead to summarize-and explain a large bodyof literature with which educational leaders want and need tobe familiar. Although readers are encouraged to refer to theoriginal sources cited in the bibliographies, a perusal of themmakes it apparent that no busy administrator or student hastime to read all these books and articles. Nevertheless, thesources are important and contain many ideas useful to ad-ministrators. To make these important works easily accessible,we have tried to present the best ideas briefly and succinctly.This technique of distilling the most useful and importantideas is called "information analysis."

The authors of this book are more than mere"translators"of information and ideas. As well as analyzing information,they also attempt to synthesize information, to show howtheories and ideas are connected, to resolve conflicting views.

Perhaps the most important kind of information synthe-

I I

SCHOOL LEADERS! III'. I IANDROOK FOR SURVIVAL

sis in this book is the integration of theory and practice. Manybooks'have been written on leadership theories and almostasmany concern the "how to' of leadership practice. Practition-ers complain that the theoretical writing is not useful in theireveryday work, and researchers and theoreticians look askanceat "practical" works whose ideas and suggestions are notempirically validated. Practitioners perceive that researchersand theoreticians are too isolated from the real problems ofschools, that theories validated in laboratory settings maydisintegrate in actual classrooms: Researchers and theoretic-ians argue that recommendations that are validated by onlythe experience of one administrator or one school are muchtoo subjective to be useful to others.

Few books try to integrate these two conflicting views.This book tries to present the most useful aspects of theoryalong with the most thoughtful recommendations for action.It is felt that a synthesis of the two, especially in areas wherefindings agree, cz.-n avoid many of the problems inherent ineach single approach.

As well as presenting theories gleaned from educationalliterature and suggesting practices that might be derived fromthese theories, the book also contains ideas from practitionersin the field. These ideas are taken not only from written worksbut, in many chapters; from interviews with administratorswho are struggling with actual problems in schools.

OVERVIEW

This book has many authors. Many of the chapters werewritten specifically at the request of leading organizations ofeducational administrators who wanted to supply their mem-bers with information overviews on the topics school admini-strators are most concerned about. In this volume, we havecombined those publications (both previously published andunpublished) that are most helpful to administrators whowant to be more effective leaders in their schools.

The volume looks at leadership from three perspectives:the person, the structure, and theskills. Chapters focusing onthe person who holds a leadership position provide somethingof a theoretical background. These chapters answer the ques-

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INTRODUCrION I l'AIM R.4 HP I OR SURVIVA1

tions, Who is today's educational leader? What makes aneffective leader different from a less effective leader? What arethe particular problems faced by women and minority educa-tional leaders or would-be leaders? What is a leadership styleand what is the best one to use?

The part of the volume focusing on the structure takes alook at the systems or support structures that underlie schoolleadership. It examines the balance of authority between thecentral office and the school site, the team approach to man-agement, the context for making wise decisions, and thecomponents of school climate. These chapters concern struc-tures and management systems that can make good educa-tional leadership possible or impossible.

The chapters on leadership skills highlight the abilitiesneeded by administrators to be effective leaders in educationtoday. This part of the volume looks at such knotty problemsas how to communicate in today's more open, power-sharingorganization, how to lead meetings more efficiently and effec-tively, how to manage time and avoid an overdose of stress,how to manage conflict, and how to attackand solve problems.

This book is called a handbook because it is designed tobe used as a reference when particular problems and concernsarise as well as to be read straight through. Those concernedabout communication or decision-making or the effects ofleadership styles can turn immediately to the appropriatechapters for the information they are seeking without readingthe previous chapters. It is a book to be sampled, to be digestedslowly, and to be turned to again and again as leaders grow intheir leadership skills and effectiveness. It is hoped that thosecharged with leading the nation's schools and those whoaspire to this role will find the handbook useful as a source ofencouragement and practical counsel.

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I 1

PART 1THE PERSON

'LE

PART -I: THE PERSON

INTRODUCHON

This part of the book deals with the people who areleaders in the schools, their identity, their characteristics, andtheir personal styles of leadership. More theoretical than therest of the book, thiS part helps put the other chapters intoperspective.The first chapter looks at research findings concerningthe characteristics of leaders. It begins with a discussion oftraits that are inborn or acquired very early in life. The authorlooks at those characteristics that result from the intertwiningof accidents of birth and early environmental influences andmakes some generalizations about who the leader is. The 'textsection focuses on leadership traits and skills in the area ofhuman relations. The research cited concludes that leaders arebetter than average at interacting with others, they enjoysocializing, and they are good talkers and listeners.

The final section of chapter 1 concerns character qualitiesof a particular type of leader the effective school leader. Thissection suggests that successful principals and other educa-tional administrators have some traits that distinguish themfrom those who are less successful. These characteristics are aclear, unwavering vision of goals, enough security not toresist needed change, and an ability to be "proaCtive" toinitiate, to lead, to go out on a limb rather than passivelyreacting to environmental stimuli.Practical implications of these findings for the selection,evaluation, and training ofeducational leaders are interwoventhroughout this chapter. Those in charge of hiring schooladministrators or planning training programs for them shouldfind the chapter especially helpful..Chapter 2 examines the ethnic background and sex ofeducational leaders and discovers that, even after decades ofcivil rights and feminist activities, nearly all are white andnearly all are male. This chapter has several audiences inmind. It should be helpful for those who are involved in hiring

administrators and for those who work every day with womerand blacks who are striving to become or who have becomeeducational leaders. Women and minorities themselves should

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find the chapter especially helpful in understanding the cur-rent situation regarding the hiring of educational administra-tors, how it got that way, and what can and should be doneabout it.

The authors make a case for the value of diversity ineducational leadership, then convincingly state some surpris-ing findings: There are today fewer women and fewer minori-ties in educational administration than there were thirty yearsago. The attitudes and practices that foster this situation areexplored. Finally, the authors make practical and specific sug-gestions for remedying the situation.

The final chapter in part 1 looks at theories ofleadershipstyle. Leadership style is defined simply as "how the leaderleads," and significant ideas about the important componentsand environmental determinants of leadership are presentedand explained. After asking such questions as what the beststyle is and whether leaders can change their styles, the authorthen examines the many conflicting answers that have beenoffered to these questions. It is not a chapter for those search-ing for simple recipes for action or for easy answers, but israther for those who want to examine and evaluate how theyfunction as leaders and the theoretical reasons behind andimplications of leaders' behaviors. Yet the oapter is morethan mere theory; a lengthy section presents specific ways inwhich important aspects of each theory can be translated intoaction in schools.

Although containing implications and suggestions foraction, this part of the book stresses leadership theory morethan the other two parts of the book. It acquaints readers withsome of the most important thought concerning leadership toemerge in the last half century A prime function of thischapter is to set the stage for the more practical chapters tofollow: those on structure and skills.

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CHAPTER 1

PORTRAIT OF A LEADERJo Ann Mazzarella

What kind of people become leaders? Highly intelligentpeople or those of average intelligence? The rich or the poor?Gregarious people or strong, silent types?

And what kind of people make good leaders? Thosewho follow the rules to the letter or those who stretch them alittle? Those who are clearly aware of their goals or those whorely on their instincts? Secure people or those who are secretlyinsecure?

In the early twentieth century, research on leadershipconcentrated almost solely on the personal traits of leaders.Early researchers studied the characteristics of Indian chiefs,football captains, or Girl Scout leaders and frequently came upwith very different conclusions about leaders' characteristics.

They often then used these conclusions to make gen-eralizations about all leaders. As each study about a differentkind of leader uncovered new characteristics, the list of leadercharacteristics grew until it was too large to be capable ofanyreal differentiation. Many critics used these widely varyingcharacteristics to substantiate their claim that there are no (orvery few) true leader traits.

After years of data collection, such trait theories werelargely abandoned it favor of situational theories of leader-ship based on the belief that there are no inherent leadershiptraits, just leader styles or behaviors that may change radicallydepending on the situation. Situationists believe that a personwho is a leader in one situation may be a follower in othersituations. This means that traits useful in one situation mayactually be disastrous in others. For such situationists, leadersare not born with any particular traits that determine leader-

`..) ship. Situationists have less interest in who the leader is than.,:. in what the leader does.

1-1-1Although the situationists have added much of value to

leadership theory, it is beginning to appear that throwing outall the trait research and theories is less than wise. Although it

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does not make much sense to use findings about. particularleaders to make generalizations about all leaders, there areother ways trait research might be viewed. It does seem rea-sonable to look at large numbers of trait studies to see whatcharacteristics of leaders appear repeatedly. That only onestudy shows leaders differentiated from the followers by intel-ligence does not mean much; if twenty studies show it, thefindings are more convincing.

It also makes sense to use findings about a particularleader to make generalizations about this kind of leader alone.Each kind of leader has a number of unique characteristics.Studies about Girl Scout-leaders are quite valuable to GirlScout leadersand those of school leaders most valuable toschool leaders.

Now research is turning again to leader traits and char-acteristicsthis time to the characteristics of effective leaders,to what makes good leaders different from poor leaders. Tofollowers of what could be called the "new trait theory" it verymuch matters who the leader is. These researchers have con-cluded that of the situation, there are some traitsthat are characteristic of many effective leadersor, at least, ofeffective educational leaders.

This renewed interest in the characteristics of effectiveleaders suggests that it may be time to look again at the earlytrait research to see what is worth saving and what implica-tions it has for present leaders. Explored in these pages are themost significant findings of previous trait research and thefindings of more recent research on effective educationalleaders in an attempt to paint a portrait of what an effectiveleader looks like.

It is important to remember that none of this researchreveals any single characteristic that determines leadership.Rather it suggests that there are groups or "constellations" ofqualities that appear to correlate with leadership. Not allleaders have all ese traits, and not even all effective leadershave all of them. Many followers have many of them, andmany more have a few of them. Yet people who have many ofthese characteristics do appear to have a better chance of beingeffectiveleaders than do those who have none of them.

These pages look at several kinds of leader character-istics: inherited traits and those that spring from early child-

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TI IE PI.RSON PORI-RAI ror A LEADER

hood experiences; attitudes toward and relationships withother people; and character qualities that differentiate effec-tive from ineffective leaders.

Readers may want to accompany this chapter with animaginary checklist to see how they compare to this portrait ofan effective leader.

NATURE AND NURTURE

If leaders do have traits and characteristics that separatethem from followers, these traits must be acquired some-where. Some characteristics, like intelligence, are believed tobe an as yet imperfectly understood combination of geneticendowment and early nurturing. Other characteristics, likeease in groups or cooperativeness, are believed to springchiefly from parental influences. Endowments like socioeco-nomic status come solely from environmental factors, thefamily situation in which the leader was born.

Explored here are the characteristics leaders acquireearly in life, those they are born with or acquire from theirearly interactions with their parents. Many such traits orendowments have been investigated, but only a few repeat-edly show a significant relationship with leadership.

Those who reject the trait theory of leadership are fondof listing, with amusement, the large number of leadershiptraits that have been identified. If every study turns up adifferent trait, they reason, perhaps none of the traits is reallysignificantly correlated with leadership. Jack Speiss has put it:

Scholars duly noted that leaders are older, taller,heavier, more athletic, better appearing, and brighterthan followers. Leaders can be considered superior tofollowers in scholarship, knowledge, insight, original-ity, adaptability, initiative, responsibility, persistence,self-confidence, emotional control, sociability, diplo-macy, tact, popularity, prestige, and cooperativeness.

Although such critics have gone too far in dismissing allleadership traits, there is an important warning implicit intheir observations; it is crucial not to base generalizations

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SCI 100L LEADERS} III'. I I ANDBOOK FOR SUR`MIAL

about all leaders on isolated studies. Rather, to find generalleadership traits it is necessary to look at the body of theresearch as a whole to see what traits appear again and againin different kinds of studies of different kinds of leaders.

IQ

In 1940, Charles Bird reviewed twenty studies exploringthe personal characteristics of leaders. He found that seventy-nine different traits had been examined, with only a fewlooked at by more than one researcher, which dampened hisenthusiasm considerably for any "trait theory" of leadership.One characteristic, however, that appeared repeatedly instudies of leaders was intelligence. In at least ten studiesreviewed, leaders were found to be, on the whole, moreintelligent than their followers.

Bird warns, however, that the distinction is not absolute.He notes that there are many followers who are more intel-ligent than leaders and concludes that "intelligence, therefore,is.a.contributing factor to leadership, but taken by itself, with-

-out assistance from other traits, it does not account for leader-ship." It should also be remembered that such studies revealstatistical correlations only. That is, high intelligence and lead-ership appear to be often found together more often thanchance but are not necessarily related as cause and effect.

Ralph Stogdill, looking at 124 studies of the character-istics of leadership, found 23 studies that showed leaders areusually brighter than followers. Although many of thesestudies were of child or student leaders, Stogdill felt that theresults were applicable in other contexts. Yet Stogdill toowarned that "there is considerable overlapping of intelligencetest scores, indicating that superior intelligence is not anabsolute requirement for leadership."

It might seem that the implications of these findings arethat those with the highest IQs will always emerge as leaders.However, Bernard Bass has reviewed a number of studies thatshow things are not so simple. Bass found that leaders usu-ally have higher intelligence than do followers, but not toomuch higher. He found that leaders' intelligence is often only

20

TI IE PERSON' POR I RAI r OF A LEADER

slightly above average for their respective groups. Forexample, in a group of mean IQ of 100, someone with an IQ of160 has very little chance to emerge as leader of that group.Instead, the leader.will have an IQ between 115 and 130. Bassventured several possible explanations of this finding: a "toosuperior" leader might not be concerned with the group'sproblems; he or she might not share "interests or goals" with agroup; the very intelligent leader may not be able to communi-cate with the group; and finally, this sort of leader may exhibitideas that are too radical to be acceptable to followers.

What Bass found to be true of leaders in geriral appearsalso to be true of leaders in education, according 0 RobertWilson's study of effective Ohio superintendents. This studyrevealed that successful superintendents are intelligent andgood students, but not "gifted."

BIRTH ORDER

Since intelligence appears to be correlated with leader-ship, it makes sense that researchers would look in turn atother correlates of intelligence in an attempt to link them toowith leadership and leadership potential. Bass looked atseveral research reviews that indicated the intelligence of thefirstborn is less than that of the youngest of the family. HerbertYahraes, however, looking at a number of other studies,found that firstborns got higher scores on intelligence than didyounger children and that scores on intelligence tests grewworse as the number of children increased. According to thesefindings, the firstborn, rather than a younger child, would bemore likely to become an adult leader because he or she ismore likely to have the highest intelligence of the siblings.

Since these findings appear to be irreconcilable, it ismore useful to look at other effects of birth order. Bass citedadditional studies that report the oldest child as more sociallymaladjusted, more conservative, less aggressive, less self-confident, more introverted, and -Ie"ss inclined toward leader-ship than other children. Eliwbeth Hurlock, too, in her workon child development, found that the oldest child lacks self-confidence and leadership qualities.

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Bass guessed that one reason firstborns suffer from somany problems that inhibit leadership is that parents of first-borns are inexperienced and less secure in their marriage andfinances. Another reason is that older children have to adjustto decreased attention. Hurlock cited parental overprotec-tiveness and anxiety about sickness and nursing as additionalcauses for the firstborn's insecurity. <

These findings appear to contradict the popular viewthat the firstborn child is more success-oriented and achieve-ment-oriented than the children born later. Yet as we shal: seein later sections, this desire for success or achievement maynot be as important a component of leadership as other char-acteristicssuch as ability to deal With people or to be anonconformist when necessary.

We might conclude from all this, as did Bass, that "allother things being equal, we expect the younger siblings toattempt more leadership as an adult than the older siblings tosome slight extent."

Here again, it is important to remember that birth orderalone (or any single characteristic) does not in any waydetermine or guarantee leadership ability. This is merely oneof a combination of attributes and traits that make leadershipmore likely. Those who are firstborn ought not be discouragedfrom attempting to realize their leadership capabilities. First-borns who have many of the other characteristics described inthis chapter have a good chance to be successful leaders.

CHILDREARING VARIABLES

Bass reviews a number of studies that uncovered child-rearing techniques or styles that appear to be related to leader-ship. In one study, children who are allowed to participate infamily decision-making are more resourceful, self-reliant, co-operative, and at ease in groups. Bass feels that such char-acteristics facilitate potential to be a successful leader.

Another study cited by Bass concluded that "sociabilityand cooperativeness" were greater when parents were clearand consistent, explained decisions to their children, offeredopportunities for decision-making, had rapport with theirchildren, and understood their children's problems. Bass be-

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THE PERSON. PORTRAIT OF A LE, DTR

lieved that "sociability and cooperativeness" were importantin the development of leadership potential.

SOCIOECONOMIC VARIABLES

Stogdill found fifteen early studies (1904-1947) and nine-teen later studies (1948-1970) that suggested leaders camefrom a higher socioeconomic background than did followers.These studies were done with a wide variety of leaders andfollowers.

Bass found the same. In spite of the myth that greatpresidents are born in log cabins, Bass noted that few U.S.presidents have come from lower socioeconomic groups. Healso mentioned a study that found that town leaders tend to bechildren of town leaders and that 70 percent of the fathrrs ofbusinessmen are businessmen.

One indication that this correlation may apply to .chooladministrators as well is found in the work of John Hemphill,Daniel Griffiths, and Norman Frederiksen. In their compari-son of 232 elementary school principals to the population as awhole, these researchers found that disproportionately morewere children of business or professionallnen and appreciablyfewer were from laboring or farming families.

To summarize these studies of biographical factors,there is good evidence that leaders have a higher (but notmuch higher) IQ than do,followers and that leaders generallycome from higher socioeconomic groups. Evidence concern-ing parenting styles indicates that leaders may be the productsof more "liberal" parents. Evidence concerning birth order isless clear, but firstborns seem less likely to be leaders than dotheir siblings.

None of these characteristicsneither high IQ, norbirth order, nor high status, nor liberal parentsis a guaran-tee of leadership ability. Nor are these the only qualities cor-related with leadership. The most that can be said is thatresearch shows that many but not all leaders have thesequalities.

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SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL.

IMPLICATIONS FORADMINISTRATOR SELECTION

Because the characteristics discussed in this section areinherent or acquired at a very early age, the research discussedhere has almost no applicability to administrator training orevaluation. Training programs cannot raise administrators'IQs, and evaluation procedures that give higher ratings tothose who come from higher socioeconomic families wouldnot (and should not) survive for long.

There is one finding here, however, that can be helpfulin administrator. selection. It does seem desirable that someminimal level of intelligence be demanded for admission intoadministrator jobs or training programs. Kenneth St. Clairand Kenneth McIntyre have suggested that the work of re-searchers like Stogdill lends "credence to our long-held notionthat ignoramuses should be selected out of preparation pro-grams." Although there are those who would argue the irrele-vance of such tests as analogies tests or the Graduate RecordExamination, St. Clair and McIntyre believe that the resultscoordinate closely enough with intelligence to be valid se-lectors of candidates foradministrator training programs.

St. Clair and McIntyre.do not worry Oat using suchselection criteria might encourage the selection of admini-strators who are too intellectually superior to their subor-dinates to be effective. They believe that there have been "toofew occasions to test this finding in educational settings toaccept it as a cause for concern." And beyond this lack ofevidence, one flinches at the prospect of rejecting applicantsbecause they are too intelligent. Nevertheless, the suspicionremains that an overly intelligent administrator might be un-successful. Perhaps the solution to this problem is that intel-ligence be only one of a large number of selection criteria.

PERSON TO PERSON

One finding to emerge repeatedly in studies of leaders,including studies of educational leaders, is that leaders arepeople-oriented. They are outgoing and successful in dealingwith people and they have good social and interpersonal

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THE PERSON: PORTRAIT OF A LEADIR

skills. Such characteristics separate both leaders from non-leaders and effective from ineffective leaders.

A number of outstanding principals were interviewedby Arthur Blumberg and William Greenfield for a study to bedescribed in more detail later in this chapter. That successfulleaders put a high importance on dealing with people is wellillustrated by a statement made by the outstanding principalidentified by Blumberg and Greenfield only as "John":

If you want to cultivate kids you really have to careabout them and convey that caring to them. You'vegot to be seen as more than just the guy who suspendskids from school. I try to talk to them in the halls, atball games, in the cafeteria, in classrooms. I try to getto know as many of them by name as I can. In a largeschool that's tough, but a principal should know fouror five hundred kids by name, even in a school offifteen hundred.

SOCIAL PARTICIPATION

Richard Gorton and Kenneth McIntyre in their nationalstudy of the principalship found that effective principals haveas their strongest asset "an ability to work with different kindsof people having various needs, interests, and expectations."The researchers added:

They seem to understand people, know how to mo-tivate them, and how to deal effectively with theirproblems. It is primarily this factor, rather than a tech-nical expertise, that caused the "signifkant others" toperceive these principals as accessible and effectiveadministrators.

Keith Goldhammer and his colleagues in a much earlier,but similar, study, identified principals of outstanding schools(institutions they labeled "beacons of brilliance"). These re-searchers found that principals of these good schools "had anability to work effectively with people and to secure theircooperation." They also found that the principals "used groupprocesses effectively and appeared to have intuitive skill andempathy for their associates."

The effectiveness of such an approach is illustrated by astatement from another of Blumberg and Greenfield's effecth e

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SCI 1 0o1. 1 rAnrksi up. I IANDRooK roil SURVIVAL

principals who spoke about his efforts to work with teachers.The first year my expectations were that we wouldmeet, talk about instruction, and get to know eachother. It was just an opportunity to sit down and leteach other know how we felt, the things that buggedus, and so forth. It was really something. For the firsttime they started to talk about caring what was goingon in the school, not just in their own classroom.

What about successful superintendents? Sitting in thecentral office, are they too removed from students, teachers,and parents to profit from good social skills and abilities?Apparently not. Robert Wilson, in a study of successful Ohiosuperintendents, found that the successful superintendent"isa very personable and friendly individual who believes in theimportance of human rel, tions skills and demonstrates themdaily." Outstanding Ohio superintendents also participatewidely in the communityin church, PTA, and civic, social,and hobby clubsbecause they depend heavily on face-to-face contact for building rapport with citizens. According-toWilson, the results of these public relations efforts are evidentin the success these superintendents have with school bondelections, at the bargaining table, and in their relations withmedia representatives and school boards.

This kind of interest in people is also uncovered instudies of other types of leaders. Charles Bird, in the researchreview mentioned earlier, found several studies in whichleaders were found to be more extroverted than were fol-lowers. Bird defined an extrovert as "a person who prefers toengage overtly in social activities, to manipulate the externalworld, to mix with people, to make decisions without regardfor fine distinctions, to delight in action, or to show indif-ference to criticism."

Ralph Stogdill reviewed numerous early studies show-ing that leaders participate in more group activities than dofollowers. Many early studies, as well as the later studies helooked at (after 1948), also show strong correlations betweenleadership and scciability. Thirty-five of these later studiesuncovered positive findings regarding what he called "socialcharacteristics"; he concluded that leaders are active partici-pants in social activities. According to Stogdill, the studiessuggested that leaders interact easily with a wide range of

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nitiputsoN poltritAii Or A ilAurit

personalities and that their interaction is valued by others.If sociability is correlated with leadership, children's

futur., leadership ability may be influenced by their parents'social participation. Bernard Bass reports a study showing thatif parents participate in social activities, children do also.

COMMUNICATION

As well as being sociable or people-oriented, leadersappear to have aptitudes and skills that help them in socialsituations. They are born with verbal abilities and they havepicked up the skills they need to interact v, ell with others; theyknow how to communicate.

Gordon and McIntyre, in their study of the principal-ship, found that "significant others" (those knowledgeableabout the principals' performance) see effective principals asstrong in oral communication. Apparently, not only leaders ingeneral, but effective school leaders in particular, are good atcommunicating. It appears possible that leaders are born witha natural facility for language. Verbal ability also correlateswith leadership. Bass cites a number of studies supporting"the proposition that successful leaders are apt verbally."

Blumberg and Greenfield, in their indepth study ofeight outstanding principals, found, in spite of great diversity,five characteristics held in common by these effective prin-cipals. One of these characteristics was "extremely well-developed expressive abilities."

All of these principals had very well-developed inter-personal skills and were able to communicate effec-tively in face-to-face interaction with a diverse rangeof individuals and groups.

Here again it appears that ability to communicate may be animportant component of leadership.

LISTENING

The outstanding principal known as John (interviewedby Blumberg and Greenfield) had this to say about listening:

SCHOOL LEADERS! III' I IANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

Teachers have to see you as caring, cIS iistenihg to theirproblems. And after listening, you have to followthrough so that teachers know you cared enough to dosomething and then communicate back to them. Youmar not follow through the way the teacher thoughtyou should, but atleast you did something. You heardthe problem and you dealt with it in'a way that yousaw fit.

Blumberg and Greenfield noted that the ability to listenwas common to the effective principals they studied. Theseeffective leaders were very sensitive to what was going onaround them. They were not only good at communicatingideas, they were good at absorbing ideas too.

Goldhammer and his colleagues found that principalsof outstanding schools "listened well to parents, teachers, andpupils." And Gorton and McIntyre as well found that effec-tive principals listen to students, community, and staff.

All this interrelated research points toward the samething. One quality that makes leaders different from followersand good leaders different from poor leaders is the way theyrelate to people. Specifically most true leaders enjoy socialparticipation and do a lot of it, have an ability to communicateand weil-developed communication skills, and are good lis-teners.

IMPLICATIONS FOR SELECTION,EVALUATION, AND TRAINING

Like the characteristics discussed earlier, the character-istics discussed here are only one facet of leadership. Notevery effective leader is necessarily a good communicator, andthis is not the only quality that makes a good leader.

Yet it still seems likely that knowing the importance ofcertain characteristics can help in the .selectiOn, evaluation,and training of administrators.

Since some criteria must be used in choosing and evalua-ting administrators, it seems logical that one criterion (but notthe only one) should be their skills and abilities in workingwith people. Measuring such skills is tricky, but there aresome fairly good indicators. Prospective administrators can be

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given paper and pencil tests that measure verbal ability andextroversion. The personal intervew would appear to be espe-daily helpful in gauging how well job candidates or currentadministrators communicate and listen. Superiors, subordi-nates, and peers might give administrators or applicants foradministration programs evaluations on how well they getalong with and understand-the problems of different kinds ofpeople. Although this smacks a little of a popularity contest,the research reviewed here strongly suggests that admini-strators who have trouble dealing with people are going tohave a much harder time being effective leaders.

These findings also have apparent implications for ad-ministrator training. Training programs might do well to putstrong emphasis on improving communication skills, bothlistening and verbal expression. Training programs also oughtto accentuate the importance of being a good communicator;they can emphasize that time spent merely communicating isnever lost and pays off in leadership effectiveness.

CHARACTER QUALITIES

Some research studies have suggested that effectiveeducational leaders have particular character qualities thatmake them different from less effective leaders. These studiessuggest that effective leaders (as well as having the goodhuman relations skills described in the previous section) aregoal-oriented, energetic, secure, proactive, and well aware ofthe dynamics of power.

Two things make this more recent research on leader-ship traits even more valuable to school people than was theearlier trait research. The first is that current researchers arefocusing on educational leaders only and looking for leader-ship characteristics that are unique to this group.

The second reason is that recent research looks at thecharacteristics that separate effective from ineffective leaders.Rather than examining the traits that identified good leaders,early researchers looked only at the traits that distinguishleaders from nonleaders. By lumping good leaders in withbad, these early researchers made it less likely that theywould find any traits in common. Dorwin Cartwright and

4 o

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SCHOOL LEA DERSIIIP: HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

Alvin Zander, among others, have suggested that studyinginstead the traits that distinguish effective from ineffectiveleaders may well have more valuable results.

One study that did just that has fascinating and usefulimplications for educators. This study, described in thevolume The Effective Principal: Perspectives on School Leadership,looked at one kind of leader the school principal andused the findings to make pronouncements about this kind ofleader alone. Equally important, the researchers, ArthurBlumberg and William Greenfield, looked only at effectiveprincipals and tried to discern what makes them differentfrom other principals.

GOALS

Blumberg and Greenfield decided the best way togather data about effective principals was to talk with thempersonally. They conducted lengthy indepth interviews witheight principals identified by teachers, parents, district ad-ministrators, and students as outstanding.

Following their detailed examination of these principals,Blumberg and Greenfield made several generalizations. Oneof these was that principals who are effective leadersseem to be "highly goal-oriented and to have a keen sense ofgoal clarity." The researchers noted that these effective prin-cipals "were continually alert for opportunities to make thingshappen, and if the opportunities didn't present themselves,they created them."

The effective principal whom Blumberg and Greenfieldidentified as "Paul" said it well:

Once I took leadership, after that first year, I neverrelinquished the fact that I was their principal. Iaccepted the fact that I wasn't going to be their buddy.I accepted the idea that I was going to take some flackfor things I had not done; I accepted the idea that ifthere were screw-ups I'd take the responsibility forthem but that I would also take the role of making finaldecisions when necessary. And things changed fromthat point on.

In other words, effective principals have clear goals and

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SCI IOOL LEADERS! III' I IANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

will work hard to try to achieve them. Blumberg-and Green-field felt that almost every school principal has a number ofgoals for the school; yet for most, the mere espousal of goalsappears to be enough and substitutes for action.

Blumberg and Greenfield are not the first to discern theimportance of strong goal orientation. When Ralph Stoeillreviewed 163 studies of leaders done between 1948 and 1970,one of the qualities that often appeared was "vigor and per-sistence in pursuit of goals." He discovered too that leaders inthese studies had a "strong drive for task completion." Onlooking over all these studies, Stogdill observed that thischaracteristic "differentiates leaders from followers, effectivefrom ineffective leaders, and higher echelon from lowerechelon leaders."

Charles Bird too, after looking at twenty studies of lead-ership, found that one of the five leader character qualitiesthat was mentioned with frequency was "initiative." It seemsclear from all these studies that effective leaders are people ofaction. They get things done.

SECURITY

Blumberg and Greenfield also found that effective edu-cational leaders are secure; that is, they are not threatened bynew ideas or confrontations with others. Blumberg and Green-field put it: "their sense of themselves as people and what it isthey are about seems rather highly developed." The authorsfelt that this sort of security and sureness about themselvesfosters a high tolerance for ambiguity. They can survive in aconfusing situation where rules are ill-defined. They can livewith uncertainty. This tolerance for ambiguity means effectiveleaders are not afraid of positive change.

There is great similarity between these findings andthose of Keith Goldhammer and his colleagues; who madethis comment about principals of effective schools:

The ambiguities that surround them and their workwere of less significance thail the goals they felt wereimportant to achieve. As a result, they found it pos-sible to live with the ambiguities of their position.

31

SO1001. IliADERSI III': I IANDBOOK roit suitvwm.

Openness, security, and tolerance for ambiguity seem tomake successful administrators unafraid of change when it isneeded. This ability to change and to effect necessary changeis so important to being a successful leader that some authori-ties, like James Lipham, see initiating change as a necessaryand central part of the definition of leadership. Lipham de-fined leadership as "that behavior of an individual whichinitiates a new structure in interaction within a social system."

Although it is not clear that initiating change is the onlyactivity that makes leaders leaders, such emphasis indicatesthat it is atleast a very important part of leadership activities.

PROACTIVITY

One outstanding principal interviewed by Blum-berg and Greenfield was faced with a seemingly unsolv-able problem. His desire for student input into schoolcommittees was blocked by teachers who threatened toresign from committees that had student members. Hissolution?

The answer to this situation was an end run. Weformed a Parent-Teacher-StudentCouncil, which wasoutside the formal organization of the school, but itwasn't a tea and cookies PTA. We met to discussproblems that involved parents, teachers, and stu-dents. Primarily, it was a sounding board for facultymeetings and department chairmen. It worked.Blumberg and Greenfield noted that their effective prin-

cipals do not merely accept all the rules and customs that makeup "the way things are." They are "proactive," always testingthe limits in an effort to change things that no one else believescan be changed.

Yet these principals do not take foolish risks and do takecare to establish a power base, both inside and outside theschool, on which successful change can be anchored. They areaware of the need to establish alliances to get things done.Blumberg and Greenfield emphasize that these principals arestrongly aware of the dynamics of power.

Goldhammer and his research team too discovered thatthe most successful principals "found it difficult to live within

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IllE PERSON: PORTAIT OF A 1.EADFR

the constraints of the bureaucracy; they frequently violatedthe chain of command, seeking relief for their problems fromwhatever sources that were potentially useful."

/ Nevertheless, they "expressed concern for the identi-fication of the most appropriate procedures through whichchange could be secured."

These findings suggest that leaders who follow rules tothe letter, who never make waves and never challenge author-ity are probably less effective than leaders who stretch therules a little or fight to accomplish goals that are important tothem. Blumberg and Greenfield further elaborate:

A characteristic of principals who lead seems to be thatthey behave in ways that enable them to be in charge ofthe job and not let the job be in charge of them. Theyare not pawns of the system. They seem to be adept atplaying the games on which their survival depends,but they don't let the game playing consume too muchof their energy.

It is clear that even though these effective leaders stretchthe rules, they are not rebels; they do play the game. Bothstudies agree that these leaders understand how power worksand know how to survive.

IMPLICATIONS FOR SELECTION,EVALUATION, AND TRAINING

These findings about the characteristics of effectiveleaders are not simply and immediately applicable as selectionand evaluation criteria and administrator training objectives.It is not easy to measure proactivity or security. It is difficult toteach initiative or tolerance for ambiguity.

Nevertheless, it is likely that we will never identify anycharacteristics required for being an effective leader that areeasily measurable or teachable. As we learn more about lead-ership, it becomes clearer that there are no simple ways toidentify it or foster it.

Furthermore, it is also beginning to be apparent thattraditional methods of selection, evaluation, and training,though easy to implement, may not truly be relevant to theproduction of effective leaders. Blumberg and Greenfield

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SCI IDOL LEADERS) HI' I IANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

found little to suggest that university graduate training hadmuch direct or observable influence on any of the effectiveleaders they Studied. They suggested a switch from "formalindices of competence" like years of teaching and admini-strative experience, number of advanced degrees, and gradepoint averages to more relevant measures of competence.Goldhammer and his colleagues likewise discovered thatprincipals who were effective could not, on the basis of theirformal preparation, be distinguished from those who werenot.

These findings all suggest that even though the charac-teristics of effective leaders are difficult to measure or teach,we have to make some effort to use them in evaluation, selec-tion, and training simply because they are better than themethods we are now using.

Some possible applications come to mind. In choosingteachers or administrators for promotion, superiors ought tolook to those who need little supervision and who accomplisha lot. Tddloften, those who are promoted are those who dowhat they're told and always do everything by the book.Rather, those who are given positions of leadership ought tobe those with initiative and minds of their own. They ought tobe those who have clear goals, can articulate them, and haveshown concrete evidence of progress at moving toward thosegoals. Training programs, though not likely to inculcate initia-tive in those who haven't got it, can encourage those who arenaturally endowed with initiative not to be afraid to use it.Often, training programs, rather than fostering personalinitiative, squelch it through an overabundance of rules,structures, and regulations that do not leaVe room for per-sonal goal setting.

Although feelings of inner security are probably toocomplex to be measured during selection procedures, it seemsmore possible that attitudes toward change can be elicited andassessed, and actual changes initiated can be measured.Although training programs are not capable of instillingfeelings of security, they can emphasize an openness towardchange and the importance of the leader's role as changeagent.

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TI IL l'FItSON. l'OKTAIT OF A LEADCK

CONCLUSION

A small part of the portrait of an effective educationalleader has been revealed by each of the research studies andresearch reviews mentioned here. Now, like the pieces of ajigsaw puzzle, all these fragments can be assembled to reveal amore coherent (though by no means complete) portrait of aneffective educational leader. The earliest research surveyedhere has supplied the outlines of a portrait of a typical leader.It has revealed not characteristics that separate effective fromineffective leaders, but characteristics that separate mostleaders from followers.

According to this research, typical educational leadersare a little more intelligent (but not too much more) thannonleaders. As children they were probably not firstborn andwere probably allowed at an early age to make many of theirown decisions. It is likely that they came from a higher socio-economic group than their followers.

The later research surveyed here fills in the outlines a bitand fleshes out a portrait of a more specific kind of leaderaneffective educational leader. According to these findings,effective educational leaders are outgoing, good at workingwith people, and have good communication abilities andskills. They have initiative, are aware of their goals, and feelsecure. As proactive people, they are not afraid to stretch therules, but also understand the compromises that must bemade to get things done.

More of a sketch than a portrait, this depiction of aneducational leader leaves out a great deal. Even more impor-tant, the sketch itself is not of a real leader but only of animaginary one. The leader'whose characteristics are set downhere is a pure "form," who in actuality does not exist. Like thetypical voter or the typical consumer, this typical leader is onlya composite of common characteristics. No real flesh andblood counterpart exists. The real effective leaders inter-viewed by Blumberg and Greenfield were more different thanthey were alike.

Then what is the point of an imaginary portrait of anonexistent leader? Although we cannot hang it on the wall,this composite has several possible uses. One is to recognize


potential leaders by determining if they have many (but notnecessarily all) of these characteristics. Another is for evalu-ation. Those who evaluate administrators can use this portraitto help them formulate evaluation criteria. This imaginaryportrait can also be used for self- evaluation. Those who are inleadership positions can compare themselves with more effec-tive leaders to see how they measure up. Also, knowing thecharacteristics of an effective leader can be useful in planningadministrator training programs, as a guide to which aspectsof the job ought to be emphasized.

Finally, the most important use for this ideal portrait isto help leaders set priorities. When things get rough and theyare tempted to lock themselves in their offices, such a visioncan remind them that human relations and communicationskills are important. When they are coasting along, day-by-day, not going anywhere in particular, itcan remind them thatbeing goal-oriented and that knowing where they are goingdo make a difference. When they are critHzed by superiorsfor breaking unnecessary rules and cautioned not to makewaves, it can give them the courage to continue doing thingstheir own wayas long as that way has been successful inaccomplishing their highest priorities. In short, the most im-portant use for this portrait is the function performed by anyideal. It offers something to strive for.

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4)

cc' CHAPTER 2re-\f- TWO SPECIAL CASES:cD,cr, WOMEN AND BLACKS

David Coursen and Jo Ann Mazzarella(NICM

14-1 INTRODUCTION

L

Educational leaders come in all ages, all shapes andsizes, and all temperaments. Studies of leadership havelooked at many physical characteristics of leaders: height andweight, eye color, overall attractiveness. All these have beenexamined and none has been found to significantly differen-tiate leaders from others. Significant differences are found,however, when one looks at two particular physical character-istics of educational leaders: sex and race.

Almost anyone who remembers "school days" has twoimages of school officials. The favorite teacher, in fact nearlyevery teacher, was probably a woman. But the feared andrevered final authority, the principal, especially in highschool, is likely to have been a man. When the memory thenturns to the race of the principal, the pattern of the white, maleschool administrator begins to emerge.

QUALITY EDUCATION AND EFFECTIVELEADERSHIP

Today, the problems of women and blacks in publicschool leadership may seem a little passé. Surely theseproblems are dwarfed by our worries and fears about suchmajor issues as scl:ool violence or shrinking resources. Surelythe problems of women and minorities were solved long ago.

Yet such a judgment is not only superficial but inaccu-rate. The extent to which women and minorities participate inadministering the schools is one measure of education's realcommitment to the ideal of equal qpportunity for all Ameri-cans, an ideal that is far from being realized.

It is easy to be lulled into the false assumption thatwomen and minority representation in educational leadershipnow roughly reflects their representation in the general popu-lation. Yet, as this chapter will show, this is not the case. Not

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SCHOOL LEADERSI ill'. I IANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

only are things not changing rapidly, things are not changingat all; in fact, in some areas, things are getting worse.

In addition, if sexual or racial characteristics are moreimportant than ability in determining who is hired for posi-tions of power and responsibility in the schools, the caliber ofpublic educatior. will suffer. The question then becomes oneof quality education, and surely that is always important, isbeyond political dispute, and is genuinely timely, neverpassé.

Staffing policies are as important to the educationalprocess as curriculum. The best policy decisions will comefrom administrations that include a variety of points of view.Women or members of minority groups have unique perspec-tives on certain problems, perspectives that can broaden andenrich the decision-making process at every level. In fact, adiverse staff may even help shape more desirable curricula.For example, women have a special sensitivity to sexism instudy materials, just as nonwhites are more sensitive to racism.

Schools educate children not only by what is taught inthe classroom, but also by what is shown about how the worldoperates. For this reason, too, the identity of administrators isimportant in determining how schools socialize their stu-dents. When there is someone in authority who has charac-teristics in common with a child, that person may become arole model, a figure for the child to admire and emulate. Thusschool officials can teach children appropriate behavior andhelp shape their aspirations and attitudes.

Children may come to feel that it is normal for the kindsof people they see running the schools to fill all executivepositions. Black children who see only whites in authoritymay conclude that blacks are excluded from power, that it isfutile for them to strive for decision-making positions. Simi-larly, girls who see women only as teachers, taking ordersfrom male principals, may become convinced that this isnatural and inevitable, that the-most they can hope for in lifeare positions subordinke to men. By thus teaching somechildren not to strive for their highest human potentials, theschools are encouraging the waste of human resources. Surelythis is a perverse and destructive form of "education."

And here once again arises the pressing contemporaryissue of "survival"--not only survival of female and minority

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THE PERSON' WOMEN AND BLACKS

administrators but survival of the public school system itself.For unless we choose tomorrow's educational leaders fromamong the most qualified and able prospects (regardless of sexor race), the quality of educational leadership will not besufficient to extricate public education from the morass inwhich it finds itself. If, in the sear( .1 for educational leaders,excellent educators are passed over in favor of less able candi-dates, public education may not have adequate leadership tosurvive into the 1990s.

And the issue of survival extends even further to theissue of the very survival of our society. If the schools are toattract members of all cultural and racial groups, they musthave leadership that is representative of all these groups. Allraces and cultures must feel that their concerns are sincerelybeing addressed by those with power in the school. Otherwisethe alienation that begins in a discriminatory school systemmay accompany these students into an adulthood in whichthey become a drain on an already badly depleted society.

TO LEADERS AND ASPIRING LEADERS

It is important for today's educational leaders to becomeaware of the true situation regarding women and minorities ineducation.

Those in charge of hiring and promotion especially mustunderstand the situation, how it got that way, and how it canbe changed. Other leaders need to become aware of the specialproblems faced by their female and minority colleagues so thatthey can offer support to those who have achieved leadershippositions and to those who aspire to such positions Finally,women and minority leaders and those seeking to becomeleaders need to understand rr.' qv about the situation thatexists outside their own subjective experience. If the pathseems blocked, they need to know that there is some hope. Ifthe path seems easy, they need to know that others still faceobstacles.

WHAT ABOUT OTHER RACIAL MINORITIES?

In the literature on school administrators, "minority" isvirtually synonymous with "black." This fact alone defines

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SCHOOL LEADIRSIIIP HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

the status of Chicanos, Native Americans, and ali other racialminority groups, who are denied even a token consideration.

This chapter reflects this situation, ignoring the status ofall nonblack racial minorities .in school administration, notbecause the subject does not demand attention, but becausemost writers tacitly assume, by their omissions, that it issimply not worth considering. There is aa urgent need forstudies that will correct this imbalance.

This chapter, then, will be largely limited to discussingblacks and women. It is tempting to think that, since bothgroups suffer from discrimination, being judged according togroup roles rather than individual performances, they can beconsidered together. But discrimination is as complex andsubtle as it is pervasive; what is true for blacks is not neces-sarily true for members of other racial minorities and mayhave nothing to do with women. For this reason, women andblacks will be discussed separately.

THE WOMAN ADMINISTRATOR

The successes of the women's movement seem to justi6,-the "common sense" notion that discrimination againstwomen in school administration is not serious and is rapidlydisappearing. In fact, such optimism is false. The central factsabout women administrators are that there aren't many ofthem, and that the women in the schools are not employed inexecutive capacities.

WHERE IS SHE?

The statistics provide compelling evidence for theseassertions. A 1979 National Association of Elementary SchoolPrincipals study reported by William Pharis and SallyZakariya revealed that only 18 percent of elementary prin-cipals are women. In the large-scale study of the secondaryprincipalship done by the National Association of SecondarySchool Principals in 1977, David Byrne, Susan Hines, andLloyd McCleary found that at the secondary level only 7percent of the principals are women.

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111E PERSON. WOMEN AND BLACKS

The significance of these figures can be seen only bycomparing the present with the past. In 1928, 55 percent of allschool principals were women. In 1948, the percentage haddropped to 41, in 1958 it was 38, and by 1968 it was only 22.

In addition, Dorothy Johnson notes that women prin-cipals are older and more. experienced than men. She alsoobserves that, while the number ofwomen principals declinedby 16 percent between 1958-and 1968, the median age ofwomen in that position rose from 52 to 56, while that of menstayed fairly constant at around 44. Finally, she remarks, "Iheard over and over the report of many members that uponretirement as principals their vacancy had been filled by ayoung man, occasionally the winning high school coach!"

This pattern of discrimination extends to the prestige ofthe jobs women get. Byrne, Hines, and McCleary discoveredthat 75 percent of female principals work in schools of 745students or less, whereas only 37 percent of male principalsare employed in these smaller schools; also, 14percent of maleprincipals are assigned to schools of 2,000 or more, but only 1percent of female principals are found in these larger schools.

It is not surprising to discover that women are mostseverely underrepresented at the top job, the superinten-dency. Barbara Pierce, writing about a 1980 conference forwomen superintendents organized by the American Associ-ation of School Administrators, reported that of more than16,000 school districts in the country, only 153 are headed by awomanless than 1 percent.

As Earl Funderburk notes, "Only when top publicschool positions are elective rather than appointive do womeneducators stand a chance to hold a high administrative job." Insupport of this claim, he notes that in 1950, six states hadfemale school superintendents. As five of these j' 0 becameappointive, each woman was replaced by a man.

In summary, these figures indicate that few womenwork as school administrators, that the jobs women get are thelowest ranking ones, that the women who get the jobs areolder than men working at comparable levels, and that thesituation is getting worse all the time. There seems to be anunwritten policy that women always be assigned "women'swork" instead of exek_ ative responsibilities.

I

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SCHOOL LEADERSHIP HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

A WOMAN'S PLACE . . .

No single explanation can account for such,widespreaddiscrimination, but one important factor is the general accept-ance of stereotypes about working women in general andwomen in administration in particular. At, the heart of all suchstereotypes is a single notion, that a woman's place is in thehome, in the completely fulfilling full-time role of mother-hood. the natural state of all women. It is thus appropriate fora worriz.n to teach a small child, a "motherly" task, but tosupervise teachers requires the executive skill that can comeonly with a "man's touch."

Anyone with such beliefs can find specific reasons forexcluding women from virtually any job. Barbara Krohn de-scribes how the process can work: .>

Instead of looking at women administrators as indivi-duals, the system draws the same conclusions aboutall women: that their home responsibilities keep themfrom doing well in administration, that they don'twant demanding jobs, that they are too emotional,that they have to stop work to have babies(the reasonactually given for denying a Catholic nun entrance to acollege program).Such attitudes seem to form very early inpotential de-

cision-makers. Ginny Mickish cites a 1966 study of the atti-tudes of graduate students in education toward theabilities ofwomen as administrators. The students indicated an over-whelming preference for men as principals. Mickish quotesfrom the report's conclusion:

Most of the students questioned described maleprincipals as being more democratic, more sympa-thetic, more understanding, more pleasant, more con-genial, more relaxed, and more personally interestedin their teachers. They further claimed that the menare not as critical, allow more freedom to teachers, donot supervise as much, do not get excited as easily,and can be approached and influenced more easily.An equal number of students pictui ed women princi-pals as being too autocratic, too demanding, too crit-ical, too particular, too moody, too emotional, and too"nosy." Moreover, they criticized the women forgiving too much concern to petty matters, for super-

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THE PERSON. WOMEN AND BLACKS

vising too much and for being too deeply involved intheir work.

These findings are particularly significant since the graduatestudents who shared these beliefs were, in effect, beingtrained to run school systems, and eventually many of themwill be in positions to act on these beliefs, doubtless throughhiring policies systematically favoring men.

Stereotypes about men too help explain the problem.Sari Biklen quotes a position paper prepared by the NationalConference on Women in Educational Policy that maintainsthat the popularity of the view of the school as a businessmakes women less likely to be chosen for administrativepositions. Biklen states, "As schooling becomes more of abusiness, those in administrative positions turn to their imageof effective business tr...magers: business men."

A number of authors have attempted to determinewhether there is any factual basis for such attitudes.Regarding the claim that family responsibilities interfere withthe work responsibilities of women administrators, CarolTruett cites the well-documented fact that women enter ad-ministration at a later age than men (usually not before forty).This means that their children wii! be grown or independentand their duties more manageable.

There also is evidence that women have some character-istics that make them preferable to men as administrators.Neal Gross and Anne Trask, in their landmark study ofwom-en in school management, found that the quality of pupillearning and the professional performance of teachers werehigher, on the average, in schools administered by women.They also found that women exerted more influenceover theirteachers' professional activity than did men. This last seemsmost important when one remembers that influence overothers is an integral component of leadership.

The last finding was confirmed by Patricia Schmuck in a1981 publication presenting studies indicating that femaleprincipals were seen by teachers as having more power toinfluence school affairs.

Virtually every evaluation of the comparative perform-ances of women and men as principals has shown the com-plete inaccuracy of negative stereotypes of women admini-strators. In 1956, Vynce Hines and Hulda Grobman reported

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SC! TOOL LEADERSHIP. HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

on a survey in which women scored better than men in evalu-ations based on student morale, teacher morale, frequencywith which teachers used desirable practices, and programdevelopment. Meskin, after surveying all the studies, con-cludes:

When we highlight some of the specific findings con-cerning women administrators in these studiestheirpropensity toward democratic leadership, thorough-ness of approach to problem solving, and bent towardinstructional leadership, as well as the general effec-tiveness of their performance as rated by both teachersand superiorswe puzzle over the small number ofwomen administrators employed by school districts.

It is interesting that several surveys found that men who hadnever worked under a woman principal were generally unfa-vorable to the idea. However, men who actually had suchexperience expressed a preference forwomen as principals.

It should also be noted that all the studies Meskin dis-cusses were made before 1965. But the survey of graduatestudent attitudes Ginny Mickish describes was made in 1966.At the very least, this suggests that graduate schools are soindifferent to the abilities of women administrators that thesefindings were not considered significant enough to requirethat students be familiar with them. By this tacit rejection ofcompelling evidence that women make good principals, thegraduate schools are clearly not doing their job, preparingtheir students to shape the best possible policies for theschools.

According to John Hoyle, women may make better prin-cipals than men because of their longer teaching experience aswell as their greater potential empathy with other women whostill fill most teaching jobs. Mickish concurs, saying that thehigher ratings given women principals "can be explained bythe fact that women are teachers for a longer period, havegreater self-confidence in their ability to direct instruction,and are more deeply committed to their positions."

CAN A WOMAN SUCCEED?

What these facts actually indicate is that a woman must

THE PERSON: WOMEN AND BLACKS

be better qualified than a man if she hopes to become a suc-cessful school administrator. In view of the difficulties she willface, she has to be extraordinary. She is confronted with dif-ferent expectations than a man faces, and her actions arejudged by different standards. Betty Fried and Anne Westcite an attitude survey that solicits a respQr.at. the followingstatement, which suggests some of these differences:

They may act exactly the same way, but they arecalled: absent-minded if they are men, scatter-brained ifthey are women; intellectually curious if they are men,nosey if they are women; planners if they are men,schemers if they are women; sensitive if they are men,emntional if they are women; logical if they are men,intuitive if they are women.

According to Charlene Dale, women in administrationare treated differently than equally qualified men in com-parable positions. Superiors hold certain tacit assumptionsabout women that make it difficult for them to advance. Forexample, it is simply assumed that a young woman will not beable to accept a new job if it means relocating her family. In acomparable situation, it would be assumed that a man wouldbe free to move.

This is one way in which iromen are faced with perfor-mance expectations that become self-fulfilling prophecies.Professionals tend to be either job-oriented, finding satisfac-tion in careers, or place-oriented, finding satisfaction in friend-ships and activities in a specific location. If a professionalwoman is not offered promotions, if her job seems to beleading nowhere, she may become place-oriented relativelyearly in her career. Once this has happened, if a promotionfinally is offered, it would be undesirable if it meant relocating.The woman professional might then refuse to move, "demon-strating" her "lack" of both mobility and ambition.

That such an attitude may be fairly common is suggestedby the findings of a survey done by Stefan Krchniak, whoqueried Illinois female teachers certified as administrators.Only 16 percent were willing to move if it were necessary toget a job as an administrator. Less than 30 percent were willingeven to commute more than twenty miles round trip.

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THE OBSTACLE OF NEGATIVE ATTITUDES

Another important factor in job success is the attitude amale superior may have toward a new person working in hisdepartment. A supervisor naturally assumes that any manhired for a job is competent or he wouldn't have been hired atall. Even if he is unsuccessful, the results may be blamed, noton professional inadequacy, but on an "impossible situation."But if the same superior has misgivings about the ability ofwomen, he will expect a new woman to fail and may evenunconsciously look for signs of that failure. In addition, if hiscommitment to her success is minimal, he may deny her anysignificant support. In such circumstances, the woman'schances of at least a perceived failure are thus very great. Notsurprisingly, this may eventually cause her to lose self-confi-dence, to become disoriented on the job, and, finally, to per-form according to the expectations the superior has done somuch, albeit unconsciously, to confirm.

In addition, in this sodeiy women are socialized to acceptsubordinate roles. Krchniak found that only 39 percent of theIllinois women certified to be school administrators were in-terested in an administrative position at the time of the survey,only 13 percent were extremely interested, and a mere 3 per-cent were "making an all-out effort." In 1975, Patricia Schmuckfound that

some of the most formidable barriers to women's entryand upward mobility into management positions inschool organizations are their own lack of self-confi-dence, their self-deprecation, and their doubts abouttheir ability as capable individuals to do a good job.

She found that many of the thirty Oregon female administra-tors she interviewed, when first presented with an opportunityto take on a position of influence, had betrayed their own lackof self-confidence by responding with the query, "Who, me?"

Schmuck in an undated article also describes some ofthe ways a teacher can be gradually prepared for an admini-strative position. A supervisor may delegate various respon-sibilities to the teacher, with the tacit understanding thatpromotion will eventually result if the duties are handled well.A supervisor who believes that men make better admini-strators than women will not be anxious to offer such

4h

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THE PERSON: WOMEN AND BLACKS

promotional opportunities to women. Consequently, moremen will be in positions to be promoted, and those who arepromoted will be, by virtue of their informal training, morelikely to succeed immediately in their new jobs.

There seem to be other, even more informal ways inwhich men, rather than women, are able to advance up theadministrative ladder. One woman Schmuck interviewed in1975 commented:

I am upwardly mobile but here come the roadblocks.Men naturally flock together. They golf together andswim together so they get to know one another. Menwho are in iow positions striving upward golf andswim with the guys in power to decide. Those avenuesare closed to me. These are the way roles get filledeven before they are advertised, someone suggests abright young man. I won't be known in the district. Noone will communicate to others that I am interested ina position and by the time announcements are made itmay be too late.

Some supervisors also feel that a kind of locker-room camara-derie is essential to the proper functioning of an administrative"team." Whether or not this has any basis in fact, if a manthinks it is important, he will be reluctant to hire a woman whomight not work well with-"the boys."

It must have been such a feeling that led Phi DeltaKappa, the prestigious national educational fraternity, toexclude women from membership until 1974. This led to asupreme irony: an entire issue of Phi Delta Kappan, the journalof the organization, was devoted to women in education,while women were excluded from the Organization itself.This, too, supports Schmuck's conclusion in her undatedarticle that "women are denied access to the main avenues ofsocialization into the profession by the predominance of menas administrative role-models and by the informal friendshipsand connections between men in power."

SOME PRACTICAL PROBLEMS

Overt discrimination is not the only cause of the recentdecline in the number of women in administration. The recenttrend toward consolidation of schools has meant that fewer

47

SCHOOL LF.ADERSI UP. I IANOBOOK MR SURVIVAL

positions are available. According to a study cited in BehaviorToday, consolidation has been responsible for the closing ofnearly 60,000 schools, many of them small, rural, and headedby women.

Another problem for women has been the recent effortto attract more men into education, especially at the elemen-tary level, supposedly fo prevent the "feminization" of theschools. To attract men into the field, it was considered neces-sary to offer them the incentive of possible advancement. Menentering education thus compete with women for administra-tive positions; supposedly, the men must be promoted or theywill leave the field, so their promotions often come at theexpense of qualified women.

One result of this is that male principals have less specificteaching experience than do women and serve for a shorterperiod, because they are actually upwardly mobile. This situa-tion is particularly unfortunate since it prevents women frombecoming principals and substitutes less-committed men.

Thus in more than just a few principalships, we find a"bright young man" on the way up, who temporarily servesas principal. His primary concern is not to do the job well somuch as to use it as an avenue for promotion. The seriousnessof this problem is articulated by William Seawell and RobertCanady: "The elementary school principalship todaydemands those individuals who have a particular ability andnatural talent for the principalship and who desire to make ittheir lifetime career."If there are factors other than discrimination responsiblefor the exclusion of women from administrative positions, thebasic problem is still the secondary role women are assigned inall parts of society. Why else should it be women who are

displaced by the closing of small schools? Similarly, why elseshould the opportunity for promotion be essential to themale educator, even when it limits the opportunities fc r quali-fied women?

THE BLACK ADMINISTRATOR:STILL SEGREGATED

48

"Common sense" suggests that the apparent successes

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TF IE PERSON. WOMEN AND BLACKS

of the civil rights movement should have significantly im-proved the position of blacks in educational administration.Blacks were once the victims of systematic patterns of discrim-ination. But now, more than twenty-five years after theSupreme Court's historic desegregation ruling in the case ofBrown v. Board of Education of Topeka, individuals may still beprejudiced, but, in public institutions like school systems, theblack educator is treated in the same way as everyone else.

This analysis is attractive because it is both plausible andoptimistic. It implies that the situation is under control andthat desirable changes are taking place. Unfortunately, suchoptimism can flourish only amidst ignorance. Since Brown,the number of black administrators has declined dramatically.This is most true of the decision-making positions, where thereal power is increasingly in the hands of white males.

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE BLACK LEADER

Historically, the southern pattern of "separate butequal" school systems tended to help the black school leader.The logic of 'segregation dictates the complete separation ofthe races. This can be accomplished only if black schoolsystems are entirely blackteachers, students, superin-tendents, and principals. In addition, in a society in whichracism is an institutionalized value, a principalship of a blackschool or superintendency of a black system could not seemvery desirable to most whites. This fact, too, would helpblacks become administrators, if only by default. The moti-vation may not have been commendable, but the result wasthat, in dual school systems, there were countless opportu-nities for black administrators.

This situation did not change immediately after theSupreme Court outlawed "separate but equal" systems, butonce it became clear to the states that the decision could not becircumvented, the dual school systems were gradually dis-mantled. This dramatically altered the status of the blackadministrator. Blacks supervising other blackS may have beenacceptable in the South, but the possibility of black officialsgiving orders to white teachers and overseeing the educationof white students was virtually unthinkable.

The disappearance of the black administrator, though

49


the Court could hardly have anticipated it, has clearly comeabout as the result of southern compliance with the Browndecision.

During the 1960s, as Gregory Coffin points out, "thenumber of black high school principals in 13 southern andborder states dropped more than 90 percent .... If casualtiesamong black elementary school principals were included, theresult would be even worse," he states.

Thus people who were qualified by training and exper-ience to administer the new unified school systems were pre-vented from doing so because of their race. Many of thedismissed blacks undoubtedly were replaced by people lessqualified, except for the vital racial criterion, to run theschools. The loss of expertise and resulting decline in educa-tional quality are incalculable.

By 1975 things were not much better. At that time,Samuel Ethridge calculated that to reach "equity and parity"(that is, for the percentage of black principals to equal thepercentage of blacks in the total population) the nation wouldhave to hire 5,368 more black principals. Almost half thisnumber were needed in the seventeen southern and borderstates.

Even by 1977, the NASSP survey done by David Byrne,Susan Hines, and Lloyd McCleary found that in spite of "ini-tiatives taken to educate and employ minorities for admini-strative positions," only 3 percent of high school principalswere black.

More than quality education disappeared with the blackprincipal. In the Old South, educational administration wasone of the few vocations in which a black could achieve afflu-ence, power, and middle-class respectability, and this oppor-tunity vanished. In addition, a black principal was often themost prominent black citizen, a community leader. Finally, forblack children, the black educator was often the only availablerole model that suggested it was possible for a black to exerciseauthority or leadership, and this, too, was lost.

This loss of administrative ability and communityleadership was nearly absolute, since the talents of displacedblacks were almost always discarded by the school systems.According to J.C. James, a black principal might be transferredto the central office of a district as "the highly visible token of

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TI IF PERSON. WOMEN AND BLACKS

desegregation," or, worse, given "some other title completelyforeign to all known educational terminology, a desk, a secre-tary, no specified responsibilities or authority, with a quietprayer that he will somehow just go away." Doubtless anyblack administrator with ambition or self-respect wouldhimself echo that quiet prayer.

PERSISTENT DISCRIMINATIONAs the legal system of segregation has broken down, it

has been replaced by urban segregation based on residentialpatterns. The Nhite, male decision-makers in many of thesesystems have. like their southern predecessors, decided thatthese all-black schools are appropriate places for blackadministrators.

Thus the belief that blacks are capable of supervisingonly black districts remains as strong as ever. Charles Moodyexamined twenty-one major school systems with blacksuperintendents, seventeen regular and four acting. In each ofthese systems, the majority of the students were black, andevery permanent superintendent worked in a communitywhere mere than half the residents were black. In addition,most of the districts had black majorities on their schoolboards.

Moody discovered several other eacts about these dis-tricts that may explain why they were considered suitable forblack superintendents. Virtually all the superintendents hestudied had taken over districts with serious financialproblems. From the evidence, he concludes that "when blacksare appointed it is often just because the district is unattrac-tive." In addition, "black superintendents are not appointedin districts which provide them with the time and resources todevelop educational programs relevant to their schoolcommunity."

Charles Townsel's experience as a black administratorconfirms this practice. He put it:

Blacks are often called upon to serve in difficult admin-istrative positions located in school districts withfinancial difficul ties, where personnel and/or studentsare in revolt, where discipline is nonexistent, whereacademic achievement levels are low, and where thecommunity is divided.

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51


Black officials a: all levels share a number of problems:difficult schools, ambiguous roles, and the unrealistic expec-tations of others. Robert Chapman reported on a study thatcompared what others expected of black principals in an urbanschool system with what the principals expected of them-selves. The evidence was that high administrators and mostpeople in the black community expected the new principals tomake a far greater difference in the schools than the principalsthemselves anticipated making. Thus the new black officia:swere placed in difficult situations to lyegin with and thenconfronted with the unreasonable expectations of others. Insuch a situation, someone is bound to be disappointed, andthe principal's relative or "perceived" failure seems virtuallyinevitable.

The ambiguous role assigned to the black administratoris best illustrated by Robert Fre low's analysis of the plight of atypical black administrator below the rank of principal. Theprimary assignment for the new official was to serve as liaisonto dissident black students in a school with a biracial enroll-ment and a primarily white staff. He was successful in thisassignment but was not rewarded for his professional skill.Instead, it became clear that, b) dealing with a specific groupof students, he had provided his superiors with "a rationalefor his exclusion from decisions that affect the whole system.He has, in effect, defined a peripheral involvement forhimself." This kind of doublethink, which can turn successinto failure, is typical of the way white supervisors treat blackadministrators.

This problem illustrates the need for blacks in thehighest decision-making positions in school systems. Untilblacks enter the real power positions, the role of all blackadministrators will remain peripheral. But the evidence thatthis has not yet happened is overwhelming. Fre low says,"only in a few instances have school districts chosen toemploy blacks in decision-making, policy-influencingpositions."

This situation prevails in spite of the fact studies haveshown that minorities have strong qualifications for manage-ment positions. After studying more than one hundred whiteand minority managers, John Miner concluded that minoritiesin management have unusually strong motivation to become

52

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TliE PERSON. WOMEN AND BLACKS

managers. And Edward Adams found that black managerswere perceived by their subordinates as exhibiting more con-sideration behavior (behavior indicative of friendship, mutualtrust, respect, and warmth) than did white managers.

Since the late seventies, it has been more and moredifficult to find even the most basic data or information onblacks in educational administration. Literature is strangelysilent on tiv.! topic. In the face of such frightening problems asdeclining enrollment and resources and public loss of confi-dence in the schools, interest in the problems ofminorities haswaned. Yet there is no reason to believe that the problem hasbeen or is being solved. Although a few very visible blackshave achieved token administrative positions, the decline inthe number of positions available makes it impossible forenough minority administrators to be hired to accomplishanything close to equity. And if the policy of "last hired, firstfired" continues to be invoked in times of retrenchment, thesituation will get even worse.

It seems that nothinghas really changed. The location ofthe all-black school systems may have moved from the Southto the cities, but these remain the only systems with room forblack administrators. A black educator's chance of beingappointed superintendent in a "white" district is probably notmuch greater now than it was when the Supreme Court issuedits ruling in the case of Brown.

A PROGRAM FOR CHANGE

Although the only permanent solution to the problemsof women and minorities in school leadership is their inclu-sion in the decision-making process, there should be other,more immediate ways of improving the situation. Gradually,as more women and members of minority groups work intoleadership positions, their acceptability in such positions willincrease. In addition, if they gain some "line" positions, jobsthat ordinarily lead to promotions, they will enter the pool ofpotential decision-makers.

One obvious way of producing change is by adoptinglaws and regulations. Unfortunately, specific cases of dis-crimination are often difficult to detect and nearly impossible

7`53

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SC11001 LEADERS} (IP: HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

to prove. For example, there are at least three federal remediesavailable to protect women from discrimination in school ad-ministration The Equal Pay Act, Title VII of the Civil RightsAct of 1964, and Executive Order 11246. Since these policieshave been adopted, the status of women in education hassubstantially deteriorated. Clearly, then, laws alone will notbring about, meaningful change.

What is needed is a comprehensive program, Rotmerely to prohibit discrimination, but actively to promoteequality of opportunity. A number of writers have attemptedto devise such a program; it is clear that the following ideas areessential to any workable spiution:

establish the hiring of women and minority admin1-strators as a definite priorityeliminate all forms of discriminatory treatment, suchas different pay for equal work and enforced mater-nity leaveswork for ti.?. establishment of a clearinghouse wherethe names of qualified women and minority men willbe availableestablish a policy of actively recruiting women andminority men for administrative jobsencourage schools of education to train more womenand minority men for these jobswork to develop internship programs for potentialadministrators

The first two points are self-explanatory. The need for thethird policy is equally great, since one of the most seriousobstacles to hiring women and minorities is finding and iden-tifying potential administrators. An institution that sys-tematically stores and disseminates sut.,1 information wouldbe invaluable.

In addition, Margaret Weber, Jean Feldman, and EvePoling have suggested that to precipitate a reversal of thecurrent underrepresentation of woman in educational admin-istration in the eighties, responsibility must also be placedwith women. These authors urge that more women

obtain credentials in educational administrationapply for positions in educational administration

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'DIE PERSON: WOMEN AND BLACKS

encourage other women to aspire to positions ineducational leadership

These same recommendations would also apply to membersof minority groups.

Recruiting policies are similarly important. A study,"The Elusive Black Educator," found that, though potentialblack administrators may not be highly visible, they can belocated by any organization that seeks them resourcefully..This demands aggressive recruiting, including the establish-ment of informal contacts in schools of education and accept-ance of the occasional need to train the right person to meetthe formal requirements of a position. School systems mustdevelop ways to determine which candidates will be success-ful, to find them, and to hire them.

One place where potential administrative talent shouldbe plentiful is, of course, in schools of education. Unfor-tunately, this does not seem to be the case if the sought-aftertalent happens to be black or female. "The Elusive BlackEducator" quotes Dr. Donald J. Leu, dean of the San Jose Statecollege of education:

We recognize, now, that there is an increasing numberof job opportunities for the well-educated blackperson. But a real holdup is that colleges and univer-sities aren't recruiting, accepting or producing enoughof them.

Similarly, Catherine Lyon and Terry Saario point out

schools of education, specificallydepartments of edu-cational administration, have not until quite recentlymade the commitment necessary to support the up-ward mobility of women students in public education.Another useful and effective way of finding and devel-

oping administrative talent is through internship programs.At any level of administration, such programs will work in thesame way. Laval Wilson describes one project in which heparticipated. It was funded by a private grant and designed forthe specific purpose of training nonwhite men for the super-intendency. The participants, chosen for commitment tourban education, mobility, and professional potential, servedfive months in each of two systems, working with successfuland innovative superintendents. Wilson felt that the chance to

that

55

1,1RWRIPIIMPONNOIWIIMPPPerrrirT-..7,41e 1.414.,,r/ .,..0.04W

I

SCI1001. LEA DERSt III' IIANDROOK FOR SURVI JAI

see the superintendency firsthand was invaluable for the in-sights it gave him into the realities of power in a schoolsystem.

Such experience not only offers the interns useful jobpreparation, but also gives them a chance to measure their realdesire for the job in light of the actual responsibilities andpressures involved. In addition, it gives evidence of practicalability rather than abstract potential and so should promotebetter hiring decisions. Unfortunately, some such programsare remarkably shortsighted; the program Wilson participatedin was for minority men, which apparently means that allwomen, including minority women, were excluded. Such aProgram may be combatting racism, but it is also perpetuatingsexism.

Ultimately, the solution to the problem of discrimi-nation depends on the willingness of public education tocommit itself to change. Once such a commitment has beenmade, a specific program, based on the circumstances in eachschool system, should not be difficult to devise.

CONCLUSION

The status of women and minorities in school admini-stration seems clearly inconsistent with the ideals of a demo-cratic, egalitarian society. But discrimination in this area is notmerely morally repugnant; practically it is destructive, since itnarrows the base from which school leadership can be drawn.

Blacks and women alike suffer from stereotypes, butthose stereotypes are not identical. The fundamental assump-tion that limits the role of blacks in administrationis that theraces should be separated. There are jobs for black-admini-strators, but few of these jobs include supervising witeteachers or students.

The primary role assigned to women remains that of themother. According to this role stereotype, women cannothave leadership responsibilities because they might conflictwith the primary commitment of all women, bearing andraising children.

There are two ways in which this situation can change.The first requires a great deal of time; it demands the changing

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TI IE PERSON: WOMEN AND BLACKS

of attitudes throughout society. The second requires an insti-tutional commitment, by public school systems, to imple-menting new hiring policies. Finally, though, the problem willcease only when sex or race is irrelevant in hiring, whenqualified women and minorities are as routinely included inthe decision-making process as white males are today.

gillr!!!!Ilrerc="0."-4,, , ----

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rc CHAPTER 3

LEADERSHIP STYLESJo Ann Mazzarella

INTRODUCTION

In an era when educational leaders are worried abouttheir survival, when they and their colleagues are the victimsof personnel cutbacks, severe mental stress, and public criti-cism, a concern for leadership style may seem at best academicand at worst a waste of time. What is a leadership style andwhy does it matter?

Reduced to its simplest terms, a leadership style is theway a leader leads. In a chapter on the principal's leadershipbehavior, Thomas Sergiovanni and David Elliott speak of the"ways in which the principal expresses leadership, uses powerand authority, arrives at decisions, and in general interactswith teachers and others." These activities some of themost important things educational administrators do haveenormous implications for administrators' survival. If leaderschoose inappropriate ways of leading, they will often fail toaccomplish the task at hand, reach long-range organizationalgoals, or maintain positive relationships with subordinates.These kinds of failure can lead to ultimate loss of position orloss of peace of mind.

E. Mark Hanson notes that leadership style "might bethought of as a particular behavior emphasized by the leaderto motivate his or her group to accomplish some end." Formost of those who have studied leadership, motivation is animportant component of leadership style. Effective leadershipmeans that others are influenced to accomplish something.

Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard have presentedti their view of why studying leadership style and motivation isso important:-,,v

Knowledge about motivation and leader behavior willCJ continue to be of great concern to practitioners of

management for several reasons: It can help improvethe effective utilization of human resources; it can help

1 I 1 in preventing resistance to change, restriction of out-put, and labor disputes; and often it can lead to a moreprofitable organization.

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At tos..ta

II it: l'I ft,,(1N: I I Al)( 12SI 111",111 IS

Learning about leadership style can help managers be bettersupervisors, institute needed changes, and inspire subordi-nates to be happier and produce more.

HISTORY OF STYLE THEORY

Views of leadership have changed radically over the lastforty or fifty years. The earliest leadership research tried todetermine what makes a leader and what makes a good leaderby examining the inherent traits of leaders. After the collectionof leadership traits became too large to manage or make senseof, researchers began to focus on leadership behavior, onwhat leaders do in their capacities as leaders. The assumptionwas that leadership was something almost anyone could ac-complish if he or she took the trouble to learn how it was doneeffectively.

The concept of leadership style was born, and the re-search began to focus on which leadership style was best,often comparing autocratic, democratic, and laissez-fairestyles. Although democratic style frequently appeared to bethe most effective, the theory began to emerge than no style ofleadership was best in all situations. Situational theories ofleadership style then appeared on the scene, introducing theidea that the most effective style would fit the particular situa-tion at hand.

In later years the view that leadership is merely a beha-vior (like swimming or running) that anyone can learn hasbeen modified. New studies of effective leaders suggest thateffective leadership results from an interaction of style andinherent traits. In other words, leadership ability is partlylearned and partly inborn.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Athough most authors on leadership style agree that it isan important component of leadership and something leadersought to become aware of, there is very little more that theyagree about. Experts disagree about the major elements ofleadership style; whether style varies or ought to vary accord-

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SCHOOL LEADERS/ III'. HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

ing to situation, whether a leader's style is flexible at all, andwhether personality traits have any effect on style.

All this disagreement is very confusing and not veryhelpful to those who must work in leadership positions everyday. Leaders want to know what leadership styles are effectiveand where, how they can become better leaders, what kind ofleadershir training is useful, and how to select coworkers andsubordinates who have the ability to be good leaders.

Although at this state there are no definitive rightanswers to these style dilemmas, this chapter is written withthese practical, everyday needs of leaders in mind. An attemptis made to present the elements of leadership style theory thathave useful and helpful implications for administrators. Nearthe end of the chapter is a section including practical implica-tions of each of the major leadership style theories; the themeof this section is how to select, to train, and to be a betterleader.

WHAT IS IT?

It seems logical that leadership style does not includeeverything a leader does or thinks; the way the leader sharpenspencils is not a facet of leadership style nor are particularreligious beliefs. Which activities and beliefs should be focusedon when assessing one's own or someone else's style?

COMPONENTS OF STYLE

One superintendent may let staff make most cf thedecisions about how the district is run; another superintendentmay feel that she alone has the expertise and ability to makeimportant decisions. Somewhere between these two extremeslie the styles of most school leaders.

One way of looking at and classifying the dimensions ofleadership style has been proposed by Robert Tannenbaumand Warren Schmidt, who see leadership style as a continuumstretching from "subordinate-centered" to "boss-centered."The most subordinate-centered leadership involves givingsubordinates great freedom to make decisions within very flex-

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MI Pt RSON t I ,V )t IV-,1111,111 t'

ible limits. With the most boss-centered leadership, the man-ager alone makes the decision and either merely announces itor attempts to "sell" the decision. While Tannenbaum andSchmidt admit that there are times when more boss-centeredleadership is necessary, clearly they see more subordinate-centered behavior as the most effective. They advocate makinga continuing effort to confront subordinates with the "cha!-lenge of freedom."

As well as differing about who makes decisions, leadersmay also vary in the way they view employees. One principalmay see staff members as lacking in motivation, needing to beconstantly pushed, and holding their own interest above thatof the school. Another principal may assume that staffare justthe opposite: motivated to improve the school, self-starting,and giving prime importance to school needs.

This way of classifying leaders' views of employees isfound in the writing of Douglas McGregor, who formulatedthe now famous concept of Theory X and Theory Y. McGregorbelieved each person holds one of two opposing theories ofhuman behavior. One, Theory X, holds that people are basicallylazy, need to be prodded to action, and are motivated onlybymaterial or other rewards and punishments. The other, TheoryY, holds that people enjoy accomplishment, are self-motivated(except when thwarted), and have a desire to make a realcontribution to their organization.

McGregor classified leaders as following either Theory Xor Theory Y, with Theory Y leaders cast as modern, enlight-ened, humanitarian, and compassionate leaders who succeedin motivating people.

According to McGregor, each view of human nature is aself-fulfilling prophecy. If one treats workers as being respon-sible and self-motivated, they will be. If one treats them aslazy or without motivation, they will be that too. A realizationthat this is so has been the basis of a movement toward moredemocratic determination of organizational objectives andparticipative management as part of an attempt to increaseemployee commitment to organizational goals.

McGregor's theories have made an important contribu-tion toward making leadership more humanistic. Yet somecritics have maintained that too much participative manage-ment cart impede accomplishment of organizational goals.

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SCt 100I LEADERS} HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

One of these, Philip De Turk (headmaster of Shepherd KnappSchool in Massachusetts) expressed his fears that leaders whoinsist on always sharing power may be abdicating their respon-sibility to meet the institution's ner -is for authority, may beendangering their own health through personal overcommit-ment to time-consuming decision-making practices, and maybe ignoring the urgency of month-to-month financial survival.

De Turk feels that McGregor himself came ,to a similarconclusion in a speech he gave when resigning as president ofAntioch College.

I thought that maybe I could operate so that everyonewould like me, that "good human relations" wouldeliminate all discord and disagreement. I couldn't havebeen more wrong. It took a couple of years, but Ifinally began to realize that a leader cannot avoid theexercise of authority any more than he can avoid re-sponsibility for what happens to his organization.

In spite of the undeniable value of McGregor's theories,it may be that too slavishly dedicating oneself to Theory Y-oriented leadership in the organization may cause decision-making to be slighted and survival of the individual leader orthe organization to be threatened. The balance is a difficultone.

Decision-making is often an important component ofleadership style. Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones are both principalswho are faced with massive budget cuts. Mr. Smith spends theweekend alone in his office wrestling with the budget. AtMonday afternoon's faculty meeting he announces what andwhom must be cut. Mr. Jones, however, uses the Mondaymeeting to explain the problem, ask for suggestions as to whatmight be cut, and then calls for a vote on each suggestion.

These two leaders would be called the "autocrat" and the"consultative manager" by Thomas Bonoma and DennisSlevin, who have identified four leadership styles based onwhere the authority for decisions is placed and where informa-tion about the decision comes from.

Another example of leadership style might be Mrs.Green (the "consultative autocrat") who asks for faculty sug-gestions and then makes the decision alone or Mr. Blue (the"shareholder") who elicits no information exchange from hisfaculty but leaves it up to them to make the decision. From

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III! VI R' ON I I MI Itif YI

these examples, it remains clear that how people habituallymake decisions is one component of leadership style.

PEOPLE OR WORk?

Some people have more interest in what they are doingthan in the people they are working with. Others give moreimportance to their relationship with coworkers than to thejob. Whether one emphasizes the task or human relations isoften thought to be central to leadership style.

For leaders, an important aspect of the task at handoften includes establishing ways of doing things, channels ofcommunication, or organizational patterns. Andrew Halpin(along with Ralph Stogdill and others at The Ohio State Uni-versity) called such activities "initiating structure." He foundthat effective leaders place a lot of importance on initiatingstructure. But he found too that they also are very muchconcerned about their relationships with people. Effectiveleaders evidenced a lot of behavior indicative of friendship,mutual trust, respect, and warmth. Halpin called this sort ofbehavior "consideration."

In a study of fifty Ohio superintendents, Halpin foundthat both school board members and staff saw superintendents'leadership effectiveness as made up of behavio, characterizedby high scores on initiating structure and consideration. Inef-fective superintendents had low scores in each.

It is hard to balance work concerns and peopleconcerns.In fact some experts claim it is impossible. Fred Fiedler, whocalled these dimensions "task-orientation" and "relationship-orientation," believed that leaders were able to focus on eithercne or the other but not both. He saw task-orientation andrelationship-orientation as two ends of a continuum (like thinand fat or tall and short) and believed it logically impossible tobe at both ends of the continuum.

Fiedler in the research on his "contingency theory" (tobe described in detail later in this chapter) ascertained thatleaders who described their "least preferred coworker" inpositive terms were "human relations oriented," whereasthose who described the least liked coworker in negativeterms were "task-oriented." (The nature of the instrument

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SCI (001 LF.ADERSI 11P. I IANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

used to measure the attitude toward this coworker did notallow for leaders who had both orientations.) Fiedler believedthat both styles would be effective.

Are task orientation and human relations orientationmutually 'exclusive? Some authors, such as Sergiovanni, sidewith Fiedler in answering yes. William Reddin is an exampleof other writers who, siding with Halpin, answer no. Reddinsaw four possible combinations oforientation: human relationsorientation alone, task orientation alone, both of these orien-tations together, and neither one. Reddir. believed that anyone of these four styles could be effective depending on thesituation. When to use whiCh style will be discussed in thenext section.

This section has discussed a number of ways of lookingat leadership style. Some stress decision-making styles, somestress ways of looking at subordinates, and some stresswhether leaders re more interested in the people or the job.Although some of these theories are overlapping, they are notidentical and some directly conflict with each other. Theynecessitate a c' -oice. Administrators must choose and makeuse of the theories that best fit their experiences, situations,personalities, and, not least, intuitive perceptions of them-selves and others.

THE IDEAL STYLE

Many leaders or would-be leaders puzzle over whichleadership style is the most effective. Wanting to know theideal way to approach leadership, they debate such issues aswhether they should strive for subordinate-centered leader-ship or boss-centered leadership, whether they should basetheir leadership on Theory X or Theory Y, or whether theyshould concentrate on the task or on human relations.

Some researchers on leadership style maintain that thesedilemmas are not only unsolvable, but-also the wrong ques-tions to ask. These researchers believe that there is no idealapproach to leadership that fits all situations; rather, the bestview of leadership style is that it must vary to fit the particularsituation at hand.

While some leadersswear by the importance of relation-

I

I

1111 1'1 1t',ON II AD! 1:,,1 111`,,111

ship-oriented leadership and others proclaim the importanceof a task-oriented style, Fiedler, using his contingency theory,maintains that either one of these styles can be appropriate,depending on the amount of control the leader has over thesituation (sometimes called how "favorable" the situation is).Fiedler sees three important components in situational control:status or position power of the leader, quality of relationsbetween the leader and members, and structure of the task.Fiedler's extensive research reveals that when a leader is ex-tremely influential or extremely uninfluential, the most effec-tive style will be a task-oriented style. Relationship-orientedleaders are more effective in the situations that fall in between.

RISK TAKING

A contingency-type theory also made sense to CecilMiskel, who, like Fiedler, studied how style factors and leadereffe:Iiveness were related to the situation. Miskel, too, foundthat how well leaders perform is related to different combina-tions of style and situational components. Miskel, however,believed that Style variables might be other than task-relatedor relationship-related. He also examined other style factors,including risk-taking propensity in leaders. Miskel found thatthose principals who tended to be risk takers ( or had lowsecurity needs) were more successful at innovative efforts atleast when they also had fewer years of experience and workedin a school that used innovative management techniques.

Is success at innovation the same as success as a leader?Not necessarily perhaps, but Miskel's findings take on addedsignificance when one recalls that James Lipham defined leader-ship as "that behavior of an individual which initiates a newstructure in interaction within a social system." This definitionis not just an idle theory; good leaders are always makingthings better. Implicit in the word "leader" is the idea ofmovement from one place to another. Leaders are not leadingwhen they are standing still.

Other researchers too have looked at risk-taking beha-vior. William Holloway and Ghulam Niazi related risk-takingpropensities of school administrators to Fiedler's concept ofleader control over the situation. Holloway and Niazi found

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SO 10()I. LLADERSI M' I IANDROOK I OR SURVIVAL

that the more control school principals had over their worksituation, the greater their disposition to take risks. Theyconcluded that leaders' willingness to take risks can be in-creased by improving the leader's status or group support.

WHAT IS THE SITUATION?

Many authorities agree with Fiedler's view that the leader-ship style needed depends on the situation. Many disagree,however, about what the importznt elements of the situationare. Fiedler saw three important elements in the situation:status, leader-member relations, and task structure. WilliamReddin sees five important components of the work situation:organizational philosophy, technology (or how the work isdone), the superior, the coworkers, and the subordinates.

Reddin identified four possible styles that were combi-nations of task-oriented behavior and relationship-orientedbehavior. "Integrated style" is style that emphasizes bothrelationship-oriented and task-oriented behavior. "Separated"style is deficient in both. "Related" style emphasizes relation-ship-oriented behavior but neglects task-oriented. "Dedica-ted" style emphasizes task but neglects relationship.

Reddin believed that each one of these four styles (evenseparated style) could be effective or ineffective depending onthe situation, and he coined descriptive terms to describe thepossible managerial types embodying the eight effective andineffective styles. For example, the "autocrat" uses the dedi-cated (high task, low relationship) style inappropriately and isineffective as a leader; the "benevolent autocrat" uses thededicated style appropriately and is an effective leader. Figure 1shows the effective and ineffective manifestations of each style.

Reddin explained that an appropriate time to use thededicated style (or to be a benevolent autocrat) is when themanager knows more about the job than the subordinates do,when unscheduled events are likely to occur, when directionsmust be given, or where the subordinates' performance iseasily measurable.

Robert Tannenbaum and Warren Schmidt describe"forces" a leader should consider in deciding how to manage.Although some theorists would lump all these forces into the

66

rOMPIIPIPOIMM.IMPIVOIMIMprvirynverpottcc faoevalINOA5WIFFVs0.000,1Prilif

IDeveloper Executive

Bureaucrat Benevolentautocrat

RELATED I INTEGRATED

SEPARATED t DEDICATED

Missionary Compromiser

Deserter AutocratLess

effective

Moreeffective

c II 11 ITRSON I I AIN RSI III'S II I I

FIGURE 1. EFFECTIVE AND INEFFECTIVE MANIFESTA-TIONS OF THE FOUR POSSIBLE LEADERSHIP STYLESACCORDiNG TO REDDIN

From Managerial Effectiveness by William Reddin. 01970. Reprinted by permission ofMcGraw-Hill Book Company.

category "situational," Tannenbaum and Schmidt call them"force., ;n the manager," "forces in the subordinates," a,4"forces in the situation."

Forces within managers include their value systems

67

(

so lool.i.rAnr. RsilinlIANDBOOK MR SURVIVAL

(How do they feel about the worth of participative decision-making?), their confidence in subordinates, their inclinationstoward a particular style, and their feelings of security (Canthey feel comfortable releasing control?).Forces in the subordinates include such things as needsfor indep"ndence, readiness to assume responsibility, andtolerance for ambiguity. The forces that Tannenbaum andSchmidt call "forces in the situation" include type of organiza-

tion (Will participative decision-making be acceptedand appro-priate?), group effectiveness (Can employees work together?),the problem itself (Is it simple or complex, minor or impor-tant?), and time pressure.In contrast to Reddin and Tannenbaum and Schmidt,who examined several components of the situation, PhilipGates, Kenneth Blanchard, and Paul Hersey looked at onlyone aspect of one of these components (subordinates) as beingthe most important and called this aspect "follower maturity."In the view of these authors, the leadership style a leaderchooses ought to depend on the maturity of the followers. Bymaturity, they meant three things:

a capacity to set high but attainable goalsa willingness and ability to take responsibilityeducation or experience

Because follower maturity can change over time, these authorsbelieved that appropriate leader behavior should also changeover time. When followers are low in maturity, they needleaders who are heavily task-oriented. As follower maturityincreases, leaders can shift their emphasis from tasks to rela-tionships. Then as followers come to have above averagematurity, even their need for relationship behavior decreases.

But "maturity of followers (or any other single factor ofwhich I am aware) is too simple a construct around which tobuild a contingency theory of leadership," maintains ThomasSergiovanni in an article criticizing leader training programsfocusing on only one situational variable. Sergiovanni cites anumber of other contingencies that leadership style has beenfound to rest on, including Reddin's job characteristics,Fiedler's leader influence, and such concepts from otherauthors as role expect ,tions of followers, peers, and super-ord ina:es; personality characteristics of leaders and followers;

68'

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III! I'll:',ON I I AIM 1:,1111'`,111I5

time constraints in achieving objectives; political considera-tions; and interpersonal tension within the group.

In an earlier work, Sergiovanni and David Elliott citedthe aspects of the situation they felt were most important forleaders to consider-2 the kinds of demands the job makes onleadership, the nature and distribution of power and authority,and the expectations held by significant others. Sergiovanniand Elliott noted that educational settings (particularly leader-ship situations in elementary schools) only occasionally callfor separated and dedicated styles. According to these authors,therefore, styles that emphasize human relations will be themost effective in schools. They explain that with separatedand dedicated styles "the human dimension is neglected.""The focus of leadership in general" ought to be related orintegrated in schools that "wish to make a human difference."

SITUATION AND PERSONALITY

If leadership effectiveness 'depends on the situation,does it follow that who the leader is has no importance? Someauthors think so. Stephen Hencley, in a survey of recentleadership theories, noted that to many authors "the situa-tional approach maintains that leadership is determined notso much by the characters of individuals as by the require-ments of socia: situations." Hencley feels that the situationalapproach focuses on "relationships and variables in socialand environmental situations that appear to generate leaderbehavior." Individual capacity for leadership is not important.

But this view is certainly not held by all authors onleadership. Fiedler saw propensity for task-oriented or relation-ship-oriented behavior as a function of personality and notedthat the leader's personality was one factor in determiningsuccess. He described his theory of leadership effectivenessas one that "takes account of the leader's personality as wellas the situational factors in the leadership situation."

Andrew Halpin, too, whose theories were examinedearlier, saw leadership as being determined in part by thesituation and in part by leader characteristics. E. MarkHanson, in a review of leadership style theories, definedsituational theory in general as the view that situational

83

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SCI 1001. LEADERSIIIP. I IANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

factors and personality variables interact in determiningleader effectiveness.

Leader personality does make a difference in leadershipstyle; in fact, many authors believe that leadership style isdetermined by personality and is as difficidt to change. Thisidea does not, however, negate the important contribution ofsituational theory and research that no leadership style isideal for every leadership situation.

CAN YOU CHANGE YOUR STYLE?

If the situationists are right, if leadership style ought tovary to fit the situation, then it follows that leaders need to beable to change their styles at will. Is this possible? Is leadershipstyle flexible enough to be changed to fit the situation? Orshould leaders attempt to change the situation instead?

IDENTIFYING YOUR STYLE

The first step for a leader wanting to change his or herstyle is to become aware of what that style is. Yet identifyingone's style is not simple. Fiedler, in a 1979 article, cited twostudies that found that most leaders are not able to see theirstyles as others see them. In fact, one study found a zerocorrelation between leader and subordinate style ratings.Since it is assumed that others' perceptions are more objectivethan one's own, it seems likely that most leaders do not seethemselves accurately.

All is not lost, however. Fiedler believes that leaderscan be taught to recognize their styles. Together with MartinChemers and Linda Mahar, Fiedler developed a teachingguide that helps leaders identify whether they are relationship-motivated or task-motivated. This guide asks leaders to lookat their own behaviors and helps them to rate themselves on anumber of specific style factors, rather than asking them tomake guesses about their overall styles.

Much of Fiedler's own,research used the Least-preferredCoworker scale as an instrument to measure style. Leadersare asked to describe the colleague whom they have most

70

1111 PI 1600 1 I AD1 161111", l'Irl 1 S

disliked. Those who describe this coworker in very negativeterms have been found to be task-motivated, whereas thosewho describe him or her in positive or less critical terms havebeen found to be relationship-motivated.

Sergiovarmi and Elliott also have formulated a question-naixe to help leaders identify their styles. Those who take thisquestionnaire are asked to describe how they would act if theywere leaders of a work group. Respondents mark "always,""frequently," "occasionally," "seldom," or "never" to suchstatements as "I would allow members complete freedom intheir work,""Lwould needle members for greater effort," and"I would schedule the work to be done."

Sergiovanni and Elliott suggest that leaders might find ithelpful to have their coworkers or subordinates describe the1---nders on the same questionnaire. They warn, "Don't besurprised if others see you differently than you see yourself."

Thomas Bonoma and Dennis Slevin display their leader-ship model on a grid to help leaders diagnose their styles. Thisgrid, reproduced in figure 2, rests on their belief that leadershipstyle is a mixture of where information for decisions comesfrom and where decision authority is placed. One recommen-dation is to keep a daily diary of decision-making activities andto place each decision on the grid by indicating where infor-mation input comes from and where decision authority isplaced. Bonoma and Slevin quote a reader who reported thatthis method "confirmed that my actual leadership style wasinconsistent with my preconceived image of leadership style."

STYLE FLEX

Even if style can be identified, it does not necessarilyfollow that it can be changed at will. Certainly Fiedler's contin-gency theory admits for very little style flexibility in leaders.

As mentioned earlier, Fiedler sees leaders as either 'ask-motivated or relationship-motivated but not both. Fiedler sawthis basic style motivation as part of one's personality and, assuch, very difficult to change, especially through a short train-ing program.

At best it takes one, two, or three years of intensivepsychotherapy to effect lasting changes in personality

71

SC11001.1 1-ADIRSI Ill' I IANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

structure. It is difficult to see how we can change inmore than a few cases an equally important set of corevalues in a few hours of lectures and role-playing oreven in ...one or two weeks.Yet at the same time Fiedler maintains that neither style

is appropriate for all situations. Are some leaders thus doomedto failure simply because-they find themselveS in a situationincompatible with their styles? The answer is no; Fiedler be-lieved that those leaders in incompatible situations couldchange the situation.

Sergiovanni too, resting his case heavily on Fiedler'sfindings, has maintained that style, like personality, is verydifficult to change. Although he admits that "some leadersareable to change styles with ease," he believes that "trainers

FIG URE 2. BONOMA-SLEVIN LEADERSHIP MODEL GRID

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72

fl VI RctON I t ADI RnI III' STY! rs

overestimate style flexibility and do not account sufficientlyfor those of us (perhaps the majority of us) with more limitedstyle ranges."

"Successful leaders can adapt their leader behavior tomeet the needs of the group," insist Paul Hersey and KennethBlanchard, who see four possible combinations of task-orientedand relationship-oriented behavior:

task-oriented behaviorrelationship-oriented behaviortask-oriented and relationship-oriented behaviorcombinedneither task-oriented nor relationship-oriented

Like Reddin, Hersey and Blanchard believed that any of thefour styles could be effective. But Hersey and Blanchard didnot believe that every leader used or even could use all fourstyles. "Some leaders are able to modify their behavior to fitany of the four basic styles, while others can utilize two orthree styles." In other words some leaders have the ability tobe flexible in style and others are more rigid; the most flexibleare the most likely to be effective in jobs that require a lot ofadaptability.

Probably the theory of leadership style that allows forthe greatest style flexibility was developed by Gates, Blanchard,and Hersey. Their theory held that leader behavior must varyto fit the "maturity" level of followers. As followers becamemore able to operate on their own, these researchers believedthat leaders would be forced to change their styles. The suc-cessful leaders could change, whereas the unsuccessful onescould not.

William Reddin is another author who believes thatsome leaders can change style and other leaders have littleflexibility. According to Reddin, the best leaders have threeimportant abilitie. The first is "situational sensitivity," whichenables leaders to diagnose situations. The second is "styleflexibility," which allows them to match their styles to thesituation, and the third is "situational management skill,"which helps them to change the situation to fit their styles.

Reddin also saw another side to style flexibility. He sawthe negative effects of a "high-flex" manager in a situation thatcalls for a lower degree of flexibility. This situation Reddin

0 1

73

',(11(X)1 1 I ADI RS1 Ill' 1 IANDUOOK I (lit SURVIVAL

described as "style drift"; "drift managers" are those who areperceived as having no minds of theirown, who fail to organizetheir situation, and who allow change V overwhelm them.Thus Reddin saw that the need for style flexibility, like theneed for a particular style, varies to fit the situation.

There are so many diverse components of a principal'sjob that the situation may change from minute to minute. If weanalyze the situation in Fiedler's terms, we find that at timesthe "task structure" is clearly spelled out (such as in organizinga bus schedule), at times it is extremely vague (as when im-proving school climate). At times "position power" is high(such as when hiring a new teacher) and at times very low (asin implementing a request from the central office). Only "leader-member relations" may stay fairly stable, and these vary fromschool to school.

In the face of this complex situation and the conflictingtheories reviewed here, only one conclusion seems clear:school administrators are going to have to be able to be flexibleabout something either their styles or their situations orthey are not going to be able to cope with their jobs. It is up toeach individual administrator to decide, based on the theoriespresented so far, which aspect can most easily be changed.

SYNTHESIZING THE THEORIES

The preceding sections have presented important Ispectsof some (but certainly not all) well-known leadership theories.At this point it may seem appropriate to ask how these theoriesfit together. Can they all be coordinated to form a more all -encompassing theory?

It is quite tempting to think that we now have all thepieces of a giant puzzle that can be fitted together into acoherent whole. And at first glance it may appear that many ofthese theories are quite compatible. Certainly, all those thatemphasize concern for task or human relations as elements ofstyle have something in common, as do those that emphasizedecision-making.

But a fter we have made these rather elementary connec-tions, we are blocked from taking the logical next step ofmaking generalities about all the theories. For instance, at first

74

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it seems to make sense that leadership styles that stress humanrelations are quite similar to those that stress participativedecision-making, but the analogy does not hold up. A leOderwith a democratic or subordinate-centered style may (or eVenmust) also have a concern for the task according to some ofthese theories (notably Halpin's).

Other seeming similarities turn out to be superficial.Although both Fiedler and Reddin see task and human relationsas important components of style, they are diametrically op-posed about whether leaders can change their styles andthis difference has big implications for the practice of leadership.

Unfortunately, it is not yet time for an overarchingtheory of leadership. The data are not all in on importantquestions like whether leaders can change styles or what themost important components of style should be.

The kind of synthesis that is possible with leadershipstyle theories is one that compares and contrasts the theoriesin a way that shows graphically how they are alike and howthey differ. This we have attempted to do in the form oftabletIn addition to listing the theories according to the componentsof style they emphasize, the table also gives each theory'sanswer to the questions of whether the components are mutu-ally exclusive, whether the style ought to vary with the situa-tion, and whether the style is flexible.

SO WHAT?

None of the theories of leadership style discussed so farhas much value to leaders unless it can be used to improveleader performance. Whether styles can or should vary to fitthe situation or how one determines the important characteris-tics of the situation are questions that do not really matterunless the answers can be used to select or train better leadersor to be a better leader.

Researchers and theoreticians do not always share thispragmatic view. Their work is not always aimed at practition-ers, and even when it is, they are often more concerned aboutdiscovering "truths" than they are about being helpful. Thus,the theories discussed in this chapter do not always easily or

75

s_et_ ,

TABLE 1: COMPARISON OF LEADERSHIP STYLE THEORIESACCORDING TO COMPONENTS, EXCLUSIVITY, VARIA-BILITY, AND FLEXIBILITY

Authors

I lowmanystyks' ConlpOnelliS or Heinen ts of Style

Are 011111,011ellh.

Mutually Eschi.ivak'S the Style NeededVane With the Situation'

Is the Leader'sStyle Flexible'

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2

4

Decision-Making"Subordinate-centered vs. boss-centered"(Democratic vs. autocratic) (former most effechve)

Decision-Making(where authority is placed and where informahon comesfrom)Four possible styles: autocrat, consultative manager, consul-tative autocrat, shareholder (all but the last are effechve)

Yes (leader cannot use bothat the same time)

No (all possible combina-tions of the componentsare possible)

Yes (components are forcesin the manager, fo-c...: it thesubordinates wad forces illthe situation)

Yes

Yes, leader choosesthe style appropriateat the time

Yes

McGregor 2 view of employersTheory X (need extrinsic motivators) vs. Theory Y (self-motivated) (Latter view most effective)

Yes No Not applicable

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Fiedler

Reddin

Gates, Blanchard, andHerseyHersey and Blanchard

Sergiovanni and Elliott

2

2

4

4

4

Tiisl, and Human RelationsConcern for initiating structure or consideration

LA and Human RelationsTask-oriented vs Human relationship oriented (eithercan beeffective)

Tih.1, and Human RelationsFour combinations of human relations orientation and taskorientation. Four possible styles- integrated, separated,related, dedicated (each can be effective)

Task and Human Relinwas(both can be effective)

Iiish and Human Relations(same as Reddin above) Integrated, separated, related, deli-rated (each can be effective)

No (effective leaders haveboth concerns)

Yes

No

,

Yes (although leader canchange from one to theother, does not use bothsimultaneously)

No

Not applicable

Yes (most important com-ponent is leader situationalcontrol, made up of positionpower, leader-member rela-lions, task structure)

Yes (components are organi-rational philosophy, tech-nology, superior, co-workers, subordinates)

Yes (most important com-ponent is follower maturity)

Yes (components are thedemands of the lob, natureand distribution of powerand authonty, expectationsheld by significant others)

Not applicable

No

Some leaders areflexible and some are not

Yes (must changewith time)

Usually no, and notwithout great difficulty

0 Miskel

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.14 Holloway and Nialtcrs

ix

- Sel, era!, including risk-taking propensity of leaders

Risk taking

Not applicable

Not applicable

Yes (components are leaderyr. Ts of experience andinnovative managementtechniques)

Yes (most important com-ponent is leader control)

Not applu.able

Not applicable

H ') Iill

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S(.. 1 1(X)1 Anr Rs, up 1 IANDBook 1 DR SURVIVAL

neatly lend themselves to practice. Nevertheless, the followingsection is an attempt to pick out those practical implicationsthat cm; be taken from the theories and studies discussed so far.

BECOMING A BETTER LEADER

How one uses leadership style theories depends on twothings: what beliefs and assumptions about leadership oneholds and what one's goals are. Below are listed some goalsthat leaders may have, each followed by a brief discussion ofstrategies for accomplishing the goal suggested by the perti-nent theories. The leader will want to weigh each strategyaccording to his or her philosophy of leadership. The first andlargest group of goals and strategies is based on the assumptionthat leaders can, indeed, change their leadership styles whenit is necessary.

Goals That As Fume Flevible Style

Rinse Motivation of Workers, Help Them Accept Changes,and improve Morale. If the leader holds these goals, then more"subordinate-centered" leadership, as defined by Tannenbaumand Schmidt, may be appropriate. Although Tannenbaumand Schmidt do not offer a recipe for how to become moresubordinate- centered, they do offer guidelines for determiningwhether this style will be appropriate for particular subordi-nates. This style of leadership may indeed be in order if thesubordinates have the following characteristics:

high needs for independencereadiness to assume responsibilityhigh tolerance for ambiguityinterest in the problem at handunderstanding of and identification with the goals ofthe organizationnecessary knowledge and experiencea history of sharing in decision-making

78

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Besides depending on subordinates, the decision tochange to more subordinate-centered leadership must alsoconsider other factors: the manager's feelings and values, andsituational forces. Is subordinate-centered leadership valuedby the manager? Does the manager have confidence in subor-dinates? Will more participative decision-mnking be acceptedin the particular organization and are the employees compati-ble enough to work together? All these questions must beanswered before a switch to more subordinate-centered leader-ship is clearly called for. An acceptance of McGregor's theoriesand a desire to increase employee motivation will probablyalso prompt a simi!ar type of move toward more participativemanagement.

Remove Stress, Reduce Workload, mid Assure the Survival ofthe Organization. If the leader is, however, in the position ofsome principals today who have for a long time been commit-ted to participative management, who already ask employees

.telp with every decision from which teacher to hire towhich waste basket to buy and who feel overwhelmed bythe process, then DeTurk's suggestions may be more appro-priate. For participative managers who feel under great stress,overworked, and worried about the very survival of the organi-zation, a return to more leader autonomy may be in order.This does not mean a return to Theory X, but rather a realiza-tion that leaders must make some independent decisions.

Determine If the Leader's Style Fits a Particular Situation.Some leaders may feel that leadership style ought to vary to fitthe work situation but may not know how to determine whethertheir style is appropriate for their own particular work situa-tion. Their goal thus becomes one of assessing the compatibilityof their style and situation. Like Tannenbaum and Schmidt,Reddin does not specify how to change style, but his theory isvery helpful in determining if there is a fit between style andsituation.

The leader can first determine which one of Reddin'scategories (dedicated, related, separated, or integrated) de-scribes his or her style. The next step is to look at the importantcomponents of the situation as outlined by Reddin (superior,subordinates, technology, organizational philosophy, and co-workers) and determine whether the style used is appropriateto fit these.

79

SO I(X)I. LI:ADERSI !IANDBOOK roR SURVIVAL

For instance, if the manager knows more about the jobthan do the subordinates, if unscheduled events are likely tooccur, if directions must be given, or if performance is easilymeasurable, then an effective dedicatedstyle (benevolent auto-crat) will contribute to the manager's success. But if the leaderin this situation is not "dedicated," he or she may have tomake some changes in either the style or the situation.

Adapt Style to Maturity of Followers. Some leaders aregoing to find that their experience, beliefs, and abilities causethem to lean toward the theories of Gates, Blanchard, andHersey, who hold that style should change with followermaturity. These leaders will closely assess their follower'scapacity to set goals, willingness to take responsibility, educa-tion, and experience and choose their styles accordingly (task-oriented when maturity is low, relationship-oriented when itis moderate, and as little leadership behavior as possible ifmaturity is high). They will remember too the warning thatfollower maturity may regress (especially when new tasks arepresented) and that style must change to

improve Decision-Mnking. Some leaders have troublemaking leadership decisions or even deciding how these deci-sions ought to be made. These leaders may find it helpful toborrow Bonoma and Slevin's idea of looking at both informa-tion input and decision-making authorityand determining foreach decision who ought to supply information relevant to thedecision and who ought to actually make the decision. Basedon this assessment, the leader may decide to increase or de-crease staff involvement in decision-making.

Those interested may also find it helpful to use Bonomaand Slevin's leadership checklist to help them think throughhow well their styles fit with organization's needs. This check-list asks things like, "Am I developing my subordinates byletting them participate in decisions affecting them?" and"Does the organization management information system workfor me or do I work for it?"

We must add to all these suggestions Sergiovanni'swarning that situations are extremely complex and that anysystem that looks at only one or two components of thesituation is much too limited. Leaders who focus on only onesituational component may run into trouble with the others.Worth repeating too is Sergiovanni's warning that for many,

8091

1 1 1 1 1'I R'(1\ I I NI11161111".1111',

style may not be easy to change. Those who expect to change itovernight are in for a frustrating time.

The preceding suggestions have all been based on thesupposition that leaders have some control over and canchange their styles. The next group of suggestions is based onthe opposite assumption: leaders' styles usually cannot bechanged.

Goals That Assume Inflexible Style

Change the Situation to Fit One's Style. If one accepts FredFiedler's assumptions about the necessity of changing thesituation when style and situation are incompatible, his theo-ries are extremely useful in improving one's leadership abili-ties. In the book written with Martin Chemers and LindaMahar, Fiedler has supplied specific techniques for makingneeded changes.

After explaining how to categorize both style and situa-tion and providing instruments for use in the process, theseauthors advise leaders on how to change the situation to fittheir style. Fiedler, as we recall, believes that relationship-oriented leaders work best in situations of moderate control,and task-oriented leaders work best in situations of very greator very little control. According to the authors, the mostimportant step a leader can take to increase control is toimprove leader-member relations. This might be done throughsocializing more with membeis of the group or requestingparticular people to work in the group. The second mosteffective way to increase control is to change the task structure.This might be done by structuring the task more tightly orasking superiors for more structured tasks or detailed instruc-tions. Obtaining more training often serves to make the taskmore structured. The final method of increasing control wouldbe to change one's status or "position power." This mightimolve developing more expertise in the job or using morefully one's decision-making power.

Fiedler. Chemers, and Mahar also explain how to decreasecontrol of the situation through such tactics as socializ;ng lesswith workers, loosening task structure, and asking for moreparticipative decision-making. They also note that those whoaccept Fiedler's theories about the difficulty of changing st., le

81

e

so 1001 I I AIN Rsi IANDBooK I ok suRvivAi.

and yet who nevertheless feel their styles must change maywant to embark on a program (probably lengthy) of therapy.

Increase Innovativeness. The implications of Miskel's theo-retical and empirical work are that leaders who want to becomemore innovative in their leadership will have to increase theirrisk-taking behavior or make their organization's manage-ment techniques more innovative. How can risk taking bestrengthened? According to the findings of Holloway andNiazi, one way is to increase control of the situation usingFiedler's techniques, especially by improving leader status orgroup support.

Improve Human Relations. If school leaders accept Sergio-vanni and Elliott's theory that a style stressing human relationsis most effective in schools, then they will want to assess theirstyles (using. the Sergiovanni and Elliott questionnaire) inattempting to determine whether their styles do indeed havethis kind of emphasis. Most people believe they have humanrelations skills, but without an instrument they are unableobjectively to assess how they compare to others on thisdimension. Those who discover that they have the requiredrelated or integrated styles wil! be reassured. Those who arevery weak in human relations will face a difficult decision.They may have to reassess whether a school leadership posi-tion is the best place for them to be.

TRAINING PROGRAMS

Any theory of leadership style that makes it possible tobecome a better leader also has implications for leadershiptraining programs. Ifa theory can be used to improve leader-ship behavior, it can also be the basis for a training program.Anyone who wants to institute a training program for leaderscan begin by going back over this chapter, extracting thetheories that would be helpful along with the new behaviorthese theories imply, and using those as the basis for traininglearl-rs. Aside from these obvious applications a few morespecific applications need to be made.

Hersey and Blanchard, who prefer to view leadership as"an observed behavior" not dependent on inborn abilities orpotentials, t.: elieve individuals can be trained to adapt their

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TI In PERSON: LEADERS1111.5111.1:1;

leadership styles to fit varying situations. They-argue-1M"most people can increase their effectiveness in leadershiproles through education, training, and development." Never-theless, these authors are not naive. They do not believe thatleadership training is easy and they warn that most trainingprograms do not take into consideration that it is difficult tochange styles quickly.

Fiedler likewise is critical of leadership training pro-grams, but for other reasons. Fiedler notes that most trainingprograms are never evaluated objectively, so that it is impos-sible to tell whether- they_were really effective or not. Mostprograms that have been evaluated "throw considerable doubton the efficacy of these' training,prograrns for increasing or-ganizational and,group performance." Fiedler's theories offeran explanation of why this finding may be so. Assuming thatmost leadership training programs-teach leaders to be morerelationship-oriented or more task-oriented, Fiedler notes thateven if it were effective, each kind of training would be usefulonly to some leaders and not to others, depending on theirsituations. A leader trained to be more task - oriented- willbecome better suited for situations where the leader has muchor little control but will become less suited for situations involv-ing intermediate amounts of control. Those trained to be morerelationship-oriented would be better suited for situationsintermediate in ,:ontrol but poorly suited for high- and low-control situations.

Fiedler offers an alternative. "If leadership training is tobe successful, the present-theory would argue that it shouldfocus on providing the individual with methods for diagnosingthe favorableness of tlr_leadership situation and for adaptingthe leadershi _situations to the individual's style of leadership."

e eadership training guide written by Fiedler,Chemers, and Mahar attempts to do exactly that. This guide,mentioned in the previous section, is designed as a self-instructionalTrogram to help leaders become more effective.Part 1 -is concerned with identifying leadership style, part 2provides tools for accurately diagnosing and classifying leader-ship situations, and part 3 discusses how to match leadershipstyle with the situation and, if necessary, change the situation.The guide contains numerous exercises, each usually consist-ing of a short case study or incident presenting a problem in

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SCI IOOL LEADERSt 111): I ANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

leadership and asking the participant to choose the best ofseveral solutions. Average time for completion of the entireguide is five hours.ln a 1979 article, Fiedler noted that objec-tive evaluation techniques= have ?roved this program -to beextremely effective.

Another training prOgram that also shows evidence ofbeing effective has been described. by Leverne Barrett andEdgar Yoder. Unlike-the programs criticized-by 'Fiedler, thisprogram was carefully evaluated with pre- and post-test datacollection and (something unusual in most evaluation efforts)a control group.

The prografriwas,based on the thedries of researcherslike Halpin who makeztwo assumptions:riot held by Fiedler:that effective leadership requires both task-oriented' andhuman relations-oriented behavior: and .that leadership styleCan be changed by a leadership training program.

ffarrett and-Yoder emphasize that an important compo-nent of the program was its first Step: principals were givenfeedback-about how-their teachers saw them as leaders throughthe teachers' responses on the-Supervisory Behavior Devel- zopment Questionnaire, thelikett Profile, and the Job Objec'five§ Questionnaire. Barrett and Yoder. maintain that this in=formation helped leaders realize the need to chang5an'd madethem more receptive to training. The program sought to teachhuman relatiohs skills through such workshop activities ascommunicating, instituting administr,fiGe structures- that Zpromote communication, and estabshing a working climate-

in which teachers and students have feelings of self-wOrt.Task-oriented activities included showing the principals howto help teachers learn ancchieve the goals of the school.

According to a, posttraining survey of teachers, theadministrators improved their leadership behavior in bothtask-oriented and human relations- oriented- areas, especiallyin adequacy,of/communiCation and work facilitation.

Thee successful examples should not obscure the fact"that some training programs on leadership style have seriousproblems. Those who chooSe aprogram should remember thewarnings of Sergiovanni, who objected not only tot-he sim=-

plistic nature of many programs (especially those that looked'at-only one situational variable) but to the very goals of theprograms.

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..................Wwwwwegetiolpwournm,.....r.,tr" 1- .1 ....^

THE PERSON: LEADERS! iipsryirs

The leadership models themselvesare too simple, theclaims of most leadership trainers are unrealistic andthe assumptions basic to the models and to trainingprograms are.conceptually flawed on the.one hand.and.emphasizeinstrume-fitaritid mechanistic aspectsof leadership at the acute expense of the substantiveon the other.

Administrators looking for a good program should bewary when promises of success are too sweeping, when in-stantaneous changes are promised, and when the true goals ofleadership appear to be forgotten.

LEADER-SELECTION.

Just as they have implications for leaderShip training-programs, the leadership style theories discussed here all have

implications for leader selection: Any theorythat includes ideasabout the most effective style can be adapted ,tO choosing themost effective leader.

Some of the theories and findings have specific applica-tion to leader selection in schools. For example, Miskel's re-search with principals implies, that propensity for risk takingmay be one good indicator of the performance potential ofprincipals. This-finding seems especially noteworthy in lizht"of the fact that quite often those who are considered t)e-mostpromising candidates are conformists who follow lithe rulesand never take risks.

CONCLUSION

This brief.guryey of theories and research on leadershipstyles reveals thatthe subject is not a simple one. The theoriesare comptex and varied and encompass such things as person-alities, attitudes, decision-making techniques, risk taking, ,ati"orientation toward work and people. They include sulyareasas leaders' control Of the situation, subordinates' aturity,and technology. Some rest firmly on the belief at leadershipstyle can be changed, whereas others assji e that it cannot.Some theorists maintain that an effe ice leader has a style

S01001.1.EADERSI IANDRXIK FOR SURVIVAL

that emphasizes a concern for both the "task" and for "humanrelations," whereas others believe that these concerns areincompatible and are not found within the same person. Sometheories stress an ideal leadership style, 'but others hold thatthe best style varies to fit the situation.

How can such diverse and conflicting theories be helpful --

to leaders? After the initial smoke and confus. .T earecr"and administrators are actually_ab o make_sense of anddifferentiate among,these-thiOries, their'u fulness begins tobecome app.arenr.-

.

Because leadership by dePnifitori includes action, any...-!-----theory of leadership is helpful-Only if it can be used to_guideaction. Eachof these th 'es has implications for-better leader-ship. Each can be ed as a basis for training leaders, forselecting leade , and most importantly for becoming a betterleader.

ough the theories disagree significantly, basings actions on anyone of them is more effective than follow-

ing no theory at all. This is because action based In a coherenttheory is more consistent than action -that is purely blind. Ittends to be more economical of effort andrleSs wasteful ofphysical and psychic, energy because it is based on a clearerlogicand vision than is blind action.

So then the queStiOn becomes how to to use these leader,ship style theories a's a basis for one's leadership behavior.Although there is no' magic recipe, some criteria and ways ofevaluating the theories are better-than others. The first stepjs°to understand the major leadership style theories. The s candstep is to weight-the, evidence, look at the researc (zings;and examine the logic and internal consistency o ach theory.

And what is t e final step? It might m that the finalstep is simply to ch se a theory to fol . -But of cOurseiit isnot that easy. Lead rs do not choo he theories they followlike dishes from a smorgasbor ther, choosing a theory islike buying a new pair ofSh it has to fit the personWhoisgoing to use it.

So rather tl intellectually determining the "best"theory, the fin step is to look closely at yourself and yoursituation. you believe you can change your style or- doesthat sou d extremely difficult or impossible? Are you alreadya w -re that your se le changes from 'situation to situation?

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What are th,,e_inoSt important components of your situation?What is the most'ost important aspect of your style, and what doyou believe it ought jo be' In-short, which theory makes the -

most sense to youan s'best with your needs?It may, hat, in race of so much conflicting evi-

dence, the;on y way out of the leadership maze is to rely on---intuiti6r(In the end; it is simply,* informed intuition of theA6i. tiiiiinheintended outcome of-this analysis of leader-

ship concepts and theorie

87

PART 2THE TRUCTURE

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I

PART 2: THE STRUCTURE

INTRODUCTION

How ate-4cisions made in a schOol or school district,and who makes them? What groups meet together to discussproblems and ottganize strategies for change? How are theactions of different persons in Ihe_school or district organizedand coordinated? What are the underlying, norms that dictateappropriate behavior for individuals, in the-organization?

Each of these questions is one of organizationaLstrtic-ture, and each Is important because structure can largely-de-terMine the success of both an'organization and-its leaders.Even the most/skilled and charismatic leader may fail if the"organization91 deck" is stackedagainst him or her. On theother hand, an, appropriate organizational structure can be apowerful tail/ for helping a leader guide the- organizationtoward its objectives.

Several /aspects of organizational structure are dealt within this. part pf the book, ranging from decentralization ofpower to community involVemenno the influence of schoolson student achievement. In chapters 4,'5, and 6, the:centralissue is decision- making: -who has the power to-make whatdecisions, and who is accountable for:the decisions made. Inchapter 7; the focus is broadened to view the overall patternsof behavior and interaction in a- school and their product,school climate.

Chapter 4 addresses the relationship between a schooldistrict's central office and the individual schools in the district.In traditioihal forams of district management, the central officeMakes the great majority of substantive educational decisionsand pasqs orders "down" to the individual schools. Chapter4 proposps a different form of district Organization in whichthe school replaces the district as the primary unit of educa-tional deicision-making.

Inischool-based management, the persdnnel and clientsof each/ individual school collectively make most decisionSregarding personnel, budget, and curriculum !t that school.The central office recedes from the traditional role of "dic-tating/ the individual schools' actions to a role of facilitatingthose actions. The central office also acts as a coordinator,

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evaluator, and "watchdog" over individual schools' actions.The principal becomes a central figure in school-based

management systems. He or she finally inherits enoughauthority to balance the overburden of responsibility that theprincipalship now bears. In short, the organizational structureis shifted in school-based management systems to enable theprincipal to become a true leader of the school. This newbalance of powers has proven quite successful in the numerousdistricts.where it has been implemented, as chapter 4 shows.

Chapter 5 outlines another reform of school district gov-:ernance: team management. The term team inanagentent hasbeen used to describe participative decisidn-making arrange-ments at many levels of educational governance. In chapter 5,however, it refers to a system of district governance in whichcentral office and middle-echelon administrators --- especiallyprincipali share the authority for making decisions regard-ing- district governance.

Although decision-making power is shared in team man-agement systems, the superintendeht,retains both the finalauthority for decisions and ulfwiate responsibility for theteam's decisions. Thus, the success of team managementdepends heavily on the superintendent's willingness to "takethe risk" of sharing power with others.

In districts utilizing team manag, ment, all central andmiddle-echelon administrators usually meet together periodi-cally as a team. In small districts, useful work may be done at.lean meetings. In larger districts, however, the total teamsessions are primarily mformational and ritualistic in nature,or they serve as forums for reaching final agreement on teamdecisions. The real work in these larger districts is done byvarious subgroups of the team that meet at additional times,much as legislative committees do. Numerous districts havesuccessfully implemented team management, three of whichare reviewed in chapter 5.

A natural extension of team management at the districtlevel is participative decision-making (PDM) at the school site,discussed in chapter 6. PDM has been shown to have numer-ous advantages over traditionalf hierarchicalsyStems of com-mand, including better decisions, better implementation ofdecisions, higher employee satisfaction, and better relation-ships between management and staff. In chapter 6, the

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TI II STRUCTURE: INTRODUCTION

research confirming these advantages is discussed. Thischapter also outlines several guidelines for implementing PDMat the school site and describes the experiences of some schoolswith PDM systems.

The final chapter of part 2 takes a broader look at struc-ture. In this chapter, the patterns of behavior, communication,:and social interaction in a school are discussed as contributorsto the overall "climate" of the school.

School climate can be conceptualized as thel"feel" onegets from being within a school's social system. This feeling isthe "global summation" of an individual's perceptions of howschool _personnel and students behave and interact. ThesebehaviorS, in turn, are' largely determined.by the underlyingnorms-in the school, which dictate the kinds Of behavior thatare considered apOropriate.

Chapter 7 explains how the self-perpetuating "norm-behaviOr" cycle works and how administrators can intervenein the cycle with behavior modification or organizatiOn devel-opment techniques to improve school climate. Sevefal instru-ments for characterizing school climate are explained, and theexperiences of several administrators in climate improvementare discussed.

An understanding of the structure of school governanceand school climate as provided in this part of the book can helpschool leaders conceptualize' their relationship to the largerschool organization and work effectively within it.

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CHAPTER 4N-CN SCHOOL-BASED

MANAGEMENTJohn Linde low

1.1-1

School:based management is a system of educationaladministration in which the school is the primary unit ofeducational decision-making. -It differs from most currentforms of school district organization in which.the central officedominates the decision-making process.

In 'districts utilizing school -based management, eachschool is a relatively autonomous unit. Most decisions regard-ing expenditures, curricula, and personnel are made by school-site personnel in- consultation with parents, students, andother community members. The school board continues toformulate and define the district's general policies and educa-tional objectives. The role of the .central office, however, isaltered from that of "dictator" of individual schools' actions tothat of "facilitator" of those actions.

This chapter Will present the case for school- based-management as put !forth by its proponents, with particularattention given to the key role of the principal in such- amanagement system. Because school-based management is inlarge part a reaction to what many educators perceive as anovercentralization of power within school districts, thesepages necessarily contain criticisms of the centralized systemsof school governance that moddistricts iibw employ.

The site management concept has great promise andhas proved successful in numerous districts where it has beenimplemented. In the following pages, the school-basedmanagement- concept will be examined in some detail. Therationale underlying decentralized management will beexamined, and numerous school systems that have success-fully implemented school-based management will be de-scribed. The key role of the principal in school-based manage-ment will be discussed, along with the-complementary role ofthe central Office. The school site's control over curriculum,personnel, and budget matters will be examined, followed bya review of the roles of the staff and community in thedecision-making process.

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THE STRUCTURE: SCHOOL-BASED MANAGEMENT

THE RATIONALE

In many districts the administration of education hasbeen centralized to the point of diminishing returns, saycritics. A new balance of decentralization and centralizationautonomy and control-needs to be struck. School-basedmanageMent is designed to redress the current overemphasison centralization and control by reassigning a good deal ofdecision-making authority to the school site.

In this chapter, the history of American education willbe briefly examined to determine how school districts becameso centralized in the first place. The deficiencies of this over-centralizatiOn will be outlined, followed by the merits of de-centralization to the building level.

AUTONOMY AND CONTROLTHROUGH HISTORY

To gain perspective on the currentinterest in school-based management, it is useful to examine the past history ofthe centralization-decentralization debate, not only in educa-tion but in society in general.

For as long as there has been government, there hasbeen a constant tug-of-war between the concepts of autonomyand control.. Indeed, Amitai Etzioni attributes the failures ofboth past empires and contemporary organizations toan ina-bility "to locate a productive balance between autonomy andcontrol" (quoted by Luvern Cunningham). It is really no sur-prise, then, that today's educators have not yet found theperfect blend of freedom and form.

One view of the long-term oscillations of centralizationand decentralization is provided by Alvin Toffler in his newbook The Third Wave. Toffler believes society is on the brink of,a new "post-industrial" age that will be characterized bydecentralization and the encouragement of individual vari-ation. In Toffler's view, the ancient agrarian civilization waswashed over about three hundred years ago by a "second,wave" of industrialization. According to Andrew P. Zale'sreview of Toffler's book, "the overriding principles ofstandardization and centralization along with a 'covert cur-riculum' of punctuality, rote learning, and obedience (set up

1 0 7

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and encoutaged by industry and governments) helped trainthe young for work in the new [industrial] society." Thesecond wave moved children from the fields to regimentedschools "designed to meet the needs of the industrial age."

The coming third wave, characterized by "a highlydeveloped informational grid, home computers, and otherelectronic devices" will challenge today's notions of central-ized and standardized education. The large bureaucratic edu-cational institutions will break up as the centers of knowledgedisperse into the informational grid. Society will becoine moredemocratic, and the family home will be restored as a teachingand social institution.

Whether or not Tofflerfs analysis of the long-range wax-ings and wariings of centralization is correct,there-appearto be shorter- range oscillations- of the concept's popularityas -well. American education, for example, has seen achange from a decentralized to a cenand now appears to be becoming more decentralized again.

In the early years of the.United States and up until about1900, local control and representation in- the governance ofeducation were in Vogue. According to Michael W. Kirst, "adecentralized; ward-based committee system for administer-ing the public schools provided effective linkages to com--munity opinion." There were more board members per dis-trict than there are today, and each represented the popula-tion of an unambiguous geographical area. Some large citieshad hundreds of neighborhood boards.

Unfortunately, this kind of decentralized system lentitself to political corruption, particularly in the large urbancenters. _According to -Kirst, "many politicians at the timeregarded the schools as a useful support for the spoils systemand awarded teaching jobs and contracts in return for politicalfavors." Educational policies were often adopted not for the-public good, but for the self-serving interests of politicians. Inshort, state Harvey J. Tucker and L. Harmon Zeigler, "schoolpolitics, like the machine politics of the urban area of which itwas a part, provided responsiveness and corruption."

Public school reformers argued that the cure for theseproblems was to depoliticize education by transferring thepower then held by politicians (and citizens, as Dee Schofieldnotes) to a 'professional group of educator. The reformers

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THE STRUCTURE: SCHOOLDASED MANAGEMENT

adytitated_that eduCational management be modeled after"the large -scale industrial bureaucracy that rapidly emerged inthe turn-of-the-century economy," explains- Kir St. The witch-words- of reform were "centralization, expertise, rrofeSSion-alism, nonpolitical control, and efficiency.'

Between 1920 and 1970, as the reforiners' efforts came tofruition, the inaliagement of edurntion became more andmore _centralized and insulated froni community politics.School Inards became smaller while_ districts wereSuperintendents_and- other professiontiredu6tors gain increasingly greater control over education,-while the representa-tive- governance of lay boards slowly- melted away.

How -has the principal's role -chanted-in,response tothese radical changes in educational governance? "Up=untilabout 1920,"-states Paul L. Houts, "the principal possessednear total autonomy;'-`including total authority, for "teacherselection, placement,_ promotion, and salaries." As the reformmovement- progressed, however, the new central, school-boards transformed superintendents from clerks into major

-policy-makers. While the power of the central office swelled,the autonomy of the building principal slowly, eroded; so thattoday the principals and not the superintendents are often.-considered to be the "clerks." Today, schoolboards and super-inlendenti continue to relinquish principals' powers in collet-liveliegotiationi with teachers' unions, often with little_ornocons_ ultation with principals.

Sometime in_ the last decade or two, the swing of thependulum apparently reached_its_lirnit, and -it now appearsthat- eduCatioin may be moving back toward a more decen-tralized system of-governance. _ComMunity involvement,_ de-centralization, diversity, -shared governance.. and school=basedmanagement are the key words,of this new reform movement.For the principal, thiinew movement may well mean a_retum

-to a true leadership role.

THE DEFICIENCIES OECENTRALIZATION,'

Most present-day advocates of decentralization andschool-based management begin their arguments, logically

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enough, with an exposé of the evils of centralization. JohnGasson, for example, has this view of the status quo:

The central office hierarchy_ regards the school princi-pal as an agent of the superintendent. The principalmay ostensibly run the school; but in realitS, he acts as

,a Vehicle-to transmit and implement edicts from theoffiCe. As a result, the principal and his teachers havebecome cogs fixed into a large, in machinethat depends on the machinist :(superintendent)- tokeep every cog uniformly lubricated.

Centralized educational ,management, states LawrenceC. Pierte, operates on the premise "that edutation is a scienceand that with-enough information, educational professionalscan agree on the best school- program for all children." Al-though these programs 'are designed with good:intentions,critics maintain that their imposition from -on high-fostersexpectations of uniformity and an intolerance for difference.Programs are designed for either the "m; Mealaverage" or forthe majority, with the result that-the special needs of indi,viduals and minoritygroups are_frequentlyoverloOked.

A-rigidhieratc.hical structure extending from centraloffice-to clasStoomicritics continue, does little to foster inno-vation and creativity,.whichr require a flexible and supportiveatmosphere. "Inflexible bureaucratic structures," statesHouts, "can often serve as-the best innoCulation against indi-viduality and Originality."

The abovecrititisms are reactions, it seems, to the over-application of the "large-scale industrial bureaucracy" modelto the field of education. Now, the tide of public opinion hasturned; community involvement and decentralization ofpower are again in demand.

THE EFFICIENCY OF DECENTRALIZATION

Proponents of centralizing and consolidating schaodistricts. often claim that such actions can reduce the cost of \education, and thus increase its "efficiency."'Pierce and otherproponents of school-basedmanagement, however, have criti-cized this definitionof efficiency-beause it takes only dollarsinto account.

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Ulacidiallallebillmillb"


Pierce believes educational efficiency should be defined"in terms of matching available resources with the educationalneeds of children in schools." Thus, centialiied administration,geared, to provide uniform services, is efficient only if theneeds of its clientele are uniform. "If theyare different," statesPierce, "then centralized provision may be inefficient." De-centralized administration, on the other hand, is much morecapable of matching educational-services with the changingneeds of studenis and parents. Its flexible nature allows it tobe efficient in the sense that Pierce defines.

The push for equal opportunity has tended to accentu-ate the inefficiency-of centralized administration. As long asdistricts are providing equal expenditures per student, equalclass size, and the same course offerings, they feel as if theyhave fulfilled the requirements for equal opportunity.

But to more and= more citizens; argues Pierce, equaleducational opportunity has come to mean more than, justsuperficial dollar equality or program uniformity. It has cometo imply instead a condition in which all students regardlessof social or-economic baCkgroundcan realize their full po-tential. Rhool-based management, says Pierce, answers thiscall by encouraging "school program diversity so as to pro-mote equality of educatiohal outcomes rather than inputs."

Pierce also advocates the coupling of school-based/man-agement, which, gives parents and students a larger 'voice" ineducation, with districiwide open enrollment plans, whichwould provide greater "choice." As ,autonomous schoolsgained more freedom** centrally mandated philosophies,they would tend to diverge in theirapproadies to education. Ifopen enrollment plans were institut5c1(the consumers of edu-cation would then. have the lonviwaited ideals of diversityand choice within the public system.

EXAMPLES IMPLEMENTATIONTO DATE

Ssithol7based management has been implemented pri-marilYin Florida and California, in part because legislation in

8/e states encourages or requires the decentralization of

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some aspects of school management. We will outline the devel-opment of school-based management in Florida and California,looking closely at two districts in each state. Then we willdescribe the systems in Lansing (Michigan), Edmonton(Alberta), arid Cherry Creek School District (Colorado). Butthe concept has also sprung up in other districts around theUnited States and Canada without the provocation of state

FLORIDA

legislation.

In the early 1970s, Florida's legislature passed a series ofacts desiped to transfer decision-making authority to theschool site. This legiSlation was part of a broader legislativereform of state education and schtiol finance that took placestarting in the late 1960s. The legislative =acts set "guidelinesfor educational accountability, comprehensive planning, an-nual progress reports, school Advisory committees, and acomprehensive information; accounting, and rvportingsys-tern,' states a National Urban Coalition =(NUC) document(Four' Case Studies- of School Site Lump Sum- Budgeting). Thelegislature did not, however, "mandate specifically that deci-sionmaking be decentralized to the schoollevel, as Piercenotes, though it did significantly prune the state educationcodes to fadfitate local control.

Since 1971 several Florida school districts.have imple-_mented elements of school-based management, often withthe help of grants from the state's Department of Education.Since..1978, the state has funded districts wishing to imple-ment or ecimriment_w_ith school-based management. In boththe 1978-1979 and 19791980 school years, ,five of the state'ssix -seven county school districts-were given grants. In 1979-1980 those grants totaled abouf$250,000. Severalmore districts

---will-be-givemsrarits-again in 1980-81, according' to LarryBrownof the FloridaDeparbnent of Education.

The implementation of school-based management inFlorida has beenuneven, despite'the legislative mandates andthe state funding. The Monroe County School Districtre-viewed below along with the Alachua County 4/stemre-mains one of the few shining examples of school-based

THE STRUCTURE SCHOOL-BASED MANAGEMENT

management in the United States, while most of the rest of thestate's school districts still move slowly toward decentralizeddecision-makirig.

Even though the implementation of school-based man-agement has had only scattered success in Florida, the stateisprobably the furthest along of any in implementing the syt7.tern. "School site management is most often talked about in-those states that have either large, diverse schooldistricts or a highly centralized state school system," saidPierce in an interview. In Florida, the sixty-severi school dis,tricts are county based. Thus; withirione county there can be awide range of communities that have very different educa-tional needs: The weaknesses of centralization come to thefore in systems, such as Florida's, where the diversity withinone district can be great.

School=based management began in Floridaas it haselsewherenot as a grassroots movement, but as a reformmovement' promoted by legislative policy-makers, said Pierce.Where it has been 'successful or partially suceessfulas inMonroe and Alachua counties--it has been so because of asuperintendent strongly believed in the concept. It seems,as is often the case, that it takes a great deal of energy andpersuasion to break down people's conceptions of what can orshould be.

Monroe County

-Between 1971 and, 1976, the Monroe County SchoolDistrict (1980-81 enrollment about 8,009) moved from a ten-tralized to a:school-based management system. The changewas stimulated both by the state's reform legislation and by -

the unique geography of the countyjvionroe Countycom-posed of a long chain of islands.(the Florida Keys)--stretchesover one hundred miles from the Floridimainland out into theGulf of Mexico. The islands are. connected by bridges andcauseways, and the school centers are clustered in three geo-graphic areas about fifty miles apart.

ArinandO Henriquez has been., the superintendent ofMonroe County School District since January 1969. He hasbeen a major factor in the successful implementation of school-based managemeht in that district.

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Soon after coming to Monroe, Henriquezwhose train-ing was in centralized managementtried to improve educa-tion in the district by !traditional means: inservice teachertraining, adding curriculum coordinatbrs, and so forth. Thecentral .office staff grew, but after three years no significantimprovement could be seen.

Henriquez started to ask consultants about the district'sproblems and began to look at the researchliterature on schoolmanagement. Together with the central offiCe staff and theprincipals, he began to look for ways to reorganise the district.When the group ran across the concept of school-based man-agement, said Henriquez in a telephone interview, "there waskind of an enlightenment that took plaCe among all of us, andwe thought this might be the direction to go." The principals,Henriquez noted, did not have to have decentralizeddecision-making imposed on them by the district, because .they wereinvolved in the decision from thevery start.

Starting in the 1972-73 school year, the districtshifted itstraining emphasis from central office personnel to buildingpersonnel and elevated principals from middle _managementto top management, .with commensurate increases in bothsalary and responsibility. Prior to the change, the principalswere "just carrying out edicts and directives from the centraloffice,! said Henriquei, "and there was no chance for the"pm' cipals to really become managers or exercise any ingenuityor creativity."School-based management concepts,. including shared

deCision-making with teachers, were phased in slowly overafive-year period, so that teachers, principals, and central officeadministrators could adjust to the new power structure. Duringthe first year, prinCipals spent more than eighty days outsideof their buildingsundergoing extensive training in team man-agement and decision-making skills. The`training was sup-ported by a grant from the National- Institute of Education,grants from the Florida Departmentof Education, and some ofthe district's own fun& .Four of the state's universities col-laborated in the developmentactivities, and an organizalionaldevelopment consultant was hired to help in the training andevaluaticin. The district benefited because its move towardschool-based management coincided with the state's interestin implementing the concept.. ,102 I'

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During the changeover, the number of central officestaff fell from twenty-eight to sixteen, partially because ofinflation and partially because the schools were deciding whatservices they needed. The fifteen principals actively partici-pated in deciding which district-level positions would be elimi-nated or combined with other positions. Despite this centraloffice reduction, the amount of paperwork and communicationbetween the schools and the district office increased. Com-munity involvement also demanded more time and effort. Inshort, the new system generated a lot more work.

In the Monroe ,County system, fundS are.allocated toschools according to both- number of students and specialschool needs. Each school decides how it_ will spend its fundsand what its educational goals will be.

The schools are run by school "teams" that usuallyconsist of the principal, assistant principal, guidance counselor,department heads, and other inhouse personnel. Accordingto Henriquez, 99.9 percent of the decisions reached by theteam are based on consensus. If the principal decides to makethe, decision himself or herself, the other team members mustbe informed beforehand that they are only offering advice.The same decigion-making process is used by district-manage-ment teams headed by the superintendent.

Besides a Khoo* team, each school has an advisorycommittee composed of parents, teachers, students, (at theseconciarylevel); and nonparent citizens. The authority of thefifteen-to-twenty-five member committees depends ow therelationship between the professional staff and the community,according to Hentiquez2In some schools, the committees areheavily inVolved in decision - making with the school team,while in other schools -the committee's influence is quite re-stricted. Although state law, requires that theSe committees beinvolved in establishing goals and plans, their real influence isdetermined by the principal and school team.

The teachers' union did not fully understand school-hasedmanagement in its early days, but the contract with the unionnow contains a clause stating that "they agree with and recog-nize school- based management as the form of managementwithin our district," said Henriquez. The district negotiatessalaries, hours and,conditions, fringe benefits, grievance, pro-cedures, and other related matters with the union. But "the

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district itself does not hire teachersor other school staff," saidHenriquez. "That is strictly the principal's prerogative." I

The union, stated Henriquez, is reacting very favorablyto the system. Teachers have the highest starting salary in thestate, have a favorable student-teacher ratio, and can buy/ theirown materials and supplies. Henriquez believes that oyer 99percent of the teachers would say they prefer his districtto anyother, mainly because they havea sense of "ownershipr in thedecisions made at the school. "That'swhat school-based man-agement is really all about," said Henriquez, "It's giving peoplean opportunity to have an input." The trade-offfor that input,however, is that it takes a lot of extra time and effort /tolmakethlipartizipatory process work.

"::er.riquez feels that One of his imi,rtant duties is selectingthe right principals. When a principal is needed,_ceritral officeadministrators -screen and interview applicarits and presentthree qualified applicants to .Henriquez, who, makes the finaldecision. Henriquez says he wants principals _to have an alle-

nce to him and the School board,-rather than to -the parents,ause if the principal is not functioning properiy, he wants/to haVe the authority-to remove thatprincipal without creating

an uproar in the community. When the community is involvedin selecting the principal, _there_rnight bernoreicompatibility

-between- the-principal and the community, but, says HenriLquez, "we just havepst-felt comfortable enough to go that wilyyet."

.

Henriquez believes the role of the school board has changedvery little. The board still has the legal responsibility for assitir-ing quality education in the district, and it is still responsiblefor setting the broad policyobjectives within which the-drstrictwill operate. its main functions remaireratifying recomnien-dations or-actions that have been delegatea to otherpeople"and serving as a decision-making-body of last resort. Appar-ently, the community is quite pleased with the system/ in thelast-election, two board members and Henriquez (an electedsupeiinterident) ran unopposed. ,

Malta County

The Alachua County School District (1975-76 enrollment,about 22,000) in north central Florida started moving toward

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schoof-based management in 1972, when James Longstrethbecame superintendent in the district. According to a NationalUrban Coalition (NUC) document, Longstreth "strongly be-lieved that principals and schools should become the keys tomanagement of the district."

g the 1973-74 school year, the superintendent andprincipals developed and. refined a .management model forschool-based budgeting. According to the -NUC document,Longstreth emphasized these points: that as long as principals"were receiving management salaries, their management-budget authority should match their program responsibilities";and that as managers, principals should become a part of adistrict management team. By 1974-75, the district was operat-ing under school-based management.

In the summer of 1974, school staffs in cooperation withtheir citizen advisory councils prepared a budget for the comingyear. The district then "made,adjustments or corrections forinflation, pupil=teachet ratio or accreditation minimums," ac-cording -to the NUC document, and finally the state reviewedthe budget and made its allocations in October or November.

The central,office staff made the "total operating budgetdecisions," arid the comptroller's office monitored and auditedthe spending of the individual schools. A key function of thecomptroller's office was to offer technical assistance tomanagers for making budget projeCtions.

"In accordance with a state mandate accompanying theFlorida Educational Finance Act of 1973, each school estab-lishedAcitizens advisory committee. Atleast half of the elevento twenty-five members had to be parents, while the remainingMembers were teachers, nonparent citizens, Students (inmiddle.and high'schools), and members of the PTA motherschool support groups. The principal was also a memle of-the committee, but did not have a vote.

The NUC report states that the administrators of thedistrict "offered strong evidence that a great deal of time andeffort had been put into expanding opportunities for parentsto gaininformation" about the schools. This effort apparentlypaid off, for parents reported that information was readilyavailable to them. Parents also indicated that they wanted theschool to be open to them, but wanted the professionals tokeep running the school. /

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The superintendent and school board no longer madedecisions about how to utilize fundsat individual schools. Thesuperintendent viewed his most important functions as select-ing site managers, making as much money for the district aspossible, "developing standar& of service for school pro-grams," and "district planning and continuing evaluation."

The school board members, states the NUCreport, were"struggling to redefine their positions." They were supportiyeof the changes in district management, and were hying to"stay out of administrative issues and housekeeping." Theboard was also attempting to refocus its energies on "servingas a public forum for concerns about education, taking astrong hand in shaping policy and working with the superin-tendent in the selection of school site and district-leaders."

The central office staff shifted from control:functions tofunctions of "assistance and advisorshipAo,school managersand staff." For example, the assistant superintendent for per-sonnel maintained a pool of qualified personnel for the schools,insteadof allocating personnel ie the schools. The number ofcentral office staff was halved during the reorganization, butmany of these staff members were sent out to the school sites.

One of the, problems of irripleMenting school-basedmanagement, said Longstreth in atelephone interview, is that"you really strip some authority from the central staff, :andthey're not too happy about that." In Alachua County, ifcentral administrators were dissatisfied with their new supportroles, Longstreth offered them theopportunity to'take one ofthe new top-level managementpositions as principal.

Principals, states the NUC report, "had truly becomeschool site managers and participants in the district's manage-ment team in Alachua." They reported that they were morecost conscious,:did more planning, and had more flexibility towork toward their schools' goals.

Principals who survived the changeoVer were those whoenjoyed their new responsibility and authority, said Long-streth. But about 20 to 30 perceht of the principals did not want10-,take-on,orcouldn't handle, the new decision-making role.Such princip--said.1.origstreth, are best moved to. non-decision-Making roles.

In Alachua County, school-based management appearedto encourage experimentation and diversity of program offer-

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ings. All schools designed instructional programs that werewithin the guidelines set by the district. But 'within thoseguidelines, the schools could vary their programs, withoutprior approval from the central office.

A policy of open enrollment couldn't be implementedwith the school-based management system, said Longstreth,because the district was interested in maintaining desegrega-tion. Open enrollment, Longstreth believes, would have ledto increased segregation''.

Since Longstreth left Alachua County in 1977, the dis-trict has drifted back to amore centralized structure.

CALIFORNIA

A 1977 publication of the California Department of Educa-tion (see Deeker) lists sixty-one California school districts thathave "implemented, to some degree, one or more concepts ofadecentralized management plan." In thirtieen of these districts,the principals "shave moderate to substantial latitude indecision-making."

As in Florida, the move toward decentralization in Cali-fornia was stimulatecl,in ,part by state legislation. The EarlyChildhood Education Act directed state funds to individualschools that used the money'to improVe education in the firstthree grades. The act also' had "well defined-:requisites forparent involvement in the planning, implementation andevaluation-of related school programs; ' states,a National UrbanCoalition document:

California's most recent schOol finance reform legislation(AB 65), which incorporated the Early Childhood EducationAct, requires that each school in the California School Im-provement Program-have a schobl site council. The councilsare to be composed of the principal, teachers, other Schoolpersonnel, parents, and students (at thisecondary level). TheCalifornia State Department Of Education, in a document de-signed to help districtsand schools establish councils, outlinesthese council responsibilities: "developing a school improve-ment plan, continuously reviewing the implementation of theplan, assessing the effectiveness of the school program, re-viewing and updating the school improvement plan, andestablishing the annual school improvement budget." .

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Encouragement for California's move toward, school-based management was also provided by a loose-knit con-sortium of twenty-five superintendents, according to JamesGuthrie, who was, interviewed by telephone. In the late 1960sand early 1970s, the superintendentsmost of whom werefrom Southern Californiastarted to meet informally to workon the idea of school-by-school budgeting with the hope thatit could improve the delivery of educational services and in-crease accountability.

As in Florida, the implementation ofschocil-based man-agement has been slow in California. According to Guthrie,school site management is "not goingat all" in California, or atthe very best is, "not expanding." Some districts that startedthe syst&iii, such as Newport-Mesa, have gone back to cen-tralized systems. Ina few scattered districts, though; school-based management has beena success. TWo of these successfuldistrictsFairfield-Suisun Unified, and Irvine Unifiedwillbe reviewed below.

Fairfield-Suisun Unified

The Fairfield=Suisun Unified School District (1980-81enrollment abou t.13,000) began its move toward a decentral-ized management system in March 1973, after a "careful as-sessment of its needs," according to Barbara Wells and LarryCarr, principals in the district. The distriegobjectives includedfinding the best management system for the district, develop-ing school -based budgeting, providing for community andstaff input to the budgetary process, and "improving thecommunity's knowledge of the school district by establishinga district informational system."

Prior to the change to decentralized budgeting,'say Wellsand Carr, principals had two budgetary'functions: they main-tained records for a small amount of restricted money given.them by the district, and they "learned and used persuasivetechniques in obtaining additional 'special money' that a dis-trict administrator controlled to use fora local school project."

The district revampedts management system so thatsite administrators had more control over their budgets. Thisnew control, state Wells and Carr, gave the principals "thesubstance to change priorities that affect thequality of educa-tion at the school site."

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The schools are funded on an enrollment basis, but theschool" design their own budgets, according to Ernest Moretti,assistant superintendent for instruction. "We encourage theinvolvement of staff and parents in the decision-making pro-cess," said Moretti in a telephone interview, but "the degreeof involvement in the schools is really up to the principal." Thecentral office doesn't advocate any one method of involvement,so there are all varieties' and extents of involvement. Whenteachers are more involved in decision-making, though, theybecome much more aware of what different programs cost,Moretti noted.

Moretti.has found some changes in his role as assistantsuperintendent of instruction. InStead of telling a principalwhat to do, he has to convince the principal to change: He alsofinds that he has to examine particular problems at school sitesin more depth, so he can offer the principal sound advice andconvince the principal when a change is needed. "If-we'regoing to hold t'ae principal responsible for the instructionalprogram," said Moretti, "he or she has to have that expertisefrom the central office available."

In the personnel area, the central office maintains a poolof qualified applicants. Principals make the final personnelselection, 'with the restriction that intradistrict transfers mustbe placed first. The principal is required to put together a panel,of teachers and community members to help in the selectionprocess. However, the principal has the final hiring ail thority.

The district has established the departments of mainten-ance, data processing, printing, food services, transportation,and personnel as independent budgeting units. Schools buythe services out of their budgets. Large maintenance expendi-tures and other emergency expenses, however, come out ofthe district's undistributed reserve. Schools can carry over anybudget surpluses they have, said Moretti. Since schools havecontrol over their budget, building personnel have learned to.be very ingenious in, using and saving funds, particularly onutilities.

Moretti reports that as a result of the decentralization,there's alot more communication between the central officeand the school'sites. "There isn't one central place that hasallthe answers," said Moretti, so the principals and central staffhave to talk a lot more.

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Principals have responded favorably to the new systemand like their new autonomy. Even though the central staffsometimes thinks it might be easier the oldmay, said Moretti,"I don't believe there's an administrator out there who wouldlike to go back to the centralized system."

Irvine Unified

The Irvine Unified School District (1980-81 enrollmentabout 15,000) was created by election in 1972. Itconsisted atthat time of six elementary schools and one high school, with atotal enrollment of about 6,000. Today, there are twenty-fiveschools in the district, and the diStrict's enrollment is continu-ing to grow at a rate of 10 percent per year.

"From the district's inception," states an NUC docu-ment; "the superintendent and school board had agreed thatthe school site was- to be the bas_ ic unit of management:"According to Superintendent Stan Corey, the district wanteda management model that would take them through the periodof turbulent growth that lay ahead. After eight years, saidCorey in a telephone interview, school-based ma_ nagement isworking "very well."

The school site is given a good deal,of autonomy atIrvine, a finding confirmed by the NUC study group, whichfound "patterns of management and budgeting that weresubstantially different from centralized school systemS." Theprincipal is responsible for goal setting, needs assessment,reporting educational results to the community, bildgeting,program planning, and staff selection, development, andevaluation. But the principal must_fully involve the staff in allimportant decisions or he or she gets in troublewith thecentral office. "That's.the trade-off," said Corey. "He can havelots of autonomy as long as he shows me it's participative. Ifhe can't handle that, then we have to get a new principal."

At resources are allocated- to the school sitesaccording to a staffing formula- that is, in turn, based on theaverage daily attendance at the school. This method is used toget the resources to the schools in an equitable manner. Oncethe money is at the school site, said Corey, "the principal canmove money around, as long as he can show that the decisionswere made participatively and the:bottom line is black."

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The staff must also,be involved in personnel selection.The central office maintains a pool of qualified applicants, andthe principal, withstaff input, makes the final choice. Theschool's staff can hire paraprofessionals instead of profes-sionals if they so desire, or they can eliminate a position andbuy books,as long as they stay within state laws.

School sites also have substantial latitude over curricu-lum matters, resulting in a variety Of educational approaches."One of our maxims is that diversity is good," said Corey, so"we try to offer people significant choices between the kindsof schools they send,:their kids to." To further enhance educa-tional choice,.thedistrict maintains a policy of open enrollment.

Ea_ ch school in the district participating in the CaliforniaSchool Improvement Program has a- site council, while allother schools have a school advisory forum. The principal,said Corey, is heavily accountable to these comniunity-involve-ment bodies, but the principal retains final decision-makingauthority. The extent of community involvement varies withthe principal and with the community the school is in.

To date, Said Corey, the teacher association's responsehas been verry, good. "So far, we've avoided .,the separationinto 'we' and 'they.' They can't Separate themselves frommanagement because they were co-mingled in deciSion-makinglasks."

According to Corey, participative managernenthas paidoff in commitment. from,the diStriCt's staff: "We have a lot ofpeople out there Who not only view themselves as workers inthe vineyard but as decision-makers as well. To the degreethat their decision-making is real, then, their commitment isreal."

LANSING, MICHIGAN

In the Lansing, Michigan, schools, the essential elementsof school-based management have been in effect since 1971,and the system is operating smoothly now. The individualschools have considerable autonomy, according to Superin-tendent Matthew Prophet.

Each school has a twelve-Co-thirty-five member citizeninvolvement committee, consisting of parents, teachers, stu-

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dents (at the secondary-level), and building ad nistra tors,including the principal. Decisions are arrive at through a"modified" consensus model. Prophet e ained in a tele-phone interview: "The principal is enco aged and, in fact, isobligated to involve citizens and st f in all of the criticaldecisions made at ,the building, the principal retains 51percent4f,the Stela. In other rds, the ultimate decision ismade by the principal." How er, when a principal is found tobe habitually or continua exercising his or her 51'percent,the'district intervenes d counsels the principal.

To help this nsensus..model work, the district hasdeveloped a ma al on consensus-based decision-making,which gives s eral eXamples of how a group might apply theconsensus odel in attempting to reach decisions. The con-sensus thod is ,successful 90 percent of the time, Prophetstate ut in-about 10 percent of the decisions, there isnonac-ce ance by community or staff' members, who feel that the

ncipal is being too dictatorial.Even with thesevroblems, Prophet contends, the advan-

. tages of a school-based system far outweigh the advantages ofA centralized system, which hasroved itself time and again tobe unresponsive -to' individual needs. Talents, teachers, andstudents have all expreSsed their satisfaction with the decen-tralized system..

The ,results,of a 1973 study of the district by Throop"showed a centralization Of some administrative functions butgenerally most decisions are forced to the lowest possiblelevelthrough the philosophy of building autonomy." The overridingphilosophy of the autonomy movement in Lansing, continuesThroop, is that 'decisions affecting the activities, organization,and curriculum of a school community (the staff and parentsof that school) may not be made the central office." AsProphet put it, the function of the central office is to "facilitate,not dictate."

The diversity of program offerings has increased greatly'since school-based management was implemented. Given thediversity of the community, said Prophet, "no single programis needed by all buildings, so each building has to adapt itsprogram to what it perceives its needs to be." The centraloffice staff believe they cannot determine what eachbuildingneeds relative to other buildings, and they do not tell the

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schools how to teach math or how to teach reading. "We makeavailable to the schools, Kowever, the opportunity to selectfrom some forty to forty-five different curriculum managementsystems," said Prophet.

"But while the buildings have that kind of latitude," --

Prophet continued, "that doesn't mean they have the latitudeto determine what the final products are." The central office,in other words, maintains educational standards that theschools must meet, and the central staff measures annually todetermine the effectiveness of each school'splogram. -If aschool is not living up to district experctations, the centraloffice intervenes.

The central office maintains a pool of qualified applicantsfor district jobs, but the principals make the decisions aboutwhom they want to work in their schools. Each building musthire staff according to a staffing forinula. Through mutualagreement with the school's staff, however, the principal can,for example, exchange a professional for two or three para-professionals.

Busing is still centralized in Lansing, as is payroll. Theschools determine their own budgets, but purchasesare madethrough the central office, except for certain items under $100.

Over the years, the principal population has shifted, asthose principals who have been incompatible with Lansing'ssystem have left. The principals, said Prophet, "must have theability and the inclination to be humanistic and humanitarianin their whole manageffient approach. It takes a very strongand sincere person to exercise this management model. Aweaker person can alwaygfallbackon the authoritarian model."

EDMONTON, ALBERTA

The Edmonton Public School District (1980-81 enroll-ment 65,000) decided to implementschool-based budgeting inall of its 160 schools in December 1979, after a three-year pilotproject in seven volunteer schools in the district. The imple-mentation of school-based budgetingwas one pert of a majordistrict reorganization.

In the Edmonton system, the school site is responsiblefor budgeting for certificated and support staff, supplies, equip-

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ment, and services. The parts of the budget that remain cen-tralized include building maintenance and renovation, substi-tute teachers to cover long-term illness, and utilities.

Allocations to the school sites are determined by ?,method that "is one Of the mosielaborate Olany system withschool -based budgeting," states Caldwell. Allocations varyaccording to such factors as special education needs of stu-dents, type of program, size of school (schools with fevierthan 100 students receive more funding), rate of student tran-sience, and enrollment in Such programs as home economics,industrial arts, and extended French programs.

Despite initial fears to the contrary, the principal's rolehas become "more that of instructional planner than book-keeper or business manager," states Caldwell. The successfulchange to instructional planner, Caldwell notes, is dependeriton the provision of suppOrt services Worn the central Office.

It- is too soon, states Caldwell, toy assess the impact ofdecentralized budgeting in Edmonton. H4wever; "experiencein the three-year pilot and in other jurisdictions suggests thatit will be favorably received at all levels following stabilizationof the change." The district is taking pains to retrain its staff inschool-based budgeting, an action that seems imperative tothe success of any major management change. /

CHERRY CREEK,SCHOOL DISTRICT,COLORADO

The Cherry- Creek School District (1980-81 enrollmentabout 21,000) in suburban-metropolitan Denver has devel-oped and refined its school-baSed management system over along period. "It is to the point that when the district opens anew school, the principal gets a shell and must design anddevelop everything in it," said Principal Doug Gowler in atelephone interview. He estimated that he had "95 percent ormore autonomy" over personnel and curriculum in the Sage-brush Elementary School that he heads.

The central office staff remains very small, even thoughthe district has expanded from eleven to thirty-one schools inthe past eight years. Thus, the individual schools performmany of the traditional central office functions. With a smaller

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central office staff, the principals can be paid well for theirextra duties.

"Our superintendent sees principals as curriculunidirec-tors, directors of special education, directors of finance, and soon, as well as principals," states Gowler in a National ElementaryPrincipal article. "He hires -us to do all those things, and hegives us the freedom to do them. In other words, he lets us riseor fall on our own strengths and abilities."

When Sagebrush- Elementary needs to hire a newteacher, Gowler sits down with the teacher team with whichthe new teacher will work, and together they work out a jobdescription that is then advertised. The district's personneldepartment does the initial screening, Gowler interviews theapplicants he thinks may be good for the job, then he sendsthe best of these those who could "teach under a tree" tothe teacher team and the team makes the final choice:

When a teacher slot opens up, the school can hire para-professiorials or a professional. The teachers' union would notargue with this, said Gowler, and "would challenge any unionto challenge them." Both the teachers and Gowler believe thattheir primary responsibility is "to design appropriately 'tomeet the needs of the kids, and if that means that we buy onlyparaprofessionals, we can do that."

Gowler and the school's staff design and continuallyrefine most of their own instructional materials, and theydesign according to the students' needs. They do not use anymajor publisher's curricula in -the building.

OtherprincipalS in the district also have theopportunityto run their schools the way they see fit. Gowler admits he isdisappointed with some of them because they have simplyadopted a published curriculum system, even though theyhave the opportunity to design their own system-"and showwhat education is really all about."

Parents have been very much involved in SagebrushElementary ever since it was built, even before it was built.Community support, said Gowler, is "fantastically strong."Gowler works with parents through the parent-teacher organi-zation, and parents work closely with Gowler in developingschool policy.

What makes the difference in Cherry Creek are commit-ment and trust, said Gowler. The staff is extremely committed

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to their school and spend extra time to make it work. Superin,tendent Richard Koeppe trusts the staffs-of-Sagebriish Ele-mentary and, the other-schoolcin the district to do their job.The-resulfis a newfound sense of freedom for the principal,which Gowler described as "absolutely fantastic."

THE TRANSFER OF AUTHORITY

In a school-based management sy,steni, the principalbecomes the central actor. The great 'responsibility that theprincipal ncw.shoulders isfivallymatched by an equivalentmeasure of authority. With both the responsibility and theauthority;:the principal is free to become the leader of his orher school:

The relationship that will bemost changed by theimple-Mentation of school-based management is that between theCentral office and the school site. 'BecauSe the site adminis7trator willinherit power and authoriW from the central office,the roles of the central office adininisti4tors will 'change nearlyas much as the role of the principal. Thus, before theprincipal'snew role is described in detail, the complementary role of thecentral office will be outlined. And- prior to that, the schoolboard's role in a school-based management system will be'briefly reviewed.

THE SCHOOL BOARD,

In a change to,school-based management, the role of theschool board would not changOignificantly. The board'sprimary duties would be providing general direction for theydistrict by establishing goals and policy statements, keepinginformed about the dipict's progress toward goals, and actingas a decision -maker of last resort.

AccordingtO Paul Cunningham, a school board memberin Cambric:1y; Maryland, the school board would not relin-quish any its power in a change to a decentralized budgetingsystem. The board's role would remain that of developingbroad policies for the Operation of the school district. AsCunningham notes, when the -board makes the decision to-

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-decentralize the decision- making prOcess, it is exercising policydevelopment, of" highest order." Once the decision hasbeen made; 'Continues Cunningham,

/Arils the responsibility of the superintendent to submita plan for board approval. The board is not relinquish:ing any of its authority-to fix the budget. In the eventthat a budget must be reduced"lhe superintendent isgiven the directive and the amount by which it is'to becut. The staff (including building principals), on theother hand. Should'Cletennine where the cuts are to bemade.

Advocates of school-based management point out thatredistributing thepower in the district can work to the advan-ta e rifle school board-because, as-Barbara Parker States," l e, total school system becomes more accountable and thoseat the top can get more results." Parker quotes Oron South, anorganizational development consultant to Monroe Countyduring its change tosshool-baseifianagement, as saying thatdecentralized midagement gimes board. members "a grea,tersense of powernot so much to order people around, but

'finally to get something done."Support from the school board is vital to the success of

school-based management. As James Longstreth points out,districts that have tried to initiate school site management"without school board endorseMent or with their grudgingacceptance of the program have not generally received con-tinuing support" from the board.

If the new management .system-is to- stick,, heliOard--membefs--:afte-r giving their approval for the systemshould

be involved in a continuing education and training program,to ensure their uninterrupted support. Without such a pro-gram, Longstreth continues, the board, when faced with acrisis, may revert to its accustomed behaVior and -take "cen-tralized district-wide action. Although such action may not beappropriate for all schools within the district, it will be taken todemonstrate to the community that the board is 'on top' of the.educational needs of the system.".--

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THE CENTRAL OFFICE: FACILITATOR

In a school management system central adminis-;

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trators shed some of their authority and become :managers ofthe school system instead of its bosses. They become supportand evaluative staff for the schools instead of directors. Inshort, they "facilitate, not dictate;" as MatthewProphet put it.

The principal and other school site persOnnel design thebudget, hire instructors and other school personnel, and workout the curriculum. The central office.focuses on "developingstudent and 'staff performance standards, offering technicalassistance to schools," determining how much funding eachschool should get, and "carrying out systemwide planning,monitoring and evaluation," states a National Urban Coalitiondocument....

The role of the chief business official in the.district hastraditionally been a combination of threefunCtionsmaintain-ing tight fiscal control over school budgets, providing tech-nical assistance to the schools, and acting as the comptroller,or monitor, of district expenditures. In a school-based manage-ment syStem, tight fiscal control becomes the responsibility ofthe principal, but the business officer continues the other twofunctions.

William Dick eybuSiness administiator for the AlachuaCounty (Florida)1 <hoot District/in 1977, reports that decen-tralized budgetint, "greatly-reduces the responsibility of theschool business official anctsubstantially modifies his tradi--&nal role." Under a school-based management system, saysDickey,

The school business official becomes a coordinator andcontroller of the budget and soon realizes, to his sur-prise, that he has an ally in the school principal.Whereas previously the school business official wasone of the few employees in the school districi whoworried about enrollment fluctuation, utility costs,, andthe budget in general, he now: has each principalworrying about those things for him.

The school site determines what items it would like topurchase and then forwards a requisition order to the pur-chasing officer at the central office. The purchasing officerorders the items, pays -the vendor, and charges the school'sbudgetaCcordingly1 The central office can keep an eye on the,schools' purchases in this way and make sure that the schoolsdon't overshoot their submitted budget.

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The personnel officer is gill responsible for recruitingemployeeS, collecting information about applicants, maintain-ing personnel records, and providing technical assistance tothe school site. But the principal and other ,building levelpersonnel are responsible for selecting staff for their school.

The chief instructional officer of the district shouldmaintain the traditional ftinctions of that officeprovidingtechnical assistance and general direction to the schools, andmonitoring the school's effectivenessbut should not dictatethe details of the curriculum. The diStrict should continue torequire ,that students become competent in basic skills, andsho' uld monitor the schools-with both standardized tests and.visitation. But the individual schools should'be free to meetthe district's educational goals in whatever way they see fit

The superintendent continues to be the chief-adminis -trator of the diStritt and the one person responsible to theboard for administrative decisions. Experience in district afterdistrict shown that strong support for school-based man-agethent from the superintendent is absolutely necessary forits proper implementation. Superintendents will support theconcept -once- they realize that it can help them meet theresponsibilities of their office in a mire effective and efficientmanner; when the entire system becomes more accountableand responsive to client needs, say proponents of school-based management, the job at the top gets easier and easier.

THE PRINCIPAL: SCHOOL LEADER

The renewal or remaking of society is imaged in theremaking, the restructuring of education, which, in turn,is epitomized by the remaking of the principalship.

These wok's of John Bremer reflect the growing consen-sus among educators that the leadership role of the principalmust be exhumed and revived if educationand societyareever to find new vitality. The importance of the principal toquality schooling is attested to by legions of educators andresearchers. "One of the few uncontested findings in educa-tional research," states the chief executive officer of the NASSP(See "An Interview with Scott Thomson"), "is that the prim-

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cipal makes the difference between a mediocre and a goodschool."

Both Bremer and *orison believe that an effective prin-cipalship demands considerable autonomy andauthority forthe building administrator. Common sense and modern man-agement theory agree, continues Thomson, that true educa-tional leadership cam only be achieved when the principal is"freed from the blanket of directives and reports and meetingswhich now suffocate performance." Within the limits of gen-eral objectives established bythe central office and board, theprincipal and schobl staff "should enjoy considerable latitudein decision making aboutprogram, personnel, and budget."

For a school system to be truly accountable, says James W.Guthrie, "it is imperative that there be'a chief executive, theprincipal." Only when the responsibility for educational out-comes and the authority for making educational decisionsreside in the same unit can true accountability be established.1Presently,.mOst important decisions are made in the centraloffice and passed 'down the line to principals and then toteachers. But the responsibility for educational outcomes is ahot potato,/'juggled -from principal to teacher to central officeand never seeming to come to rest. School.:based managementseeks to fn.( responsibilities where they belong and thus close"the gap/between the. authority for initiating and operatingschool programs and the responsibility for their success or,failure, as Albert H.. Shuster states.

From all accounts, -it appears that school-based manage-ment Would mean work for the principal. The building siteadministrator, states the National Urban Coalition document,"would haveAo attend a much larger set of managerial taskstied to the dlivery of edticational services," including "pro-grarri planning, development and evaluation,. personnel selec-tiori and assignment, staff development and evaluation, andbudget management:" In addition, the principal would -befurther burdened by the extra time and effort required byshared decision-making processes at the school site.

This added burden may discourage some already overworked'principals from trying-the system. But it should be remem-bered that along with the extra burden, the principal is gainingauthority and autonomy to guide his or her own school. Therewards of leadership and authority may well be sufficient

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compensation for the added administrative burden.Although most principals will ,respond positively to the

opportunity to become autonomousschool leaders, some willnot. A common figure given by school-based managementconsultants is that 20 to 30 percent of principals, will not findthe system satisfactory. Many in this fraction would rathercontinue to be middle managers for the district, and they mayview the new management sstem as a threat.

The dramatic change in .the principal's role necessitatesextensive retraining of principals. Without retraining, the new.management system- will- probably not survive its first realchallenge. Instead of working with the new system when acrisis arises, people will =tend to fall back on the workings ofthe familiar centralized system.

To further help principals adjust, Longstreth recom-mends that distriCts develop guidebooks for principals. Indistricts where guidebooks have been used; "some uniformityof manageMent" has been created in'the district, states Longs-treth, while some of the "isolation problems" that sometimesaccompany autonomous schools have been avoided.

THREE CRITICAL CONTROL AREAS

Which kinds'of decisions should be decentralized to theschool site, and whiCh should remain centralized? Results of asurvey of California educators, states Pierce, support "the con-clusion that decisions related to the delivery of ,schoolprograms (personnel, curriculum and budgeting) can be effec-tively decentralized while those decisions which provide sup-portive 'service (transportation, maintenance, warehousing;data processing, etc.).should remain centralized." These per-ceptions'were shared by the administrators in school-basedmanagement districts interviewed for thischapter.

Theree main areas in which principals and their staffswould gain authority in a school-base lnagernemare curriculum, wrsonneh-arid udget. Each of these criticalareasis-reiiiiwed separately below.

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CURRICULUM

In a school-based management system, the school sitehas near total autonomy over curriculum Matters. Withinbroad outlines defined by the board, the individual schools arefree to teach in any manner they see fit. As long as a schoolls.attaining the educational goals set by the bOard, the districtdoes not intervene. The district provides technical assistanceto the school sitesin instructional matters and monitors theschools'. effectiveness. The principal works with staff andparents to determine educational needs and designs theschool's curriculum around these needs. In some site manage-ment schools, the staff has diversified its curricula by selectinga variety Of published materials, as opposed to using thedistrict's suggested curricula. In Lansing, the district maintainsa large number of curricula systems from which the schoolscan choose: In other districts, the schools can use whatevercurricula they choose, b-ut-they must be screened by the centraloffice first. In most school-based management districts,though, the board and central office establish an outline ofeducational objectives and leaVe the schools free to meet thoseobjectives in any way they see fit.

In general, a district's Implementation of school-basedmanagement has led to an increase in the diversity of edu-cational approaches in. that district. Teachers and principalsgain more freedom to design their own instructional programs,and parents gain more influence on the design of those pro-grams. Some schools may opt fora back-to-basics focus, othersfor open classrooms. Still others may adopt both approachesand have "schools within schools."

PERSONNEL

----- ----- If principals are to tailor their schools' educationalprograms to the needs and desires of the community, theymust have control of their major tincurceteachers. In mostexisting districts with schOol-based marivgement,- principalsmake the final choice of who willWcrk in their schools.

The most common practice zt prent is for the central'office to maintain a pool of qualifiedapplicants. When a posi-

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tion opens_up,-the-principa1=--often with involvement fromStaff and communityselects from the pool. The district nego-tiates such matters as salaries, working conditions, fringebenefits, and grievance procedures with the union, but theactual decision to hire is made by theprincipal:

in many school-based management districts, the prin-cipal has some flexibility to hire paraprofesionals instead ofcertificated teachers. In some districts, the decision must bereached -mutually between the principal and school staff. Inother districts, the decision can be made, by the principalalone, as long as the school stays within state staffing laws.

So far; resistance from teachers unions to school-basedmanagement has been minimal. one fear expressed by teachersis that principals might start acting as dictators if given moreauthority, so some unions want protection against this kind ofmismanagement. Essentially, however; the concerns of teach-ers unions do not significantly conflict with the concerns ofschool-based management.

BUDGET

Budget control is at the heart of school-based manage-ment, as is attested to by some of the alternative names for theconcept, such as "school based budgeting" and "school sitelump sum budgeting." Control of the curricula and of per-sonnel are largely dependent on the contro_Lof-the-budget.Thus, as Longstretl_jlsites1 ,--athe-eVerilio which a schooldis ay-be-determined to practice school-based manage-ment is the extent to which the principal is allowed, totalbudgetary discretion."

Many traditional districts allow principals control overexpenditures for supplies and equipment only. Many school-based management districth, on the other hand, give the schoola "lump sum," which the school site can spend in any way itsees fit. Individual schools, it should be pointed out, are notgiven the money outright. Instead, they purchase the servicesand products they need through or from the central office. Theschools generate the'clecision to spend, and the central officecarries out the schools' orders. The central office, however,also functions as a monitor of school spending and can inter-

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vene when a school is exceeding its budget or has other budgetproblems.

What kinds of restraints should be put on the school site'sauthority to make budget decisions? Longstreth, a former .superintendent in a school-based management district, be- .lieves that no restrictions should be placed,on the schools,except, of course, that they not exceed their budget. In practice,certain constraints will remain on the schools. The district'sgeneral educational objectives must be met, and student-teacher ratios mustbe kept within limits set by state - law -or.collective bargainingagreements.

In the first step of the budgeting process, the rcatral,office allocates lump sums to the individual schdols. canydistricts, this is 'carried oqt with the aid of various pupil ; ght-ing.schemes,-some of which are quite elaborate.

The second major step of the budgeting procesS is forthe school site to actually budget its lump sum. This is themost -critical process in school-based management_for-it-is-----from this process that most of the.advantages-ardecentralizedmana ement_stenvirrra'r c-rillar the flexibility of the school to

ee students' needs, and the feelings of "ownership" thatpeople derive from making decisions at the school site. Thebudget should be prepared with input from the school's staffandaccording to most proponents of school-based manage=mentfrom parents and students (at the secondary level) aswell.

Budgeting at the school site, say proponents, increasesthe efficiency of resource allocation. Teachers and other schoolstaff become more aware of the costs ofprograms, the school'sfinancial status,- and its spending limitations. Old programs"fade away to permit 'the establishment of alternative newones," says Charles W. Fowler. Budgeting becomes "markedlymore realistic," continues FoWler, because the charade "ofrequesting more money-than expected in hopes of receiving areduCed amount still sufficient for program goals" is ended.

SHARED DECISION-MAKING

Increased community and staff participation in schooldecision- making has been an important component of school-

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based management wherever it has been implemented.. Ingeneral, teaCherS,' parents, and/oftentimes students (at thesecondary level) participate indecision- making as members ofschool advisory councilsywhich are Usually distinct from thetraditional or PT5)s. Advisory councils vary widely inform, but generally)h4 are composed of the principal, class-room teachers, Other school .personnel, parents, nonparentcitizens, andshidents (at the secondary level). In sortie -dis-tricts, the principal meets separately-with a staff council aswell as with an advisory council. Although their input usually-conies* way of the same council, the involvement of staffandCommunity members:will be considered separately here,.

STAFF INVOLVEMENT

It is possible, as noted earlier,, to shift power from theCentral office to the school site without decentralizing it further.As Edward W.,Beaubier and Arthur N. Thayer note, hoWever,"it makes very little difference to a teacher if decision makinghas been decentralized to the school unit ifhe has not gainedfreedom to make a decision in an area that Was verbotenbefore a decentralization decision."

Some districts and collective negotiation agreementsrequire that principals involve teachers in decision-making.Other site management districts only encourage the principalto involve others. Thus, the extent of- .teacher involvementvaries widely from district to district and from school to school.In general, though, all site management schools have involvedteachers to some extent.

Sharing decision-making authority at, the school site,states Longstreth, "enables faculty to be personally involvedin decisions crucial to them, which directly relate to theirday-to-day activities within the sFhool." As a result, facultymembers develop a sense of "individual partnership or owner-ship",with the schoOl.

Thus, it behooves the, principal to involve teachers inpolicy decisions and give them more -authority to design,develop, and evaluate their on curricula. To match this newauthority, teachers should also be held responsible for theirstudents' performance, states Pierce.

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.-"As the climate created by decentralization demandedthat teachers be significant decision makers, they would

adually become more educationally responsible," states JohnGasson. "They would teach according to their own beliefs,using the instructional materials that they had individuallychosen for their particular setfing."'Eventually, they wouldbecome the "major recognized determiners of the curriculum."

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

School-based management- often alliesitself with thecommunity involvement movement. Both ate=decentraliza-tion movements, but SchoOl-based management is more of an"adminiitratiVe" decentralization that preserves the notion ofprofessional control ofeducation. The community involvement_movement, on the other hand, is more "pat-ice in natureand seeks' to transfer real powerlo the community level. Thisdiscussion will confine itself to community involvement withina school -based management system.

The advantages of involving parents and other com-munity menibets in school decision-making are many andwell acknowledged. Public involvement enhances public sup-port of the schools. The school becomes more responsive tocommunity and student needs. Parents have more of a senseof .".ownership" of their school. Parents can participate in'deCisionS, that affect their children.

The'question that remains is how to achieve communityinput while retaining an accountable education system. Long-s treth notes that "after advisory councilsare formed andbeginoperation it is often discovered that the members serve no realfunction except as window dressing for thecommunity pro-viding only the appearance of lay involvement." On the otherhand, '=there is no general mechanism by which advisorycouncils can be held accountable for theirdecisions" if they aregiven real'authority.

The only avenue left openwhile still retaining thegeneral structure Of the educational governance systemisfor school administrators to voluntarily accept and adopt theadvice offered by community advisory councils. If the recom-mendations of the councils are repeatedly ignored or rejected,

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ttes Longstreth, "the council will quickly lose its membershipand its effectiveness, or there will be a concerted effort to seekdecision-making or veto power for it." Thus, it becomes vitalfor principals and other staff members "to ensure a visible/ acceptance of implementation of the recommendations offeredby the council."

One way to encourage the principal toinvolve the councilin decisions would be to allow the council to'paiticipate in theselection of the principal. James W. Guthrie recommends thatparent councils have principal selection as their only realauthority and be advisory in all other matters. Principalswould be given a three- or four-year contract, "a_period oftime sufficient to implement programs ancl be evaluated,"states Guthrie. Thereafter, the continua tionjof the priticipOscontract would be a joint decision between the council and thesuperintendent, with each having veto power.

Advisory councils, states Pierce, should be "intimately in-volved in designing and evaluating the school priigram." Thecouncil, Pierce continues, should "decide what students needto learn, assess the capabilities of both the school's teachersand programs to teach those competencies, recommendchanges for improving the effectiveness of school programs,and.desigma system for evaluating school programs."

Whatever the duties of the parent advisory counct ,those duties should be clearly defined. Without guidelinstates Longstreth, two major problems arise: "The councilsfrequently become involved in mundane school operation orin activities such as fund-raising (generally not consider anappropriate council role)," or they go to the other extreme andstart influencing "matters normally considered beyond thescope of effective participation." -

Council members could be selected bya variety of means.Longstreth advises that not all members be appointed by theprincipal, or the council may be viewed as a "hand- picked,rubber stamp" group. Some members should be elected toassure representation of interested community members, butothers should be appointed to ensure "representation by per-sons from segments of the community which might not beincluded in the election process," such as minorities and the

.. disadvantaged.

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CONCLUSION

In the preceding pages, the essential elements of school-based management have been described, with speciallem-

'phasis on the principal's role in a decentralized managementsystem. In brief; the role of the principal-in a shift to school-based management would change from that of middle managerfor the district to.leader of the school. The school site wouldreplace the district as the basic unit of educationalgovernance,and the principal would become the..central actor in schoolmanagement, with authority over curricula, staffing; andbudget matters. The central office, which now dictates somany of the actions'that indiVidual schools take, would becomethe facilitator of decisions made at the school site. Parents,teachers, and students would work with the principal to de-velop educational goals and-implement decisions they helpedmake.

Numerous examples of working school-based manage-ment systems already, exist, and much -can. be learned bystudying these districts.. Successful implementation requires,first of all, extensive retraining of central office anschool sitepersonnel. The biggest stumbling block in implementingschool-based mangement is breaking down the conventionsthat people hold about what should or can be. With extensiveretraining and education, so that all school and cerRial officepersonnel understand the -new system, the change can bemade smoothly and the school system can stabilize in.its newmanagement mode.

Successful implementation also requires strong supportfrom the school board and superintendent. In fact, as Brian J.Caldwell notes, the initiative to implement decentralizedbudgeting "has invariably been taken by superintendents whohave contended that better decisions will be made ifresourcesare allocated with a high degree of school involvement."

Before it starts, the district must have a clear idea on theextent to which power will be decentralized. The authoritythat is to be given to the school site and to staff and communitymembers Should be decided in advance, to avoid confusionand conflict.

Finally, successful implementation requires a good deal of-trust and commitment. The superintendent must trust school

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site personnel to do theirAbbs, and all concernedmust be committed to making -the system work. By alaccounts, the system takes-More Work at the school site/but/many educators belieyelhat the rewards of autt:r4 andfeelings of ownership are well worth the extr time andeffort, spent. zz

CHAPTER 5

o TEAM MANAGEMENTCD John Linde low '>

C\1

U./

Few concepts in he recent histo public educationhave been as widely romoted and en rsed as team manage-ment. Nearly every major edu9 al organization and-Mostschool districts 'now support e notion of sharing districtdecision-making through, management, or team adminis-tration, as it is often

Team mana ent has been used to deicribe variousshared or consu tive decision-making arrangements amo gSchobl-site rsonnel, among central. office personnel, ramong a ixture of central office and building adminis ors.zIn,tlii chapter, the focus will be -on the latter form of team

agement. We will follow Harold J. McNally's definition ofe "management team" as "a group formally constituted by

the board of education and superintendent, comprising bothcentral office and middle echelon administrative-supervisorypersonnel, with expresSly stated responsibilityand authorityfor participation in sClidoi system decision making."

Thepractice of using a collaborative group or "team" ofadthiiiistrators to manage a school district is not a new idea.There have always been some innovative districts that havequietly used' what is now called team management. The con-cept has alSo been promoted for decades by educators andsocial reformers_intent -on- opening SthOol district decision-Making to building administrators.

Recently, however, the team management concept hassky-rocketed-to prominence. Why this Sudden interest in theteam concept? Many observers trace the cause back to theadvent of collective bargaining.With leachers in-the 1960s.

The rise of teachers unions-and collective bargaining inthe 1960s significantly. altered the "power structure" of publiceducation. UOng union tactics, teachers associations acquired

ct. powers that had formerly been held exclusively by boards andadministrators. Teachers thus quite suddenly, became majorforces in shaping district policy.

"Early in the negotiations game," says Ray Cross, "it

TI IE StRUCTURII: TEAM MANAGEMEN r

became apparent that eachers and superintendents, by thevery nature of their respective roles, were on opposite sides ofthe table." In response, superintendents "reached out to enlistall of the allies that they could get particularly principals."

According to Robert C. Duncan, the management teamconcept has often appeared

in "position papers" published by state organizationsof administrators, usually in response or reaction topassage of "a collective. bargaining bill which enablesteachers to bargain collectively. Such papers usuallytake a position indicating that one or more levels ofpiincipalships are and should be considered to bemanagerial in nature, and thus elementary, junior highand senior high school 'principals are said to properlybelong to the school system's "administrative team."

It is unfortunate, Duncan continues, that the concept wasrevitalized as a reaction to collective negotiations instead of asa result of purposeful and rational deliberation by schoolboards and administrators. "However, for the sake of betterleadership of- the-school enterprise, the institution-of a teamapproachto administration may well result in such impro immentas to owe a-debt of gratitude to the catalyst.whatever it is."

Another stimulus for the recent rush to team manage-ment has been the threat of principal unionization. Principalshave been increasingly "squeezed" from both above and belowby thecollective bargaining process with teachers. Schoolboards have tradedaway building administra(ors' prerogativesto teachers- often without consulting with principals -=while holding the principals responsible for carrying out theterms of teacher contracts.

Building administrators justifiably feel that they havebeen bypassed in the negotiations process, that their formerauthority has been significantly encroached upon, and thattheir professional stature has been diminished. In response,principals in many districts have unionized or threatened tounionize, both to protect what authority they have left and toredefine their relationship to the school board.

Rather than risk another forced rearrangement of thepower structure through principal unionization, many boardsand superintendents have agreed to'share some of their powerwith middle-echelon administrators through team- manage-

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ment. In many cases, however, the power has not really beenredistributed; boards and superintendents in many districtshave simply used team management to co-opt or pacifyp ci-pal unionization movements.

The rapid adoption of team management for purely__7-political purposes such as these has given the concept a badimage among principals. For example, a nationwide survey ofprincipals conducted by the American School Board Journal (see"The Brewing . .")iri 1975 found that principals "seemplainlyon the verge of bolting the school district's 'managementteam' by which they feel unaccepted and from which they seethemselves becoming increasingly alienated." In many- in-stances, principals believe their district's team to be a sham.And "an overwhelming 86 rCent of responding principalsare in favor of state laws- that will guarantee their right tobargain directly with school boards and will force boards tonegotiate in good faith with principals," states the Journal.

Even where superintendents and boards have attemptedto implement -team management with honest intentions ofsharing power, the system has often not worked. Because'team management has become somewhat of a fad, manyschool districts have rushed to implement it without a fullunderstanding of the:concept and-without the commitment,trust, and training required for the team's success. The failureof the team =even when implemented with good intention'sserves only to exacerbate principals', feelings of distrust' andalienation.

In some districts, however, team management has beena success. Three of these successful team management systemswill be reviewed later in this chapter. First, however, the teammanagement concept will be more fullyexplained.

ORGANIZATIONAL-CONSIDERATIONS

"Team management" has recently become one of themost overworked terms in the educational literature. Universi-ties, community colleges, school districts, and individualschools are all employing the term or some variation of it todescribe a myriad of different shared decision-makingarrangements.

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Even among public school districts .tha t use the term,the meaning of team management can vary "radically fromdistrict to district and state to state," as a publication of theAmerican Association of School Administrators (AASA) notes."Some approaches work very well," while "others are merelylabels attached to existing hierarchical structures..';

It is no surprise, then, that there is confusion about whatteam management really is. Of course, there is no one "right"model for team management that can be applied to all districts:Each district must find the team structure that is most appro-priate for its desires arid needs. There are, however, severalfeatures that most successful management teams share. Thesefeatures and other organizational considerations are discussedbelow.

POWER AND TRUST

As- mentioned earlier, teacher unionization caused asignificant rearrangement of the power structure of mostschool distiicts_starting in the 1960s. Other redistributions ofpower though not as radical= have taken place in districtsthat have implemented either school-basedmanagement (dis-Cussed in the previous chapter) or team management.

In team management systems, the "formal" powerStructure changes very little. The school ,board remains theprimary policy-making and governing body of the district.The superintendent remains the one person, responsible to theboard for the distriCt's proper functioning and retains authorityfor making the final decisions. Principals continue to performtheir primary function of managing the loCal schools.

The changes that do take placein the power structure ofteam management. districts are informal in nature and dependon the willingness of the superintendent and central officeadministrators to share their powers. Although principal par-ticipation may be mandated by district policy, the real extentof principal influence is up to the superintendent, who retainsboth final power and final responsibility for the team's deci-sions. Thus unlike the "brute force" type ofpower redistri-butions caused by teacher unionization changes to teammanagement depend on "enlightened" boardsand (especially)

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superintendents to make them work.Most proponents of team management, then, are not

promoting a legal transfer of power to building administrators.Rather, they are calling on superintendents to open communi-cations channels from the "bottom" to the "top" of the admin-istrative hierarchy. They are, first and foremost, promotingthe adoption of a structure that would enhance building ad-ministrator input into the district's decision-making process.

The success of team management, though, depends onmore than a superintendent willing to share power. It alsodepends in large part on such factors as trust and comrnitt °nt.Team members must trust the superintendent to respe.- and/ implement the team's decisions. Team members must also/ feel free to digagree with the superintendent without the fearof falling into disfavor/The superintendent, in turn, musthave trust and confidence in the team to make intelligent//'/ decisions for the district. Each team member must trust thatthe Others are working primarily for the good of the district.

Like school-based rnanagement, team management re-quires an increased amount of time and effort to make it work.

titIt is always more ifficult to make group decisions than it is fora lone-adminis ator to make a corrunand, decision. But it isfrom this investment of extra time and effort that the benefitsof team management spring. Thus, successful team manage-ment depends o_n the commitment of all team members to thesystem and/on their willingness to spend the extra time andeffort needed for shared decision-making.

In districts where strong adversary relationships alreadyexist betWeen factions of the administration, team manage-ment will likely travel a rocky road and may end up doingmore harm than good. This does not necessari ly mean, how-ever,/that team management and principal bargaining unitscannot peacefully coexist, as Attleboro's (Massachusetts)/

agement system demonstrates (reviewed in next section).ma

THE BOARD-ADMINISTRATOR AG=REEMENT

McNally's definition of the management team emphasi-zes that it be "a form-illy constituted group" with "formallyrecognized responsibility and authority for making important

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decisions on school system policy interpretation and opera-tional matters." Lester W. Anderson emphasizes that a crucialfactor in implementing a managethent team is "the adoptiomof a formal structure which assures a system of open commu-nication with all administrators."

Several other authors stress that the team should beclearly defined in writing. For example, Paul B. Salmon, vet-eran director of the AASA, recommends that a "managementmanifesto" be drawn up that would formalize the teamconcept and would make it possible to be quite specific about:

the.perinieters of its authoritythe nature of its compositionworking relationships among its members andcomponentSthe limits of its rights and responsibilitieshow it will be held accountable for its actionsthe types of matters that may comprise its agenda.

A clearly written team definition, Salmon continues, would"more nearly guarantee that its:implications be thoughtfullyconsidered, its structure carefully designed, and its potentiali-ties fUlly anticipated."

A_1971 monograph of the National Association of Sec-ondary School Principals contains an example of a writtenboard-administrator agreement; along with explanations of,many of its sections. The material in this "typical agreement"was extracted from.a number of board-administrator agree-ments from throughout the country.

Most of the agreement outlines the conditions ofemploy-ment for school administratorS. Included are sections onworking conditions, leave, termination of employinent, fringebenefits, salary provision, evaluation ofadministrators, trans-fer and promotion policies, grievance procedures, job descrip-tions, participation in professional meetings,Apncl the like:Another section_ guarantees "that administrakiri shall havethe right to form a local organization for the purpOSe of repre-senting them in deScribing and defining their professionalrelationships in the district.

The management-team is defined broadly in the agree-ment as all- management and supervisory personnel. Onesection provides that regular Meetings be held "between ad-ministrative team personnel and the board of education."

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Another section states that "the board agrees to involve ad-ministrative team representatives in an advisory capacity tothe board in all negotiating orcollective bargaining sessionsWith employees who are subject to their supervisionor undertheir administration:"

The finer details of the team's composition, structure,and decision-making processesare not described in the NASSPagreement. This is in accord with an AASA document, whichrecommends that the agreement "should not spell out opera-tional- details" but "should address the basic philosophicalissues, leaving-no doubt of the board's commitment and thestaff's obligations."

A written board-administrator agreement sounds goodih, theory and may be the best procedure to follow in somedistrict's. Yet in numerous successful team manageinent sys-tems including-the three reviewed in the next sectionMost of the board-administrator agreement is neither for-Malized nor written. Instead, these districts depend primarily-oh trust, good faith, and informal understandings betweenboard and administrators and among team members to maketheir team systems work. Whether or not a fomial agreementexists, however, all team members should clearly understandthe team's objectives, Organization, and operating procedur6.

MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION

The management team, according to most proponentsof the concept, should include all central office and middle-level administrative personnel, including principals, assistantprincipals, and supervisors at the building level.

In small districts, the entire team can regularly meet andwork together. Recommendations vary; but fifteen to twentymembers is generally considered the outer limit for efficientteam operation. -

In larger districts, says Richard Schmuck, the term man-agement team "usually refers to a class of administrative perkm-nel including assistant principals, principals, and district-officeadministrators and not to a functioning team.1.'..In these districts,the total team must be divided into interlocking subgroupscapable of getting useful work done, which may or may not

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meet together as a "total" team.Each of the management teams described later is divided

into working subgroups, but each also meets together regularlyas a total team. These twenty- to eighty-member sessions areprimarily inforinational and ritualisticin nature, or they serveas forums for reaching final agreement on teain decisions. Thereal problem- solving is done iw the subgroups or workingcommittees,that meet at additional4imes. The-total manage-ment teams in these districts, then, resemble legislative bodies(though they rarely take votes). More than they do ,,trueworking "teams."

Management teams can be organized in a large varietyof ways, depending on the needs and desires of the district.No one model or set of models am-adequately describe thepossibilities for team organizatioii, and thus districts mustformulate their own team models according to their own localCircumstances.

The beSt source for ideas on team organization is descrip7lions of successful team management systems. Another sourceis descriptions of general team Models, which have beenattempted by a few writers.

Kenneth A. Erickson and .Walter H. Gmelch, for exam-ple, outline three team models that depend on representationto keep the central "leadership team" at the authors' preferredmembership level of five to ten. In the "conventional" model,representatives from* central office areas meet .with represen-tatives of various principal groups, or with all principals if thedistrict is small,,In large districts, the principal representativesare also members of other "interlOcking" management teamsfrom their geographical areas.

In the "crossbred" model, the leadership team consistsof "one representatiVe from each.of th" major functional cate-gories in the organization," such as classified support, princi-palsspecial education, finance, and staff development.

And in the "cocoon" model, the leadership team formsan ad'hoc team for each specific problem that arises, each withan "executive secretary" who reports back to the leadershipteam. Once the ad hoc team's report has been accepted by theleadership team, it is disbanded. The utilization of ad hocteams of various sorts is common to many successful teamsystems, as will be seen below.

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DECISION-MAKING

The primary purpose of the management team is tobring middle-echelon administrators into the district's decision-Making and policy-development processes. Numerousadvantages many documented by research are thoughtto accompany =the kind of shared decision-making present inteam management Systems.

For examplerparticipition in decision- making increasesjob satisfaction for most (but not necessarily all) employeesand gives them- a sense of "ownership" in the organization.Also, decisions made by a group are likely to be better thandecisions made by one person. Collaborative decision-makingalso increases: the coordination of tasks and enhances thegeneral quality of communications in an organization. Theseadvantages and others will be discussed more fully in the nextchapter.

Although middle-echelon administrators are involvedin district `decision- making in team management systems,they should not necessarily be involved inevery decision madeby the district. Some problems of a technical or legal natureshould be delegated to the personor persons with the greatestexpertise. Other routine clecisiOns should not be brought.before the team' unless they could significantly altetlie dis-trict's ;.iperations.

The power to make some decisions might also be re-served by-the superintendent or be delegated to a .particularadministrator. In the Attleboro (Massachusetts) team, forexample; Superintendent Coelho reserves the poWer to makedecisions in the special subjects areas. Coelho was careful,however, to inform the team. that this would be one of hisground rules.

Even if the team is involved in decision-making, thedecisions it reaches may not necessarily be binding. The super-intendent in team management districts almost always retainsfinal "veto" power over team decisions. ,

Superintendents, though, should be careful in exercisingtheir ultimate power over the decision-making process. If theyrestrict decision-making too severely or exercise their vetopower unwisely, the fragile trust that makes the team workwill be destroyed. The team may be considered a fraud by its

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members, who might then withdraw their support and seekother ways to gain influence ,in the decision-making process.

Superintendents should also be careful to clarify theteam's role in each decision before the team begins work on aproblem. If the superintendent intends to let the team decisionbe binding, he or she should clearly communicate that fact tothe team. If the team's input is to be considered advice only,that, too, should be dearly communicated. In short, the super-intendent should decide on a "leadership style" (as discussedin chapter 3) for each problem area the team tackles and thenlet the team members know what their role will be.

Although votes may, sometimes be. taken, decisionsreached by management teams are most often based on con-sensus. This does not necessarily that every team mem-ber agrees totally with the decision reached. Instead, the"informal" consensus often reached by teams implies that allmembers agree to abideby the terms Of the decision reached.

- °Even though some members may have reservations about adecision reached, they agree, in effect, not to work against thedecision's implementation.

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL TEAMS

Although the ideas of organizational theoristsare usefulfor providing general ideas about thestructures and functionsof management teams, the most useful and practical ideasoften come from working team management districts. In thefollowing pages, threedistricts with successful managementteams are described. Each -team is unique in its organizationand operation, yet all have certain features in common, in-ciUding- a superintendent deditated to the concept, the divi-sion of the team into working subgroups, the lack of a writtenboard-administrator agreement, the separation- of principalwelfare issues frcm other district decision-making issues, adecision-making process based primarily on consensus, anorganizational structure open to input from all members, andan atmosphere of professionalism and trust that permeatesthe team.

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*YAKIMA, WASHINGTON

In the mid-1970s, principals in the Yakima Public SchoolDistrict (1980-81 enrollment, about 11,000 with twenty-oneschools) were being excluded from negotiations with teachersand "felt a need to restructure their role," according to MarkBontrager; a former principal in the district and now admini-strative assistant to the superintendent. When Warren Starr.became superiritendent in Yakima in 1975, the restructuringthe principals desired began to take place. Starr a proponentof team management began moving the district toward anew manageinent system that now provides substantialoppor-tunity for principals and other administrators to influence thedistrict's decision_-making and policy-developmentprocesses.

The team management system at Yakima 'is organizedsomewhat like a legislative body, with numerous workinggroups within thelarger team. The total team - -with abouteighty members meets mice each month. Membershipincludes the superintendent, central offidepersonnel, all prin-cipals and assistant principals, and various supervisors anddirectors. The meetings are run not by the superintendent butby an elected meeting manager.

"Most of what happens in the Meetings of the total teamis information dispersal, ,Bontrager told the writer. "The realaction takes place in small groups within the team that receiveassignments to carry out specific functions or activities."

Once one of the small groups decides on a course ofaction, it presents its suggestions to the entire tearnfor approval.Votes are rare, Bontrager reports; most agreements are basedon an informal consensus. The superintendent, however, re-serves the right to make the final decision.

All the team's members are involved formally or infor-mally with one or more of the team's subgroups, according toDale Sayler, a principal in the district. "You kind of pick upassignments depending on what comes up and where youare," said Sayler, who has been active in many of the subgroups.

In addition to these small "workhorse" groups, thereare two other subgroups of the total team that meet separately.The "superintendent's cabinet". meets once a week and con-sists of the superintendent, central office managers, one prin-

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TI II STRUCTURE: TP.A NI hl A NAGE:of:NT

cipal representative each from the elementary, junior high,and senior high levels, and one person each from the curricu-lum and federal program areas. Another subgroup consist-ing of the cabinet and. all building principals -- meets togetheronce a month.

"Occasionally," Sayler told the writer, "some principalsget the feeling that a decision has been made by the superin-tendent's cabinet" before the issue has been reviewed by theentire team. Team members, though, are generally quite satis-fied with the system, Sayler added.

- To facilitate policy development, the Yakima manage-ment team uses'a "position paper" process: A position paper,according to Starr, is a written agreement between the chiefadministrator and the management team on some policy issue.

In a -1978 article 'in the NASSP Bulletin, Starr gives anexample of one such position paper on "administrative hiring."An opening, statement describes the problem and the philoso-phy behind the proposed solution. The next section details theproposed hiring process. A final section outlines how theprocess will be evaluated.

Any team member can develop and propose positionpapers. Thus, a team member's opportunities for contributingto district' policy development are potentially unlimited: "Icould put out a lot of position papers if I took the time to sitdown and write them," said Sayler. "We work under a systemwhere if you've got something interesting and it's worthwhileaitd you can back it up, it's more than likely going to happen."

Position papers also formally define a few of the relation-ships between the board and .team members. For example,one position paper outlines the process of working out agree-ments on salaries, working conditions, and related issues.

'By and large, however, agreements between the board'and the team are informal. "We deal with the board on aninformal basis," said Bontrager, "and use position'papers togive us guidelines for our total operation."

The team takes-pains to avoid adversary relationshipsamong its members, said Bontrager. Dialogues about welfareissues take place between subgroups of the team and centraloffice managers. The superintendent separates himself fromthis process and acts, in a sense, as a negotiator

Principals also have input into the negotiations process

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with teachers. Principal representatives sit at the negotiating.table. "The teachers," said Sayler, "ask us for more input thanwe give,"

In some areas, circumstances haveiliinited the team'slatitude in making decisions. For example, declining enroll-ment has forced the district to fill vacancies with district per-sonnel instead of with new,employees. Excluding these specialareas, however, Sayler and:Bontrager bOth believe that prin-cipals have a significant role in the decision-making process inYakima. "The group feels very positiVe about the process,"said Sayler. "None would have reservations about it."

By and large, then, the management team system-at-Yakima appears to be working.quite-welL'Illwere to inter-pret bow a management team ought to operate," Bontragerconcluded, "we Would be as clbSe to it as anything I've runinto so far."

RIO LINDAi CALIFORNIA

The Rio L Eleinentaiy, School pisViki (1980-81 enroll-merit, about 7,000 with seventeen schopls) started its movetoward team management in 1975, wptn Nick Floratos beganhis superintendency there. Acco cling to a 1978 `article inThrust for Educational Leadership Floratos and other districtpersonnel, one of the new s rintendent's first actions wasto, appoint a committee of z ndpals and central office person-nel "to develop an or mational structure and process thatwould allow our dis ct administration to function as a man-agement team." '

-Present' , the district haS a forty-member team thatmeets twice' onthly. Membership includes all central officeand buil g-site administrators.

, e internal organization ofRio Linda's team is similarto t t of Yakima's team, in which various smaller groups doip ch of the real work and then present their suggestions to

' the laFger team. .The meetings of the total team, state Floratosand his colleagues, provide a setting for the "presentation ofconcerns, questions and problems"; "decision making byconsensus"; inservice training; and "dissemination of infor-mation and sharing of ideas."

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Subgroups include three "area councils," whose mem-bership includes the principals, vice principals, coordinators,and psychologists from the same geographical area; a "cabinet"that includes the "Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent,Directors, Area Council Representatives (as needed)," and"Classified Management (as needed)"; and various other "SubGroups" in such areas as funded programs, curriculumper,sonnel, and dassified_management: small 'groups,problerns-a-re-identified and discussed and solutions are devel-oped. The meetings of these groups also serve as a setting forboth inservice training and "the support of indiViduals."

When a problem arises that cannot be dealt with easilyby the total team, a "study committee" is formed. Each ofthese conunitteesincludes one representative from each areacouncil, a representative-from the cabinet, and other nonma-nagement personnel as needed. "The study coinmittee's roleis to make an in-depth investigation, explore alternatives andmake a final recommendation to the total management team."

The recommendations can either be accepted by thetotal team or. sent back to the committee for more work. Oncethe solution is accepted,-however, thecommittee is disbanded.

According to principal Jay Baumgartner, who was in-terviewed by telephone, the team never takes a vote on anissue. But decisions are net based strictly on consensus either.The team simply "works toward a solution," said Bau art-ner, until general agreement is reached.

Conflicts --- when they do occur -- are caused by abreakdown in the team's well-defined problem.solving pro-

: Cess. "The only time we've had problems was when, for somereason, that process was bypassed," said Baumgartner., "Ifthe process is working as. it should, the study committee'sreport is not really news to anyone."

Salary and related issues are worked out in a fairlyinformal way, said Baumgartner: "The superintendent asksfor input once a year from the area councils regarding buildingadministrators' needs and concerns. Then he comes back tothe coundls,andIsays,-Ilerefs_what I can live with and what Iplan on giving to the'board. Do you have-any problems-withthis?' "

Previous to the implementation of the managementteam, Baumgartner and other administrators were meeting

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informally "because we didn't feel that w--e-Wew'being involvedin decision-making. But that group has disbanded since we'vegone to the team," and the district now has no administratorsunion.

One of the management team's most important func-tions, write Floratos and his colleagues, "is that of establishingthe district's posture as it relates to collective bargaining." Thedistricet negotiating group includes a psychologist, two prin-cipals, the director of pergonnel, and the assistant supervisorof maintenance and operations.

Proposals from the teachers association are firSt re-viewed by the board and the district's legal counsel and arethen sent to the area councils for, review. The managementteam then discusses concerns brought up by the area councils.Finally, the negotiations group formulates counter proposalsthat are reviewed by the board and then presented to theteachers. Following each negotiation session, each manage-ment- team member receives a publication that "alistracts allproposals and counter proposals and summarizes negotiationprogress."

Once the contract is ."ratified, the negotiations group"provides each member of the staff with a written interpreta-tion of each article to help further clarify the meaning of theterms of the'contract." The negotiations group also providesinservice training on contract management and grievanceprocessing: "The end result of this process," state Floratosand his colleagues, "is a contract which has been developedand reviewed by all the management team."

This kind of intricate communication may seem timeand energy consuming, and it is. Byt "frequent, complete andmeaningful" communication of this sort is "a key element inthe central administration of a school district." It providesboth statiunity and clarity of purpose, not only when dealingwith teacher negotiations, but in all other areas as well.

Another key to the success of team management at RioLinda is support from the school board. "The importance of asupportive board cannot be over-estimated as an imperativein the building of .a management team," stress the authors.The board must be actively interested in the district's staff andconsistently support the decisions made by the team.

The team management system at Rio Linda demands

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extra time and effort from each team member, said Baumgart-ner. Principals who are comfortable just following orders willbe dissatisfied in such a system. But, Baumgartner concluded,"I could not name one principal in this district who is trulydissatisfied with the system."

ATTLEBORO, MASSACHUSETTS

The team management system in the Attleb-oro PublicSchool Distrid (1980-81 enrollment, about 6,600 with thirteenschools) has been functioning smoothly fox' over ten years andrecently withstood a severe test of its strength. In November1980, a property tax limitation measure was passed in Massa-chusetts that reduced the district's operating budget for 1981-82from a projected fifteen million to less than thirteen milliondollars.,The management team carried the district through thedifficult period of staff and program cutbacks, which includedreductions in the administrative ranks and the closing of twoelementary schools.

Starting in October 1280, the team began to plan for the.impending budget cut. Within two weeks after "Proposition21/2" passed in November, the team had, formulated threepossible budgets for the 1981-82 school yearone for "drastic"budget cuts, one for "moderate" cuts, and one for a "statusquo" budget.

The effects of the different cuts were projected, includ-ing the likelihood of school closings and the loss of admini-strative personnel. "Some administrators knew they werebound to go," Superintendent Robert Coelho told the writer,"but the group's cohesiveness remained strong. And difficultas it is now, they're still with-it."

Coelho has beenbuilding the managementteam in Attle-boro since 1969, when he became superintendent there. Hehad previously worked in the district for fourteen years as ateacher, principal; and assistant superintendent, which gavehim "the opportunity to observe the system's growth mecha-nisms" and formulate some plans for changing the district'sorganization, according to a publication he wrote in 1975.

With two other members of the central administration,Coelho "analyzed the organization's planning, organizing,

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staffing, directing, controlling and evaluating processesagainst the 'system's human 'abilities communicate, makedecisions and solve problems." Coelho and other members ofthe "central office team" read widely about organizationaldevelopment, "organic models* of organization," and relatedtopics, and they enrolled in courses in human relations andorganizational analysis and decision-making. .

Then the team sought "the expertise and use of outsideconsultants," which Coelho believes was,."probably the most.strategically advantageous decision by the.central team duringits early stage of development." A series of training seminarson group dynamics, team development, and related topicswere held for building administrators and the central officeteam. .

Co-elho emphasizes the importance of this kind of"teamtraining" for the successful implementation ofa managementteam. Training strategies employed "must aim at changingthe entire systefri, not merely one part of it," he writes. Unless"the culture of the system" is changed "to allow for new ideasand technologies to be introduced and examined, the peopleand their problems will still exist: the same communicationblockages will persist and the same clinging to staid, security-bound values will tend to keep the system" from becomingthe adaptive organization it needs to be.

Presently, the Attleboro district has six basic subgroupswithin its total team. The central office team consists of thesuperintendent and other central office personnel: The k-5team,"the middle school team, the high school team, the '6-12team, and the K-12 team consist of the principals, assistantprincipals, and other building administrators from eachgroupof schools. Every week the central office team meets with oneof the other groups, while the other four groups meet byethemselves or with each other, as needed. The "total" teamconsisting of the K-12 and central office team combined hasabout twen ty-two members.

Each team conducts its meetings in the same manner: A"convener" or-chairman leads the meeting, a "process observer"attends to-the way members are interacting, and a "recorder"writes out the meeting's minutes on an easel visible to allmembers. 'These positions including the convener of thecentral office teamare rotated to encourage member participa-

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tion and to emphasize the democratic nature of the meetings.Decisions are Made by consensus, though theisuperin-

tendent retains the final authority for decisions, because,Coelho told the writer, "he has to answer to the bOard as thechief executive." Coelho also reserves the right to,make deci-sions in the special subject areas, such as guidante, physicaleducation, art, music, and athletics. "I chose/. to take theSystem-wide supervisor's view of -these special subjects,"Coelho explained, "and I told the principals that would be theground rule,"

The Attleboro district has no formal board-administratoragreement regarding the management team. "We never gotinto the policy statement as a method of, operation," saidCoelho. "It's been based on the good-faith effort of all of usworking together to develop the system. NoW that we've gotto dismantle part of the system because of the budget cuts, thesame kindof ground rules prevail. TIere's a professionalawareness or agreement that we've got to work these problemsout together."

The management team in Attleboro coexists peacefullywith a principals bargaining unit, which has existed since the1960s. The threat of a powerful principals union was not afactor in the implementation of a management team system,Coelho reports. .

The relationship between the building administratorsand the central ofice is still very positive; Coelho told thewriter, primarily because of the' nature and attitudes of theprincipals group: "They're quite professional people and theydeal separately with working;coildition issues and distriCtdecision-making issues." Coelho never bargains directly withthe principals group. This is left to other central office admini-strators. NO salary or working condition issues have come upin regular team meetings, even though agenda items can becontributed.byany team member:

Coelho attributed the strength of the management teamin the face of this year's budget cuts to the extensive training incommunications skills the administrators received in the 1970s:."The general structure Of the systethe skills we taughteach.other and that- We'leamed from our trainers in the mid=seventies have paid off in this budget crisis," Coelhoconcluded.

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CONCLUSION.

For decades, reform-minded educators havepiomotedshared school district management as an alternative to thetraditional hierarchical arrangement of district governance. Ina few scattered districts, shared management has beena realityfor many years, usually due to the leadership of a superinten-dent who is convinced of the merits of shared decision-making.

Since the advent of collective bargaining with teachers,however, shared or "team" management has received muchgreater emphasis. Many districts have rushed to implementteam management to "unify!' management against the tea-chers associations, to co-opt or prevent principal unionization,or to provide a greater role in district management for dissatis-fied principals. In the many districts where team managementhas been implemented for, mainly political reasons and notout of a real desire for shared decision-making team man-agement has not often been successful.

As illustrated in the preceding section, however, teammanagement has been successful in some districts. Whethermore districts are successfully utilizing shared district decision-making now than before the advent of collective. bargainingremains open to question. The recent deluge of rhetoric pro-moting shared .decision- making and team management,though, has undoubtedly pushed more districts toward thereal implementation of management teams.

Ili team management systems, the superintendent con-tinues to be the one person responsible to the board for the'team's decisions and also retains final authority in decision-making. Thus, successful team management is highly depen-dent on a superintendent who is honestly interested in sharingdecision-making power with middle-eChelon administrators.

Of course, it is not just 'the superintendent who mustdesite shared district governance. The success of the teamdepends on "the extent to which all parties involved reallywant a working relationship based on a philosophy of involve-ment in policy formulation of all individuals affected by thepolicy," as Lester W. Andeison notes.

The design. of the team management system is anotherimportant factor in its success. As Anderson states, the extentto which the concept is implemented is dependent on "the

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skill with which the superintendent and his staff design astructure which assures a process of open communicationsamong all administrators in the decision-making process."Successful implementation may thus require substantial train-ing of team members in the communication skills required forshared decision-making, a topic addressed more fully inchapter 8.

The most important factor in the success of team man-'agement, however, is the existence of an atmosphere of trustamong team members, especially between the superintendentand building administrators. When this trust is present andwhen all parties truly desire a management system based onshared decision-making, team management has a good chanceof success.

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CHAPTER 6

PARTICIPATIVEca)(\i DECISION-MAKING

John Linde lowund David Coursen

Jo Ann Mazzarella

The present structure of educational governance ismodeled after the industrial bureaucracy that emerged-in theeconomy at the turn of the century. The educational reformersof this period believed that centralization of power anddepen-cience on professional expertise were the solutions to theproblems facing- the schools. As a result of the reformers'efforts, a centralized and authoritative power structurewhich Harold McNally has likened to a "royal hierarchy"became firmly established in the public schools.

In hierarchical organizations, decisions are characteris-tically made near the top of a pyramidal power structure andare passed down a chain of command to lower levels. Infor-mation- flows primarily from the "top" to the "bottom" of thestructure. Subordinates are assumed to be incapable, unquali-fied, or uninterested in contributing to the organization'sdecision- making process.

Although such a structure may be valuable for somepurposes such as a military command it is inappropri-ate, say critics, for the governance of schools. An authoritativestructure is "undemocratic" and ignores the worth of indi-viduals. Furthermore, hierarchical structures do not havewell-defined channels for the flow of information from thebottom to the top of the pyramid. Thus, an inevitable gapexists between problems and decisions made to resolve them.

In recent decades, a new reform, movement has beenbuilding momentum both in public education and in othersectors of society, notably business. This reform movementcan be seen as a broad atteitpt to make organizations more"democratic" and less authoritarian in theiroperation. A cor-nerstone of this reform movement is participative decision-making (PDM).

PDM is an ambiguous term at best and can refer to avariety of decision-making arrangements. In chapter 3, thenotion of a continuum of leadership styles was introduced,

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with the authoritative and "boss-centered" model on one endof the continuum and the democratic and "subordinate-centered" model on the other. In this chapter, PDM will refer,in general, to those leadership behaviors toward the democraticend of the spectrum.

The school leader can exercise PDM in a number ofways. He or she can consult with subordinates before makinga decision or can allow the group to make the decisions viaconsensus or majority vote. If the group makes the decision,the leader can act as an "equal" with no special authority, orthe leader, can retain the final "veto" power for decisions. Aswill be discussed later, however, the effe dye leader will use avariety ofjdecision- making styles, including, at times, an auto-cratic style.

PDM is an essential, feature of both team managementand schopl-based Managenient, as discussed in the two previ-ous chapters. PDM is the central element of the managementteam its raison d'être. In school-based management, decen-tralization of decision- making authority -to the school site isthe central theme, but PDM the-school site is also essentialto the system's proper furiction.

Int both team management and PDM at the school site,the fornial and legal power structure:of school governance isnot significantly altered. The person in the traditional andlegal position of power whether it be thesuperinterident or'the priricipal retains both -the authority, the responsi-bility for decisions made through the participative process.

Thus,us, the power of position in PDM systems is voluntarilyshared With those in traditionally subordinate positions. Essen-tially, authority to make decisions is shared, but there is usuallyno concomitant dispersal of responsibility for the decisionsmade. pus, PDM is often referrecho as a "high-risk" under -takingfor the administrator involved.

There are three good reasons, though, for believing thatthis risk is worth taking. First, PDM has,been shown to havenumerous advantages over traditional, authority-based sys-tems f command, including better decisions, higheremployeesatisf ction, and better relationships between managementand sfaff. These advantages and some of the research confirm-..,_ing them will be discussed in the next section,

Second, the "democratic" reform movement referred to

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earlier has not subsided and is not likely to in the near future.Teachers, parents, and other community members are clamor-ing for a piece of thedecision-rnaking pie. The rights of citizensand teachers to participate in school governance are ,beingwritten into state laWs and collective bargaining agreements.

The writing,is on the wall:If school administrators donot voluntarily share their power, they:risk forced rearrange-ment of the power structure of education through politicalmeans. If, however, educational administrators do voluntarilyshare power with subordinates and the clients of theschoo system, they can have the best of ;loth worlds: profes-sional control of the schools andaccess to the huge potential forimproved education that partiCipaiive management provides. ,

The third reason the "risr-of PDM is worth taking isthat it can prevent the development of adversarial' relation-sZlips between adminiStrators and teachers. A recent study ofMontana educators, reported by James Keef, found that muchof the discontent and "restlessness" of teachers stems notfrom low-pay but from "a lack of teacher involvement in thedecision-making, process at- the building-site level."

The major goals of teacherS, Keef states, are to "havesome control over their jobs and profession, and to be profes-sioually consulted on matters that affect children in their class=rooms." When teachers are denied input at the building-sitelevel, they try to obtain a voice in decision-making throughcollective bargaining. And if this fails = which it often doesbecause administrators are afraid they will lbSe control of theschools -- teachers focus on money and fringe benefits, be-cause, states Keef, money can act as a temporary substitute forthe, fulfillment of higher needs.

Adthinistrators shoUld not fear sharing power, however.According to recent research reviewed by James Lipham,"teachers do not wish to usurp the role of administrators tomake final decisions. In fact, participative decision making inschools still is seen (by.teachers) as rightfully occurring withinan authoritative organizational context.

Of course, just "sharing power" sounds easy enough,yet.there are many pitfalls to avoid when implementing PDM.Some of these pitfalls and guidelines for avoiding them Will bediscussed later in this chapter. Then-several schools' experi-ences with PDM will be described.

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_Decision-making at the school site can, of .course, beshared with parents, otherCommunity members, and stu-dents, as well as with teachers. This chapter, hoWever, willfocus on decision-making that is, shared between. a school'sprincipal and its faculty..Most of the principles of PDM dis-cussed below, however, are equally applicable to PDM withother groups.

ADVANTAGES OF PARTICIPATION

One of the fundamentalarguments for PDM is that it isthe method of school governance most consistent with demo-cratic principles. The belief that those affected by public insti-tutions should have some voice in how they are run is ,deeplyrooted in America's laws and traditionS. Making the govern-ance of sthoolsmore participative is an expressifin-of_keliefthe deinocratic-system and is a Useful means of teaching bah

`students and educators the principles of the democraticprocess.Participative decision-making can also improve schcibls

in more specific ways, say proponents, by promoting bothbetter decisions and their More effective implementation.Broader participation: increases the number of different view-points anckinterests that are expressed and considered while adeciSion is being made, and this, in turn, may encouragebetter decisibfis. PDM also helps improve communication-withina Sch9olbyiproviding formal channels for the exchangeof information and \ideas, particularly for the "upward" move-ment ofinformation:from the bottom to the top of the adminis-trative hierarchy. Finally, PDM can lead to better decisionsbecause it allows. a school to make fuller use of its humanresources, particularly, the expertise and problem-solving skillsof its teachers.

PDM reads to better implementation of decisions, inpart because the distance between where a decision is madeand where it is put into practice is reduced. If persons imple-menting policy have-participated in the development of thatpolicy, they are more likely to understand it better. .In addition,they are'likely to have a greater,sense of "ownership" in thedecision and. thus will feel more committed to its successfulimpleifientation.

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Many writers also suggest that PDM cari improve bothemployee satisfaction and school climate. For examplertli-e-----fact that teachers are consulted about decisiOns shags themthat the school values their opinions; they, in Wirt, developgreater feelings of professional pride and job satisfaction. Anadversarial relationship between administrators and teachersis less likely. With better communications and more satisfiedpersonnel, the school's overall "climate" (discussed in thenet chapter) can be significantly improved.

QUALITY OF DECISIONS -

Many of the above advantages of PDM have been con-firmed either directly or indirectly by research. Donald Piper,for example, compared the quality of decisions made by indi-viduals acting alone with those they made in groups. He firstgave each individual subject a test that required making aseries of decisions. While members of a control group simplyretook the test individually, the remaining subjects were di-vided into three types of groups for retesting. One type (con-sensus) had no leaders; group memberd discussed the'probleznsuntil they reached solutions that were accepted though notnecessarily agreed upon = by everyone in_the,group: In thesecond type of group (participative-best), theindividual whohad scored highest on the test was chosen group leader andgiven the responsibility for making decisions after elicitingadvice from the rest of the group. The third type (participative-worst) worked the same way, except that individuals with thelowest scores were designated as leaders.

The results of the testing strongly favored group deci-sions. While the individuals who retook the test actually scoredslightly worse on. a second try, each type of group did muchbetter than the average of its members' initial scores. Theconsensus group decisions were better than the individualaverages, and.several groups actually outperformed even theirbest individuals. In each participative-best group, the leadeismade better decisions with help than they had made actingalone. The decisions of the participative-worst leaders improveddramatically, though only one such group was able to surpassits best individual.

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Although the exercise used fof this test was not relatedto education, its results are signs because they form sucha consistent pattern. All the/1 aders = good test-takers andbad -- gained from the participatiori of others, and.in no casedid listening to the advice of others cause a leader to makedecisions that were lress correct. Thus, as Piper suggests, the"results indicate that "if arriving at the most correct decisionis the primary goal, the involvement-ofseveral people . .. willprovide better results than the 'one-man- deciding alone'model."

ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

In a recent article, Jane and Rensis Likert review some ofthe research -that shows schools run more smoothly withparticipative leadership. These authors, classify systems ofmanagement as follows: system 1 is an "exploitive, authori-tarian model"; system 2 is a "benevolent,.authoritarian Model";system 3 iS'a "consultative model "; and system`4 is a "partici-

_pative;soal directed model."The Likerts summarize several' studies illustrating the

applicability of the system 4 model to educational administra-tion. A 1972 study by Haynes of twenty Michigan schooldistricts showed that districts that had never had a teachers'strike were significantly closer to system 4 management, thanwere a matched set of school districts that had recently had ateachers' strike. "The teachers in the school system wherework Stoppages occurred were more frustrated than wereteachers in the systems where work stoppages did not occur,"say the: Likerts. "This frustration was measured by the dif-ferences between the expectations of being involved-in-deci-sions affecting them and their actual experience."

Bernhardt's 1972 study of sixty-seven New York Stateschools also examined the relationship between managementstyle and teacher militancy. Results indicated that "the closerto System 4 the teachers perceived the school's administrationto be, the less they displayed militant orientation."

Gibson's 1974 study found that in schools perceived byteachers and principals as being close to the system 4 model,"boys attain higher achievement test scores in relation to their

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intelligence test scores than do_boys in schools with adminis-trative systems more toward System 1."

Miller's 1970 study of six California districts showed thati'n school systems or individual §chools closer to system 4, themotivation of students and teachers was higher, their frustra-tion with the decision-making process was lower, the con-fidence-and trust among persons in the school were greater,and the school had better communications "in all directions."Other studies reported by the Likens corroborate the findingsdiscussed above.

TEACHER SATISYA.CTION- I

Several'researchers have tried to detennine how teachersfeel about involvement indecision- making. Joseph Alutto andJames Belasco, for example, did pioneering work on the rela-tionship between level of participation and teacher satisfaction.Comparing teachers' actual and desired levels of participationin decision-making, they identified three different conditions:deprivation (too little involvement), saturation (too muchinvolvement recent research indicates this is a relativelyrare phenomenon), and equilibriumi(neither too much nor toolittle involvement). Test results indicated that teachers in astate of equilibrium were the most satisfied group. Teacherswho experienced either deprivation or saturation were lesssatisfied. Thus it may be more important to offer a teacher theright amount of participation than it is simply to increaseparticipation.

Important as it is, Alutto and Belasco's work is limitedby its .exclusive focus on the amount rather than thetype of participation offered to teachers. Other researchhas considered whether teachers are more interested in parti-cipating in certain types of deCisions than in othertypes. AllanMohrman, Jr., Robert Cooke, rx Id Susan Mohrman, forexample, divided decisions into technical (relating to teachingor the instructional process),and managerial (relating to sup-port functions) domains. The authors found that teachersdesired and experienced higher levels of participation in thetechnical than the managerial domain.

Noel Speed attempted to measure the effects on satis-.156 .

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faction of the amount (extent and frequency) as well as thedomain of the decision-making power teachers were offered.His study covered only schools with individualized instruc-tional programs, which, he concedes, may not be typical of allschools. However, several of his findings were consistentwith those of other researchers: either equilibrium or slightdeprivation in either domain-orainotirof-participation wascorrelated with-higher levels of satisfaction than Was-severedeprivation; and teachers' ideal and,actuallevelsbf-participa--tion- were' high& tethnical than in managerial domains.Nevertheless, teachers apparently derived considerable sans -faction from their limited participation in managerial decision-making. Spefd also found that teachers' satisfaction wasaffected more by how extensively they participated in decision-making than by how frequently they did so.Further evidence that teachers desire a greater decision-Making role in certain areas than in others is provided by thework of Robert Knoop and Robert O'Reilly. They asked 192teachers how they felt decisions should be madeabout textbookselection, curriculum planning, and curriculum evaluation.While most teachers felt they should have sole responsibilityfor selecting textbooks, in the other areas teachers did notwant sole responsibility nor did they want to give principalstotal responsibility. Instead, most favored some sort of shareddecision-making, either through majority rule or a system of"consultation" in which the principal makes the decision witha lot of input from teachers. Another researcher's findingsemphasize how important it is that teachers be offered thet forms of participation. Carl Lowell studied the relativee fectiveness of three different types of decision-makinggroups consensus, majority vote, and, centralist (leaderdominated). He specifically focused on the effect these dif-ferent decision-making processes would have on the members'attitudes toward the process itself, their willingness to altertheir own initial private opinions, and their satisfaction withthe group solution.

The consensus groups, with all the members sharingthe power equally, showed the highest level of satisfaction withthe group solution. The members also had highly favorableattitudes toward the process the group followed in reachingits decision and were quite willing to change their opinions in

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the course of reaching consensus. The leaders of consensusgroups tended ,to- take the rale of synthesizers by helpingcommunication to flow openly and by working to involve all (\group members in the decision-making process.

Members of centralist groups, in which decisions weremade by a leader after consulting with the group, also tendedto be satisfied with the groups' decisions, positive toward thedecision-making and group interaction processes, and willingto change their opinions about the value of their initial solu-tions. Lowell had not expected these groups to work so well.Apparently, the primary reason for their success was that thegroup leaders, although they had final responsibility for deci-sions, chose to share their power with the group. They workedcollaboratively by collecting a variety of ideas and opinions,and "synthesizing them into a solution that requires at themost approval from the group."

In practice; therefore, centralist groups worked verymuch like consensus groups:Their members felt free to parti-cipate, perceived that ttie groupwas moving toward a solution,and were pleased that the leader incorporated their ideas intothe gro-up decision. It appears, in fact, that the centralist groupleaders actually assumed a role similar to what teachers inICnoop and O'Reilly's study considered ideal and that, inpractice, this ideal role proved to be highly functional.

The majority-vote groups in Lciwell's.study, however,were fat less successful. Members were generally less satisfiedwith the solutions the group reached, less willing to changetheir initial opinions, and less favorable toward the decision-making process than members of other groups. Group leadersoften acted as arbitrators between group members endorsingdifferent solutioni..- The atmosphere in these groups becamecompetitive, with little of the give-and-take thatcharacterizedconsensus groups. Lowell suggests that poor communicationmay have caused these groups to function ineffectively, sinceconcentration"on the alternative solutions to the case hindersthe developmentaa common understanding of the facts andclarification of the problem(s)." -

Taken together, the above studies constitutea remarkablystrong endorsement for participative decision-making. Theyshow that PDM.can enhance the quality of decisions, increaseemployees' job satisfaction, prevent adversarial relationships,

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and, in general, improve the school's climate.The primary disadvantage of the participative approach

is that it requires more time and effort on everyone's part tomake it work. Although it often slows down the efficiency ofthe decision-making process, the advantages accrued throughPDM appear to easily outweigh the disadvantages.

GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Many building administrators are convinced of the desira-bility of PDM at the school site, yet they are not sure how toproceed. How should the organizational structures for involve-ment be designed? Who should be included in the decision-making process? What kinds of decisions should be sharedwith others? How should agreements be reached?

Of course, there are no pat answers to these questions.Each school is unique and has different needs, resources, andrestrictions that will influence the final form of its PDM system.There are, however, several basic guidelines that should beconsidered before setting up any shared decision-makingsystem.

VARYING DECISION-MAKING STYLE

Although PDM has many advantages over autocraticdecision-making, it dos not necessarily follow that all deci-sions should be made collectively. In some instances suchas when a crisis arises, when decisions are routine, or whenspecial expertise is called for an autocratic style might bebest.

Consider the task facing the school's leader: he or shemust maximize several variables the efficiency of decision-making, the quality of decisions, the use of professional exper-tise, -and the satisfaction of those affected by the decisionsmade each of which may be at odds with the others. Simplyincreasing participation in decision-making without consider-ing the other variables could ultimately be counterproductive.As management consultant Maneck Wadia states,

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Participative management is but one tool in the man-agement bag. An executive proclaiming to be a "parti-

-cipative manager" is tantamount to a carpenter pro-claiming to be a "hammerer." Obviously, a carpenterhas and'needs a variety of tools in achiev. - objectives.Similarly, a manager needs a variety of .....tiniques toachieve goals.

Instead of sharing all 'decisions, the astute school leader-will-make some-decisions-autocratically7warriake-s-ome with=input from the staff, and will allow the staff to make somededsions themselves. In short, the effective building adminis-trator will utilize a "situational" style of leadership and willvary his or her decision-making style with the needs of thesituation.

One useful exercise for making administrators moreaware of their decision-making styles was explained by RobertDeVries in a telephone interview. The exercise is used byDeVries and colleague Mark Robert to train administrators inLos Angeles's staff development program for administrators.Decisions that administrators are faced with are classified asfollows:

consensus (when acceptance and trust of staff areneeded)command (when constrained by time an d need forspecial expertise)consultatiOn (when more input is needed)convenience (when no one cares about the decision)

The goal of the activity is to show administrators that blindlyinsisting on only one kind of decision-making for every deci-sion can be inefficient or destructive of trust.

Just as important as varying one's decision-making styleis making it clear to staff members what their part` in thedecision-making process will be. "There is considerable evi-dence," states James Liphamin a recent research review, "thatin effective schools, the principal defines dearly the boundariesof others' involvement, avoiding giving the impression thatthey have the power to make decisions when, in fact, they donot." When staff members understand the structure of thedecision-making process and the bounds of their power, theycan begin to work within that structure toward group goals,

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Without continual doubt or haggling over power.

WHO SHOULD BE INVOLVED

The "classic rule of thumb" in this matter, as RobertMuccigrosso states, is "to involve all those in. the decision-making who will be directly and significantly affected by theOutcome of the decision." Although this general rule seemssensible eiiaugh,itis complicated by several considerations.

First, different individuals desire different levels of in-volvement. Some faculty memberiinightdesire a great deal ofparticipation, while others might prefer to be told-whattodo.Thus, the first step in implementing a PDM program woulcrbe---to determine just who does have the desire to be mere involvedin decision-making. An ideal program would be selective andvoluntary, offeringiparticipation to those who want it, withoutforcing it on thosewho do not.

Involvement in the decision-making process should alsobe dictated by the situation. Research indicates that "totalgroup decision making continues to be overutilized in schools,"says James Upham. "In the earlystages of any change process,when awareness and support are critical, wide participationshould be the rule. In later stages (i.e. implementation), parti-cipation should be limited because people weary of groupmeetings devoted to redeciding issues.'

Another complication of involving all those. affected by adecision in its making is that some individuals in the schoolmay have special expertise in certain areas that gives them as l status in the decision-making process. This is the classicdilemma between "professionalism" and "populism" in ademocratic system, a dilemma that never has reached andprobably never will reach final resolution.

Of course, the input of others should always be soughtand heard. The principal, however, will have to decide in eachcase whether following the advice of the "expert" (who maybe the principal himself) or consenting to the desires of thelarger group will. do most to advance the school toward itsgoals. In any case, the principal should make clear to staffmembers what their role in the decision-making process willbe before the process begins.

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Another problem with the "classic rule of thumb" forinvolvement is that the decision-making group, can quitequickly become too large and cumbersome for efficient opera-tion. Thus, some form of representation may be called for.

So how should staff members be chosen for participationon a decision-making or advisorycommittee? James Longstrethhas addressed this issue in a monograph on school-basedmanagement. If the faculty electsmembers to the committee,it will likely be more representative but "it can also result in theselection of the more popular, faculty members ignoring thosewith the necessary expertise." If the principal appoints mem-bers, the necessary expertise will be available, yet the committee may not be representative. Despite the weaknesses ofeach method, Longstreth concludes, one or the other shouldbe used, orperhaps a combination of the two.

EXTENT OF INVOLVEMENT

As discussed in the last section, research has shown thatteachers-whafeel they have too little involvement and teacherswho feel they have -too -much involvement are less satisfiedthan teachers who perceive their participation as appropriate.-

According to Lipham, "excessive involvement causesfrustration ('Why doesn't the principal -just decide and leaveus alone?'), whereas, underinvolvement creates hard feelings('Why wasn't I consulted?')." The sensitive principal, Liphamconcludes, must give attention to both the frequency and thelevel of involvement and should strive for "a condition ofequilibrium" between too little and too much involvement.

AREAS OF INVOLVEMENT

In general, participation should be offered in those areasof decision- making that are of most concern to teachers. Asnoted earlier, research has shown that teachers are more inter-ested in those areas that are more immediate to their worksuch as textbook selection, curriculum planning and evalua-tion, and classroom management than they are in moregeneral management areas. As Knoop and O'Reilly's work

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indicates, most teachers desire sole responsibility forselectingtextbooks, but in other areas they desire only a strong consul-tative role, with the principal making the-final decision.

Of course, different teachers have different areas ofprimary interest. PDM systems could be designed, however,so teachers could influence the policies that affect them most,without getting_involved in other areas. In such systems,teachers who did wish to participate in a certain area wouldalso be likely to be those with the greatest interest and expertisein'that ea, and therefore, presumably, they would have thegreatest potential for contributing to better decision-making.

FORMS OF INVOLVEMENT

Since teachers seem to respond to participation when ittakes forms they consider desirable,-itis_particularly impor-tant to identify the most effective forms of PDM-. Unfortu-nately, the form of participation that teachers desire most =-consensus_ is not always practicable, primarily because itcan take a great deal of time and may not work at all in largegroups. This may indicate that what Lowell calls a centralistapproach, with a single decision-maker extensively using the

. advice of others, could often be the most desirable form ofPDM. The principal, however, should vary the forms ofinvolvement according to his or her judgment of what will bebest for the total operation of the school.

MOVING TO PDM

Several writers stress-the importance of implementing aPDM system gradually. Jane and Rensis Likert, for example,advise organizations not to "attempt one big jump" from anauthoritative to a participative system. In moving towardPDM, they state,

a leader should make no greater shift at any one timethan subordinates or members can adjust to comfor-tably and respond to positively. If a leader makes a

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sizable shift, the members do not have the interactionskills to respond appropriately and usually are madeinsecure or frightened by the shift, responding to itnegatively.

To develop a program that truly fits the needs of aspecific school community, PDM should be introduced gradu-ally, allowed to evolve, and evaluated regularly, with feedbackfrom participants. As one result of such an evaluation, the__ °participants'may see-tha rtheyrOgrairitaild be itiditeffettitre-if their own skills and expertise were improved. A natural nextstep might be the design of training sessions providing what-ever content is needed.

EXercises to help schools and school groups assess theirdecision-making structures and learn more about how parti-cipative decision-making works have been collected by RichardSchmuck and his colleagues. For example, the "Card DiscoveryProblem" requires participants to find a unique card some-thing impossible without information-sharing by all members.The "LoSt on the Moon" exercise (the same exercise used byDonald Piper in the decision-making experiment describedpreviously) teaches participant§ to -reach decisions by con-sensus- by rank ordering equipment most useful for a two-hundred-mile trip across the moon. These exercises are helpfulbecause they allow groups to 'learn participative decision-making by using it to solve hypothetical problems unlikely toarouse anxiety or strong feeling.

Some of the skills necessary to make PDM work arediscussed in detail in the chapters on communicating andleading meetings.

Ultimately, the key to a successful PDM program is thedevelopment of trust and mutual respect among the partici-pants. If these exist, they will foster the open exchange ofideas and feelings that is essential to effective policy-making.After all,-no rules or theories can really identify what the mostappropriate forms of PDM will be in a given situation. Butwhen the formidable human resources of a school communityare employed, a school will have little trouble developing aspecific approach tailored to the needs, skills, and aspirationsof those who are to participate in the decision-making process.

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APITOACHES TO INVOLVEMENT

There are no "magic formulas" for implementing PDM atthe school site. Each school is unique and must design adecision-making structure that will-fit its own characteristicsand needs.

The guidelines presented in the previous section canhelp administrators conceptualize the general outlines of theirschool's PDM system. Another valuable resource in the designprocess, presented here, is a description of the experiences ofother schools with PDM systems.

Vincent Crockenbergand-Woodrow Ciark;Ir:Tin-a-1979-article, describe what they believe to be the most important ofthe recent teacher participationexperiments, namely the SanJose (California) Teacher Involvement Project (TIP). TIPwhich was "modestly financed" by the National Institute ofEducation from 1974 to 1977 sought "to train classroomteachers to participate with` their building principals in identi-fying and resolving local school problems and to sustain thatinvolvement by implementing formal decision-making pro-cedures at each school, site."

With the help of the TIP staff, teachers at each of thetwelve participating San Jose schools identified both thedecision-making areas they wished to be involved in and thelevels at Which they wanted to be involved. TheSe preferenceswere then incorporated into a "constitution" that each school'sfaculty drew up, often in collaboration with the principal.

The constitutions described in detail"the basic structureof government" at the school, including "the composition andoperation of the faculty council, the faculty's decision-makingprerogatives, and the procedures for recourse in the event ofdifferences between the'councils and the school administra-tion."

"As it turned out, the decision-makingareas of particularconcern to teachers were distinctly instructional rather thanadministrative," state Crockenberg and Clark. Most facultiesindicated that they preferred to operate in an advisory orconsultative capacity, though some faculties desired to havethe power to reject and authorize decisions.

TIP had strong support from San Jose's superintendent,as well as support from the state and local teachers associa-

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tions. In some schools, principals objected because they feltTIP undermined their authority as business managers. Someof these principals finally came out in favor of TIP, while thosewho remained opposed "were effe7tively neutralized by thesuperintendent's clear support of the project."

After three years, twelve of the district's schools haddeveloped councils andconstitutions that provided "legitimateand effective faculty participation in a wide variety of decision-making areas." Not surprisingly, however, TIP was most suc-cessful in those schools where the principal voluntarily sharedpower with the teachers.

Crockenberg and Clark identify five factors that led to'TIP's success: strong support from both the superintendentand teachers; the involvement of teachers in the planning ofTIP; appropriate training for school personnel; the establish-ment of formal mechanisms that "clearly specified who hadlegitimate authority to make what: decisions imthe new gov-ernance structure "; and the gradual implennentatiOn of theproject, which proceeded "with due regard to the difficultiesteachers and building principals would, confront in recon-structing the long-established and well-entrenched, govern-ance structure of the public schools. "'

Although each schci_01 had achieved a significant degreeof teacher participation. at, the end of the three-year grantperiod, two years later TIP wa ", thriving in 'only six of thetwelve original schools. Crocke 'berg and Clark blame TIP'slanguishing on adversarial rel tionships brought about bycollective bargaining and budget cuts caused by Proposition13.

Another approach to PDM is found in the Mansfield,Conhecticut,, public schools (enrollment: 1,200 students inthree elementary schools andOne middle school). In Mansfield,"teachers conceive and write curricula, help to screen andnominate professional staff,, help prepare the budget, scheduletheir schools and bring recommendations to the Board ofEducation," according to David Weingast.

Teachers participate directly in the process of district-wide curriculumdevelopmentby serving on curriculum coun-cils, which are organized by subject. The councils identifycurriculum work that needs to be done, develop the curriculumthemselves or with the help of outside consultants, and then

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11(E STRUCTURE: PARTICIPATIVE DECISION-MAKING

present their proposal to the board of education. Prior to theirpublic session, Superintendent Bruce Caldwell meets with thecouncil to help shape their proposal. Caldwell does not, how-ever, force his thinking pn the group, says Weingast.

Teachers also participate at the building level. When anew teacher is needed, for example, "the principal constitutesan in-house committee of teachers who, with him, developspecific job criteria, screen applications, interview candidates,observe them on the job, and make 'recommendations to thesuperintendent. Virhiallyt`Without exception their proposalsstick."

Principals retain.a leadership role in the-Mansfield sys-tem, thbugh many teacherS speak of the principals as "facili-

---t-ators." The principals are happy with the district's new spirit,says Weingast, and they speak highly of teachers' proles=signal health in'the PDM system. However, "an old fashibnedprincipal; used to running everything, would be out of placehere."

One of the district's principals, Margaret Anthony, hadthis to say about die Mansfield system in a recent article:

Leadership in Mansfield may come from students,parents, teachers, administrators, school board mem-bers, and even the superidendent. Leadership is notstructured in the traditional hierafchy of command,the pyramid of power with its pinnacle in the mainoffice and. its broad base resting in the powerless,voiceless teaching staff. Leadership is not permanentlyfixed, rigidly controlled, or jealously guarded. Theentire staff is encouraged to contribute their best andindeed they do.

Mansfield's teachers work hard at making the PDMsystem work, concludes Weingast, "but there is no sign thatthey would trade their present responsibilities and gratifica-tions for an easier life under a more traditional.arrangement."

CONCLUSION

Recent research has confirmed what proponents of par-ticipative approaches have long claimed -- that PDM can leadto better decisions, better implementation, greater job satis-

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faction, and improved school communications.But simply increasing participation in decision-making

is not enough to ensure a smoothly functioning school. AsJames Upham stresses, "effective principals ecognize theneed for situational leadership" and will utilize a variety ofdecision-making styles according to the dictates of the situation.

When a participative approach is called for, theeffectiveschool leader will consider all the variables involved whoshould be involved, their optimum level ofinvolvement, whatwill be decided, and how it will be decided and then willclearly communicate to the group the design of the decision-making process. When used in this way, PDM can be one ofthe most effective techniques a leader can use to motivateothers ,to "strive willingly for group goals."

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CHAPTER 7

SCHOOL CLIMATECDJohn.Lindelow and Jo Ann Mazzarellari

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There is a subtle spirit that exists in a school, both inthe minds of the teachers and students and in everyact, which may never be exactly described or analysed,but which even the most inexperienced observer rec-ognizes when he enters a school or a clissroom.L. J. Chamberlin

'Ask any student, teacher, or administrator; indeed, askanyone who has spent even a short amount of time in differentschools: each has its own distinct "feel" or "personality" thatcan be recognized soon after entering its doors.Some schools are perceived as "good" schools de-sirable and perhaps even exciting places to work and learn.Others are perceived as just the opposite places where onewould probably not spend Much time were it not for legal orfinancial compulsions to do so. Still other schools are con-sidered "ordinary" by most observers not particularly ex-citing, but not particularly threatening, either.

For decades, this "subtle spirit" of a school was generallyreferred to as "school morale" by researchers and practitioners.In the past twenty y6rs or so, however, the concept has moreoften been called school or organizational "climate."In a broad sense, organizational climate is the product ofevery aspect of an organization the nature of the work thatgoes on there, the people, the architecture and surroundings,the history of the organization, the administrative policies ineffect, and, especially, the patterns of interaction and cum-munication among the members of the organization. Thus,Eugene Howard defines climate as "the aggregate of socialand cultural conditions which influence individual behavior inthe school -- all the forces to which the individual responds,whicfrare present in the school environment."Most of the research and discussion on school climate,however, focuses on the "social" aspect of climate, whichappears to be the major contributor to overall climate. In thischapter, then, discussion will center on that part of schoolclimate which results from the ways organizational members

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SCHOOL LEADERS' IIP: HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

behave and interact with eachother.Definitions of the social aspect of school climate abound.

Fritz Steele and Stephen Jenks, for example, define organiza-tional climate as "what it feels like to spend time in a socialsystem the weather in that region of social space." WilburBrookover, Charles Beady, Patricia Flood, John Schweitzer,and Joe Wisenbaker conceive of cliMate as "the composite ofnorms, expectations, and beliefs which characterize the schoolsocial system as perceived by members of the social system."Andrew Halpin and Don Croft have another useful conceptu-alization of school climate; they call it the organizational "per-sonality" of a school. "'Climate' is to the organization," theystate, what " 'personality' is t J the individual."

For a given individual, climate is the "feel" he or shegets from being inan organization'. This feeling is the productof the individual's "global" perception of the patterns ofbehavior and interaction in .the organization. And these be-hdviors,- in turn, are largely determined by the underlyingstructure of norms, expectations, and beliefs in the organiza-tion. Thus, norms determine behavior, which determinesclimate.Because of the complexity of the underlying stratums ofbehaviois and notnts, portraits of climate created by researchers

are necessarily multidimensional in nature; that is, they usuallyhave numerous variables. Climate is thus quite similar tohuman personality, as Halpin and Croft note. Just as per-sonality has many "facets" to it, so does the climate ofa schoolhave many components.

. And just as there are numerous ways to characterizepersonality, there are numerous ways to characterize climate.The science of "organizational climate," however, is in itsinfancy compared to the science of personality. Thus, themethods of characterizing climate as will be seen beloware as yet rather undeveloped. Methods of climate "therapy"lag even further behind and are nearly on a par with "folk"medicine. Nevertheless,useful suggestions for improving cli-mate exist and will be reviewed.

Of couse, it isn't just the school that has its characteristicclimate. Both classrooms and school districts also have their"personalities." The climates of the classrooms in a schoolcontribute to that school's overall climate, just as the climates

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THE STRUCTURE: SCHOOL CLIMATE

of the various schools in a district contribute to the district'soverall climate.

In this chapter discussion will center on climate at theschool building level, for two reasons. First,-most research todate has focused onthis level:Second, the school has a moredefined and independent climate than the district or class-room. Individual schools are rather loosely tied into the largerdistrict structure, so individual schools can vary widely intheirclimates. Thus district climate is a somewhat disparateentity.

Clissrooms within a school, however, are more closelyassociated and thus are more apt to share a common climate."Although there is some variance in school climate betweenclassrooms within the school," state Brookover and his col-leagues, "the within school differences are not so great as torule out the existence of a characteristic climate for the school."

MEASURING SCHOOL CLIMATE

Although there is vague agreement among researcherson what constitutes healthy school climate, there is little con-sensus on how climate should be measured. Several systemsfor characterizing organizational climate have been devised.Most of these systems focus on measuring patterns of inter-action and communication among the school's staff members,particularly between teachers and administrators.

One of the earlier school climate assessment instrumentswas developed in 1962 by Andrew Halpin and Don Croft.Their "Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire"(OCDQ) focused on "the social interactions that occur betweenthe teachers and the principal." Halpin and Croft recognized"the importance of othercomponents" of school climate, butchose to start with the social component with the hope ofdealing "with the others at a future time." Their OCDQ,meanwhile, has become the most commonly used instrumentfor measuring school climate.

Halpin and Croft examined elementary schools it thedevelopment of their OCDQ. They collected data fromseventy-one schools in six different regions of the country,with climate descriptions from 1,151 respondents.

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The items composing this questionnaire were selectedfor their ability 'to indicate consistencies in faculty members'perceptions within their schools and to allow for comparisonsamong different schools. From teachers' descriptions of theirschool experiences and from previous research, Halpin andCroft constructed a set of simple statements, such as 'Teachersseek special favors from the priiicipal" and "The principalschedules the work for the teachers." Respondents indicatedto what extent these statementsapplied to their schools.

After certain refinements, the sixty-four-item OCDQwas divided into eight subtests; four of these tapped thecharacteristics of the faculty as a group, and the other fourpertained to characteristics of the principal' as leader. Thegroup behavior subtests were intended to measure disengage-ment (teachers' tendency toward anomie), hindrance (Dothe teachers feel the principal facilitates or hinders theirwork?), esprit (teachers' morale), and intimacy (social needssatisfaction).

_ The leader behavior subtests were intended to measurealoofness (Is the principal impersonal and formal, or emotionallyinvolved with his staff?), production emphasis (Is the principalhighly directive and not sensitive to staff feedback?), thrust(Does the principal motivate teachers by setting a good,example and personally moving the organization?), and con-sideration (Does the principal treat teachers "humanly"?).

Of these eight characteristics, Halpin and Croft discov-ered that esprit and thrust possessed special significance. Thecombined OCDQ scores for these two characteristic is "thebest single index of authenticity," as Halpin states. Espritindicates the authenticity of group behavior, while thrustindicates the same for the principal's behavior. Halpin con-ceived of authentic behavior as reality-centered, open, andessentially honest. And his dataindicate that authenticity isstrongly associated with those organizational climates he andCroft class as "open."

Halpin and Croft discovered that the organizational'profiles of their seventy-one elementary schools could be ar-rayed along a continuum from "open climate" at one endthrough "closed climate" at the other.

In the open climate, members experience high esprit,but have no need for a high degree of intimacy. The leader

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scores-high on -thrust, "but does not have to emphasize.iiro-duction, since the teachers' productivity is already high: Thebehavior of both leader and group is "authentic." At the otherend of the spectrum, the closed climate-is "the least genuine"one. What the leader says and does are two separate things.Teachers are disengaged, esprit is low, and group achievementis minimal.

Halpin and Croft are careful to point out that theircontinuum, while it is useful for purposes of classification andconvenience, has certain shortcomings. As Halpin notes, "theranking scheme is, at best, only an approximation, and the useof a continuum which, perforce, assumes a linearity ofrelationShip oversimplifies the facts." He acknowledgesthat, even though the six climate types were predicated on theresearch, "in -a genuine sense we did not discover theseOrganizational Climates; we invented them."

Drea Zigarmi and Ron Sinclainhave developed anotherinstrument for characterizing school climate, which they callthe Staff Development- School Climate Questionnaire(SDSCQ). The SDSCQ, they explain, measures five "dimen-sions" of climate. Respondents are asked to indicate their levelof agreement with fifty-eight statements on a six-point Likert-type scale.

The five dimensions of climate measured by the SDSCQare communication the extent to. which "information isshared among groups such as the school board, the centraloffice, the building principal," and the teachers; innovative-

,tress the extent to which "educational innovations havebeen supported in the past by the school board, the centraloffice, the building principal," and the teachers; advocacy the"rapport and professionalism that exists among professionalstaff members"; decision-making the extent to which re-spondents can contribute to decisions; and atti'aide toward staffdevelopment the feelings respondents have "toward inser-vice education in general and specific inservice activities spon-sored by the school system."

Brook-over and his colleagues have developed threequestionnaires (for teachers, principals, and students) de-signed to measure their idea of school climate as the "complexof feelings, attitudes, beliefs, values, expectations, and normsof the school." The fourteen "climate variables" measured by

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their questionnaire are as follows:STUDENT1. Student sense of academic futility2. Future evaluations and expectations3. Perceived present evaluations and expectations4. Perception of teacher push and teacher norms5. Student academic normsTEACHER1. Ability, evaluations, expectations, and quality of stu-

dents' education for college2. Present evaluations and expectations for students'high school completion3. Teacher-students' commitment to improve4. Peiception of principal's expectations5. Teacher's academic futilityPRINCIPAL1. Parent conceit and expectations for quality of edu-,_cation2. Efforts to improve,3. Evaluations ofpresent school quality4. Present evaluations and expectations of students

The findings of these researchers will be discussed more fullyin the next section.

George Litwin and Robert Stringer have developed athirty-one-statementotganizational climatequestionnaire. Aswith the other instruments, the respondents indicate theirlevel of agreement with the statements. Each item is intendedto reflect one of the following "dimensions of climate":

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1. Structure the feeling the workers have about theconstraints in their work situation; how many rules,regulations, and procedures there are

2. Responsi laity the feeling of "being your own boss";not having to double-check all of your decisions

3. Risk the sense of riskiness and challenge in the joband in the work situation

4. Reward the feeling of being rewarded for a job welldone; the emphasis on reward versus criticism andpunishment

5. Warmth and sum-- '

)

;ort the feeling of general good-1

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fellowship and helpfulness that prevails in the orga-nization

6. Conflict the feeling that management is not afraid ofdifferent opinions or conflict; the emphasis placed onsettling differences here and now

Of all these instruments for measuring climate, it isdifficult to say which is the "best." Son,e instruments arebetter tested and-have more internal consistency than others.But a better criterion for judging these methods is, perhaps,how useful they are as tools for helping educators accurately

- profile their school's climate as the first step in a climateimprovement-program.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOL CLIMATE

Does it really matter Whether a school has a "healthy"climate? Is it worth taking the trouble to try to improve climate?What would-be the rewards of-suchan undertaking?

Certainly the satisfaction and morale of students andstaff are higher in schools with healthy climates than in schoolswith unhealthy climates; indeed, school climate measures areoften a direct reflection of satisfaction ,with the school,. But isthere any hard evidence that climate influences the final out-comes of education how much and how well children learn?A good deal of recent research briefly reviewed in thissection indicates that it does.

The questiOn of whether climate influences student out-comes is important, because, as Michael Rutter and his col-leagues have noted, there has recently been "a widespreadacceptance among academics that schools made little differ-ence" in student outcomes. This view stemmed largely fromJames Coleman's Equality of Educational Opportunity (1966) andChristopher Jencks' Inequality: A Reassessment of the Effect ofFamily and Schooling in America (1972).

According to Brookover arid his colleagues,. the conclu-sion of Jencks and others "that schools do not and (or) cannotmake a difference in the achievement outcomes has beenbased odinadequate evidence." These studies have used f3,ichvariables as family origins, teachers' qualifications, and school

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/SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

expenditures to exantine the impact of schools on achievement.But these studies "devoted little or no attention to the natureof the social interaction which occurs within the school socialsystem."

Several new studies are challenging the notion thatschools don't make a difference by showing that school climateand school achievement are closely correlated. Brookover andcolleagues, for example, sought to test the hypothesis that"the cultural or social-psychological normative climate andthe student- status-role definitions which characterized theschool social systerh explain much of the variance in.achieve-ment and other behavioral outtomes_of the schools."

These researchers studied 91 elementary schools chosenat random from the 2,200 elementary schools in Michigan withfourth- and fifth-grade students-Altogether, 11,466 students,453 teachers, and 91 principals participated in the study.

From school records and froth questionnaires adminis-tered to the students, teachers, and principals, the researchersobtained data on socioeconomic status and racial compositionof the students, teacher salaries, teacher qualifications, student-teacher ratio, average daily attendance, student population,and average length of teacher tenure in the school. The ques-tionnaires also characterized some aspects of each schobl'ssocial structure, such as the extent to which parents are knownand involved in the school social system, the amount of timedevoted to instruction, the teachers' satisfaction in schoolrelationships, and two student "status-role definitions."

Finally, the questionnaires measured characteristics ofeach school's climate, which the-reSearchers identify as the"normative social-psychological environment" ofthe school.Climate variables included students', teachers', and principals'perceptions of their abilities to function successfully in thesystem, their perceptions of others' expectations and evalua-tions of them, and the norms of the school social system.

All of the above data we're regarded by the researchersas the "input" into the school system. The "outcome variables"were the achievement scores of the fourth -grade students onstate-administered math and reading tests, measures of thestudents' self-concepts of academic ability, and measures ofstudents' sense of "self-reliance."

The input variables, taken together, accounted for about. I

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three-fourths of the variance in achievement between schools.The authors then attempted to determine which input variablesaccounted for most of the variance in achieVement. Unfor- ,tuna tely, this attempt was frustrated by the fact that "measuresof climate are highly correlated with the measures of socio-economic and racial compositions of the student bodies."

Through various statistical analyses, however, the au-thors are able to show convincingly that their climate variableshad a stroriger influenceon achievement than did the economicand racial factors. ' Although it is not sufficient proof," theyconclude, "these analyses suggest that school climate ratherthan family background as reflected in student body composi-tion has the rmre direct impact on achievement."

Other recent studies have focused on the effect of theschool on student achievement. James Coleman's new reportPublic and Private Schools, for example, contains "importantdata about the relationships ofvarious educational practices tostudent achievement," according to Diane Ravitch. She ex-plains the impact of the new Coleman report as follows:

For 15 years, since the appearance of the original Cole-man report in 1966, educators have been remindedrepeatedly that "schools don't make a difference" andthat family background heavily determineseducationalachievement. The new Coleman report dramaticallyreverses this pessimistic conclusion and finds insteadthat schools do make a difference, regardless of thefamily background of students.

Time and again, Ravitch continues, the new report"demonstrates that achievement follows from specific schoolpolicies, not from the particular family background of thestudents,"findings thatrepresent "a dramaticdeparture fromthe social determinism of the past 15 years."

Another study, this one conducted in Britain, came tosimilar conclusions. In Fifteen Thousand Hours, Michael Rutter,Barbara Maughan, Peter Mortimore, Janet Outson, and AlanSmith concluded that

differences between schools in outcome were system-atically related to their characteristics as social institu-tions. Factors as varied As the degree of academicemphasis, teacher actions in lessons, the availability ofincentives and rewards, good conditions for pupils,

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and the extent to which children were able to takeresponsibility were all significantly associated withoutcome differences between schools. All of these fac-tors were open to modification by the staff, rather thanfixed by external constraints.

Rutter and cowriters suggest that school .climate has alot to do with these differences. They found that the combinedeffect on school outcomes of the school process variables theymeasured was much stronger than the effect ofany individualprocess variable.

This suggests that the cumulativeeffect of these varioussocial factors was considerablygreater than the effectof any of the individual factors on their own. Theimplication is that the individual actions or measuresmay combine to create a particular ethos, or set ofvalues, attitudes and behaviours which will becomecharacteristic of the school as a whole.

Thus, what happens in a school does appear to influencethe "outcomes" of the school student achievement, behav-

. ior, and attitudes. Improving school climate is, then, a worth-,-while undertaking.

IMPROVING SCHOOL CLIMATE

Many principals would like to improve the climates of-their schools but do not know how to proceed. They mayunderstand quite well how to elicit changes in particular pro-grams or policies. Yet how can they change something aspervasive and powerful as school climate?

As a first step, principals should gain an understanding ofthe cyclical and self-perpetuating nature of organizational cli-mate. Then they should consider the process of changingclimate and their place in that process. Finally, they mightlisten to the practical suggestions of researchers and prac-titioners to gain ideas to apply in their own schools. Each ofthese steps toward improving school climate will be discussedin turn.

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THE STABILITY OF CLIMATE

Every organization develops norms of behavior thatdictate how members of the organization are expected tobehave .'Each individual learnS, through interacting with othersin the organization, just what is considered appropriate be-havior and what is not. When a person behaves in accordancewith the norms, the norms are confirmed and reinforced.

In this kind of cycliCal fashion, norms reinforce andperpetuate themselves. And the behavior that the norms dic-tate is what creates, in the minds Of individuals, the organiza-tion's climate. Thus, climates, too, are self-perpetuatirig.

A useful analogy, again, is that of human persOnality.Each person has a self-image that dictates how that person willtend to behave. Behavior consistent with the self-image rein-forces the self-image, which then dictates future behavior.

Habits and pattern's of behavior become firmly en-trenched in this way and are difficult though not impos-sible to change. Habits of behavior or of thought can bechanged, for example, by:forcing oneself to behave or thinkdifferently for a time, until new patterns become established.The key is to break the self- reinforcing cycle of self- conceptand behavior.

Changing organization norms and the cliinates theycreate is exactly analogous. The change agent must some-how intervene in the self-perpetuating cycle of norms andbehavior and establish a new "self- concept" for the school.

The new norms once established will ,to a largeextent reinforce and perpetuate themselves. A useful concep-tualization of this stability of a good school environment isprovided by Edward Wynne, who studied some 140 schools inthe Chicago area. The "good" schools Wynne found were likewell-tended gardens:

In an efficient garden, weeding is easier once the foodplants are well rooted. A mature and vigorous cropchokes out the weeds. So too in highly coherent orgood schools, the vitality of the total environmentstifled occasional surges of inefficiency: Students keptpeers from breaking rules; teachers went out of theirway to help colleagues solve professional problems;things seemed to work out without obvious conflictand stress.

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Do events create the leader, or does the leader create the

SCHOOL ICADERSIIIP: I IANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

events? Is it possible for the principal to modify climate, or willthe climate of the school seep into the principal and modify hisor her behavior?

The leader of the school is like everyone else sub-ject to the norms of the .school and the expectations of theschool's personnel. Some authors contend that the power ofthe organizational norms is stronger than the power of theprincipal to change them. Thus, any attempt. to improve theclimate created by the norms can only end in frustration anddefeat.

Despite such grounds for pessimism, the idea_that prin-cipals do have the power to change school climate and.schooleffectiveness has a multitude of advocates. Fred Hechinger,who wrote the foreword to a book by James Lipham, is char-acteristic:

I have never seen a good`school with a poor principalor a poor school with a good principal. I have seenunsuccessful schools .turned around into successfulonesand, regrettably, outstanding schools slide rap-idly into decline. In each case, the rise or fall couldreadily belt-aced to the quality of the principal.

Whether the principal alone Amid carry the responsi-bility for creating an effective school or a healthy climate isopen to debate. It is likely, though, that the actual power of theprincipal to influence the climate ofa school lies somewherebetween inefficacy and total responsibility. The principal isindeed subject to the norms and other socializing forces of theschool; but the principal also holds more power than anyone ,.

in the school and can use that power to slowly work changesin the norms of the school. ,

4.)

THE PROCESS OF CHANGE

One promising system for 4eliciting change in schoolclimate is that of organizational development (OD). "In es-sence," says D. D. Warrick, "OD changes the norms of anorganization." Richard Schmuck, Philip Runkel, Jane Arends,and Richard Arends designed a text on OD in the schools "to

18O


help establish the organizational climates that nurture personalfulfillment" in the schools.

OD is basically a strategy for eliciting organizationalchange that utilizee at least initially an outside "cadre"of OD specialists. The specialists educate the members .;f theorganization in such areas as communicationSIdlls, problem-

,' solving, conflict resolution, decision-making, and goal identi-fication. They attempt-to get the members of the organization_"to examine their communication patterns, their customaryways of working together in meetings, or the ways in whichpeople are linked together to get their daily work done."

By the time an OD intervention is cnmplete, stateSchmuck and colleagues, "cognitive and affective changeshould have occurred; norms, roles, influence patterns, andcommunication networks should have become more receptiveand responsive indeed, the very culture of the schoolshould have becorhe different."

OD appears to be a powerful method for effecting change,in organizational climate because it intervenes in the norm-behavior cycle and sets it on a new track. Although OD is bestcarried out with the help of specialists, many OD techniquesand exercises (as found in Schmuck's book) can be used with-out special training.

Another approach to improving school climate utilizes"behavior modification''' to break the norm-behavior cycle.Peter Mortimore, coauthor with Michael Rutter of FifteenThousand Hours, descOes this approach in an interview inEducational Leadership (see "On School Effectiveness ...").

Moramore uses an example of a schoOl in which thenorm is for students to tear down student paperwork that isdisplayed On the walls. Mortirnore emphasizes that changingsuch a norm would take time. If teachers wished to have workdisplayed on the walls,. that would -be a new departure, andstudents wouldn't be used to it. The teachers "wouldihave toprepare the students beforehand, and they should expectsome failure at first."

Eliciting change in norms is often a "two steps!forward,one step back" proposition. It takes a constant emphasis onnew behavior and a deemphasis on old. The new behaviormust be "held in place" at first by special effoit, until itbecomes established and accepted. Once established, it will

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beg-in to change the more stable and underlying norm ofbehavior. Eventually, the new norm will become the acceptednorm.

When teachers first put work on the walls, the result ispredictable: The work is torn down. But the teachers "insist"on the new behavior and monitor the halls to make sure it isnot torn down. Less and less work is torn down, and more andmore students see work displayed. The students get usrd tohaving the work on the -WAN, and used to getting punished,perhaps, for tearing down work.

More importantly, some students begin to recognizedisplayed work as a behavior associated with different normsor values. They begin -to perceive a different value systembeneath,the patterns of behavior and interaction in the school.They then begin to behave in ways consistent with the newnorm system.

Several principles for improving school climate can bederived from this example. first, the new norm system mustbe clearly conceived ancl communicated and then uniformlyapplied throughout the school. The principal should maintainhigh and consistent expectations.for children's behavior andachievement and should make sure that everyone knowsthese expectations. "Assume," state Wilbur Brookover andhis colleagues,

that all children can and will learn whatever the schooldefines as desirable and appropriate. Expect all chil-dren learn these patterns of behavior rather thandifferentiate among those who are expected and thosewho are not expected to learn. Have common normsthat apply to all children so that all members of theschool social system expect a high level of perfor-'mance by all students.

Second, the new norm system should be consistentlyenforced. The new behaviors expected should be "held" inplace until the new norm system takes root. Failure to behaveproperly "should be followed by immediate feedback andreinstruction rather than positive reinforcement," as Brook-over states. Reinforcement and praise should be given whenbehavior is appropriate.

Third, the moveloward the new norm system should beundertaken gradually. Too much change at once should not

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be expected. Insistence ,on to much too fast may provokerevolt.

"Most major change prOcesses tin education probablyfail because they are too grushed'," states James Lipham."Educational change is a time-consuming process; a majorchange takes many months, even\years."

Fourth, the climate improvement program should bedeSigned anditnplemented with the participation of Others.Climate improvement must be a collective- undertaking withstaff, members' full support and understanding. Goals shouldbe clearly understood, and new patterns of behavior shouldbe consistently enforced. By inVolving staff members in thedecision-making process, as discussed in chapter 6, theschool's personnel can approach the change process as aunited; instead of a fragmented, grouP.

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS

' Prkticing educators and- adMinistratorS tend to viewschool climate in terms different from those used by researcherssuch as Halpin and Croft. They are quite understandably moreconcerned with what-tck) iniproveorga`nizational climatethan with precise measurement and deScription of climate.

The reSearch, frankly,tas yet to give practitionerS con-crete direction for administrative action. Classifying a schoOl'sclimate as closed, for example, does not tell its principal howto make it more open. And it, certainly cannot\be very com-forting to school administrators to learn that their- impact onschod climate is minimal, as a few researchers have suggested.School administrators, like everyone else, need to believe theycan influence their environments in a positive and\ construc-tive manner.

As a result of researchers' seeming inability to tell prac-titioners 'what they need to know, a body of pragmaticallyoriented literature has evolved. School administrators have

"recounted their schools' successful efforts to. improve"climate," though usually they use cliinate in a rather generalway and frequently mean it to be analogous to morale.

Thefe administrator-generated articles definitely accen-tuate the positive. The administrator, whether superintendent

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.covarom,- ..-;

principa), is viewed as a leader whose actions.can shape(and impr9ve) the attitudes of staff, students, and community.The emphasis in most of this literature is on action rather thanon analysis or reflection.

For example, Robert Lindstrom, a California super-intendeht, urges administrators to "Take some action!" as anantidote to "wringing hands" or "hopelessly staring out yourwindoW." Lindstroin follows his initial call to action by listing"six suggestions for deVeloping a positive organizationalclimate," which he compiled from "activities that have workedfor people in the field":

1. "Rebirth of the organization" Let the staff knowthat organizational change ist,afoot. by stating newgoals and presenting a plan of action.

2. "Building a history' Shared experiences amongstaff members (such as preschool retreats) can estab-lish "a warm glOw of camaraderie" that will boostMorale,

3. "Building trust" -= Lindstrom suggests,trianagettenttraining exercises to help build trust.

4. "CommunicatiOns" Quality, not quantity, isimportant. 1

5. "Reinforcemeni" = Maintain group cohesion through'staff meetings 'with informal, participant-generatedagenda.

6. "Pride" =The administrator can invotve each partici-pant "in-owning a piece of the action" by explicitlycommending staff-developed innovations andimprovements.

Some attempts Wave been made to synthesize a researchapproach to school climate (description, analysis) with thepragmatic, action-oriented approach. One notable example isCFK Ltd.'s School District Climate Profile and its accom-panying recommendations, assembled by Thomas Shaheenand W. Roberts Pedrick. The Climate Profile is intended toprovide administrators with "a convenient means of assessingthe school district's climate factors and determinants."

The lour components of the Climate Profile question-:naire are meant to measure general climate factors(such as"respect"' "high morale," and "caring"), program deterrni-

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nants (such as "opportunities for active learning," "variedreward systems," and "varied 'learning environments"),process determinants (such as "improvement of school goals,""effective communication," and "involvement in decisionmaking"), and material determinants ("adequate resources,""supportive and efficient logistical system," an_ d "suitabilityof school plant").

Shaheen and Pedrick maintain that the superintendentis the most powerful person in the district when it comes toimproving organizational climate. Here, as in Lindstrtim'sarticle, the administrator is viewed as having more influenceover his or her environment_ than his environment has overhim.

William Maynard has described -efforts to improveschool climate in Cleveland High School in Seattle. Like otherson improving school climate, this article lacks a dear definitionof what a good school climate is, but as.evidence of improve-ment Maynard cites the pride that once alienatedand apatheticstudents now have in their school and a significant fall in theabsentee rate. Maynard began by Selecting a school climateimprovement team of students and facility to develop projectsand ideaS to iinprove the school. Such ideas included a student"who's who" committee, hall murals painted by studentsandfocusing on the theme'We've got pride," and an increase inshared decision-making in the school. It is of note thatMaynard, unlike early researchers, sees student morale as acentral determiner of school climate.

Frank Clark has liSted "practical and specific sugges-tions" for improving school climate used by school districts.These include suggestions like forming a teacher advisoiyboard, instituting a student forum, and issuing. a variety offeedback forms for staff and students. An example of onefeedback form is the "Quick Reply Form" on which a staffmember is able to express an important concern that, needs areply within forty-eight hours. According to Clark, "Whenworking smoothly, it's an excellent form, all but eliminatingcritical feelings from the staff." For Clark, school climateappears to mean everything from school morale to general;school environment. It includes everything from "planningfun things to do at school" to generally "making things better."

Ways a school principal can begin to improve school

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climate have been suggested by Phi Delta Kappa. Their publi-cation sees, the administrator's role as assessing needs, settinggoals, and reducing goals to manageable- projects. As anassessment instrument, the authors recommend and includethe CFK Ltd. School Climate Profile.

It appearS from the literature, then, that there are asmany ideas on what a healthy school climate is and how toachieve it as there are ideas on what, in individuals, constitutesa healthy persOnality and how to achieve it. Yet the actualexperiences of 'School leaders suggest that this lack of agree-ment and the lack Of any hard data concerning the effective-ness of school climate improvement efforts may not beinsurmountable problems. What seems to be true in praCtice isthat alMost any approachto climate,improvement undertakenwith energy and Optimism helps enormously to improveschool morale, communication, and relationships with, staff,studentS, and community.

CONCLUSION

School climate is theleel-an-individual gets from; his orher experiences-Within a school's social system. This feel or`"iubtle spirit"; is the "global summation" of the individual'sperceptions of how school personnel and students behaveand interact. These,behaviorsrin.turrtrarelarg-ely-deterinitiedby the underlying norms in the school, which dictate whatkinds of behaviors and interactions are appropriate. Normsare largely self-perpetuating: the behaviors they define tend toreinforce.and Confirm the i torms that gave rise to themi,

Ithproving a school's climate depends on understandingthe norm-behavior cycle and how to intervene in it properlywith behavior modification or organizational developmenttechniques. Numerous instruments for measuring Ischoolclimate have been developed that can help adminiOratorsdiagnose their climates before they attempt change. Theexperiences and suggestion's of other administrators can also'help school leaders understand climate.and how it might beimproved.

A healthy school climate is important because it is asso-ciated with higher student achievement, better behavior, and

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better attitudes. A large amount of recent research shows thatthe structures of social interaction and behavior in the schoolinfluence the student outcomes of he school. Thus, improvingclimate appears to be not only a worthwhile but an essentialundertaking.

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PART 3HE SKILLS

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INTRODUCTION

Successful school leadership requires more than just anunderstanding of leadership and organizational structure. Italso requires mastery of numerous "nuts-and-bolts" kinds ofleadership and administrative skills. In this part of the book,some of these -necessary admidistrative skills are explainedand discussed. Attention is-focused not so much on standardareas of administrative procedure but rather on some of theproblem areas of modem school administration.

Chapter 8 begins by explaining the human communica-tions process within the school and how it can be facilitatedand improved. Such techniques as paraphrasing, behaviordescription, perception checking, and feedback are explainedand illustrated, and exercises for improving communication

,- -are suggested.The second hall of this chapter deals with communications

between the school and the outsideworld. An effective publicrelations program, the author eniphaSizes, 'doesn't just happenbut is, planned. School- administrators should assess publicopinions aboUt the school, specify the objectives it wants itspublic relations program to meet, arid then carefully plan whatand how to communicate to the public. More specific PRsuggestions for particular groups parents, citizen groups,the media, and "key communicators" are also given.

Chapter 9 discusses techniques a school leader can useto make meetings more effective. Before planning a meeting,the leader should decide what "leadership style" (as discussedin chapter 3) he or she will utilize. Then the leader shouldcarefully consider the goals and purposes of the meeting, andwhether a meeting is necessary at all.

Once these preliminaries are covered, the leader can getdown to the basics of meeting planning. Chapter 9 discussessuch- considerations as the agenda, time allotments, whoshould attend, seating arrangements, and the meeting room.Next, the skills of human interaction necessary for successfulmeetings are discussed. Meeting leaders should be aware ofthe two distinct sets of activities that take place in eve!),working discuSsion, the author emphasizes. First are "task"

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activities, which concern what the group is doing. Second are"maintenance" activities, which concern how the group isfunctioning.

A matter of personal interest to almost all school leadersis- the probleM of having too little time to do a job that by itsnature entails considerable stress. Thelauthor of chapter 10,,ina conversational style appropriate for her subject, distills fromthe available resources numerous practical insights and sug-gestions for managing time and stress. The best approach totime and stress management, advises the author, is a proactiveone; the leader must take charge over time -andstress prob-lems with a positive attitude and a commitment to action.

Management of time and stresS is an essential skill forany leader to master because time/tress problems are notmerely personal but organizational in scope. The solution tothose problems must involve both the leader-and his or hersupport staff and colleagues. By initiating healthy time/stressmanagement attitudes and practices, the leader helps set apositive tone for the entire organization.

Chapter 11 discusses an especially difficult leadershiptask conflict management. Because conflicts often disruptnormal school operations and are costly in time and emotion,most administrators hold a negative image of conflict.

As the author of this chapter emphasizes, though, con-flict is a two-sided,coin. Conflict can indeed be disruptive anddestructive, but It can alSo be a source of creativity and con-structive action in the school. Thus, the astute administratordoes not seek simply to resolve all conflict in the school;rather, he or she attempts to maximize constructive conflictand minimize destructive conflict.

Conflict has been defined, disSected, and classified innumerous ways. Several views of conflict are explained anddisctk,Ssed in chapter 11 to help administrators develop a betterunderstandi9g of conflict. The final section of the chapterpreserits numerous techniques for managing conflict in theschools.

In chapter 12, three special problem-solving techniquesare presented. The first force -field analysis is a means ofdissectitt complex problems into their major parts, or forces.Once a problem is broken down into its components, anadministrator can more easily plot a course toward its solution.

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Force-field analysis can also be used as a decision-'makingtool, particularly in situations in which thepros and cons of anissue seem evenly divided.

The nominalgroup techniquesometimes called "silentbrainstorming" is a means of generating alternative solu-tions to problems. Members of a group meet together but donot interact at first. They are asked to write dow,ti possiblesolutions to a stated problem. All proposed solutions are thencompiled on a list in front of the group, clarified, and finallydiscussed. Proponents claim this technique has several. ad-vantages over brainstorming.

The Delphi technique is- a now widely used techniquefor developing consensus on complex issues. It links- mindstogether -to do "collective figuring" yet avoids many of thedisadvantages -of group meetings. In Delphi, several-expertson a subject are asked to respond to a series of questionnairesthat usually funnel the group toward consensus on the issuebeing discussed. Delphi has a large number of variations andapplications, several of which are discussed in chapter 12.

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CHAPTER 8

CD COMMUNICATINGN David Coursen

C.JLa.1

Good communication has always been an importantpart of effective school leadership. Whether educators havebeen outlining the rules to nineteenth-century children in aone-room school or explaining innovative teaching methodsto contemporary parents; school teachers and administratorshave always needed to be effective communicators.

In recent years, some fundamental changes in educa-tional decision-making have made communications an evenmore essential part of the educator's repertoire of skills. Todayit is no longer enough for school administrators simply toexplain policies to parents or teachers; increasingly, by customand by law, various groups are seeking to participate inthe policy-Making process. At the school site level, parents,other citizens, teachers, and even students may seek a voice indecision-making. It thus becomes the job of the administratorto work with such groups and to offer, them appropriateforums for participation in school decision- making.

For the beleaguered school leader, communicating withall these groups, balancing their conflicting claims and inter-ests, and still running the schoolc-m-aSr seem like a task thatwould, as the old saw has it, tax the wisdom of SolOmon.Fortunately, much of the king's proverbial wisdom was in hisskill at communication and listening and in his ability tousesimple common sense. These are skills school administra-tors, ,too, can exercise.

The following sections offer some suggestions for ad-ministrators- who want to learn how to communicate more

C\) effectively with a variety of groups, both within and outsidethe school.

s'

0 LEARNING TO COMMUNICATE

Communication is a human relations skill that is, in asense, only half understood. Most people believe that if theyspeak or write clearly, or make gestures whose meanings can

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be clearly understood, they are communicating successfully.However, in a basic sense, communication is a two-wayprocess, a sharing of information. This means that communi-cation is listening aswell as speaking, understanding as wellasbeing understood.

HOW THE PROCESS WORKS

Jerry Pulley describes the communication process ingeneral terms and identifies some of the points where prob-lems can develop. Understanding these points of potentialinterference is essential to successful communication and toseeing why communications sometimes go awry. In the class-ical model of communication, there is a source, a message, amedium, a receiver, and a reaction. The following points areworth remembering about each:

*me. How the source (in this case the principal)_ isseen is important; the principal should work to estab-lish a positive image andian aura of credibility.Message. The message should be delivered in clear,grammatical language, free of jargoli and loadedwords; the prinCipal should also be conscious of bodylanguage and other forms of nonverbal, communi-cation.Medium. A medium should be chosen that is effectiveand will reach the desired audience and get its atten-tion, Face-to-face contact, .which allows for directfeedback, can be ideal. It-is sometimes a good idea touse several media simultaneously, so that the peoplemissed by one will be reached by another. .Receiver. People hear what they want to hear. Theprincipal should try "to understand his receivers and toconstruct and transmit his messages as clearly andnonalienatingly as possible," as Pulley states.Reactions. Reactions are difficult to predict. Even if thefirst four parts of the.model are carefully consideredand appropriately handled, there may still be unex-pected reactions.

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Richard Schmuck,, Philip Minkel, Jane Arends, andRichard. Arends identify a number of elements of effectivecommunication. These include openness, communicationwhen emotions are- high, offering personal responses, and.trust. The last of these, trust, is particularly important, sincethere is always an element of risk in communicating openly.The authors therefore list a number of freeing responses_ thatcan increase trust:

listening attentively rather than silentlyparaphrasing, checking impressions of the other'smeaningseeking information to understand the other betteroffering relevant informationdeScribing observable behaviors that influence youdirectly reporting your own feelingsoffering opinions, stating your value position

On the other hand, there are also binding responses that canreduce:trust:

changing the subject without explanationfocusing on and criticizing things that are un-changeabletrying to advise and persuadevigorously, agreeing or strongly objecting

;approving someone for conforMing to your ownstandards .

commanding or demanding to be commanded,

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Charles Jung and his associates point out that there areno real trick0o good communication; the only secret is havinga sincere interest in the other person. A number of skills,however, are important for the effective communicator tounderstand and master. The sections that follow on para-phrasing, behavior description, description of feelings,

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TI SKILLS: CONIMUNICA1 INC

perception checking, and feedback are loosely adapted fromthe seminal work of Jung arid his associates.

iParaphrasing i

1

One.cif the odditie of modern life is that, if someonetells you his or her phone umber, seven unambiguous piecesof information, you will /probably repeat it to make sure youhave it right, but if he or she makes a far more complexstatement, you are like y to offer simple agreement or dis-agreement. In other we- ds, as the possibilities for misunder-standing increase, our efforts to clarify messages generallydecrease.

.

One way to re edy this situation is the use of para-phrasing to answer the question, "Am I understanding theother's idea as it was meant to be understood?" Paraphrasingis- an effort to show Other people what their words mean toyou. Its goal is not only to clarify the message, but also to showyour interest in the other person, an act that, in itself, can helpimprove communication.

What is most commonly meant by paraphrasing is sim-ply putting a statement into different words. This does- notalways clarify things, as the following exchanges make clear:

One: "Jim should, never have become a teacher.""You mean teaching isn't the right job for him?""Exactly. Jim should never have become a teacher."

Two: "Jim should never have become a teacher.""You mean he is too harsh with his students?'""No. His tastes are too expensive fora teacher's salary.""Oh. So he should have chosen a more,lucrativ.e pro-,fession.""Exactly. Jim should never have become a teacher."

The communication in the first exchange is largely illusorysince the "paraphrase''` gives no real informatien.about whatthe listener' thinks the speaker meant. By contrast, in thesecond exchange even a "wrong" paraphrase that describeswhat the listener thought the speaker meant can lead to theexchange of more information and, thus, better communi-cation.

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The real purpose of paraphpsing is not to show whatthe other person actually meant (which would require mind-reading skills) but to show what it meant to you. This maymean restating the originatstatpnent in more specific terms,using an example to show what:it meant to you, or restating itin more general terms.

It is possible, if somewhat unusual, to rely on para-phrasing excessively. When this happens, you avoid statingyour own opinions, and the one-sidedness of the exchangemay make the other person uncomfortable about givinginformation.without receiving any in return. Extensive para-phrasing may be particularly important in situations wheremistakes might be costly, or when strong feelings are presentthat might distort part of the message.

Behavior Description ,

When, talking abOut what another person is doing, thecommunicator must recognize the difference between de-scribing and evaluating. To be useful, behavior description, asJuhg and his colleagues point out, shoilld report

specific, observable actions of others without placing avalue on them asright or wrong, bad or good, andwithout making accusations Or generalizations aboutthe other's motives, attitudes or personality traits.

The communicator must tell people precisely what behaviorhe or she is responding to. For example, describing a specificset of actions ("You've disagreed with &most everything he'ssaid") is very different from judging behavior ("You're beingstubboin") or judging motivations ("You're trying-to showhim up"). Try to confine your remarks to things that areobservable and stick to the facts without drawing conclusions.about what they mean.

Practicing these rules can enhance communicationsand, at the same time, help reduce defensiveness and theproblems that go with it. When someone feels threatened by acomment or an action, his or her defensiveness can beCome anend in itself and distract from the questions at hand. Types ofsupportive communication that can help reduce defensive-ness include describing rather than evaluating, solving the

SK11.1.,3: COMMUNIC A I INC;

problem rather than controlling the situation, being spontaneous rather than following a strategy, showing empathy forothers rather than maintaining a posture of neutrality, relat-ing to others as an equal rather than a superior ora subordinate, and approaching differences of opinion withopenness to new perspectives rather than with certainty.

Description of Feelings

What someone else perceives you as feeling often hasmore to do with his or her own feelings than with yours. Inaddition, if you are like most people, you work harder atdescribing your ideas clearly than at describing, your feelings:As a result, it is not always easy to describe or understandfeelings.

The way to avoid Misperception of feelings is to describethem as directly and vividly as possible. Attach, the descrip-tion to yourself by beginning it with the word "I,""me," or "my." Some ways to do this include referring direct-ly to the feeling ("I'm angry"), using similes ("I feel like a fishout of water"), describing what the feeling makes you want todo ("I'd like to leave this room"); or using some other figure ofspeech.

Be precise and unambiguOus in describing your feel-ings. Saying "Shut up!" vehemently may express strongfeelings, but it does not identify what those feelings are.Instead, say something more informative like "It hurts me tohear this!' -"Hearing this makes me angry with you," or"Hearing this makes me angry with myself"; any of thesethree statements explains why you want the other person tostop talking.

In thi,s, as in most aspects of communication, it is crucialto be open and honest. Feelings should be offered as piecesof information,. not used in an effort to make the other personact diffently. Also, be sure to make your nonverbal cues(facial expression, tone of voice, body language) agree withyour words..

Perception Checking

Just as paraphrasing is an effort to find out what another

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ness Inc u e escri ing rather than evaluating, solving the

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person's words mean, so perception checking is an effort tounderstand the feelings behind the words. One way of check-ing perceptions is simply to. describe your impressionsof another person's feelings at a given time. This can help youto find out how well you are understanding the other personat the same time it shows the other person your interest in himor her. Perceptions should be shared in a way that avoidsexpression of approval or disapproval.

Feedback

One way to clarify (communication is to ask people togive their reactions to the'messages your behavior sends offabout you. Feedback is Ia means to improve shared under-standing about behavior; feeling,_and motivations. In givingfeedback, it is useful to describe obsdved behaviors as well asthe, reactions they have caused. There are a number of guide-lines to follow in giving feedback:

The receiver should be ready to receive feedback.Comments ,should describe, rather 'than interpret,action..Feedback shOuld focus on things that have happenedrecently.Feedback sliiould focus on things that can be changed.

` Feedback should not try to force people to change.Feedback should be offered out of a sincere.interest inand concern for the other person.

IThere are also some guidelines for,receiving feedback:

State what you want feedback ab6ut.Check What" you have hebrd.Share yOur reaction's to the feedback.

EXERCISES OR IMPROVEMENT

RichardSchmutk and his associates suggest a numberof exercises that can be useful in clarifying and developing theskills described above_. Some of their suggestions are asfollows:

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TI II; SKILLS: COMMUNICA TING

Paraphrasing. Divide into small groups. Ohe petisonasks a question; the next paraphrases beforeanswering.Impression Checking. Divide into pairs; one personconveys feelings through gestures, expressiOns,nonsense language, while the other person tries tointerpret these cues. The two then talk about. howcorreathelriterpretatiOns were.Behavior Description. Describe the behavior observedduring any nonverbal exercise.Describing Feelings. EaCh person is given a written listof statements and told to identify which describefeelings and which do not (e.g., "I feel angry" does,but "I feel it's going to rain" does not). .

Giving and Receiving Feedback. Divide into trios. Oneperson describes two helpful and two unhelpful Be-haviors of the second, who paraphrases the descrip-tionS; the third person acts as an observer, 'makingsure the other two are using communication skillscorrectly.

The same authors also describe exercises that can beused to clarify communications in meetings.These include thefollowing:

Right to Listen. Each speaker is required to paraphraSethe terms of the discussion up tohat point beforespeaking.Time Tokens. Each-persdn pays a poker chip each timehe or she talks. This clarifies who talks how often; if itprovOkes long speeches, it will alSo illustrate theirdrawbacks.High Talker Tap-out. Signal whey each speaker uses'up an allotted athount of time; at the end, discuss theprocess and the reasons some people talk more thanothers.Take a Survey. Ask each person for an opinion about acertaih'question. Everyone contributes, if only to ad-mit having nothing to say.

The authors also recommend that groups use circularseating, which has two advantages: nonverbal'behaviors are

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most apparent when everyone Can be clearly seen; equal parti-cipation is encoUraged when there is no podium or head of thetable to suggest that one perso is, in charge. They also suggestthat, in certain CurumStanceS, videotaping or audio recordingmay be useful! if someone isf available with the skills andknowledge to jUdge.what to record and when to play it back.

Richard Gemmet stresses the importance of masteringthe art of listening. One can beCoMe a good listener, accordingto Gemmet, by developing "the attitude of 'wanting to listenand the skills to help you express that attitude." Some of thebest ways to communicate an interest in listening are non-verbal signals' as "eye contact, attentiveness, use ofhands, facial expressions, and tone of voice." There are threeessentials to good listening: .

Don'tinterrupt.Don't judge.Reflerct before answering.

Gemmet also; offers additional tips for listening:Faceihe speaker and be close enough to hear.Watch nonverbal behavior.Be aware, of biases and values that may distort Whatyou hear.Look for the bask assumptions underlying'remarks.

At the same time, it is also important to keep in mind anumber of things to avoittdoing:

' thinking of other things while listening,rehearsing an answer' while the other person is-stilltalkinginterrupting to correct a mistake or make a pointtuning out and starting a silent combat when you hearcertain "red-flag" ;words.feeling compelledito have the last word

THE PRINCIPAL'S RESPONSIBILITY

Becakse of the prinCipal's sizable influence on commu-nication in the schoolsuggestions abound on how the princi-pal can communicate' most effectively. Jerry Valentine, Brad-,202

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ford Tate, Alan Seagren, and John Lammel found that certaintypes' of principal behavior significantly affected school ,cli,mate. Their main finding:was that, "Generally speaking, themore direct the principal, the more positive the attitudes ofteachers, students, and parents." In addition, they found that"the use of humor ... indicated a significantly relaxed, posi-tive human relations atmosphere."

An important element in good communications is awillingness to give strokes, to express appreciation for a jobwell done. Jodie King, principal of Vejas Elementary School,Walnut Valley, California, told the-writer that the best way todo this is to

offer positive reinforcement at all levels, focusing onthe positive, lifting people know whit they are doingwell and prising them and then, if necessary,suggesting things they need to do to improve.

One way King does .this is by. always leaving a note after sheobserves a class. She mentions only positive things in thenote; if she has any criticisms to make, she asks the teacher tospeak to her, so she can make them face -to -face. .

Sandro Ingati suggests a number of things a principalcan do to improve hiSor her relations with the school commu-nity. The most impoitant thing is to be open and accessible, sothat people will feel you are available and welcome personalcontact with them. Spend time with various. members ofthe faculty over lunch, during coffee, in the faculty lounge,or at informal teacher "hang-outs." Add the personal touchby asking people about their. families or calling them by theirfirst names. Use a suggestion box.

COMMUNICATING IN SMALL GROUPS

Administrators have always had to communicate withgroups of staff`members, parents, ands students. As shareddecision-making has become more widespread, the import-ance of communicating effectively with groups such as thesehas increased significantly.

Facilitating the successful- meshing of the varioushuman participants in a group can be a difficult, delicateprocess. In a seminal workon the subject, Schutz argues thatgroup members,,,have three primary needs for inclusion

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(belonging), control (power), and affection (friendship)that must be satisfied if the group is to be successful._ How-ever, such satisfaction occurs only when these, needs aremet adequately but not excessively.

Inclusion is particularly important when a gtoup is justStarting. Introductions and biographical stories of each merit-ber can help meet this need; assigning a greeter at meetings,providing group members with name tags and organizingget-acquainted activities and social events can also be usefUl.However, Schutz cautions against overinclusion, stressingthe need fOr group members to "maintain some degree ofdistance frorn other group members and Some individual-ity." This can typically be done by dividing labor or establish-ing subgroups.

Traditional techniques for providing group membersWith influence over decisions include the election of officersand the- establishment of hierarchies. In addition, "in mostgroups, it is necessary to establish behavior patterns leading,to a restriction of the amount of control some members haveover others." Otherwise, a few individuals may dominate thegroup, restricting the influence of everyone else. SusanSayerssuggests studying and discussing the decision-making proc-ess andracticing role-switching (so that each group memberhas a dominant role at least part of the time) as ways to fosterthe equitabldistribution of control.

Schutz maintains that group members must. "relate toeach other with sufficient warmth and closeness fof groupprocesses to proceed." Members must have freedom to ex-press their. feelings, to prevent energy being drained by "the-suppression of hostile impulses."' The need 'for affection isoften satisfied by such activities as "side whispers, sub-grouping, afterr-meeting coffee, bringing food to meetings,and coffee breaks."

As with incluSion and Control, affection is appropriateonly'in moderation. Too much closeness within a group candetract from the group's,ability to meet its primary purposesand can lead to the personalizing of issues within the group."Nepotism rules, 'fraterriliation rules, agenda and other pro-cedural techniques, discipline and punishment for too muchaffectional play," are among the ways Schutz suggests foravoiding this problem.

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TI IC MIAS; COMMUNICATING

REACHING THE PUBLIC

As important as it is for a school to have good internal'communications, it is equally important to communicate ef-fectively with the public outside. Administrators who believethat simply,running their schools well makes a formal publicrelations effort unnecessary may be right, but theirperspective overlooks the fact that every school' has -a publicrelations program formal or not operating whenever thatschool's staff or students communicate with the public.When a parent meets with a school official, when a childdescribes what went on in class during the day, or when acaller is greeted courteously or inadvertently put on holdand forgotten the school is communicating something tothe public.

The question to ask about school public relations effortSis not, then, whether to develop a program, but ilOW to developa good one. Perhap& the ideal program is described in theNational School Putlic Relations Association's definition Ofschool public relations (quoted-by Lew Armistead):

a planned and systematic two-way process ofcommu-nication between an education organization and itsinternal and external publics ... to stimulate a betterunderstanding of the role, objectives, accomplish-ments, and needs of the organiz:ation. - -School communications with the public can be divided

into three classes: public and formal, private and formal, andprivate and informal. The first two types, which cover theschool's .''official" business, from repott cards to :press re-leases, are generally recognized as public relations concerns.

The often-neglected third type, however, is by far the mostcommon, the hardest to plan, and probably the mostimportant.

Information communication takes place whenever any-one associated with a school gives the public any kind ofmessage about that school. Such a message may be conveyedby a student, a volunteer, or an employee; many people see allschool employees custodians, secretaries, teachers, andadministrators as "insiders," with special knowledge aboutthe school's operations. The message such persons conveymay be verbal (a rumor or a comment about policy) or nonver-

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bal (litter on a school neighbor's lawn or a group of studentshelping a motorist change a flat tire). Since many ofthese communications exchanges are beyond a principal'scontrol, a well-run school with a satisfied, well-informed 'staffand student body is one essential element of any public rela-tions effort.

PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGIES

The key to effective public-relations is good planning; asArmistead notes, "constructive public relations is planned,while destructive public relations just happens." It is crucialto know whorhyou Want to reach, what they know, and howyou can get them information about what they don't know.

Don Bagin, 'Frank Grazian, and Charles Harrison em-phasize the fact that school public relations,like all communi-.cation, must run in two directions; the school's job is both toinform the public about the schooland to keep informed.what the-,public is thinking about the school. Thus it is impor-tant to assess the quality of current communications. Such anassessment includes analyzing what various groups and indi-viduals think about the school, idntifking major criticisms Ofthe school, and evaluating.the school's general reputation.

After carefully assessing the current status of a publicrelations program, the school should specify the objectives itwants that program to meet. Bagin and his colleagues cite asexamples objectives drafted by Jane P. Braunstein Of the_Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Public Schools. Several of theseobjectives are abbreviated as follows:

promote public interest inrthe school tgather and report public attitudes about the schoolprovide an honest, comprehensive flow ofinformationuse media effectively to reach each part of the publicdevelop community confidence in the schoolintegrate the home, school, and community to workcooperatively in comprehensively meeting children'seducational needsanticipate and forestall problems .caused by misun-derstandings

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Whatever the objectives, the school should plan its pub-lic relations carefully and Work to define clearly what itspublics are and how best to reach them. William Banach andAnn Barkelew suggest that brainstorming can be a usefultechnique in public relations planning. The authors claim thatthis method should make it possible to identify forty or fiftydifferent groups worth reaching (from senior citizens andbusiness organizations to religious groups) and generate per-haps a hundred public relations ideas (from writing withoutjargon to sending the school band-to a convalescent home).

PARENTS

Probably the group most affected by what goes on in theschool is parents. Besides concerns they share with manytaxpayers about the quality of education the school is provid-ing, parents are interested in such questions as what is'beihgtaught, what instructional methods are being used, and whatspecial services the SchOol offers. Of greatest interest to manyparents, obriously, is hOw their own children are doing inschool. For this reason schools should carefully consider howthey are providing that information. Since praise is far more.

,,pleaSant than criticism, schools might personally contact par-ents aboutthe good things their children are doing, instead -ofreserving personal.-contact for discussing discipline problemsor academic difficulties.

Much of what parents learn about schools comes di-rectly from their children. One simple way to improve thequality of inforMation children give their parents is to havestudents, particularly those.in the lower grades, keep jour-nals; making entries at the end of each day. Reviewing theday's activities in this wary may help the child give clearer,more interesting answers to the familiar parental question,"What did you do in school today?"

When a parent or anyOne else contacts the school,it is important to present zi positive image. The main contactmost people have with a school is oveMhe phone. This makesit crucial that people,whcranswer school phones understandthe importanc& being as friendly, courteous, and helpful aspossible. .

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Schools should also try. to be-receptive to irate parents.Jodie King suggests that parents with complaints shouldknow:

that there will be a parking place for them when theyarrive at the Schoolthat they will be greeted by the staff in a friendlymannerthat the principal will be available to speak to themwithin a reasonable timethilt some action (though not necessarily what theywant) will be taken in response to their complaints

KEY COMMUNICATORS

Personal contact should not be directed only towardparents. School leaders obviously lack the avenues and t imeto make more than token contact with members of the ptiblicat large. What school leaders can do, however, is seek toidentify and reach their community's "key communicators."

There are two types of key communicators.: Some indi-viduals are opinion leaders; they are respected andlinfluen-tial by 'virtue of their position's and reputations in the commu-nity. Other individuals occupy a key role in the community'scommunications network simply because they talk to a largenumber of people. Thus a key communicator can be a barberor beauticianas well as a Mayor orcity councilor.

School officials would do well to cultivate good relationswith both 'types of key communicator. This can be done infor-mally = such as with periodic phone calls to discusi schoolaffairs or by invitations,to lunchat school or by establishinga formal group of key communicators and-meeting with itregularly.

Because of their ability to reach large numbers ofpeople quickly, key communicators can be particularly helpfulin clarifying misconceptions about the schools and dispellingrumors. Several writers suggest that timelycontact with keycommunicators in potential crisis situations may be one wayof defusing potential `controversy and avoiding trouble basedon false information.

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Another valuable function of key influentials is theirability to provide schools with accurate and immediate feed-back about how the public is responding to the school. Suchfeedback can offer administrators new perspectives on their-,sChools and can make it easier to identify potential problemsand areas of dissension. In addition; key communicators cansometimes function as sounding boards for testing publicreaction to new ideas.

CITIZEN GROUPS

Another vehicle for direct contact between schools andthe public is the citizens advisory committee. In many school

'districts, advisory councilsare nOt an;option but a, necessity,as an increasing number of governmental programs requiresome form- of community participation in school decision-making. Some such groups have an actual vote in policy-making,:while others are strictly advisory. In either case, theintroduction of citizen committees into the school's deciSionprocess represents a major charige that may make administra-tors uncomfortable. Beyond the extra work and potential frus-tration -an advisory council brings;thowever, are some clearbenefits for administrators seeking:public support for theirschools.

As Richard.Hofstrand and Lloyd Phipps point out, ev-ery community evaluates its'schools; the advantage Of a citi-zens advisory council is that it can channel the public'S evalua-tion toward constructive ends. Public criticism based on vagueor incomplete understanding of the schools can be reducedWhen administrators have a forum for giving dear facts aboutthe school's strengths and weaknesses. Like key communica-tors, council members provided with such information can

pass their knowledge along to the rest of the community.But an advisory council or even a temporary group

formed to deal with a single problem or issue can be muchmore than an arena for the dissemination of school policy.Don Bagin and his colleagues.suggest that such,groups canperform a wide range of functions, from determining andprioritizing a school's objectives and evaluating its progresstoward-meeting those objectives, to investigating facilities useand helping revise curriculum.

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Advisory groups also provide a formal process by-whichopinions from the community can be incorporated into theschool decision-making process. Schools are thus in a betterposition to reach decisions based on accurate informationabout the community's needs and expectations.

One of the more important factors in the success of anadvisory council as a communications medium is its composi-tion. Most councils should be made-up primarily of parentsbut also represent abroad cross-section of the community.Diversity is essential. Jim Stanton and his colleagues reportthat most councils suffer from a shortage of "minority, low-income, student, non-parent, and except in leadershippositions, male representation."

To fill these needs, active recruitment of members of,these groups may be necessary. Title I mandates participationby lower-income persons and members of racial minorities,two groups that have traditionally been excluded from deci-sion-making. The involvement of suchpersons is not alwayseasy to bring about, sincemany have attitudes that make themreluctant to participate in school affairs. Often they are lessfavorable toward the schools, less patient in waiting for Chan-ges to take place, and less confident of their communicationsskills than the more affluent, well-educated persons who gen-erally volunteer for school-related groups.

It is important to enlist the aid of individuals with spe-cial expertise in areas the council will be considering. Qualitiesto look for in all participants include interest, tame, and anability to get along with people.

The best way to attract and keep council members is toappeal to their self-interest, particularly by demonstratingthat their actions can make a difference. Often, simply askingpeople to serve on -a council or run for a- position will beeffective in convincing them that their services are valued.Nelson Price summarizes what is needed: "for citizen partici-pation to be sustained, it must be a satisfying, rewarding, andproductive experience."

The operation of an advisory council will surely test theleadership skills of the 'principal. C. C. Carpenter states thatthe principal's most important function is to make sure the

,advisory-group is aware of its limits and responsibilities andthe possibilities open before it. The principles and skills of

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leading meetings, managing conflict, sharing power, solvingproblems, and communicating effectively all apply tothe process of governing a citizens advisory council.

THE MEDIA

Although personal contact is the long-range key to ef-fective communicationwith the public, the best way to reach alarge number of people in a short time can be through thenews media, both print and broadcast. Reports in the mediacan have tremendous impact on the public's consciousness,because they are seen by large numbers of people almostsimultaneously and because, as "news)" they have a certainbuilt-in aura of credibility.

Although media coverage offers school leaders an op-portunity fto tell their story to a large number of people, thefact that the form of that story is beyond the control of schooladministrators that is, the coverage may be negative as wellas positive can be intimidating. Nevertheless, both thepress's right to cover the news and the public's right to knowdictate that newsworthy events in theschools will be reported.This makes it the administrator's job to learn to work with themedia to see that coverage is as fair and factual as possible.In working with the media, the biggest problem schoolleaders face may be the ease with Which. misunderstandings

develop between the schools and the media. To a-certainextent, this is inevitable, since there is an inherent tensionbetween the objectives of the media and those of the school.Whereas the school wants reporting_that promote§ its object-ives and doesn't cause trouble, the media seek stories ofinterest to their readers or viewers. Thus school officials areapt to see the media as distorting and.sensa Conalizing events,taking comments out ofcontext, and reporting events inaccu-rately. The media ,'on the other hand, may fault school officialsfor refusing to.come clean, for limiting media access to infor-mation, and for offering the media material that is little morethan puffery enthusiastic but not newsworthy.

Don Bagin, Frank Grazian; and Charles Harrison sug-gest that striking the right balance between informing thepublic and helping the schools will be easier if schools are

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accessible to the media and accept the need forcoverage of badas well as good news. Schools need to recognize that the presshas a legitimate function as the eyes, ears, and voice of thecommunity it serves.'T\hus school personnel should treat re-porters not as intrude? but as trained professionals, with aright to keep the public informed. Since it is the press'S func-tion to report what it knos, school Officials should take caretq avoid saying anything they don't want to appear in-print.

A working relationship based on trust and mutual un-derstanding can be further promoted, according to Bagin andhis colleagues, by a school's willingness to offer the presscontinuity.(a steady diet of news on an ongoing basis,-not-justat budget time), candor (honesand-credibility), and consi-deration (respecting_reportefe needs in areas like meetingdeadlines). -It can also be helpful for school personnel to get to-knOw reporters personally. School officials should recognize,however, that reporters are paid to cover the news, andfriendships will not prevent the reporting of unfavorableevents. In addition, while most reporters are conscientiousand careful, they can be so overworked and b4rdened withdeadline pressures that occasional honest mistakes are almostinevitable. School leaders should try to avoid taki g eithernegative coverage or mistakes personally.

In summarizing school-media relations, Bagin a hiscolleagues offer the following list of guidelines for sthoolcofollow in workinv.vith-the media:

know a paper's_phcies and deadlines, .and respectthem in preparing or releasing materialprovide the media with calendars of newsworthyevents, and agendas of meetingscall press conferences when damaging events occur

- alert the press to potential storiesdeal with the press honestly, sincerely, and fairlysend the press formal invitations to school fun Lionscultivate relations with broadcast, as well as print,`media

School-based media are another way of reaching vari-ous groups. These media allow school leaders to say exactlywhat they want in a form under their control. Those who

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develop such a publiCation should keep its purpose in mind,understand the audience it is intended to reach; and makesure the potential rewards justify the cost. All written mater-ial, from letters to ptiblications, should strive for clarity inwriting,i in format and design, and in graphics. Printed mater-

-.jai should be distributed by mail; sending it home with stu-`dents irnay be cheaper, but even the U.S, Postal Service is far

more reliable about delivering printed material than are mostschoolchildren.

!SURVEYS

One way of finding out what the public is thinkingabout, or what it wants from the schools, is to take an opinionsu4'ey. Before beginning a survey, the school leader shouldbe aware of its cost and carefully determine what informationis wanted and why. It may be possible to get the necessaryinformation without taking a survey, by informally pollingkey communicators, for example.

Once a survey has been decided on, the next step is toclearly define whom to survey, what type of Willey to use,and what types of questions to ask.,It is important to realize in,advance how reliable .the survey will be and how quickly its'results will become available. The best, most reliable, andmost 'cost-effective-suivey is undoubtedly an ongoing two-

' way program of communication with the public tliat con-stantly keeps. both the schools and the public informed abouteach other.

A TIME-SAVING SUGGESTION

An effective public relations,program is essential-to aschool, but it takes time, one commodity no principal hasenough of. One solution to this problem is to assess thesituation, decide on a suitable public relations approach, anddevote five minutes a day to implementing it. If the first day'stask takes more than five minutes, the time can'be credited tofuture days. As a result, there will be a systematic and ongoingeffort to improve public relation's that does not make unreal

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isonable deniands on the principal's time. Several writers sug-gest that it is surprising how much can beaccomplished witheven this modest investment of time.

CONCLUSION

As we have seen, communicating can be a complex,difficult, and occasionally frustrating business. The change instyle from the paternalism of the fifties and sixties to theparticipation-of today is not always an easy one for admini-strators tomake, particitlarl,, since there are no secret forthu-las for communicating effectively in the newenvironment. Infact, good communication varies accordin to the needs of asituation; what works under one set of circumstances maybe useless or even harmful under another.

Nevertheless, a few general guidelines have emergedfrom our discussion. The dominant theme is the need forclarity,, which is at the heart of good communication; whetherspoken or written. Parents, media,representatives, and othercitizens need ,to be -kept informed, in the clearest possibleterms, about what is happening in the schools.Equally important, communication is a two-way pro-cess that involves listening as well as talking. There may betimes when the best way to communicate or to lead issimplyto listen to whatothers have to say

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CHAPTER 9

LEADING MEETINGS'John Lindelow

"Our meetings are so dull! And we never seem to getanything

"What few decisions we make are rarely carried through.Decisions are often forgotten, or no one remembers who wasresponsible for doing what."

"Most people just sit with,blank faces and never getinvolved. The same few people seem to decide everything."

"The principal says he wants us to be involved in deci-sion-making, but in the end he always has it his way."

How many times have, you hearcLsimilar feelings ex-pressed after supposedlyprodaetive meetings? So manymeetings seem to be a waste of *elm their participants.Besides being unproductive for the school, they individ-ual members little personal satisfattion.

So why are meetings usually so unproductive? Meet-ings, of course; are only a part of-the total workings of theschool organization. What goes on in a meeting is, in a way,

, simply a reflection of the attitudes, relationships, and organi-zation of the larger school system. "Every meeting is a micro-cosm," says Richard Dunsing, "a condensed version of thevalues and style of the organization ... In working toward achange for the better ... meetings defy separate treatmentbecause they are all contaminated by the organization's basicvalues and styles."

And just as the norms of the organization affect howmeetings are run, what goes on in meetings generates a "rip-ple effect" on the rest of the organization. "A meeting offifteen people," say 'Michael Doyle and David Straus, "canaffect how 300 people work or don't work for the rest ofthe day. or week or even permanently." Obviously, a poormeeting can have a debilitating effect on-an entire organiza-tion. On the other hand, well-run meetings can rejuvenate anorganization, leading to improved teamwork, communica-tions, and morale on many levels.

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Thus the Problem of unproductive meetings is park ofthe larger problem of ineffective organiiation. Governmentand nonprofit organizations seem most'prone to "sluggish"organizational fundtioning, one reason being the lack of directpersonal reward for increasing efficiency. It is no accident thatthe great-majority of literature on improving meetings comesfrom theprofit- and survival-oriented business world.

Contributing to the problem of ineffective meetings is asimple lack of organizational and human-relations skillS onthe part of meeting participants. Many of these skills, though,are as old as meetings themselves, such as dealing with thelong-winded participant, creating an agenda and sticking to it,and assuring that responsibilities are assigned and deadlinesset.

Some other meeting techniques have been developedmore recently. Social scientists in the field of group dynamicshave been studying for decades the interactions of groupmembers and hOw to improve the communications process. Amore recent arrival is the behavioral science called organiza-tion development, which examines the whole of the commu-nicatior s structures of organizations. Both of these fieldshaveshed new light On ways to make'meetings more effective.

This chapter will present many suggestions aimed athelping educators improve their performance in meetings,both as groupileaders and as participants. Before getting in-volved in the more practical aspects ofmeeting management,however, two; important preliminaries will be examined: theleadership style you choose to use, and the importance ofhaving clear-cut goals for your meetings.

CHOOSING A LEADERSHIP PATTERN

Ideas about leadership have been changing greatly inrecent years. Earlier in this century, it .was assumed thatleaders shotild be autocratic, authoritative, and in full controlof their organizations. Gradually, though, The idea surfacedthat leadership could be a shared and democratic function.Social scientists began focusing on group members and theirneeds and found participative decision-making to be a work-able alternative to traditional directive leadership.

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Today's principals and administratort often find them-selves torn between the two extremes of leadership behavior.The result is sometimes an tw.certain compromise, with sub-ordinates not quite knowing where the leader stands or whatbehavior Would be considered "appropriate" in a given situa-tion. Thus, before getting involved in the nuts and bolts ofmeeting management, iris helpful for the meeting leader orplanner to give some thought tq the kind of "leadership pat-tern" that is most comfortable for him or her.

In a classic article entitled "How to Choose a Leader ShipPattern/9 Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt recog-nize the gamut of possible leadership styles, ranging fromautocratic to democratic, and -the importance for a leader tochoose a leadership,pattern compatible with his or her ownpersonal needs, the needs ofsubordinates ("non-Managers"),and the other "forces in the situation." They stress that no onestyle is necessarily right or wrong and that leadership beha-vior should be geared to the particular situation. Although thebasic elements of Tannenbaum andSchmides,ideas atout-leadership style were discussedin chapter 3, they are men-tioned again here because they are particularly useful to thoseleading meetings, especially decision-making meetings.

At one extreme of the "continuum of leadership beha-vior" is the complete autocrat who makes all the decisions andsimply announces these decisions to subordinates. A stepaway from the autocrat is the manager who "sells" decisionsto group members. Here again, the manager identifies theproblem and arrives at a decision, but "rather than simplyannouncing it, he takes the additional step of persuading hissubordinates to accept it." Further along the continuum is themanager who presents his or her ideas and decision and theninvites questions and comments from subordinates, so -theymight better understa'hd what he or she is hying to accom-plish. Next there is the leader who "presents a tentative deci-sion subject to change," after input from subordinates.

Subordinates finally geta chance to suggest their ownsolutions at the next step on the continuum where the "man-arr presents the problem, gets suggestions, and then makeshis decision." Near the democratic end of the spectrum is themanager who defines the problem and.the limits within whichthe decisions must be made and then requests that the group

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make the decision. Finally, there:: the leader who is prirnarilya team member and who imposes only those limits on thegroup that are specified by the organization or the immediatesuperior of the team leader.

In choosing a leadership style from this range of possi-bilities, a manager should consider three variables: his or herown personality, the characteristics of his or her subordinates,and the other factorsin the situation, such as the norms of theorganization. "Some managers," state Tannenbaum andSchmidt, "have a greater need than others for predictabilityand stability in their environment." Such managers wouldprobably function better as more directive leaders. Othermanagers might 'eave a greater "tolerance for ambiguity" thatallows them to relersesome control over the decision-inakingprocess and thus over the, predictability of the situation.

Subordinates, too, differ in their needs. Some enjoyclear-cut directives, while others have high needs for sharingin the decision-making process. Other .factors influencingleadership style. are the type of organization, the nature ofthe problem, and the pressures of time.

Even when the same group meets more than once, theleader may vary his or her style, depending on the type ofmeeting and its objectives. An autocratic style is appropriatewhen the meeting is mainly a briefing session, when thematters at hand are easy or routine, or when a crisis arises anddecisions have to be made in a hurry. A democratic-style iscalled for when decisions by consensusare necessary or desir-able; when an informal atmosphere is needed, as in a brain-

. storining session, a gripe or rap session, or a creative problem-solving meeting; or when the. acceptability of a decision ismore important than its quality, as in a meeting held to resolvea conflict.

The effective meeting chairman, as summed up by BarryMaude, is one who, at the beginning of the meeting,

sizes up the situation, decides what kind of leadershipis required, then slips into the appropriate gear. So inone meeting he is an unassertive idea-eunuch: in thenext, a tough, fast-talking overlord. Today he is asuction-pump drawing out pedple's ideas. Tomorrowhe is a conveyor-belt, fret:ling the group with informa-tion, carrying them steadily and efficiently towards a

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decision. The day after ,he becomes a spark-plug,showering the meeting with ideas. By discreet use ofthe loud and soft pedals he becomes ,a-man for allmeetings.

But simply varying style is not enough. It is incumbent.Othe meeting leader, say Len Chellew and Vern Trott,to tell"the staff or committee at the outset of the life of the groupwhy his or hr.: style of decision-making will be different indifferent situations. The deSignated leader who does nqt dothis will create confusion, apathy, and lack of trust." Thus,leaders should clearly indicate the degree of decision-makingpower they have in a particular situation and then stick to thata areemeri t.

When group members know clearly the structure ofthe decision-making process and the bounds of their _power,they can begin to work within this structure toward groupgoals, without ,continual doubt or haggling over power. Aknown decision-making style, whether it be autocratic ordemocratic, fends a certain psychological solidity to meetingSthat can prevent many frustrations within a group. In a likeway, meetings become more meaningful when they are calledfor specific purposes and have clearlydefinedgoals.

GOALS AND VALUES OF MEETINGS

Before calling any meeting, the meeting planner shouldconsider these few simple questions: What do I want to ac-complish with this meeting? What goals and objectives do Iwish to reach? Is a meeting the best route to my goal, or mightsome other form of communication be more efficient? Arethere other values in meetings in addition to the obviouspractical ends they achieve? These questions will be consid-ered in turn.

MEETINGS WITH PURPOSE

"No wind favors him who has, no destined port," goes"the old saying. Yet how many meetings have you attendedthat have drifted pointlessly with no obvious goals or pur-poses to guide them? Every meeting needs one or more

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definite purposes that are known to all group membrs. FrankShell emphasizes this point by defining a meeting as "a grouptalking togetherivith a clearly defined purpose in mind:"

Most meetings take place forone or more of the follow-ing reasons:

to receive or give informationto make a decisionto define, analyze, or solve a problemto reconcile conflictsto express feelings (for example; a gripe-session orrap-session)

Information

Some meetings are designed primarily for the exchangeof information among participants. The meeting leader maywant to simply brief members, or to instruct them, as in atraining session. Conversely, the leader may want to receivereports from Participants. In this type of meeting, a moreautocratic leadership style is usually the most efficient.

One advantage of an information meeting overa memoor written report is that reaction and feedback can be imme-diate. Every member can hear in the short time of a meetingboth the information presented and the reaction of all othermembers to it. Another advantage of an oral presentation,notes B.Y. Auger, is that it is often more effective and memor-able than a written report. Furthermore, the nature of a grouppresentation often impels meeting participants to be morethoughtful in their preparation.

Decisive-making

Decision-making style range' s from the autocratic to thetruly democratic. An autocrat may simply wish to get someinput from participants before making a decision. In meetingswith a more democratic style of decision-making, everyonewho has a critical stake in a decision is given a chanCe to,beheard and to influence the final decision.

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Problem-solving

Several heads are usually better than one, particularlyfor defining, analyzing, and solving problems. In a problem-solving session, the group brin8s together "the bits and piecesof experience and insight which may lead to common under-standing," says Auger. "One person may describe an effect,while another suggests a plausible reason for it. Out of apattern of this type of analysis, an acceptablecause-and-effectrelationship may be discovered." .

Another advantage of problem-solving sessions is thatsuch meetings tend to correct for the flaws and idiosyncraciesin the thinking of individuals. An effectiVe group can be muchmore flexible and wide-ranging in its thought, but at the sametime sift out impractical or far-flung ideas.

The style of lea dershipsan vary widely in problent-solv-.ing meetings, depending on the nature of the problem, timelimitations, and'other variables. For example, a brainstormingsession might be called to foster ideas for increasing communityawareness of certain school programs. In such 'a session, avery informal, deinocratic atmosphere would be needed tostimulate a variety of ideas. If, on the other hand, the analysisof a problem calls for an orderly presentation of data and somehard thinking, a more leader-controlled meeting would bemore efficient.

Reconciling conflicts

A meeting is often the'only good place to explore sharpdifferences of opinion and to negotiate some kind of compro-mise. This type of meeting requires tight control so thattempers do not flare. When the conflict does not directly affectthe group leader, he or she can work primarily as a facilitator,,bringing out and clarifying the points of difference, makingsure that each side's case is fully heard, and hammering outcompromises. When the group leader is one-of the principalcontenders, it is necessary (and sometimes required by law) toappoint a neutral third party to manage the conflict.

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Evroshig feelings

It is sometimes wise to hold. gripe-sessions or rap-sessions with staff members to sound put their feelings aboutthe organization and its administratibn. Such meetingsshould be as permissive and unstructuredas possible, for theyare important steam valves for an organization. The leader,,according to Barry Maude, should remain in the backgroundand allow members to contribute spontaneously, for he or sherecognizes "that any decision taken is less important than (a)providing a therapeutic opportunity for staff to express theirfeelings (b) ensuring that any decision_s taken are acceptable tothe participants:"The meeting planner should make sure that each agendaitem has one or more of the above purposes and should clearlyindicate the purpose on the agenda. For example, the agendaitem "School_ lunch program" tells the Meeting; participantlittle about its purpose. A more complete description might be"Information on new school lunch program," or "Decisionregarding continuance of lunch program," or "Defining poSsi-ble nutritional in school lunch program." (More willbesaid about agendas in the next section.)Some meetings have none of the above imrposes, yetthey may be very important to the health of an organization.These are meetings, say Ernest Bormann and his colleagues,that are used primarily as rituals. Ritualistic meetings, such as,for example, the presenting of the yearly budget, might seemto be only the rubber-stamping of decisions already made. Yetthey have the value of "adding to the cohesiveness of theorganization," and sometimes such meetings assure "thathurt feelings do not impede efficiency." For example, a personin a position of authority might be invited to attend a meetingin which he or she has little active interest. "But the,very factthat he was invited to attend," say these authors, "communi,cates to him that the people calling the meeting recognize hisimportance within the organization." If the proponents ofpolicy Or proposals fail to have a ritualistic Meeting in which allpeople of authority are informed about developments, theymay "suddenly find many roadblocks in their way."

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, IS &MEETING NECESSARY?

The first step in reducing the huge amount of timewasted in meetings is to:ask the simple question of whetherthe goals of a meeting mighfbe reached in some other, moreefficient way. Too many meetings are called simply becauseit's that time of the week or month. Often, memos or. tele-phone calls (individual or conference) can accomplish thecommunication desired without the time and expense of ameeting..

A general rule of thumb is'that meetings shoUld not beCalled when an individual decision-maker can get.better re-sults. Meetings are often of value even for deciding simplematters, however. As Antony:Jay has observed,

Real opposition to decisions withinorganizations usu-ally consists of one part disagreement with the decisionto.nine parts resentment at not:being consultedbeforethe decision. For most people on most issues, it isenough to know that their views were heard and con-sidered. They may regret that they, were not followed,but they accept the outcome.

Individuals are more efficient when the matters to bedecided are routine and, surprisingly, when the decision- de-pends on the use of subtle, hard-to-explain reasoning thatcannot be done spontaneously: "Research indicates that sub-tle reasoning problems are generally performed more accu-rately by individuals than by meetings," reports Maude. "Thegreat danger of presenting-difficult reasoning :problems tomeetings to solve is that the competent members (those whoknow 'hoW to solve the problem) may be out-voted or evenconvinced by the rest:"

However true this may be with-some decision-makers,one should remember that meetings Often serve as a valuablecheck on the errors in reasoning of .some members. In thebroad area betweenNery simple and very complex reasoning

. tasks, research shows, again according to Maude, that groupdecisions aremore,likely to be on target than individual deci-sions. And in this era of increasing accountability, more andMore decisions must be made in which the reasoning processis open to public scrutiny.

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HIDDEN VALUES OF MEETINGS

Most meetings have value beyond the achievement ofobvious organizational goal's. Meetings satisfy, or can satisfy,the personal and emotional needs of individual members,fi

such as needs for participation, belonging, achievement, andpower. Participants interact, develop roles, and share theirexperiences, problems, and successes.

Meetings also have value in building the cohesivenessof an organization. "In the simplest and most basic way," saysJay, "a meeting defines the team, the.group, or the unit. Thosepresent belong to it; those absent do not. Everyone is able tolook around and perceive the whole group y and sense thecollective identity of which he or she formsa part."

Richard Schmuck and his colleagues sum, up the valuesof meetings as follows:

While all channels of communication in a school can beuseful, meetings are singularly important in providinga setting in which school members can communicateand coordina te.informa tidn about problems and deci-.sions and at the same time satisfy emotional needs foractivity, achievement, affiliation, and power. Meetingsprovide an opportunity for participation not found inmemos, newsletters, loudspeaker announcements,and the like. They enable an immediate check of reac-tions to what another person has just said and to one's

owrrimmediate utterances as well. If managed effec-tively, meetings can be the principal channel for bring-ing staff members into collaboration to reach commonunderstandings and for that reason can be highly pro-ductive and satisfying events in the life of an or3ani-zation.

BASICS OF MEETING PLANNING

"Conducting a meeting without a. plan," states JackParker, Is much like trying to build a house without blue-prints. It can be done, of course, but the end result is likely tobe less than desirable and the process can be expensive andnerve-wracking."

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kgood part of the planning is already done once thepurpose of the meeting is decided. This immediately gives apreliminary idea of who will be attending and what mighttranspire.

But engineering a Successful meeting usually requiressome;careful strategic planning. The meeting planner shouldtry to imagine What is likely to happens in the meeting frombeginning to end, andespecially_what barriers to accomplish-ment might spring up. The planner might ask himself orherself questions such as the following: Who will be the meet-ing participants, and what stakes clo they have in the matters tobe discussed? What are their personalities and their stances onmeeting issues? What conflicts are likely to develop amongparticipants? Who will be asked to change or adjust, and howmight they react?

What skills will be required to deal with problems facingthe meeting, and are these skills available within the organiza-

- tionZ If not, what experts can be invited? What are the criticalissues on which a decision might hinge? What is the range ofpossible. compromises that might be reached? What can andcannot be traded off?

Other important facets of meeting planning, to be consi-dered in the following pages, include writing up the agendaand allotting time for each item, deciding who will attend,arranging the seating, and selecting the meeting room.

THE AGENDA AND TIME CONSIDERATIONS

The heart of the organizational structure of a meeting isthe agenda. "Without an agenda, the most skilled meetingleader might not be able to bring off a meeting successfully,"says B.Y. Auger..

With an agenda, however, he is able to devote histalents to managing the interplay of personalities inthe meeting room. He can do this more effectivelybecause he knows what he wants to achieve. With thisgeneral strategy mapped out in the agenda, he canconcentrate on the more fluid tactics of the meetingroom.

Before a meeting, it is wise to consult with meeting

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participants to determine what topics need to be on the agenda., Sometimes a premeeting discussibil can eliminate the need to

put a topic on the agenda, saving everyone's time. And oftenit can stimulate participants to properly prepare for the meet.ing. Don Halverson suggests that this participant input can beachieved by "circulating a skeletal or blank agenda and askingfor agenda items."

Once the agenda is drawn up, it should be distributed tomeeting participants.. The 'optimum time to distribute theagenda for most meetings, is one to three days, before themeeting. If the agenda is circulated too far in advance, someparticipants may forget it.or lose it. But at least twenty-tourhours should be allowed so participants can give some careful'thought to meeting topics.

lithe meeting is called on short notice, advance distri-bution of the agenda may be impossible. On the other hand,very early distribution of an agenda may be necessary foranelaborate meeting or one requiring a lot of advance preparation.

Along with the agenda, any necessary,. background in-formation should be distributed to participants before themeeting. "High-quality information leads to high-qualityde-cisions, ' says Barry Maude, and prevents a discussion frombecoming "a mere pooling of ignorance./'_. Supplying back-ground information can allow participants to consider matterscarefully in advance and.formulate useful questions."But thewhole idea is sabotaged once the papers get too long"; saysAntony Jay, "They should be brief or provide a short summary."

One useful approach is to ask the person who will bemaking a presentation to provide the meeting planner withthe necessary background information. The planner or a staffmember can then write .up a short summary of importantpoints and distribute the summary to participants with theagenda.

The agenda should include both the starting and ending'times of the meeting. Having a definite ending time is impor-tant, for participants have othetresponsibilities and appoint-ments to attend to, and it is only common courtesy that theyknow when the meeting will be over. "If meetings have atendency to go on too long," suggests Jay, "the chairmanshould arrange to start them, one hour before lunch: or onehour before the end of work." Other authors warn, however,

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that meetings at these times may be less productive because oflow blood sugars and general weariness.

In addition to definite starting and ending. times, meet-ings should have an internal structuring of time. Each agendaitem should be allotted a certain amount of time, dependingon its importance.. For a productive meeting, these time con-straints mti$t beheld to; or at least closely approximated. Ofcourse, the amount of time each topic will needis an extremelyunpredictable quantity. With experience, however, the meet-ing planner will.be able to better estimate the time needed forparticular kinds of topics. Until then, it may be wise to followthe system that Maude wryly suggests for working through aparticular agenda:

1. Estimate the time required to deal with each item.2. Calculate the total time required.3. Double this figure.While working on a particular agenda item, the trick is

to get all the necessary information out in the open, but to cutoff any superfluous additions. This is truly an art, buta chair-man skilled in discussion techniques (discussed in the nextsection) can approach ihiS efficiency ideal. .;

AnOther aspect of meeting design that can be altered toachieve desired ends is the order of 'agenda items. Naturally,urgent items need to come before those that can wait: But ifsome items might divide members, and others might unite,them, the meeting planner can vary their order to produce,hopefully, a smoother meeting. In any case, it is always a goodidea to end each meeting with a unifying item. Jay makesthe_ se suggestions concerning the order of agenda items: .

The early part ofa meeting tends to be more lively andcreative than the end of it, so if an item needs mentalenergy, bright ideas, and clear heads,it may be betterto put it high up on the list. Equally, if there is one itemof great interest andconcem to everyone, it may be agood idea to hold it back fora while and get some otheruseful work done first. Then the star item can beintroduced to carry the meeting over the attention lagthat sets in after the first 15 to, 20 minutes of themeeting.

If there is a large number of topics to discuss, it may bebest to hold two or more separate meetings. Similar topics can

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be clustered in each Meeting allowing ,a smaller number ofparticipants.It is. very rare 1for meetings to rentain productive aftertwo hours. As Frank Snell points out, "bear thinking faltersas the clock goes round, and in him/emotions take over.Weariness breedS dissension and contrariness." The ideallength seems to belfrorii an hour to,an(hour and a If themeetings must -be ,held for longer penbds, be'siO! to providecoffee and fresh breaks.In addition/ to the meeting date, starting and ending

TABLE 1: SAMPLE AGENDA

District C.Managers' ConferenceDecember 17,_1979, 9:0040:45 AN.

CentralMeeting RoomAGENDA

PersonTopic Responsible Objective Tiiiie

_. .

1. Approval of agenda Al Herbert Decision 5 minutes2. Discussion of possible state Al Herbert Discussion 10 minutes

funding dec*ase for 1981-82.i3. Shall district lunch program be Ed Freemont Decision 20 minutes

contracted out next year?4. Discussion f()1 new district Al Herbert Information 5 minutesin i

1 packet.5. Discussio of proposed 1981-84 All s. Discussion 30minutescontract.6. New requirements for parental John Nelson Information 10 minutes

advisory/groups...

7. Cu ttingpnergy consumption Ed Freemont Problem- 20 minutesto meetifederarguidelines. solution

/times, and the place where the meeting is to be held, theagenda should contain a brief description of each topic, theobjective desired foreach topic (for example, decisiorfdisus-sion, information), the name of the person responsible foreach topic (Who should intioduce the item -at -the meeting),and the time allptment for that-itein. A sample agenda ispresented in table 1. (A variation of this agenda is tol simply

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head each agenda item with "For discussion," "For, informa-tion," or "For decison.")Although a firm structureis desirable for effective meet-ings, the planner should not "overstructure" the meeting. AsAuger puts it, "Onemust not create the impresSion among theparticipants that the meeting has been so finally and rigidlypreplanned that they'are merely assembling to hear a procla-mation." Participants should be left with the impression "thatthere is a legitimate need for the meeting andthat their views,information and problem-Solving talents can be considered."

So within the structure of the agenda, a good bit of flexibility isadvised.

WHO SHALL ATTEND?

Once-you decide what you want to accomplish in ameeting, the question of whoM to invite will behalf answered.For starters, you will need those who are most affected bytheissues to be diScussed, thoSe who have to give or receiveinformation at the meeting and those whose presence isnecessary or desirable for decision-making purposes.

Maude stresses that meeting participants be chosenfrom the organizational level most a ppropriate.to deal with theproblem. Long-term,., olicy issues, for example, should bedecided by experienced, upper-level administratorswho "havethe experience and the over-view to grasp the financial impli-cations of a particular decision and to overcome the inherentuncertairityof this kind of long-term decision-making."In the same manner, middle-level managerial decisionsand day-to-day operating decisions should be made at theappropriate level. Maude warns against "inviting_peopleto

meetings simply because ofTheirhigh-stattii in the organisa-tion." One secret ofmakingineetings more efficient, he states,is to "puslvdecision-making as far down the organisation as itWill go, le. -to the lowest' level competent to handle the-problem."Depending on the goals of your meeting, you can inviteeither a group with diverse personalities, or a more like-minded

group. Maude quotes research that has "found that meetingsmade up of people of unlike personality often produce bettersolutions than like-minded groups.. The reason may be the

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wide range of ideas that is likely; or simply that different-mitided people tend to disagree and this, prevents over-hasty-decisions being made." So for creative problem-solving ses-sions, it may pay to invite a range of people from differentlevels and backgrounds,(perhaps even some "outsiders."

t Now that everyone who might either do the.meetingsome good or gain something from it has been identified, thenext step for the meeting planner,and a very important step,is to pare down the attendee list so it includes only thosemembers whose presence is absolutely necessary. There isuniversal agreement among meeting- improvement expertsthat a major reason for poor meetings is that too many peoplehave been invited.

"Large, unwieldy meetings,seem to be especially com-mon in the public sector," says Maude, "perhaps becayse of'legal and repreSentational considerations. ' The philoSophyof"participative management" is one of the reasons for ineffect-ive meetings, according to Richard Dunsing. "In line with atradition of 'touching base with everyone', some groups thatare supposed to be working groups grow to assemblies of 20,30, or even 40 people. But though they're billed as,'working'meetings, their size alorie makes them barely able to functionat all."

Dunsing states that the Working meeting should rarelyconsist of more_than 8-to-I0'people. Jay states that "between 4anc1,7--is generally idea;, 10 is, tolerable, and 12 is the outsidelimit." Maude prefers 5 to 9, and Snell sets a limit at 15. If youmust hold a meeting with a large number of participants, itmay be desirable to create committees or subgroups to workon particular topics:

Small groups of four or less are more prone to biaseddecisions, and they lack the "breadth of experience,and think-ing to deal adequately with complex problems," says Maude.On the other hand, when groups grow to over ten, "an increa-sing number of people are scared into silence" and "intimateface-to-face contact between all members becomes impossible,so the meeting tends to split into cliques."

The optimum number for a particular working group isbest found by experimentation. The ideal size is one that islarge enough to provide the needed expertise for solving a

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problem, yet is smallenough to prevent communications andcontrol problems.

SEATING ARRANGEMENTS

Yet another factor that the astute meeting planner canvary in designing a successful meeting is the arrangement ofattendees in the meeting room. Again, the type of seatingarrangements will depend on theobjectiveof the meeting andthe kind of leadership style the meeting leader chooses. Inaddition, it will depend on whethei the meeting planner wish-es to promote or prevent conflict among indiViduals or factionsin-a meeting.

A "democra tic" sea ting arrangement is one that empha-sizes the equality of members; for example,,a round or squaretable. A variation is to use low coffee tables, or no tables at all,as might be done in an informal rap-session. _

The leader becomes more central when-he or she sits atthe middle of a:P-shaped arrangement. This "leader-centered"symbolism become§ stronger still when the leader sits at thehead of a long, narrow table. With the traditional rectangulartable, says Maude, "you talk either to the chainhan or'to thepeople opposite and you respond to comments by the peopleopposite more than. to comments made by people alongsideyou." Particularly if the table is narrow, participants are forced

into uncomfortable directvisual contact with the people sittingopposite, and they have to crane their necks to see the leader.The result is that "this kind of meeting often turns into a kindof verbal tennis match, with contributions flying-to and froacross the table rather than around it."

Another way to minimize social contact is to place theleader at the front of the room Withalldthei Chili§ fad-rig-thefront. "The easiest way to maintain a.-group.as strangers,"says William Spaulding, "is to seat them theater-style so thatexcept for those on either side, they never become acquaintedwith anything other than the backs of their colleagues'heads." However, this may well be a good set-up if yourprimary objective is to give information to participants.

In general, the meeting planner will want to increaseinteraction and eye contact among meeting participants. When

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participants can see each other's faces and read the bodylanguage of other members, their understanding of each otherwill be maximized: For greatest eye contact, use a U4shaped orcircular table. .

If there are two conflicting ,groups, and you wish tominimize tension, be sure to break up the groups. In particular,do not:put opposing camps on opposite sides of a rectangulartable. Likewise, keep individuals who are antagonistic a gooddistance apart. As Snell observes, "Distance will definitelymake the hearts of two opposites grow fonder!"

THE MEETING ROOM*:

"Surroundings tend to affect the way we think and act,"states Auger,, "and a poorly arranged and uncomfortable roomis not likely to produce positive meeting results." Commonsense, you say, yet how many meetings have you attended.where something disturbed your concentration, su.:11 as anuncomfortable chair, a burnt-out projector bulb, a hot, overcrowded room, or a dance class meeting on the floor directlyabove? Attention to the physical setting of a meeting can'tguarantee a good Meeting; but it can prevent a bad one.

The location of your meeting depends on its purpose. Ifit is an instructional meeting, a classroom may be the bestplace. If it is a "ritualistic" meeting, it should probably be heldin the best conference room available. And if it is a problem-solving or decision-making meeting, a simple meeting roosrnis---best. But "do not hold a'clecision,making meIting in the officeof a high status membef; Caution Bormaim and his colleagues

the surrounding symbolism is.bound to inhibit free corn-munication.

The Size of the meeting room should match the size ofthe group. Maude reports that "the size Of theroomreferredby most participants is one that gives the impression of beingcomfortably full not crowded when everyone is presentand sitting around the table."

Chairs should be comfortable, but not so comfortablethat participants are prone to doze off. There should be ample

electrical sockets for projectors, recorders, and so forth, andthe meeting planner inould make sure that the correct audio-

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visual equipment will be available and serviceable. Paper andpencils should be in ample supply, and a coffee pot shoUld benearby.

Good acoustics, lighting, and ventilation are other com-mon-sense necessities for a good meeting. A room with pooracoustics is apt to lull participants to sleep, or frustrate them.Poor lighting and ventilation can also make group membersirritable.

if there is antagonism between the smoking and non-smoking factions of the meetinp try to put the smokers to-gether in the best ventilated area of the room. An increasinglypopular remedy is to restrict smoking during the meetingaltogether.

Meeting distractions come in the fOrm of incoming tele-phone calls, late-comers, and outside noises. All calls to meet-ing participants should be held unless there is an emergency.If there are two or more entrances to the meeting room, onlyone should be used to minimize interruption by late-comers.And the meeting;shOuld be held in a room that is not usuallysubject to outSide noises.

Of course, it is impossible to meet in an_idearroottevery time, but with judicious-attentionto environmentalfactors tha t.ca n be altered, the meeting planner can most often

---exisiire that the meeting environment will be comfortable andconducive to good communication.

THE ART OF-LEADING THE MEETING

Good meeting.planning is essential for having consis-tently good meetings. Yet even with thebest planning, meet-ings can go awry. The other half of the meeting leader's artconsists of successfully managing the "human energy" duringthe meeting.

An influencing factor, as always, is the style of leadershipthat the leader chooses. Do you want to run your meetings intraditional fashion, like a captain running his ship, givingorders and taking full command? Or do you prefer to viewyourself as a subtle facilitator who is at the service of the group?

The concept of leadership, as noted earlier, has beenchanging rapidly, in recent decades. Earlier meeting manuals

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stress the importance of a strong leader who is the master andcontroller of the group. More recent publications portray themeeting leader as a manager and facilitator whose primaryfunction is to foster a democratic and cooperative groupproc-ess among participants. In keeping with the spirit of the times,the suggestions in this section are designed more for the"leader as facilitator" and less for the "leader as captain."

THE WHAT AND HOW OF MEETINGMANAGEMENT

A trained meeting observer or a perceptive meetingparticipant will be aware of two distinct sets of activities that-----take place in every working discussion_Thefirsffer, called the"task" or "conterCactivitieslif the group, has to do with 'what,the-groupirdoing. The second set, called "maintenance" or"Process" activities, has to do with how the group is doing it.The effective group leader should be aware of and facilitateboth activities.

Task activities, says Richard- Dunsing, are "rational,systematic, cognitive efforts Of the kind we typically expend intalking about and working On a problem." The goalS of taskactivities are the stated goals of themeeting: to,make a decision,to solve a problem, to plan a budget, to exchange information.Examples of task activities are setting goals, listing priorities,usitigbackgyound and historryr, examiningconsequences, link-ing with other issues, 'Setting assignMents, and agreeing ontime limits.

Maintenance activities (also Called human relations ac-tivities), continues Durising, concern "the way people think,act, and feel while they're immersed in the task." The goals ofmaintenance activities are the personal, usually unstated goalsof each member: to feel acceptance and affiliation, to achieve,to have power. Things to watch for in assessing process activi-ties include the eruption of conflict and how it is handled,body language, the relevance of inputs from each participant,the expression of emotion by participants (such as anger,irritation, resentment, apathy, boredom, warmth and appre-ciation, or satisfaction), and the mixture of seriousness andplayfulness in the group.

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Barry Maud has observed that "meetings oscillate be-tween intellectual and emotional activity as the pressures ofdecision-making arouse emotions in people."

When emotions start surfacing, it is time for the groupleader and other sensitive meeting participants to start "main-taining" the human relations in the group. When the "meetingmachine" is back in smooth working order, the meeting leadershould guide the group back into task activities.

TASK-FUNCTIONS

The primary tool the group leader has to help a grouptoward its goals is the agenda. The agenda defines the topicsand objectives of the meeting and structures the time withinthe meeting. It is the backbone of the meeting, the roadmap toits goals.

The first topic on the agenda should be the approval ofthe agenda itself. This activity allows,participants to reviewthe "meeting menu" and suggest changes if they feel theyarenecessary. For example, some members might think that thetime allotment for a topic should be-greater in light of recentevents, or that a certain topiC should be talked about firstthing. Even if no 'changes are made, the agenda review andapproval are valuable for setting the stage for the meeting andallow members to get into the right "mental set."

The meeting leader should constantly monitor themeeting in relation to its plan, the agenda. When the conver-sation gets Off.track, the leader should correct the direction ofthe meeting. Questions are a useful Way to do this; for example,the leader may ask: "Just a moment, please. How- does thisrelate to the point Janet madeearlier?" A,More direct approachis sometimes needed: "This Is interesting, but we're gettingoff the subject. Let's get back to theinain topic."

The leader should watch for signs that the topic hasbeen discussed enough = such as the repetition of ideas, orloss of interest and move the group on to the next topic. Butthe leader should also be flexible and not hurry the meetingalong too fast in the interest of sticking to the agenda. SaysMaude, "Meetings need time to deal with complex problems:under pressure, they settle for quickbut unsound decisions."

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A good way to round off the discussion ofaiopic-is tosummarize the main points brought up. Ari added benefit isthat the leader can gracefully move into the next topic aftersumming up. Another simple approach is to ask participants ifthey think enough time has been devoted to the topic; andwhether they would like to move on. .

Just as the leader helps the group round off its discussiondone topic, he or she helps the group begin discussion of thenext. The leader may simply. indicate the group member re-sponsible for the next topic, as indicated on the agenda. Or theleader may give background information on the topic and-then "immediately encourage the contribution of opinions andinformation by group members," sayS Leland Bradford. "If theleader fails to promote initiation by all members, the group canquickly become paSlive and uninvolved."

At times it may become obvious that a different approachis needed to solve a problem. The leader can stop discussion,suggest the new strategy, and ask what, the group thinksabout the change. Such, 'restructurings" of the group process,can both save time and prevent unnecessary conflict.

In most meetings, there are some members who aremore aggressive tharr- others iri their presentation of ideas.More timid members may -have good ideas, but.their ideasmay only get half-stated or half-heard. It is up to the meetingleader to draw out the idea, particularly if it is a good One, andelaborate it for the group. This prevents the loss of good ideasand prevents the tiinid group members from withdrawingfrom active participation to the detriment of the whole group.

When the desired end-product of a discussiorris a deci-sion, the leader should step in when he or she senses theremay be a consensus and ask if the group is in substantialagreement. If no _consensus is in sight and the discussionseems to be going,riowhere, the leader camcall for a vote. Ifconsensus is required or desired, however, the leader mayhave to be imaginative and think of a new method for resolvingthe remaining conflicts.

When a decision is made, the meeting leader shouldmake clear just what the decision is and how it will be imple-mented. ReSponsibili ties should be assigned and deadlines foraction set. This solid information should .be entered at onceinto the minutes of the meeting.

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Even if there was substaiitial disagreement during ameeting, the leader shouldattempt to end on a positive note.A good means of doing this is to save for last an agenda itemthat everyone can agree on.Finally, -the meeting leadershould briefly sum up theentire meeting and restate its decisions and the assignments ofresponSibility. Just before the meeting adjourns, it may be a goodtime to arrange the next meeting time with grourthembers.

MAINTENANCE- FUNCTIONS

Properly maintaining the humah`relationShips ina groupis somewhat like properly maintaining the machineS in afactory; says Bradford. "The effective group ... learns thatconsistent maintenance not only resolves problems; it makesworking- together a rewarding experience." But "without attention to moods, feelings, and interpersonal relationships, agroup chokes its lifeline ofenergy and motivation to completethetask."Other.authors address the task/maintenance issue interms of a balance betweeh,effort and reward. According toMichael Burgoon and his coauthors, the amount of personalreward members receive influences both "the' willingness ofgroup members to participate and'their satisfaction with groupoutcomes.'Individuals bring to the groUp their personal anticipa-,_tions of the amount of effort they will expend comparedto the amount of reward they will receive. If the amount,v of effort reedited becomes disproportionate to theamount of reward received, willingness to be involvedin the gioup decreases .... The group must, therefore,select its responsibilities and design its activities sothat the membersare collectively and individually sa t-isfi Id with the reiationship.

The goal of the leader's maintenance activities,-then, isto create a group in which members feel involved, nonthreat-'ened; and satisfied in their personal needs. Such a group canreach its maximum productivity as negative interpersonalconflicts fade out and the nafinal tendencies of humans tocooperate and solve mutual problems emerge.

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One maintenance function already mentioned is that ofdrawing out and encouraging the more timid members of agroup. Not only does this increase the "idea pool" of thegroup, it prevents the withdrawal of timid members fromactive participation in the group: The danger.of.withdrawnmembers is double: first, they are "dead weight" on thegroup's shoulders, contributing-little to the group's product-ivity; second, out of feelings of resentment, they may sabotagegroup deCisiOns by "forgetting" to do things or by workingactively against implementation of the decisions in which they"really had,no,say.

Group members who feel that they and their ideas arevaluable to the group will work for the group instead ofagainst it, beCause they will have gotten something positivefrom the group: acceptance, identity, and a feeling of belong=ing. Thus, the group ;leader should encourage participationfrom all members and make sure that the "smaller voices" arenot overwhelmed. -*

When conflict breaks out in a meeting, as it inevitablywill, the role of the leader becomes that of harmonizer. "Har-monizing," says Bradford, "is negotiation between opposingsides in which one memberselves as a third-party peacemaker,trying to retrieve the best ideas of both sides." HoWeVer,Bradford warns, "When overdone, harmonizing dulls theflash of creativity that confrontation can produce."

So a certain degree of conflict is part ola healthy groupprocess. But when conflict is extreme, and egos are involved,the progress of the group toward its goals often comes to aComplete standstill.

One useful technique for decreasing personal conflictsin meetings is to distinguish clearly between ideas and indi-viduals. Ideas, not individuals, should be evaluated by thegroup, stresses Bradford. "An individual may feel that a criticalevaluation of his contribution is a rejection,of himself. Suchindividuals, unable to separate their ideas from themselves,may withdraw. Others may fight, creating polarization andconflict in the group."

Of course, it is no easy trick getting participants to keeptheir minds on ideas instead of individuals. Certainly, re-minders from the leader at critical times can help. A usefulexercise for helping members learn the distinction is this: Have

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members write down their ideas for the solution of a problem.Collect the ideas and emphasize that they are now "groupproperty." Then have the group evaluate the ideas one byone.

The leader should not, if at all possible, take sides-in anmgument. If questioned about his or her opinion, the leadercan relay the question back to the group: "That is a toughproblem. Does anyone have any ideas?" If the leader doesanswer questions about substantive measures, warn Borrnannand his associates, "he isqiiite likely to be drawn into theconflict:: Once a' part of the fight, he loses control of themeeting. It is difficult to lead and take an active part. The manwho,does both may monopolize the meeting."

Indeed, monopolizing the meeting is usually what atraditional-style leader does when conflict is brewing. Yet=how can you both lead a meeting in Which you have a criticalstake and facilitate the meeting, as if you didn't? One approachis to have several or all members trained in facilitating meet-ings. Then when conflict erupts, the person most neutral onthe issue can "referee." Another appioach, to .be discussedlater in this chapter, is to have a neutral person from outsidethe group facilitate the etiiire-meeting (see the InteractionMethod).

YOU AS A PARTICIPANT

A meeting's success should not, of course, be solelydependent on the leader's capabilities. Participants, too, haveresponsibilities for making meetings work.

The first rule for meeting participation is' to come pre-pared. Read the agenda and think about the topics to bediscussed. Make sure you understand the issues. Read thebackground information provided with the agenda, if any.Formulate your own views and questions, and imagine whatother points of view might be presented.

When you have a presentation to make at 'a meeting,prepare yourself fully: make an. outline, prepare any visualaids you need, and rehearse your presentation. When yourproposals may be controversial, discuss them with key peoplebefore the meeting.

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When in the meeting, use good manners: try not toshuffle papers or engage in side conversations. Listen carefullyto what others say and try to see the issue from their view-points. Speak up when you have knowledge or an opinion'toshare, but don't overparticipate try to get an activetroupprocess going. Ask clarifyingquestions when there appears tobe confusion.

Help the leader by sticking to agenda topics and timelimits, drawing out the ideas of others, facilitating the resolu-tion of conflicts, and criticizing ideas instead of people. And. .. please arrive on time.

'UTILIZING MINUTES

Memory is as fleeting as time itself. How much do youremember, for example, about your day..just one week ago?We begin forgetting events immediately after they occur, andeven when we do think we recall something, we are oftenincorrect in our recollections.Auger brings this point home by summarizing the resultsof a memory-retention study, conducted on the attendees of apsychological society meeting. Two weeks after the meeting,the average attendee, could recall "only 8.4 per cent of allpoints actually covered= in the meeting. Worse yet, "forty-two per cent of what they thought they remembered wasincorrectly recalled."Thus, a very important principle for making meetingsmore effective is to document the results of the meeting.Promptlygetting the decisions made and actions required onto paperwill help ensure that they .are both remembered and imple-mented properly.The amount of detail you put in your minutes depends

on the situation. SoMetimes a detailed transcript or tape re-cording may be desirable or required. More frequently, agroup will wish to have a simple record of the main pointsmade in a meeting, including, perhaps, the reasoning used toCome to conclusions. "Even when a proposal is, rejected, itmay be useful to keep a record of the argument," says Maude,"so that if ever the issue is raised again the committee will beable to refer back to the report and see what its thinking and its

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reasons for rejection were last time."Even if your minutes consist of a few simple statements

outlining the major decisions of the meeting, they shouldcontain a certain minimal amount of information: What isgoing to be done, and howwill it be done? Who is going to dowhat? When should these actions be completed? It is importantthat these details be written down to avoid the common after-meeting syndromes of forgetfulness, procrastination, andconfusion about what is required or who is responsible...

Minutes that are limited to-key decisions can often betaken by a group member', or the group leader. When a deci-sion is reached, the minute taker should record the decisionand all its details and immediately read it back to thegroup forconfirmation.

When more detailed minutes are desired, a formal min-ute taker from outside the group is usually needed; a groupmember taking detailed minutes cannot actively participate indiscussions, because he or she is busy writing. In addition, anexternal notetaker is less likely to be biased in recording -theproceedings. On the other hand, the notetaker may havedifficulty understanding what is going on in the meeting andmay consequently make recording errors.

A disadvantage of taking minutes on the traditionalnotepad, says Richard Dunsing; is that "the course of events ishidden from view on the note paper. Others at the tablecannot refer to past key points." A method growingln popu-

=larity is to have the proceedings ofa meeting recorded on largepieces of paper taped to the wall, or on large pads on an easel.

. With this form of minutes, 13atticiparits can see the pastflow of ides in the meeting and won't feel the necessity ofrepeating their ideas as much because others in the group haveforgotten them. Another advantage, says Don Halverson, isthat "it servesto depersonalize the ideas they become 'thegroup's' ."

When the meeting is over, copies of the minutesshouldbe made and distributed to group members within forty-eighthours of the meeting, and preferably sooner. B.Y. Auger evensuggests that, given a nearby secretary and copying machine,the minutes can be handed to group members as they leavethe room.

If more detailed minutes are taken, it may be desirable to

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write up a summary of the meeting's major decisions. Thesummary should be distributed to participants and the originaldetailed minutes kept on file.

THE-INTERACTION METHOD

One way to solve the leader/facilitator conflict men-tioned earlier is to havea person from outside the group do thefacilitating. The leadet is then free to concentrate on the "what"of the m_eeting (the taskfunctions), while the facilitator takescare of the "how" (the maintenance functions). This is theapproach proposed by Michael Doyle and David Straus inHow to Make Meetings Work,

The "Interaction Method," as Doyle and Straus call theirapproach, actually defines four separate roles "which collec-tively form a self-correcting system of checks and balances."The facilitator is "a neutralservant of the group and does notevaluate or contribute ideas." The facilitator suggests methodsand procedures for the meeting, protects members of thegroupfrom personal attack, and assures that everyone has an oppor-tunity to speak. In short, "the facilitator serves asa combinationof tool guide, traffic offiCer, and meeting chauffeur."

The recorder, or minute taker, is also neutral and non-evaluating. The recorder writes dowri the group's ideas onlarge sheets of paper on the walls,. using, whenever possible,the actual words of each speaker. The advantages of thisapproach, according to the authors, are that "the act of record-ing does not significantly slow, down the progress of themeeting," and the written record (called the "group memory")serves as "an accepted record of what is happening as, it ishappening."

The group maker is one of the active participants in themeeting. The group members "keep the facilitator and recorderin their neutral roles" and "make sure that ideas are recordedaccurately." Group members can also "make procedural sug-gestions" and "overrule the suggestions of the facilitator."Other than these functions, their main focus is on the agendaand the tasks to be accomplished.

The fourth and final role is that of the manager/chairperson,who becomes an active participant in the gtoup, yet retains

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the powers and-responsibilities of the traditional leadershipposition. The manager "makes all final decisions; has thepower to set constraints and regain control if not satisfied bythe progress of the meeting; sets the agenda; argues activelyfor his or her points of view"; and "urges,group members toaccept tasks and deadlines." (Although the InteractionMethod is built around this fairly autocratic leadership Style;there seems to be no reason why it could not be adjusted to amore democratic style, or even to a leaderless group.)

Doyle and Straus, who run a "consulting.and \trainingfirm with expertise in problem-solving" (Interaction Asso-ciates Inc.), claim wide success with their method iri.1 educa-tion, business, and government meetings. Their bookcontains a complete description of the Interaction Method anda wealth of meeting improveMentlechniques.

TOOLS FOR EVALUATING ANDIMPROVING MEETINGS

The literature on group dynamics and organizationaldevelopment is replete with exercises, techniques, and "struc-tured experiences" for evaluating and improving meetings.Some can be implemented quite easily and do not requirespecial training. Many others take a fair amount of preparationand followup and work best with a meeting consultant.

As an example of the former; Ernest and-Nancy Bormannprovide three checklists for meeting improvement. The first isa planning checklist that asks critical questions of the meetingplanner, suchai"What is the purpose of the meeting ? "; "Whowill participate?"; and "Will the room be ready and open?"The second checklist is designed,for evaluating a meeting by aparticipant or observer. Questions include, "Was the prepara-tion for the meeting adequate?"; "Was a permissive socialclimate established ? "; and "Did the leader exercise the rightamount of control?". The final checklist is designed for theleader to evaluate how well he or she led the meeting: "Didyou loosen up' the group before plunging-into discussion?";'Did you posea challenging question .to start the discussion?"

Leland Bradford provides six other brief meeting evalu-ation forms that are designed for recording participant reac-

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tion at meeting's end. The group cart use the resulting.data inseveral ways: a summary of the results can be announced atthe next meeting; the leader can select themes from the formsand ask for discussion on those topics only; or th group candevote a whole meeting to the maintenance iss es that sur-faced via the evaluation forms..Some of the evaluation forms Bradford ovides aretaken from University AsSodates' The 1979 Annual Handbookfor Group Facilitators, edited by_ John Jones and William Pfeiffer,

a much wider source of evaluation and group-prqcess aware-ness exercises. Each Annual "is intended to make widely avail-able to group facilitators an up-to-date repository of informa-tion, techniques, methods, and 'tools of the trade' (structuredexperiences and instruments)." University Associates encour-ages users to duplicate and adapt the materials for their owneducational and training needs.Don Halverson describes several simple techniques forimproving meetings. In "Going Around the Room," eachparticipant in turn is asked to state his or her position-at thatmoment. This method is useful "when the group is hung uparound the "views of those who are dominating the conversa-,tion," says Hah'erson, as well as "when the group seems tohave run out of solutions." It is also useful for quicklyevaluat-ing a meeting and forwinding up a meeting.In "Subgrouping," the group is temporarily dividedinto smaller groups of from two to six people to discuss eitherthe same or different topics. Subgrouping is useful in largergroups-because itkeeps-members involved,-allows every par-ticipant to be heard, and permits more than one topic to bediscussed at once. (A legislature with its committee systerii isthe epitome of subgrouping.)Jack Fordyce and Raymond Weilreport the success of subgrouping in a meeting that included

both professional and clerical workers: "To surface underlyingissues for the agenda, the group was divided into homogene-ous subgroups. Each subgroup reported its proposed agendaitems. For the first time, the voices of the clerical staff wereclearly heard."

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Another series of exercises and evaluation instrumentsare presented in The Second Handbook-of Organization Develop-ment in Schools by Richard Schmuck and his associates. Al-though designed for organization development consultants,

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many of the exercises are easily implemented without special-ized knowledge.

Other publications containing some evaluation tools areTaking Your Meetings Out of the Doldrums by Eva Schindler-Rainman and her colleagues, You and I Have Simply Cnt to StopMeeting This Way by Richard Dunsing, and The Small MeetingPlanner by Leslie This.

CONCLUSION

As educators are burdened with an ever-increasingnumber of duties and responsibilities, effective meeting tech-ni'queS become more and more important. No longer can edu-cation afford the price of unproductive and unsatisfyingmeetings. Each meeting Must become more effective at grap-pling with the future, more effective as an arena of controlledchange. At the .same time, the meeting must serve to satisfypersonal needs for affiliation, achievenient, activity, and power,for the long-term benefit of both the organization and society.

Briefly, this chapter has outlined the process of success-ful meeting management as follows:

At the beginning of the meeting process, the meetingleader decides on a compatible leadership style after consider-ing his or her own nature, the needs and desires of groupmembers, and the characteristics of the organization and situ-ation. In planning the meeting, the leader's first guides are thegoals and purposes he or she wishes to accomplish. Next, themeeting .planner draws up the blueprint for the meeting'sactions the agenda. The framework of the meeting takesform as the participants are invited, the seating arrangementsare decided on, the meeting ;,-oom isArranged, and backgroundinformation and agendasare distributed to participants.

Finally, the meeting opens and the interpersonal anddiscussion skills of the chairpersoncome to the fore. Using theagenda as a road map, the, leader skillfully guides the groupthrough the chaos of problem-solving and decision-making.At the same time, the leader is alert for the surfacing ofnegative emotions and maintains the human relations in thegroup as needed. When decisions are reached, the leadermakes sure that responsibilities are clearly designated and

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that deadlines for action are set. After the meeting, the le'aderdistributes the minutes, follows up on the decisions made,and evaluates. the.effectiveness of the meeting.

When meetings are run in this way, they can actuallybecome both productive and satisfying! With some t ughtgiven to leadership style, purpose, planning, and the* onalneeds of participants, your meetings, loo,.can become more.effective.. i \

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N- CHAPTER 10

MANAGING TIME AND STRESSc)Sandra Huffstutter

Office graffiti.' You find it in virtually every workplaceand the subject is virtually always the -same: stress arisingfrom work and the lack of time to do work right. Coffee mugs,plastic plaques, and tacky statuary communicate the wit andwisdom of these occupational plagues.

"As soon as the rush is over I'm going to have a nervousbreakdown.""My cup runneth amuk.""Why is-there never enough time to do the job right, butalways enough time to do it over?""Worker's Dilemma:1. No matter how much you do, you'll never do enough.2. What you don't do is always more important- than

what you do do."

Folk wisdom aside, it isno secret that the management oftime and stress in the workplace has become a major concernto employee and employer alike. In a recent article, JohnIvancevich and Michael Matteson cite estimates of a seventeenbillion dollar loss in industrialproductivity the past fewyears, due to stress-related dysfunctions.

Furthermore, occupational stress and pressures posed byconstraints exacerbate worker's stiess;and'unremitting stress,reduces the worker's capacity for intelligently managinghis orher time. . .

This true "Worker's Dilemma" has definitely not by-passed the schools, as evidenced by the recerft mushroomingof articles in educational journals on the subject of time andstress management. Everyone seems to be aware of the prob-.,. lems, but few seem ,to do anything constructive (aside fromthe therapeutic posting of graffiti) about them.

Why is this the case? Let's take-a look.at two kinds Ofj mental sets: those that block and those that boost the effectivemanagement of time and stress.

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'BLOCKS TO TIME/STRESS MANAGEMENTOne reason for resistance to a changein work habits isrooted in- our national character. The Protestant Work Ethicdictates that we labor ceaselessly-- or, at least, appear to doso. Any change in work habits that would provide worker"down-time" would therefore be morally suspect, to say theleast.Another set of values that conflicts with effective officemanagement includes those oriented against any form ofregimentation. "Go wiih the flow" and "hang loose" attitudesaccentuate the, value of spontaneity at the expense of produc-tivity and the mental ease provided by stable routine.A major block to the effectivemanagement of time and.stress is the employee's actual cherishing of time/stress pres-sures. In many organizations,

excessive busyness is a sign ofstatus the mark of being indispensable and stress is the"designer' label" of that status. Excessive buSyness is alsocherished as a respectable form ofprocrastination of avoid-ing important tasks due to preoccupation with innumerabletrivial tasks. Thus Alan Lakein, a popular advocate of timemanagement, describe's. the "Overdoer" as someone who is"so busy doing things that he has no time to,assess their truevalue."' The laughable excesses of some time management ad-vocates also constitute it block to serious consideration of theirprograms. Suggestions for solving problems while you sleep,practicing isometrics whenever placed "on hold," and listen-ing to language tapes while commuting all seem excessive.Such time management zealots probably need to be remindedof Burriel's Law (quoted from Block): "Overdoing things isharmful in all cases, even when it comes to efficiency."A final and more serious impediment to time/stressmanagement is the "It won't work here" attitude. It's humannature to feel that one'sown bUsiness, staff, service, whatever,is ''unique and not reducible to generalized precepts. Thisattitude is particularly tempting in a "people business" like,education. However, Lee Smith, president of SouthwestTexas State University, asserts unequivocally that "there is agreat similarity among time problems at all levels and in allorganizations.

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By way of further support, Gilbert Weldy, in his highlyreadable monograph on time management for the schooladministrator, agrees that difficulties in the management oftime cut through distinctions between education and industry.Principals, he says, face the szme kinds of problems witheffective time management arid to the same degree as dobusiness managers. He cites a 1965 study of high school prin-cipals in which 86 percent of the respondents indicated that"lack of time" was their greatest obstacle to adequate jobperformance.

The primary challenge, then, is this: to unblock the routeto effective time/stress management by recognizing unpro-ductive values and attitudes (like those just described) andthen to make a commitment to' replace any unproductivevalues with productive ones. Time and stress management isprimarily a challenge to your values and attitudes and onlysecondarily a challenge to your skills.

BOOSTS TO TIME/STRESS MANAGEMENT

Management consultants are given to speaking in apho-risms. Peter Drucker, whose management expertise has madehim the patron saint of both MBA students and executives ofmultinational corporations, says, "Time is the scarcest re-source, and,unless it is managed, nothing else can be man-aged." Alan Lakein opens his best-selling.How to Get Control ofYour Tillie and Your Life with the words: "Time is-life. 'It iSirreversible and irreplaceable. To waste your time is to wasteyour life, but to master your time is to master your life andmake the most of it."

These eminently quotable consultants developed theiraphoristic Style out of a need to motivat:. to motivate theirclients to value those character traits, attitudes, and conceptsthat facilitate effective management. These facilitators can begrouped into two broad categories: "self-control" and "job-control." Let's take a brief look at each before turning topractical skills and strategies for improved management oftime and stress.

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SELF-CONTROL

Fundamental" to self-control is self-knowledge. Whatare your strengths, your weaknesses, your skills? What isyour personality type, your physiological type? Are you adetaikperson or a "big picture" person? Are you a reader or alistenerA participant or an observer? A morning person or anevening person? What forces shaped your past? What do youproject to besthe shape of,your future?

As Hamlet has taught us, knowledge of self is unpro-ductive unless coupled with discipline in action and behavior.Alan Lakein devotes whole chapters to the subjects of self-discipline and willpower arid how to bolster both. Like theancient Greek's ideal of the "Golden Mean" and the Biblefsexhortation that "to everything there is a season," Lakein'sbook espouses balance and control: a time for work and Mimefor relaxation, a time for working together and a time forworking alone.

Another sort 'of balance and control is discussed bymanagement consultant and writer W. A. Mambert. Linkingtime management directly to self-knowledge and maturity,Mambert issues a caveat against "excess emotional andmental baggage," including "compulsive talking, over-defensiveness, over- explaining, self-justification, fear, guilt,worry, gossip, office politics, over-sensitivity, and similarsubjective activities related to being a baSically immatureperson."

Self-kilowledge plus self-discipline equals maturity, andmaturity boosts one's potential for effective management oftime and stress.

JOB-CONTROL

Like 'self-control, job-control requires knowledgeknowledge of the primary purpose of your organization andof your own speciffr role therein. In Executive Time Management,Helen Reynolds and Mary Tramel assert that the employee's"raison d'être" is to further the orgariiiation's "primary pur-pose" (for instance, to give all students access to a qualityeducation), not merely to perform the functions listed in theemployee's job description. The authors warn against confus-

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ing your "functions" (developing curriculum, attending schoolboard meetings, supervising teachers, disciplining students,and so forth) with your primary purpose, sinceyour value as an executive ismeasured in degrees ofeffectiveness. It is not so much how efficiently youperform your function as it is how effectively youmove toward the attainment of.the organization's pri-mary goal.

With your overall purpose firmly in mind, you will findit easier to clarify your role and its functions, objectives, andareas of responsibility. Such a clarification requires precisecommunication between yourself, your staff, and your superi-7

orsTbut-will-payoffiti fetliffed-Siress and reduced time misusecaused by excessive, ambiguous, orconflicting responsibilities.Role clarification as a technique for stress management will be-discussed, in greater detail later. Here the emphasis is on itsimportance as a facilitator for the initiation of time/stress man-agement strategies within your office.In addition to knoWledgeof your school district's primarypurpose and knowledge of your own role within the district,

job control also requires knowledge of various leaderShipstyles for executing your role. This, in turn, implies the maturerecognition that different leadership styles are appropriate fordifferent-occasions. A thorough discussion of this subject canbe found in chapter 3; Once again, the main point here is thatthe knowledge and use of varied administratikre stylesls onemore boost toward effective time/stress management. Andnow, keeping in mind the importance Of commitment andcontrol, let's turn to,practical proCedures for improved man-agement of time and stress.

TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGIESIf time management was a mystery ten, years ago, itcertainly is not today as a quick check of your library'sjournal- indexes and card catalogue will confirm. The variety oftitles are strikingly unvaried in content, so much so that onecan speak of a "classical" approach to time management

four-part, rather circular process that includes the following:1: goal-setting, which leads to prioritizing

11111Illuis;;;0001".""woomowfowrimmo

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2. keeping a daily time log, which leads to the identifica-tion of time-wasters

3. management of time-wasters, which leads to increaseddiscretionary time

4. wise Use of discretionary time, which leads to ,theaccomplishment of those goals identified in ste 'one

GOAL-SETTING AND PRIORITIZING

Just as the smart shopper does not shop without agrocery list, and the smart teacher does not teach without acourse outline, so the smart administrator needs_a_written.listor-outline-of professioiTargoalSIO:administer effectively. Theoperative word here is "effectively." When Reynolds andTramel asserted that "your value as an executive is measured indegrees of effectiveness," they were reiterating a key distinc-tion made by Peter Drucker: the distinction between effec-tiveness and efficiency. Drucker insists that "the executive'sjob is -to be effective," not efficient which means getting"the right things done," rather than merely doing things right.And those !'right things" relate directly to advancing theorganization's primary purpose, as discussed earlier.

While your goals list will help you to identify thosecrucial "right thingS,"- the list itself. can take any number offorms. Lakein recommends identification of lifetime goals,three-year goals, and six-month goals. The Colorado StateDepartment of Education's Sc/tool Improvement-Accountability.Process Kit on "Managing Time" recommends ranking, inorder of importance to you, the six main life-roles you enact:professional, family, community, social-cultural-recreational,personal, and self-service (that is, physical maintenance ac-tivities).

More to the point, perhaps, is the Association of California School Administrators' Project Leadership componententitled "Personal Activity Plan" (as shown in their 1979 note-book, An Update on Time Mamigement). This activity planaddresses job-specific priorities. It involves written goal state-ments with specific activities and specific professional growthrequirements (new skills) to meet those goals; it also involvesdescriptors of concrete, accomplished tasks and assessment

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mechanisms for final evaluations.Regardless of the form in which you put your goals

statements, the important.thing is that you put them in writing.List them, chart them, diagram them, or index-card them, butabove all, write them! Write them because, as any four - year -oldknows who has just penciled her own name for the first time:writing makes it real.

After listing your goals, the next step, is _to Tricritizethem: -Not-all:gbal§- d'r values are equally important, nor arethey of 'the-saine importance at all times. Prioritize based onyour point of-view of right now. You can (and should) upateyour goalS and priorities when your point of view changesas it inevitably will.

Once you've prioritized, you're ready to select your twoor three most important goals and to list specific, short-termactivities that will 'further those goals. For example, if one ofyour goals is to initiate a program of gifted education in yourschool, your activities list might include checking with theschool district to see what state and local funds are available;'forming a committee of parents, teachers, and administratorsto investigate various kinds of existing gifted programs; andso forth.

Finally, after listing activities for your three most impor-tant goals, prioritize again. This should result in your "A-1"goal and your "A-1" activity to further that goal, as Lakeinwould say. This activity constitutes your foremost "rightthing": your most valuable,, potential contribution to yourschool district, your primary leadership responsibility.

Now the overriding question becomes: how you are,going to find the time in an already overburdenedworkday to pursue this priority activity. The answer issimple: you identify time-wasters with the use of a daily timelog and learn to manage those that are within your control.

THE DAILY TIME LOG

When Peter Drucker listed, five characteristic practicesthat distinguished the effective executive, the one that toppedhis list was the fact that "effective executives know where theirtime goes." To know for certain where your time goes, most

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management consultants recommend that you keep some -- --kind of written daily log for at least a week. Once again, the.kind of log you use is less important than that you (or yoursecretary or assistant) track your time. You can track fifteen-minute segments, one-hour segments, or simply note thetime whenever you change activities. You can track each dis-,tinct activity or only the main activity in the specified timeblock, or you can track only certain_kinds.of-activities-that---_concern_you-for-somison or another (telephone calls,drop-in visitors, scheduled meetings, whatever).As you track your activities, or perhaps at the end ofeach day, try to evaluate each activity on the basis of itssignificance. Michael Sexton and Karen Switzer recommendthe following rating system:

#1 = Professional Goal Functions (long-range planning.and leadership activities; curriculum planning, forexample)

#2 = Critical/Crisis Functions (immediate, situationalconcems;,a student-teacher conflict, for example)

#3. = Maintenance Functions (routine administrativetasks; fire drills for example)

P = Personal Activities (calling home, going to thedentist)

While your primary responsibility as a leader is to engagein #1s, your time log will proba oly reveal thatyour workday isconsumed entirely by #2s and #3s. Patrick Duignan foundthat the school superintendent is precluded from long-rangeplanning and other leadership functions by virtue of the in-credibly interruptive and discontinuous nature of his or herworkday. Duignan observes that, within the superintendent'stypical 8.2 hour, work-through-lunch workday, he or sheengages in about thirty-eight disparate, activities, nearly 40percent of which "k fled less than five minutes each."Moreover, the author found that fully 25percent of thesuperintendent's day is spent in unscheduled meetings (drop-in visitors are included here), and nearly 25 percent more isspent in scheduled meetings. Rather than acting as a decision-maker, then, the superintendent acts as a contact-person, an"information broker," who spends three-quarters of the day

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in verbal contacts for the purpose of receiving or dispensinginformation.

Does this sound familiar? Does your time log coincide- ,with Duignan's observations? If so, then, like so many other

leaei-s7-you-are_working in the "reactive" mode, rather thanin a self-directed 'aEhye-mode. Your response tine (timespent responding to people, mail, anirsibiations) fatoutweighsyour discretionary time (time spent in A-1 activitieS). Tbputyour workday into a more productive balance, you now needto recognize and manage time-wasters. Or, as Sexton andSwitzer advise, you need to learn how to do the #2s and #3sefficiently, so that yod will have time to do the #1s effectively.

MANAGING TIME WASTERS

The time-waster is a two-headed dragon.:-External time:wasters wear the face of "the other": visitors, telephone calls,meetings;-paperwork, coworker's needs. Internal time-wasterswear the face of the self: inability to say "no," inability toschedule and prioritize, inability to delegate, tendency to pro-crastinate. Let's look at these one ata time, with an eye towardspecific, dragon-slaying strategies.

Visitors and Teleplunze Calls

Telephone and visitor interruptions are two of the threeworst daily time-wasters (meetings being the third). Becausethey act as interruptors, they destroy concentration andmomentum the twins of produqivity. Management of thesetime-wasters is, as always, first a matter of attitude and onlythen a matter of skill. Administrators must recognize that totalaccessibility (the'open-door" policy), while subjectively grati-fying, is professionally counterproductive. It follows that ad-ministrators.must value their own time before expecting othersto do the same.

Most time management experts recommend reducingvisitor and telephone interruptions through the use of "buf-fering" and "limiting" techniques. That is, they suggest you

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should buffer (insulate) yourself from excessive or unproduc-tive personal contacts and consciou "sly limit the time spent oneach necessaryor unavoidable contact.

Translated into office procedure, buffering is primarilyaccomplished by the secretary who screens all calls andvisitors while limiting is accomplished by the developmentof some rather brusque habits, such as not offering coffee andtea to visitors, not offering your visitors a chair, not socializingexcessively, and so forth.

However, these standard recommendations maybe in-appropriate in the educational setting. As educational man-agers, democratic and open communications with students,parents, colleagues, and staff probably constitute some of thehighest and best uses of your time: Therefore, the conventional

-wisdom:.of business-oriented time management consultantsrequires some tempering-here,

Perhaps the most productive stiare for-harried educa-tional administrators is the scheduling of regular blocl-c-i-oftime during which you are inaccessible to visitors and tele-phone calls. Because it is commonly accepted that one isunavailable when involved in a scheduled meeting, considerthis block of time to be a "meeting with yburseif" as itcertainly is.

During this time, have your calls intercepted by yoursecretary or your switchboard. ClOse the door to your office.Place bookshelves and files with '\often-needed informationadjacent to your desk, so that such information is readilyavailable. Strive to make yourself highly invisible during periodsof inaccessibility, just as you strive \to make yourself highlyvisible (in the staff lounge at lunch time, in the halls beforeschool, in the meeting room before board meetings) duringperiods of accessibility.

Above all, train your staff and colleagues to respect thisquiet time, because studies show that it will likely be the onlyproductive work time available to you during the entire day.

The next major external time-waster meetings iscovered at length in chapter 9. The strategies discussed therefor holding efficient, productive meetings will inevitably cutdown on time wasted in inefficient, unproductive meetings.Note particularly the time-wise advice on scheduling, agendas,and limiting attendees.

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Paperwork

After drop-ins, the telephone, and meetings, paperworkranks as the next most frustrating external time-waster. DonnaDouglass and Merrill Douglass assert that "there .are onlythree kinds of .paper": action_ items, informationitemsand,

-thfoW-a-w-aylienis. After your secretary- screens; categorizes,and prioritizes-your mail accordingly, try- some of theseMethods for effectively dealing with action and inforthationitems:

Action items One of Cakein's laws prescribes that you"handle each piece of paper only once." In support, Donnaand MerrilWouglass estimate that "at least 80 percent of themail could be answered immediately when read." Don't letthose action items pile up. Handle them quickly, in order ofpriority. at a scheduled time of the day.

11 Action items with a low priority may not need doingat all. Lakein suggests a procrastination drawer: dump low

__prioritLitems into it and see if they're .ever missed.--11Weldy-suggests that you categorize your action items

into separately, labelled ifidnila-fOlders: "urgent," "dictate,""to do," "for Faculty Bulletin," and so forth.Delegate paperwork toyour secretary. Pencil a brief

note of response in the margin of incoming correspondence,lettingiour secretary draft the formal response from that.

11 Whenever possible, use time-saving paperwork ex-pediters: routing slips, attachment slips, form letters, formparagr_a_phs, handwritten responses, and the telephone.Li Learn to use a dictating machine. You will save notonly your own time (since one can dictate at sixty words perminute as opposed to writing longhand at ten words perminute), but your secretary's time as well (since -transcribingby dictaphone is faster than either taking shorthand or readinglonghand).

Initiate a "tickler" or "suspense" filing system. Manilafolders or accordion files labelled one through thirty-one andJanuary through December will permit you to keep track ofupcoming tasks, commitments, or annual responsibilities. Forexample, if annual budget estimates are due each May, "tickle"a reminder in April's file that it is time to begin gathering theappropriate data. Use the daily tickler files in the same way.

2 6 7

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. Information Items 0 Use a variety of filing systems: desktop files and ticklers, desk files that include most-often-neededitems of information, and cabinet files that are systematicallyarranged in a way that is clear to both yourself and your closeststaffpersons.

0.Recognize-this'. -Jiiii-stu-c-lies estimate that fully 95percent of all papers ,filed are never retrieved again. Donnaand Merrill Douglass recommend the followingsteps_forde-terrnining whetheran items worth keeping:

1. Have your secretary keep a log, for several months,of items retrieved from files. These items will com-prise your "useful filing" list.

2. Before filing an item, ask yourself: "Does this item fitin the 'useful filing' category?" "Could I retrieve thisinformation from someone else's files, if needed?""What use shall I make of this item within the next'Year?"

0 Schedule an annual Spring cleaning of the files, withan eye toward tossing as much as possible.

0 Learn to skim reading matter or train your secretary:to skim, highlight; and digest. Redirect reading matter to yoursubordinates and colleagues.

0 Keep journals, articles, and updates in one section ofyour shelves, ready for availability when heading out to den-tists' appointments or business trips.

Before moving from "external" to "internal" time-wasters, mention should be made of one time displacer thatactually straddles the two categories. This time waster is whatOncken and Wass (as described by Carol Giesecke and others)have termed "monkeys' : --those demands inappropriatelyplaced on the administrator by subOrdiriates.-Whereas theadministrator generally must respond to demands made bysuperigys, and whereas he or she generally chooses to respondto demands made by peers, the administrator needs to perceivedemands made by subordinatesas an often inappropriate useof his or her time and an example of "passing the buck up-wards."

For example, a recently hired administrative assistantinquires about the district's pension plan. Rather than accept-ing the "monkey" and rifling among the files for explanatory'documents, the time-wise administrator should briefly refer

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the new employee to the personnel department. Learning toshrug off "monkeys" is akin to learning to say "no" thefirst internal time waster we will consider..-Internal-time-W4gefs are bOth the easiest and the hardest

to control, and for the same reason: their control lies exclusivelywithin yourself. Your success at,managing them is entirelyupto you, but, as always, awareness and attitude will take youhalfWay there.

Inability to Say "No"

Let's begin with learning to say "no." In this regard,Lakein advises that "you must set priorities based on theimportance to you of the person doing the asking and theconsequences if you don't do what's being asked." If yousubsequently decide that the task is not a priority item, yousimply and courteously refuse, with perhaps a brief explana-tion of your time constraints.

Peter Drucker suggests thatyou review your daily timelog with a view toward asking yourself, "What would happenif this were not doneat all?" He goes on to say that "all one hasto do is to learn to say 'no' if an activity contributes nothing toone's own organization, to oneself, or to the organization,forwhich it is to be performed." He concludes by asserting thatyou can thus dispose of one quarter of your time demandswith no significant effect.

Similarly, W. A. Mambert recommends the "WashDecision" a decision to not proceed with a project whencomplications begin to outweigh the value of the final result.The fundamental principle implied in all these recommenda-tions is that of the "primary purpose." With your chiefcontri-bution to the school district'sprimary purpose firmly in mind,deciding whether to say "yes" or "no" to any activity shouldbe simplifed.

inability to Schedule

Consciousness of your primary purpose will also help toeliminate another internal time waster: the inability to sched-ule. Scheduling is actually a multifaceted gem that includesplanning, prioritizing, clustering, and delegating. All are es-,

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sential to managing time effectively.You began to plan when you accomplished your priori-

tized list of goal statements_and_activities---Now-you need-to---fiaTfoCv-your focus, to make the best use of the days that will

carry you toward your goals.Daily planning can be done first thing in the morning orlast thing in the evening whenever you have fifteen minutes

of quiet time. Make a "to do" list that includes the day's chieftasks, including some steps toward accomplishment of yourA-1 activity. Then systematicallyprioritize those tasks (usingSexton-and-Switzerfs-#1;--#2;-.#3-system-ortakein's-A.,-8;-Csystem).

Prioritizin is greatly aided by knowledge of the 80/20rule, Lakein's definition of which seems to be the most explicit:

The 80/20 rule suggests that in a list of ten items, doingtwo of them will yield most (80 percent) of the value.Find these two,.label them A, get them done. Leavemost of the other eight undone, because the valueyou'll get from them will be significantly less than thatof the two highest-value items.... It's important toremind yourself again and again not to get boggeddown on low-value activities but to focus on the 20percent where the high value is.

Next, coordinate your "to dos" with your scheduledappointments, remembering to schedule a block of quiet timefor work on your A-1. While most management consultantsrecommend blocking out one to two hours for this leadershipactivity, Weldy estimates that the educational administratorcan probably wrest only half an hour of such time from dailydemands. Above all, schedule this time realistically. A glanceat your daily time log should reveal peaks and lulls in'externalactivities and in your own internal energy level. Commonsense,dictates, then, that you schedule your leadership timeas cloSe as possible to the intersection of peak energy and-lowactivity levels.

After scheduling, attack your "to dos" in order of pri-ority. Do the important tasks first, delegate whatever you can,and don't fret if the #3s have to wait for another day. It is notimportant to do everything just the important things.Cluster similar activities (for example, all call-backs, all paper-

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work) whenever possible and steelyourself to finish each taskbefore going on to the next, because clustering and completioneliminate wasteful transition time.

Inability to Delegate

For a variety of reasons, many of which are purely andemotionally subjective, most administrators find it difficult todelegate. Again, an attitudinal change must precede the learn-ing of new skills. People tend to perceive -delegation as athrusling of one's "dirty work" onto others. Instead, 'the leadershould distinguish between work That advances one's contri-bution to the organization's primary purpose ,and work thatdoes not.

Once that distinction is made, the leader should retainthe former and delegate the latter, in addition to delegatingroutine tasks, tasks at which others are more skilled, tasks atwhich the leader is already Skilled, and tasks that the leaderactively dislikes.

A quick review of your.daily time log should raise yourconsciousness in regard to delegating. Assess each activity interms of whether it could have been delegated and then com-mit yourself to better manipulation of this time displacer.

Both the ACSA Update and Helen Reynolds and MaryTramel offer useful lists of practical tips for delegating Sufficeit to say here that effective delegation requires clear communi-cation with the delegatee, assignment of authority and decision-Making capability to the delegatee, a system for monitoringand followup, and a relaxed attitude towardthe delegatee'swork procedures (since, as W..Michael Born points out, thesecret to delegating is "to hold (the delegatee) ... more ac-countable for results than methods").

Gilbert Weldy says that it helps to perceive delegation asat) investment in time that accrues long-term benefits. One ofthose benefits is invaluable on-the-job training for your staff,whose expertise reflects directly on you, their leader. More-over, your ability to rise to a more challenging position hingesdirects:, on the know!edgeability and effectiveness of thoseyou have trained in your current position.

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Procrastination

Finally, the last internal time waster that deserves men-tion here is a demon with whom we are all familiar: procras-tination. Procrastination:is professionally debilitating in thatwe tend to procrastiiiikprecisely those difficult, challengingA-1 activities with whiCh we should be most integrally in-volved. Low priority tasks, on the other hand, are quicklyaccomplished, provide-instant gratification, and are thereforecompleted with much more regularity.Allen Lakein's advice on this subject is both practicaland persuasive. In eight key chapters, he suggests a variety oftactics, including the following: recognizing the consequencesof delay and the advantages of action; reducing a large task tosmall subtasks; working at the task for five minutes per day toinitiate involvement; gathering additional data; performing asubtask of the A-1 that coincides with your current mood;setting deadlines and announcing,your deadline to someoneelse; taking rest breaks; and rewarding yourself as subtasksare accomplished.

Of the four-part process to time management, this com-pletes part three: subduing the doubleheaded dragon of ex-ternal and internal time wasters. At thispoint 5 warning mustbe sounded: Incorporating any of the preceding strategiesinto your office routine may require uncomfortable changes incomfortable habits. For this reason, and because he is con-vinced that "evolutionary changes of style are more profitablethan revolutionary changes," Ray Cross recommends adoptingtime management strategies gradually, one at a tine. In otherwords, instead of quickly slaying the two-headed dragon, youshould actually try starving it to death. Once you have suc-cessfully internalized a new strategy and made that new stra-tegy a comfortable habit, you can then add another, andanother, to your repertoire.

And to what end? Darrell Lewis and Tor Dahl state that"It is generally accepted that most managers should be able toclear about 25 percent of their time with little or no drop incurrent output" which leads' us to part four. Thus cleared,that time becomes discretionary time, leadership time, timefor planning and executing Drucker's "right things."Weldy closes his monograph with a shopping list of

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suggested leadership activities that includes detailing a "greatidea" for your school, making fresh contacts with studentsand parents, planning the next year's chief objectives, andwriting an article. At this point we shift our attention toanother leadership activity worthy of addition to Weldy's list.Having begun the management of time, whynot research andimplement a program for its corollary the management ofstress?

STRESS-MANAGEMENT

Previously it was noted that time and stress manage-ment are two strands of the same braid. Not only dot s mis-management of the one exacerbate mismanagement of theother, but also specific problem areas in the management ofboth are identical. For instance, paperwork, telephone andvisitor interruptions, excessive meetings, lack of planningtime, and procrastinationare both timewasters and stress pro-ducers.

The correlations between time and stress managementsuggest that the strategieS for attacking both would also cor-relate.' And so they do. Like timemanagement, the manage-ment of stress requires the following: (1) a shift in attitudesand level of awareness, (2) self-analysis and identification ofstressors via the daily stress log, and (3) practical techniquesfor the management of .those stressors identified. As always,awareness and attitude come first.

What precisely is,stress? Among the myriad of defini-tions in print, that advanced by Donald Dudley and EltonWelke is exceptional for its simplicity: stress is '''an adaptiveresponse in which your body prepares, or adjusts, to a threat-ening situation."

Such preparation manifestSitself in a host of symptoms,both physiological (increase in heart rate, blood pressure,respiration, and levels of adrenalin) and psychological (irrita-bility, depression, anxiety, withdrawal). Further, stress is in-tegrally related to control: the greater one's sense of power-lessness over the stressor, the greater the stress.

Because one's perception ofa "threatening situation" is

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often highly subjective (discounting obvious physical calami-ties), stress itself is a highly subjective phenomenon; it truly is"all in the mind." Consequently, intellectual awareness of andproper emotional attitudes toward stress are even more im-portant that. a similar enlightenment toward time, which is ahighly objective phenomenon.

One instructive orientation into common stressors andtheir relative magnitudes is Holmes and Rahe's Social Read-justment Rating Scale. The scale lists forty-three different "lifeevents," ranging from "Death of Spouse" to "Minor Violationsof the Law" and-assigns each event a numerical value (from ahigh of 100 to a low of-11) that correlates to the stressfulness ofthe event. To use the scale, one need merely note which "lifeevents" occurred to him oriher during the previous two yearsand tally the associated numerical values. The significance ofthe scale lies in the fact that studies have shown a positivecorrelation between degrees' of stress and the probability ofincipient illness or accidents, as Dudley and-Welke explain:

Should you accumulate 150 points on the Social Read-justment Rating Scale within a period of two years,there is a 33 per cent probability for you to contract anillness or suffer an accident. When 300 points are ac-cumulated, the probability soars to 66 per cent. At 450points the probability is almost certain in the 90 percent range.

While a personal tall31 on the rating scale will certainlyprove revealing, Walter Gmelch, in his lucid article entitled;"The Principal's Next Challenge: 'The Twentieth Century Artof Managing Stress," issues this caveat against an overlyliteral reading of the scale:

A few points should be kept in mind: tirst, bothleas-ant (marriage) and unpleasant (divorCe) life events cancause harmful stress; second, no one can escape, nordoes anyone necessarily want to escape all these crises,since to some degree stress is life; and, third, due todiffering abilities to cope, the same event does nothave the same impact on all individuals.

The ability to cope is a learned set of skills and is centralto the understanding and management of stress. How well doyou cope? Dudley and Welke offer a coping quiz that asksquestions ranging from "Do people who know you well think

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TABLE 1: SOCIAL READJUSTMENT RATING SCALERank Life Event Mean _Value

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5678

Death of a SpouseDivorceMarital Separation-jail TermDeath of Close Family MemberPersonal Injury or IllnessMarriage 1-Fired at Work

10073656363535047

9 Marital Reconciliation 4510 Retirement 4511 Change in Health of Family Member 4412 Pregnancy 4013 Sex Difficulties 3914 Gain of New Family Member 3915 Business Readjustment' 3916 Change in Financial State 3817 Death of Close Friend 3718 Change to Different Line of Work 3619 Change in Number of Arguments with Spouse 3520 Mortgage over $10,000 3121 Foreclosure of Mortgage or Loan 3022 Change in Responsibilities at Work 2923 Son or Daughter Leaving Home -2924 Trouble-with In-Laws 2925 Outstanding Personal Achievement 2826 Wife Begins or Stops Work 2627 Begin or End School 2628 Change in Living Conditions 25 -29 Revision of Personal Habits ''430 Trouble with Boss 2331- Change in Work Hours or Conditions 2032 Change in Residence 2033 Change in Schools 2034 Change in Recreation 1935 Change in ChurCh Activities 1936 Change in Social Activities 1837 Mortgage or Loan Less than $10,000 1738 Change in Sleeping Habits 1639 Change in Number of Family Get-Togethers 1540 Change in Eating Habits 1541 Vacation 1342 Christmas 1243 Minor Violations of the Law 11

Reprinted with permission from journal of Psychosomatic Research, vol. II, T. H.I folmes, R. H. Rahe, 1967, p216, table III, Pergamon Press, Ltd.


you get upset easily?" to "Have you set goals for the futurethat satisfy you and are realistic?" Your answers should proveas revealing as your tally on the Social Readjustment RatingScale.

Another instructive exercise is the "Type 'A' Behaving"questionnaire included by Michael Giammatteo and DeloresGiammatteo. A high proportion of yes answers to suchquestions as "I'm frequently in a hurry," "I really enjoy

-winning and hate to lose" and "my job is the most importantthing in my life" indicates the probability of a, "Type A"personality, defined by Michael and Delores Giammatteo as"one who is always-pushing, doing, creating, initiating, andwho may be headed toward an early death or heart attack."

After orienting yourself to the subject of stress in generaland personal stress factors in particular, you'll want to takestock of the attitudes with which you confront your workingday. Constructive attitudes for the management of stress willbe discussed later. For now, be aware of the following atti-tudes that have been variously identified (by Michael andDelores Giammatteo, Ari Kiev, and C. Eugene Walker) aspromoters of stress: authoritarianisni, intolerance, being overlyconcerned with what "should be" rather than with what "is,"indecisiveness, worry, perfectionism and searching for theone "perfect" solution to every problem, "stockpiling hurts,"magnifying minor irritants, failure to communicate feelings,

----believing that you are a victim of 'fate and of your feelings, andneeding and seeking love and approval from everyone.

Although this list of negative attitudes is by no means adefinitive one, familiarity with these provides one more orien-tation into the subject of stress and one more preparation forself-analysis and the identification of specific stressors via thedaily stress log.

DAILY STRESS LOG

The purpose of tracking sources of stress for severalweeks is the same as that for tracking time: to become aware ofspecific problem areas and their patterns of reoccurrence. Thestress log suggested by Gmelch in ,Release from Stress is re-printed here as a suggested format (see exercise 1) but, as with

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EXERCISE 1: STRESS LOG

Stress can come fronva single dramatic incident (Isolated Stress), or from a cumulation of less dramatic relatedincidents (Synergetic Stress). For one week, at the end of each working day, describe:1. The most stressful single incident=that occurred on your job (confronting a staff member, etc.)2. The most stressful series of related incidents that occurred on your job (frequent telephone interruptions,etc.)3. How your day went. Indicate from "one" (not very stressful) to "ten" (very stressful) the approximatelevel of your stress for each day.

1) Single Incident 2) Series of Related Incidents 3) Daily Stress Level

MondayDate:

TuesdayDate:

WednesdayDate:

ThursdayDate:

FridayDate:

From Beyond Stress to Effective Management by Walter Gmelch. To be published in Spring 1982 by John Wiley & Sons. Used by permission.

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the daily time log, the form is less important than that you dothis preliminary exercise and do it in writing.After keeping a stress logor several weeks, you might

want to compare your stressors with Gmelch's administrativestress index a list of thirty-five typical stressors identifiedby educational administrators, including "preparing and allo-cating budget resources," "trying to resolve differencesbetween/among students," and "being involved in the collec-tive bargaining process." Of these thirty-five stressors, Gmelch

.--identified and ranked the following top ten:1. Complying with state, federal, and organizational

rules and policies2. Feeling that meetings take up too much time3. Trying to complete reports and other paperwork

on time4. Trying to gain financial support for programs5. Trying to resolve personnel conflicts6. Evaluating staff members' performance7. Having to make decisions that affect the lives of

individual people that I know -(colleagues, staffmembers)

8. Feelings that I have too heavy a workload, one thatI cannot possibly finish during the normal workday

9. Imposing excessively high expectation, on myself10. Being interrupted frequently by telephone calls

The results of Gmelch's study correspond to those de-rived from a stress survey of principals in a large Canadiancity. As reported by Kenneth Washington, the survey "placeddemands by central administration in first place, followed bysupervision of teachers ... relationships with parents, govern-ment regulations; student problems, and instructional prob-lems."

A third study, by Robert Koff and his colleagues, rein-forces and refines those presented by Gmelch and Washington.Using methodology similar to that of the Social ReadjustmentRating Scale, the study factored and weighted four areas ofstress for elementary, middle, and secondary school principals.Coi Acts with teachers were consistently ranked as the higheststressor. Irregular events with severe consequences events

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in which the administrators felt threatened and powerlesswere rated the next most stressful. (Examples include teacherstrikes, involuntary transfers, bad publicity, threats and as-saults, and legal actions against the school.) Student conflictswere rated below these, though the stress therein increasedsignificantly from elementary to highschool. Finally, routinemanagement tasks were consistently ranked as the lowest,most manageable stressor.

Both Gmelch and Koff,and his colleagues echoed whatwas noted earlier, that stress is integrally related to feelings ofpowerlessness,-7 feeling out of control. Successful strest;management requires not just the identification of your stres-sors but also the categorizing of them into, those that arewithin your control.and those that are not. The distinction willdetermine your strategy for attacking the stressor, though allthe various strategies share one trait in common: all return ameasure of control to their user.

MANAGING CONTROLLABLE STRESSORS

In any discussion of stress management, one strategyalways highlighted is that of time management, Properly exe-cuted, time manageifient creates the balance->and control inone's life that Alan Lakein repeatedly emphasizes.

But time management can be .subsumed by a larger,more generalized concept, that of "pacing," of consciouslyregulating the ebb and flow of your life. Time managementwill help you to do that. So will familiarity with and proper useof the Social Readjustment Rating Scale; for instance, if youare aware that you've recently experienced a high number oflife change events, you should consider consciously forgoinganother controllable change. moving to a new neighbor-hood, for example, or taking classes toward your Ph.D.

You can also pace yourself by regulating what DonaldDudley and Elton Welke refer to as naturally occurring cycles of"activation and withdrawal." While it is normal to alternatebetween periods of outward-reaching activity and periods ofquiet renewal, the authors caution against abrupt swings be-tween either extreme:

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If your customary manner is type A, fast-paced, try toslow clowns.brmild degrees in a uniform way ratherthan suddenly embracing total relaxation between out-bursts of activity. In the same way, if you are a classictype B, relaxed and calm, try to modestly pick up yourlife tempo uniformly across periods of both work andplay.

Another strategy for managing stress problem-solving is discussed at length in chapter 12. The applicabilityof problem-solving to stress management lies in the fact thatdelays in confronting problems inevitably tend to magnifythem. Such procrastination not only allows the problem situa-tion to deteriorate, but also allows mental mushroomingof theproblem mental exaggeration that is disproportionate tothe problem'S actual severity.

A third strategy in the management of stress controlof communications is also allotted a full chapter elsewhere.The importance of skillful communication to stress manage-ment becomes clearer as one recalls that authoritarianism(excessively directive communications), intolerance (exces-sively negative coirununications), and failure to express feelings

, (excessively repressive communications) are three key pro-moters of stress. It's important to recogniie that the wordsyou use and choose not to use don't merely describereality; they create it.

Additionally, you may want to consult the list of fourteen"Questions for Accepting and Clarifying" offered by Michaeland Delores Giammatteo. Designed to facilitate open com-munications in even the most problematical situation, thesequestions ("What do you mean when you say that ...?""Have you been feeling this way long?" "What would beexamples of your idea?" "What other possibilities are there?")are open-ended, problem - oriented' and promote activelistening a primary comunication skill.

Job and role clarification also contribute significantly tothe management of stress. A job can be inherently stressful(hence worsening each daily occasion of stress) if one's role isunclear or subject to conflicting 'expectations, or if the jobinvolves too much work, too little work, too little opportunityfor achievement, and/or inadequate performance evaluation.

"Preventive management," assert James Quick and

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Jonathan Quick, is the key to reducing this kind of stress.While the authors recommend several specific managementtools for the clarification and restructuring of jobs/roles, anyprocess that analyzes and sets out, in writing, the expectationsinherent to each job is useful. Peter Drucker's well-knownsystem of "Management by Objectives" is a prime example.

Finally, controllable stressors can be confronted one at atime via formalized methods of frontal attack. Walter Gmelch,in Release from Stress, offers the following systematic procedure:

1. Identify your most bothersome stressors and selectone to resolve

2. Search for the causes of this stressful event3. Generate a set of possible solutions to remedy the

causes4. Specify a plan of action you.will take to alleviate one

cause5. Develop a timetable to iinplement your plan of ac-

tionb. Set a date and method for. how you will follow up

and evaluate the effectiveness of your plan7. Investigate the potential problems or unintended.

consequences (additional stress) your action planmay have created

Similar to Gmelch's seven steps is the ten-point processoutlined by Michael and Delores Giammatteo for the manage-ment of a specific category of stressor the interpersonal'conflict. The methods differ in that the latter authors ask thatyou'consider your antagonist's "probable reaction" to each ofthe various solutions that you generate, and then that youselect one or two solutions that would be mutually acceptable.

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, one last manage-ment strategy for controllable F tressors is worthy of mentionbefore moving on to the subject of uncontrollable stressors:that strategy is simply to ask for help. Management consult-ants, self-help books, professional associations, central ad-ministration, your professional peer group, the school advisorycouncil or other parent committees, and professional analystscan all help to generate solutions to stressful situations. Don'tsuffer in 'silence. Use them.

121111r2=161111.1."1"-olcit -11"'""*.ine".""re

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MANAGING UNCONTROLLABLE STRESSORS

When stressors are beyond your personal control (forexample, statewide budget cuts, a personality conflict withyour immediate superior), you must seek to reduce stress inthe one area left to you: within yourself. This is accomplishedthrough a series of strategies that build up your resistance tostress that innoculate you, so to speak, and increase yourlevel of tolerance.

General phisical health and well-being are fundamentalhere. The importance of regular exercise, good eating habits,and periods of recreation are cliches that nevertheless meritrepeating.

Because stress is such a subjective phenomenon, a varietyof mental skills work to fight stress on its home ground inthe mind. Many of these skills meditation, biofeedback,yoga, the relaxation response increase one's inner sense ofcalm well-soeing. Additionally, C. Eugene Walker suggestsself-hypnosis, both to produce a state of calmness and tocreatively work out problems while relaxed. "Mentalimagery', the conscious production of positive mentalscenes is alsd-often_suggested as a means of manipulatingone's sympathetic nervous system into a state of relaxation.

James Manuso recommends the learning of a "quietingresponse" a reaction to minor daily irritations in which"one takes two deliberate deep breath's, paying attention torelaxing the jaw, the shoulders and tongue, and one tellshimself he will not permit his body to get involved in this. Thisbreaks the sequence of thestress_reponse."

_Similarly,.Walker recommends "thought stopping" as ameans of quieting internal anxiety. In thoughrstopping, onelearns to banish obsessive or worrisome th_oughts by mentallyshouting "Stop!" and then insisting to oneself that "I'm notgoing to think about that now." After this mental intemiption,the individual then consciously seeks an alternative thoughtor activity with which to become involved.

"Systeniatic desensitization," a formalized method ofdealing with anxiety-producing situations developed by Dr.Toseph Wolpe, is discussed at ,length by Walker. Briefly, thisprocess involves the indentification of a habitually stressfulsituation (confronting a hostile antagonist, for example, or

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111F. SKILLS: MANAGING TIME AND STRESS

taking a test) and then the listing of specific instances orvariants of this stressful situation. Next, one practices therelaxation response or some other method of inducing totalrelaxation and, thus composed, exposes himself to the previ-ously identified stressors, one at a time, beginning with theleast stressful variant And'graduallyworking toward the moststressful. While reading the descriptions, the subject visualizesthem carefully and does not proceed to the next until_eachinstance is visualized without an accompanying physiologicalstress response (increased heartbeat, flushing, nausea). Thisprocess is repeated regularly until the subject's habitual re-sponse to the stressful situation is successfully unlearned. Ofthis procedure, Walker claims that "if done properly, it worksalmost every time."

Since we began by discussing attitudes, it's appropriatethat we circle back as we approach our cicise. The attitude mostrelevant to this section is tolerance tolerance of individualsunlike ourselves and of situations unlike those we desire. Insupport, Michael and Delores Giammatteo state that "toler-ance demands serenity on our part to become aware and thento make decisions about our response to the environment,people, and philosophies in it."

Walker goes beyond attitudes to the affirmation thatrelaxed living requires a healthy, thoughtful development ofpersonal values values that are oriented toward an enriched,contributing, and accepting lifestyle. Echoing the philosophyof Viktor Frankl, Walker affirms the necessity for a meaningfullife: "This is what separates man from other animals. Theanimal seeks pleasure and conquest, but meaning is unknownto him. The essence Of man is meaning."

CONCLUSION

The successful management of time and stress cannotbe exercised in a vacuum. Nearly all the strategies, and evensome of the attitudes, require a team approach. Minimally,that team consists ofyou and your secretary, since the secretaryis the administrator's partner in production or, as Weldy in-tones, "his ever-present time guardian, his reminder of things

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..s.11..PIPMm..1MIN.WIPM11111111,,..,,f....-


to do, his appointment maker, his interceptor of interruptors,his buffer and protector."

Programs for time and stress management should en-compass the leader's support staff and colleagues and, betteryet, even filter upwards. Many of the time/stress managementstrategies discussed delegation, role clarification and restruc-turing, rejecting monkeys, communication skills are depen-dent upon contact with and cooperation from the leader'scolleagues.

But more significantly, these programs involve yourcoworkers because you are in a leadership role and are there-fore for better or for worse a role Model whose attitudesand practices set the tone for the entire office. And as a rolemodel, your staff can perceive yoti in one of three ways:passively ineffectual in the management of time and stress;actively detrimental in the management of time and stress (atime-waster and stress-carrier); or worthy of emulation in themanagement of time and stress a true leader.

Managing time. Managing stress. Concentrating on ef-fectiveness, contribution, and purpose. What results fromaccepting these challenges? As usual, Peter Drucker says itwell:

What is being developed here is not information, butcharaCter: foresight, self-reliance, courage. What isbeing developed here, in other words, is leadershipnot the leadership of brilliance and genuis, to be sure,but the much more modest yet more enduring leader-ship of dedication, determination, and serious purpose.

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CHAPTER 11

o MANAGING CONFLICTcz) John Linde low

Conflict is an inevitable and natural part of human exis-tence. It is as surely a companionof lifeas change, death, andtaxes.

conflict exists on many leimls and takes many differentforms. Within society, there are focal points of conflict, wherenumerous "forces" seem to clash time and again. One of thesefocal points is the public school principalship. As James Liphamand James Hoeh, Jr. state, "All-institutional roles, particularlythose in public institutions, are subject to numerous sourcesand types of disagreement or conflict. But few seem so fraughtwith conflict potential as that of the public school principal."

Because conflict is such a pervasive and unavoidablepart of the principal's role, it is important that the principallearn-to manage conflict effectively and turn it toward con-structive ends. To do this, principals must understand conflict

what it is, where' it comes from, and how-it develops anddissipates. They must, ;n addition, possess the skills neces-sary to manage conflict effectively.

THE VALUE OF CONFLICT

As Stephen Robbins rotes, the word conflict has a nega-tive connotation for most individuals. Indeed, many if notmost conflict situations are disturbing to participants and(41 observers alike, and many conflicts lead to destructive ends.But as Robbins and numerous other authors emphasize,

conflict is a two-sided coin. Conflict can indeed be disruptiveand destructive. But it can also be a source of creativity andconstructive action. Many thoughtful writers even considerconflict to be "the Mother of creativity."

Warren Schmidt and Robert Tannenbaum stress that"differences among people should not be regarded as inher-ently 'good' or 'bad'." Sometimes conflicts produce importantLLL benefits for an organization, and sometimes they disrupt anorganization.

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"Until quite recently," Stephen Bailey observes, "west-ern man has suffered a kind of Hobbesian anxiety: a cdpcatena-tion of beliefs that all conflicts are bad." In recent yeais; how-ever, conflict has been recognized as a valuable source oforganizational renewal. Thus, "some conflicts are resolvedonly at the price of mildew," Bailey wryly notes. "But otherconflicts," he warns, "unless quickly resolved in some funda-mental sense, can destroy an organization."

Writers in the field of organizational development alsorecognize the potential value of conflict. According to RichardSchmuck, Philip 'Runkel, Jane Arends, and Richard Arends,for example, "some conflicts are natural and inevitable andmay even provide a creative tension that has the effect ofimproving school performance." Other conflicts, theseauthors are quick to add, can seriously weaken a school'sinstructional program and should be resolved promptly.

Stephen Robbins a strong believer in the value ofconflict has even included in his book a chapter on stimu-lating conflict within organizations by disrupting communica-tions and altering organizational structure. "Organizationsthat do not stimulate conflict," he states, "increase the proba-bility of stagnant thinking, inadequate decisions, and at theextreme, organizational demise." Research support for thiscontention comes from Jay Hall and Martha Williams (quotedby Robbins), who found that "established groups tended toimprove-more when there was conflict among members thanwhen there was fairly close agreement."

Thus; the effective school administrator should not seeksimply to resolve all conflicts that arise in the school; rather, heor she should attempt to manage conflict by maximizing con-structive conflict and minimizing destructive conflict.

In the next section, the nature of conflict will be describedand explored. With a better understanding of conflict, thereader can move on to the final section, which describes avariety of conflict management techniques.

UNDERSTANDING CONFLICT

Just what is conflict? Webster'sThird New InternationalDictionary defines it as the "clash, competition, or mutual

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interference of opposing or incompatible forces or qualities (asideas, interests, wills)." A similar definition is, provided byRobbins, who describes conflict as "all kinds of opposition orantagonistic interaction."

Conflict according. to these general definitions can thusinclude disharmony within a single individual, interpersonalconflict, intergroup conflict (including international conflict),conflicts between philosophies or ideas, conflicts betweenpeople and external forces, and so forth. Such a broad view ofconflict illustrates how all-pervasive conflict is, but here anartower definition of conflict is called for.

The main focus in this chapter will be on social conflictconflict between individuals and conflict between groupscommon to the school environment. Discussion of intraper-sonal conflict and of larger foirns of societal and politicalconflict will be excluded. Of course, these kinds of conflictscan, at times, have sigriificant influences on a school's opera-tion; but the management of conflict within the school isobviously of more immediate interest to educational adminis-trators.

Numerous writers have gone beyond simple definitionsof conflict and have sought to more fully characterize conflictby identifying types of conflict, sources of conflict, and stages ofconflict. These three views of conflict discussed in turnbelow = are valuable for gaining a better understanding ofconflict and management in school settings.

TYPES OF CONFLICT

One typology of conflict already mentioned is that ofconstructive and destructive conflict. Constructive or "func-tional" conflicts, as Robbins states, "support the goals of theorganization and improve performance." Destructive or "dys-functional" conflicts, on the other hand, hinder organizationalperformance and should be "eradicated."

"The demarcation between functional dysfunctional isneither clear nor precise," Robbins continues.

No level of conflict can be adopted at face value asacceptable or unacceptable....The level that createshealthy and positive involvement towardsone group's

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goals, may in another group or in the same group atanother time, be highly dysfunctional, requiring im-mediate conciliatory attention by the administrator.

Schmidt and Tannenbaum classify conflict according tothe fOur kinds of issues over which people can disagree. First,disagreement can occur over facts, as when two parties "areaware of different pieces of relevant information,, accept orreject different information as factual, or have differing im-pressions of their respective power and authority."

Second, disagreement can occur overoals "the de-sirable objectives of a department, division, section, or of aspecific position within the organization." Third, people candisagree over methods = the procedures and strategies forgetting frcni here to there. And fourth, disagreementcan occurover values or ethics the "way power should be exercised.'

Schmuck and his colleagues explain a similar conflictclassification system that they call the "S -T -P" typology. TheS refers to the situation or the "realities of a current situation."The T refers to target, which includes goals and objectives aswell as values. And the P refers to proposals, the strategies formoving from the present situation to a desired futuresituation. A

Another way of classifying conflict is by itseseverity erquality, as Bailey suggests. At the first level of conflict severity,there is "an endless simmer of petty personality conflictsreflecting the chemistry and foibles of interacting humans."The administrator can control these conflicts with such tech-niques as separating antagonists, redefining roles, expressingconfidence in both antagonists in each other's presence, andappealing "to the maturity, good sense, and common organi-zational goals of everyone concerned." Ultimately, says Bailey,the wise administrator "settles for a low hum of contentious-ness as a necessary and at times healthy noise of thehuman condition."

The second level of conflict severity involves differencesover program and budget matters, "Thes,v are the daily-dietconflicts that most educational administrators spend theover-whelming part of their time adjudicating and managing,"states Bailey. At this level, the conflict management toois ofthe behavioral ,sciences (many of which are discussed in .thenext section) are most useful.

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Level three of conflict severity is that of "revolutionary"conflict, which involves "the legitimacy of regime" rather thanprogram priorities. The wisest course in such crisis situations,Bailey offers/is Co redress the grievances that are stimulatingthe revolution. Techniques useful at level two are less likely tobe'of value at level three:

At thc: height of a battle over the legitimacy of thesystem, even sensitivity groups or face-to-faceproblem-solving sessions are unlikely to pacify militantblacks, apoplectic Birchers, relentless liberated women,striking teachers, or draff-defyingyoung men.

SOURCES OF CONFLICT

A fuller understanding of conflict can be gained byconsidering conflict's origins. Three primary sources withinthe school can be identified: comunications problems, organi-zational structure, and "human" factors, such as personality.

One common communications model, outlined byRobbins, has six,parts: .the communication source, encoder,message, channel, decoder, and receiver. 'The message isencoded (conversion ofan idea or thought to symbolic form),passed by way of some mediumkchannel) to the receiver whoretranslates- (decodes) the message initiated by the sender."Distortion or miscommunication can occur at dny point in thisprocess, leading, at times, to conflict.

Two conflicting parties may have access to differentinformation or different forms of the "same" information (forexample, the first and second drafts of a report). One or bothparties may have/incomplete or distorted information on anissue. If both have the'same information, each may be inter-preting it differently because ofdifferent backgrounds orphil-osophies. Semantic problems may also exist.

One party might assume that he or she knoWs what theother has said because "I've heard it before." One or bothparties may be filtering out important statements and hearingonly what he or she wants to hear. Each party may holdassumptions about the other's ulterior motives, or may beemotionally upset at the time of communication.

In cases where communications problems appear to be

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the source of conflict, simply bringing the conflicting partiestogether in a problem- solving session (as discussedin the nextsection) can often resolve the conflict.

At times; however, it may be very difficult for one partyto "hear" what the other is saying, even if repeated numeroustimes. In such cases, communications exercises such as para.:.phrasing (as discussed in chapter 8) may be of help.

The structure of the organization is another possiblesource of conflict. For example, size "has been found to cor-relate with amounts of conflict," according to Nebgen. "Thelarger the school, the greater theliumber of conflicts and thehigher the rate of conflict intensity."

Robbins, however, reports on a comprehensive study of250 separate organizational units that - "could not support thesize-conflict relationship." He concludes that size may indeedstimulate conflict, but the seriousness and intensity of conflictare also affected by many other variables.

The argument that size does make a difference, how-ever, appears sound, as Robbins explains:

Size alone would restrict communication, impede in-teraction and foster separateness. Therefore, it can begeneralized that as a,stnicture increases:in size, goalswill become less clear, relationships will.bynecessitybecome more- formal, specialization will createincreased pressure to protect one's bailiwick, and moreopportunities for diEfOrtion will occur as informationmust be passed through a greater number of levels.Bureaucratic qualities can also affect climate. One study

reported by Robbins found that less job routinization increasedthe likelihood of conflict. "As job structure is reduced," statesRobbins, "the probability of conflict would increase as the jobbecomes less programmed and surrounded by greater uncer-tainty.", Higher levels of specialization also appear to correlatewith increased conflicts.

,,Other research reported by Robbins indicates that es-tablished groups "develop more constructive conflict than adhoc formations." The same research showed that establishedgroup members more frequently attacked the ideas of theircolleagues, whereas ad hoc group members more often at`tacked each other as persons.

Several studies reported by Robbins show that the rateof conflict increases with increased participation in decisiOn-

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making. Although the overall number/ of conflicts went upwith participation, however, the number of major incidents ofconflict went doWn. Participation in decision- making, Robbinssuggests, "permits a greater opportunity for the expression ofexisting disputes and allows more occasions for disagreementsto arise." The same opportunity to express minor conflicts,however, may "prevent minor irritations from d_evelopinginto major/incidents."

Another study discussed by Robbins indicates that"power' can facilitate coordinatiOn and concurrently reduceConflict." Up to a certain limit, increasing a school principal'sformal authority can reduce conflict between the principal andstaff.

On the other hand, conflict does arise in organizationsin which a leSs powerful group attempts to force more powerfulmembers to giye up power. "Imbalances: of, organizationalpower by themselves may notinitiate conflict," Robbins con-cludes, "but when attempts are made to correct perceivedinequities, hostility is apparently stimulated."

In addition to communications 'and structural sources,conflict can arise from "human factors" within an organization.Communications and structural factor's can, in part, be con-trolled by an administrator. Human factors, however, are

/largely beyond the administrator's control.According to Robbins, three personality traits correlate

/

with increased conflict: high authoritarianism, high dogma-tism, and low self-esteerri. Organizationalmembers' diss4is-faction with 'role requirements is also a source of conflict.Finally, one of the most powerful "human" sources of conflictis differing Value or goal systems, which are quite often impos-sible-to change and can only be "managed."

STAGES OF CONFLICT

Another means of diagnosing conflict is by examiningits dynamics; SChmidt and Tannenbaum identify the followingfive stages of conflict deVelopinent:

It The phase of anticipation, in which, for example, a/ manager knows of an impending change and/ projects its consequences.

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2. The phase cif conscious, but unexpressed, differice. Wordleaks out about the change, and a feeling of tensionbegins to build in the organization..

3. The phase of discussion. Information is formally pre--, sented about the change. Differing opinions begin toemerge.

4. The phase of open dispute. Differences become moresharply and explicitly defined.

:-5. The phase ofopen conflict. Each disputhnt tries to_forcehis or her view on the others. The only possibleoutcomes now are win, lose, or compromise.

Other authors dissect the dynamics ofconflict differently, and-moSt include a stage of "relaxation" after the conflict haspeaked.Conflict management is usually more effective when the

administrator intervenes in the early stages of conflict. As theconflict develops through different stages, different manage-ment techniques become useful. "Techniques of preventionand resolution adequate for the incipient stages ofconflict areunlikely to be useful during the crisis stage," states Bailey,"and they tend to be irrelevant at the stage of relaxation."When conflict is incipient, or in early stages of viru-lence, a sensitive admiriistrator ma *release dangeroustension with a special meeting or joke: Wheti thestorm is raging, certain types ofme tings become im-possible, and the very notion of jokes cmites obscene.Whets exhaustion is followed by a ew-found har-mony, the ad 'inistrator's best th apy may be"natural healing' rather than any consc us strategy.

TECHNIQUES FORMANAGING:CONFLICT

According to Stephen Robbins, there are three primaryphilosophies of conflict management. The first, which Robbinscalls the traditional philosophy, prevailed from The late nine-teenth century and into the 1940s. In this philosophy, "allconflicts were seen as destructive and it was management'srole to rid the organization of them."I .

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The second philosophy, the "behavioral" view, startedto take hold a few decades ago, and, says Robbins, "unfor-tunately is still the generally accepted approach to managingconflict in the majority of organizations." In the behavioralview, conflictis accepted as a normal part of an organization'sfunctioning. The problem, says Robbins, is that conflict is stillviewed in a negative light, and thus the behavioraliSts concen-trate almost solely on finding ways of resolving conflict.

A more positive approach, says Robbins, is the "inter-actionist" philoSophy, which "recognizes the absolute neces-sity of conflict," explicitly encourages conflict at times, "definesconflict management to include stimulation as well as resolu-tion methodsrand-"considers the management of conflict as

major responSibility of all administrators." Indeed, an in=crease in constructive conflict may be called for in some or-ganizations that have lost their spark of creativity or in whichapathy has reached epidemic proportions.

The preponderance of conflict management techniquesdiscussed in this section, however, deal either with resolvingconflict or with channeling potentially destructive conflict intoconstructive conflict. This emphasis on conflict .resolutionrecognizes that the public schools are already in a state of rapidchange, with concommitant conflict; that few administratorsfeel the need to stimulate more conflict, since there is alreadyan overabundance in the schools; and thatmost administratorsare more interested in learning how to manage the conflict thatalready exists in the schools. There may be times, however,when "stirring the pot" may be'the best remedy for an ailingschoolor district.

Administrators should use a variety of approaches andtechniques for managing conflict. "No one method or outcomeshould be considered to be automatically 'best' for every situa-tion," as Edgar Kelly states. "The resolution of conflict isalways unique to the setting in which conflict occurs."

Any administrator who attempts to use the same tech-niques for different kinds of conflicts, saysZailey,

is either a genius or a-fobl. For example, assume that asuperintendent observes a raging conflict within hisboard of education. Quiet- catalysis in the form offriendly visits to the homes of contending leaders maybe the most useful approach. If the conflict is between

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two subordinate principals arguing about bus routes,a structured confrontation may be \desirable. If thestruggle is between the local John Birth Satiety andthe local chapter of the American Association of Uni-versity Women over sex education, public rhetoric andcareful and elaborate coalition building may be thesuperintendent's most effective tactic. The point\ isthat such stratagems are not usually interchangeable.Conflict-resolution styles and techniques useful inonecontext may be quite disastrous in another.

When a conflict occurs, state Diane Frey and JosephYcidng, "most people are impulsive about their manner ofresolving it. They usually choose a method learned at an earlyage from "significant others in their environment." A dminis-trators, Frey and Young advise, should develop an aWarenessof the conflict management styles they habitually use aid thenbroaden their repeitoire to include other techniques.

Ei<ema thorough knowledge of the techniques outlinedhere is not enough, though. The administrator must ulti-mately master the "art of conflict management" in the field, asBailey rightly observes.

AVOIDING CONFLICT

"The most natural manner in which all animals, includ-ing man, -eliminate conflict is to avoid it," states Robbins.Avoidance techniques include ignoring conflict, procrastina-tion, isolation, withholding feelings or beliefs, staffing withlike-minded people, and smoothing. Although avoiding con-flict may seem like "the wrong thing to do," it is often avaluable short-term alternative.

Whenever possible, humans withdraw from conflict andignore the situation if they can. This instinctive response,hoWever, is not always in need of correction. Often, eventswill reach ,their own state of equilibrium, and interventionmay be either unnecessary or counterproductive.

A variation of ignoring is procrastination, or "decidingnot tp decide," which may, at times, also be a valuable short-terfn management strategy. The administrator may need moreinformation or time to understand a situation or may be waitingfor the

vsituation to take clearer form before taking action.

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`Taking a "wait and see" attitudeinay be the best strategy inthese cases.

Deciding when to intervene and "uncover" conflict canbe difficult. The administrator must decide whether bringingout a conflict will have destructive or constructive conse-quences. Low levels of .communications and problem-solvingskills and lo'w levels of trust among school staff may wellengender destructive outcomes. "Uncovering conflict, then,involves a certain zisk," as Schmuck and his colleagues note.

A manager;can avoid conflict between two potentiallyexplosive individuals by isolating them in the organization sothat they seldom interact. Two individuals may do this them-selves, as Robbins Hates, and stake out distinct; rionover-lapping territories for 'fhemelyes. Often, an administratorand subordinate will use this-tchnique. "In those cases wherethe employee sees no other viable alternative to his preSent foband his suoerior finds the emplo rfoemance to be satis-factory, we can expect this avoidance t hnique to be effective,"states RobbinS.

In cases where two individuals fin ,4 impossible toavoid each other, they may withhold stating their feelings-or.beliefS in the presence of the other. Such muttlar%moring, ofcourse, only 'conceals differences, but as Herbert/ Shepaid(quoted' by Robbins) has observed, this technique is probably"society's chief instrument for handling conflict." Despite itsdrawbacks, it doeS avoid ()Vert confrontation.

Another means of avoiding conflict is to staff/the schoolwith like-minded people. This approach may be appropriatein schools that are extremely conflict torn because of diverseviewpoints. But "the manager who uses this approach con-sistently runs the risk of reducing the total creativity of hisstaff," state Schmidt and Tannenbaum. "When everyone inthe room thinks the same thing, no one is thinking verymuch."

'Smoothing" is the process of playing down differencesbetween conflicting parties while emphasizing their commoninterests. issues about which there are differences are notdiscussed, while areas of agreement are stressed. Althoughsmoothing is often relied on; says Robbins, it is l'only a super-ficial resolution. The differences, which are nottexplicitly con-fronted, still remain, and it becomes only a matter of time

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before these dissirnilaritieS arise again."Avoiding conflicts fin the ways outlined above can be

valuable for managing conflict in some situations. "As a generalrule, however, a conflict!avoided, regardlesS of-its cause, isonly temporarily.resolVed," as Nebgen states:

SUPERORDINATE GOALS

A superordinate golalls a highly Valued goal that twoconflicting parties can reach only bys cooperating with :eachother. "The cooperative environment grows as effort is directedaway from concern with separate and independent units torecognition that the conflicting units are part Oa larger group,"Robbins explains, Superordinate goals are quite popular in theapplied conflict Management literature, Robbins adds, becauseof their promise of "win-win" solutions.

Several difficulties exist, however. First, actual- superordinate stials that supersede the conflicting parties' individualgoals are difficult to create. Second, the mutual trust .and,confide* needed for conflicting parties fo Work together ISoften absent. Finally, says:Robbins, the effectiveness of super;ordinate goals may be severely limited in cases where conflictoriginates froiii personal- behavior differences. Nevertheless,this technique can be useful in some instances.

CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING

Had the six blind men who calm into contact withdifferent parts of the same elephant pooled their infor-mation, they would have arrived at a more accuratedescription of the animal. In the same way, manyproblems can be seen clearly, wholly, and in perspec-tive only if the individuals who see different aspectscan come together and pool their information.

:Schmidt and Tannenbaum

Mutual problem-solving, some writers suggest; is oftenthe best means for .resolving social conflict. Conflicts oftenexist because of a lack of. or problems in communicating.

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it

Bringing conflictingparties together to discuss tliieir differencescan, if properly managed, lead to increased understanding,clarification ofidifferences; and constructive collaboration.

Schmidt and-Tannenbaum provide several guidelinesfor conductingan effective problem-solving session. Many ofthese suggestions are discussed more fully in Chapters8 and 9.The administrator should:WeleOme the existence of differences within the or-ganiiation as a valuable resourceListen with understanding rather than evaluationRecOgnize and accept .the feelings of the individualsinvolvedClarify the nature of the conflict I

Indicate who will'inake the decision!being discussed-:, ::_Suggest procedures and ground rules for resolving

the differences 1

Create appropriate vehicles for communication amongthe disputing parties 1

Encourage the separation of ideas from the peoplewho propose them

Problem-solving is especially valUable fcr resolvingconflicts that arise from communications problems. hi aproblem: solving Session, a great deal of communication takesplace.. Facts, goals, and strategies are discuSsed and clarified.Positions become understood. Areas for potential compromiseare discovered. Faulty perceptions are corrected.When group members have varied opinions on -someissue yet are not entrenched in their positions, problem-solvingsessions can be used to channel the energy genetated, byconflict into creative solution making: As Robbins notes, how-

ever, "problem solving is inherently weak in regard to conflictsbased on differing value systems one Of the primary sourcesof conflict." Problem-solving can elucidate the differences intwo value systems, but argument can rarely alter deeply heldbeliefS. Forced probleni-solving betWeen two parties withinconipatible value systems, Robbins observes, "only widensthe differences and entrenches each of the participants deeperinto his position for-all intents and purposes probablyincreasing, and certainlj, not lessening,:the level of conflict.'

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COMPROMISE AND USE OF A THIRD PARTY

Compromise techniques, states Robbins, "make up themajor.portion of resolution methods developed in the litera-ture." Compromise can be generated internallyas in a problem-solving session, or it can be externally generated by a third-party mediator or arbitrator.

Compromise does not result in clear winners and losers,and it requires each conflicting party to give up something."The idea is that it is better to have half a loaf than none at all,"says Nebgen. Cornpromise is the norm in legislative decision-making. And unlike avoidance techniques, Robbins states,."itdoes result in a decision, though not an optimum one foreither party."

Compromise works best, states Nebgen, when "thecooperative interests of the bargainers are stronger than theircompetitive interests" and when both parties have ampleresources with which to bargain.

Often, a building administrator will find himselfor her-self iiithe,position ofa third-party arbitrator or mediator. Twoindividuals or groups will present the principal with conflictingideas or requests. The groups may ask the principal to make adecision, or the principal exercising his or her positionalpower may decide to make the decision. The principal canact as a mediator, clarifying and facilitating communicationbetween the twQparties, or can act as an arbitrator, makingthe final decision after,both sides have presented theirclaims.And if the principal is;one of the conflicting parties, he or shemay call for a neutral third part); to help settle the dispute.

AUTHORITATIVE COMMAND

In hierarchical organizational structures, states Robbins,"the authority ofa higher-ranking individual is the most fre-quent resolvent of interpersonal or intergroup conflict." Inusing authoritative command for intergroup conflicts, theprincipal is, in effect, deciding to be the third-party arbitrator.When the principal uses authority to settle disputes withsubordinates, he or she is simply using the traditional powerof position to overrule the subordinate.

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"Individuals in organizations, with rare exceptions,recognize and accept the authority of their superiors," statesRobbins. "Though they may not be in agreement with thesedecisions, they will almost always abide l them."

Authoritative command can solve conflicts quickly andneatly. The overuse or misuse of authoritative command,without meaningful input from subordinates, can foment amore serious kind of conflict challenge to the legitimacy ofauthority.

The use of force to settle disputes, states Nebgen, "maybe most usefully applied to conflicts which arise out of differinggoals or values of special interest groups and interpersonalprovocation." If the opposing parties are firmly entrenched intheir positions and there is littlechance for compromise, "onlyforcing the issue will settle the problem."

As emphasized throughout this handbook, the effective,,leader utilizes a variety of leadership styles in managing thesChobl, including, at times, an authoritative style. And whenthe leader decides to settle an issue through authoritativecommand, or by any other means for that matter, he or sheshould clearly Communicate how the matter will be settledbefore the process begins.

ALTERING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Conflicts can often be successfully managed by makingchanges-in the structure of the organization. Group memberscan be transferred or exchanged, special coorclinatirre, or con-flict management positions can be created, the communica-tions process can be facilitated with interlocking team struc-tures, grievance and appeal systems can be created, and ths,number of subunits in the organization can be altered.

Separating conflicting parties, as discussed earlier, isone means of reducing conflict. In some cases,however aswhen two departments or other subunits are in conflict itmay make more sense to increase contact between the con-flicting parties. When this is done, baniers to communicationare often reduced.

Robbins cites the example of a major company in whichtwo departments were in continual conflict. The management

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had the two supervisors switch jobs for six months, a movetliat "promoted greater understanding and reduced intergroupconflict as the modified views filtered down" through eachdepartment.

Another means of enhancing communication betweenconflicting departments is to create a position of "coordinator"of the two groups. The coordinator would perform functionsin both departments and integrate their functions.

Improved intraorganizatiorial_co'mmunication can alsobe gained by creating a- system (*interlocking managementteams in the school-or district, as Schmuck and his colleaguessuggest: The advantage of such a 'multiunit school," statethese authors, "is that it.offers a communicative link betweeneach hierarchical level and each for911 subsystem." In suchschool& everyone "knows someone who can communicatedirectly with the leadership team, and\this arrangement per-mits direCt managerial contact with those who may be inconflict." \

Small organizations, such as elementary schools, maydeal with conflict through regular administrative channels.But more complex organizations, such-as school districts,"should have special formal structures alongside the regularmanagerial hierarchy for this purpose," state Schmuck andcowriters.

. Special grievance and appeal systems can be designedto allow organizational members to challenge the rulings ofsuperiors. "By giving the subordinate an alternative to un-satisfactory directives of his superior," states Robbins, thistechnique "can act to reduce conflict by requiringthe.superiorto rethink the legitimacy of the demands he makes upon hissubordinates."

Some researchhas shown thataSorganizations becomemore complex, more conflict occurs. Thus, minimizing thenumber of administrative subunits may serve to reduce con-flict. This approach, however, may be overly: simplistic; acomplex organization may well function smoothly if designedappropriately.

Too much stress on unity and common organizationalgoals may also be a source of conflict, state Schmuck andcolleagues, especially "whenthe philosophies and instruc-tional styles of faculty members are highly varied." Conflict in

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such schools may be successfully managed "'by allowing forplanned pluralism or school structures in which there areseveral teams, houses within schools, even schools withinschools."

PREPARING FOR CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

An early step in learning to manage conflict, Frey andYoung point out, is for the individual to become aware of whatconflict management styles he or she already uses. Next, theadministrator -should increase his or her awareness-of _otherpossible managetnent techniques.

Numerous exercises have been designed by organiza-tional development specialists (see Schmuck and colleagues)and others interested in the communications process (seechapter 8) to help breed an awareness of communications andconflict management processes. Exercises of this sort, saysBailey, "are useful in sensitizing the uninitiated to the variedworlds of conflict management.

"But alas," Bailey continues, "most are as effective aslearning to swim on the sand. And many leSsons learned insociodramas are forgotten in the heatand Confusion of reality."

Bailey believes that field experience is the best way todevelop conflict management skills. Thus, many successfuladministrators of tomorrow, he states, may come frOm largefamilies "where from infancy they have participated in bounc-ing ego brawls and have learned the hard way the value not ofunanimity" but of "multanimity" the "philosophical ac-ceptance and delight in variety."

In preparing administrators for conflict management,Bailey adds, "it car, be said that case studies, sensitivity train-ing, and simulation are better than formal theory, that novelsand plays are better than-textbooks, and that apprenticeshipsand direct responsibility are better than anything else." Inshort, says Bailey, in the field of conflict management "welearn by doing."

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SOME FINAL ADVICE

Bailey, in the final section of his excellent essay onconflict management, offers additional:valuable suggestionsfor successfully managing conflict. First, the administratorshould breed an awareness of what is "bugging" colleagues,teachers, and Students. The administrator's ability "to recog-nize legitimate grievances and patent injustices and his will-ingness to respond to new hungers, new values, and newnonns'by reasonableness and open- mindedness are essentialif conflicts are to be precluded and ultimately resolved in anybasic sense."

Second, collective judgment should be substitutedwherever possible for personal discretion. "The wise adminis-trator knows how to create baffleS and buffers to buy time, toabsorb heat, to promote collective wisdom, to insure a maxi-mum sense of legitimacy for final decisions."

Bailey's third piece of advice is valuable in those conflict'situations that have gone beyond a state of rational negotiation.Essentially, the administrator adopts Harry Truman's five-point strategy: estimate- your.own resources, estimate yourenemy's resources, form a judgment about what is to be done,implement your judgment with a plan, and finally, persuadeyoutleaders of the value of that plan and mass your forces forthe attack.

Finally, the administrator should be "harshly realistic"about his or her limitations in managing conflict. "There aretimes in a year, in a career, in a.life when cyclonic winds andwaves will rollover everything in sight and when the skill ofthe ablest mariner is probably less effective than his prayingon his knees if for no other reason than that he has therebyloweied the ship's center of gravity."

Is

,CONCLUSION

Conflict is a constant companion of all human under-takings and should be considered a natural, not an anomalous,phenomenon. For most observers and participants; conflictinvokes negative feelings, for it often leads to destructiveends. But conflict can also be a constructive force in organiza-

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Ti IF. SKILLS: MANAGING CONFLICT

tions, leading to increased creativity and adaptability.The art of conflict management involves maximizing

constructive conflict and minimising destructive conflict. Toachieve mastery of this art, the educational admingtrator mustUnderstand conflict its types, sources, and dynamicsand must befamiliar with numerous techniques for managingconflict.

But knowledge alone is not enough; ultimately, admin-istrators must hone their conflict management- skills in thefield, in their day-to-day dealings with conflict.

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CHAPTER 12

SOLVING PROBLEMSNorman Hale and John Lindelow

CDcVCD

The informa tionexplosion, technological advances, andthe sheer complexity of the school district and its serviceshavecombined to create complicated management systems. Toolslike PERT (program evaluation and review technique) andPITS (program, planning, budgeting systems)-are only twoexamples of districtwide technological systems that evolvedinthe sixtieS.,,Other computerized methodologies can be used-

-for projecting: enrollments, scheduling the use of facilities,writing student schedules, and computing the costs Of con-tracts; these are now commonplace in large school districts.

One effect of such systems has been to require thateducational, planners and decision- makers possess muchgreater knowledge and expertise than traditional manage-ment methods required. As Stanley Sanders notes," this"specialized knowledge and skill ... is not possessed by manyof the administrators and leaders who are truly responsible forpolicies and planning." Cdnsequently, more decisions are leftto the "educational technologist," who has acquired a greaterrole in decision-making. Asmore problems come to be definedin technological terms, people who are riot information,spe-cialists may be edged-Out of the policy processes. Either deci-sions will be increasingly left to thtechnologists or; worse,problems may simply be ignored.

-While many of the problems of the school district'areamenable to technological solutions, many are not. Questionsof creating new programs, cancelling old ones, Changing. thecurriculum, implementing regulations, providing communityservices, and locating new facilities are nonrecurring situationsthat require one-of:a-kind programs or4ecisions. They requirea problem-solving flexibility that technological systems do notprovide.

Where does the adrninistrator. *turn: when he or sheneeds to make decisions in these areas?

Unfortunately, much of the literatureon probleni-solvingand decision-making is either diffuse and mathematical or too

1-1-1 abstract for practical use. Thee theories are not often translated

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into easily understandable and applicable formulas. And non-technological systems are espeCially difficult to formalize;

As an attempt to bridge the gap between a pure theoryof decision-making and a theory of decision-making as anintuitive, unstructured process, we offer three nontech-nological models from current educational literature. Themodels have been chosen for specific reasons. FirSt, theypresent current alternatives to technological systems. Theyare inexpensive: they require no equipment more sophisticatedthan a hand calculator. Second, each model has several variantforms and' an be applied to many different kindsof problems.Third, each has been chosen because it reflectS a belief thatconsultation and group effort are preferable to individualsacting unilaterally.

Most important of all, each:model has a specifiC strength.The value of force-field analysiS is its ability to visualize andanalyze the elements of a problem. The nominal group tech-nique is a means of polling constituent or client preferencesconcerning both problems andtsolutions. The strength of theDelphi forecasting model is its ability to create consensus.

Like other management techniqUeS, these problem-solving models yield their greatest value when the user isaware of their limitations as well as strengths. Although%thetechniques are useful in organizing data .and in guiding 'thedecision-making process, they are designed to inform and notreplace the administrator's intuition. They do not replace sub-jectivity in the decision-making process despite their appear-ance of objectivity. The leader still has to decide on what dataand information to include, ;how it is to be arranged, and mostimportantly,,what it means;

With this qualificatiOn in mind, these models should aidschool leaders who are faced with the problem of evaluating anew program or an old one, working with a community group,or deliberating on new policy. Used imaginatively, thesemodels provide attractive, simplealternatives to more complexprocedures. Their use will also encourage participation bymore people in alfareas of district decisioninaking.

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UNDERSTANDING A SITUATION:FORCE-FIELD ANALYSIS

Force-field analysis is an especially useful technique inthe earrY stages of problem-solving. It provides a graphicmeans for either one person working alone or many peopleworking together to dissect a- problem into its major parts(forces). It can also be used to help make decisions in situationswhere the pros and cons of a particular action seem evenlydivided.

ACcording to force-field theory, every situation is in astate of "quasi-stationary equilibrium" as the 'result of a"complex field of forces" that work in "varying directii,Fis, atdiffering strengths. The existing situation, or status quo, is theresult of the combination of these forces: N.

view of any-situation as a conglomerationof poised forces makes itself especially useful in the analysis.ofproblems. Before making any decision on a course of action,decision-makers must be able to enumerate the various forceS4both driving and restraining. Stanley Sanders notes that thisrigorous analysis reveals that' problemS are composed of"complex fields of forces and myriad influences rather thansingle or isolated factois.",It.helpS the administrator to recog-nize 'that a single hasty action as the result of a prematuredecision may have no effect on the cotnplex of forces.

The following hypothetical example, which appears ina report by William Gaskell, is only one of many applicationsof the technique. In thiS situation, a -teacher feels a lack ofcommunication in The classroom. The teacher has fa goal hedefines as the "Open and ACtive Criticism.of Ideas betweenUs." In an analysis of the situation, the teacher draws a dia-gram,and lists the forces pressing for open criticism and thosepushing against it (see figure 1). The forces on the left, ifallowed to become dominant, would push toward the, goal ofopen and active criticism between students and instructor.The forces on the right are those that inhibit the attaining ofthe goal and could result in the complete absence oficriticistn.

With the "identification of forces," we have completedthe first of what Sanders sees as the four steps in any kind of"decision making, problem solving, change, or Grogram plan-

296 ( I

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OPPOSITE;OF GOAL

forces FORinterdependence

forces AGAINSTinterdependence 4 GOAL

No criticismof ideas

between us

youth want to trytheir ideas

youth want-ideasfrom adults \

adult wants youth toquestion and criticize

adult actively asks foryouth reactions

youth afraid their ideas

'1*

will look poor to others

youth used to letting adults

tell them what to do

youth afraid to criticize

adults openly

71- -4. 1adult frequently juqgmental

in his Criticism'

I1(not talking with adults

youth norm of not talking

with adults

peer leaders support norm of

30 7

I Open andactive criticism

of idea'sbetween us

,FIGURE 1: FORCES FOR AND AGAINST COMMUNICATION IN THE CLASSROOM

From The Dem, (opulent of a Leadership Training Process pr Principals. Find; Report by William G. Gaskell. Central Washington State College,'" 1973.

308


ning." The second-step involves choosing-an entry point or"unfreezing" the current situation. A decision is made tostrengthen-a-dtiVing force or to weaken a restraining force in

--bider to move the program in the desired direction. SandersdiSagrees withmany Of the authorities in change strategy who"suggest that ,a strong unsettling experience is necessary todestroy the equilibrium of the statusquo." Sanders believes itis preferable_ to weaken a restraining force, thereby avoidingsevere reaction and disruption.

Step three involves -"Moving to the new level." Thismovement is theresult of a planned combination of strength-ening and weakening forces. When the program reaches itsnew level, it undergoes "refreezing," the' fourth step, whichrequires "planned and organized evaluation and monitoringof the new process." This monitoring assures That inertia willnot drag the program backto its old level.

Gaskell recommends that 1the compilers of the fieldanalysis rate the driving forces onl a simple numerical scale interms of their importance and their ease or difficulty of change.Such a ranking system might be of .help when making adecision about the entry point.

When used as Sanders and Gaskell suggest, force-fieldanalysis can help educators diagnose complex problems andthen plot a course toward a solution. Because of its power toreveal the many forces in a situation, however, the techniquecan also be used as a simple decision-making tool, particularlyin cases Where the pros and cons of an issue are many andseem evenly divided:

A publication of the Massachusetts State Department ofEducation shows how force-field analysis can be used in thisway. First, all the forces for and against a decision are listedand then inversely ranked according to their importance, sothe most important force has the highest number. Importanceis defined as the degree to which change of a particular forcewould cause the situation to move most toward or away fromthe goal.

Next, each force is rated in.terms of "clarity," which isdefined as "having objective data with which you could standup in court and proveyour case beyonda shadow of a doubt."The clarity rating, then, is,essentially a correction factor forsubjective yet unsupported belief. l'orces are given a clarity

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rating of three fir "clear," two for "partly cleat.'" and onefor "unclear."

Finally, the inverse rank of each force and its clarity ratingare multiplied to give a final score for each force: The totals forand against a decision are then computed and compared.

To illustrate this technique, the authors of the Massa-chusetts publiCation ask the reader to imagine hiinself or her-self as a chemistry teacher ,in a high school With an A to Fgrading system. A senior girl from a low-income family hasearned a D in chemistry, yet needs a C to receive financial aidat the only college that has offered her aid. WithOut the aid shewill probably not be able to go on to college.

As her teacher, what do you do? Change the grade andthus allow the student to attend college, or stick with a D andcut off her financial aid and her college chanceS?

One teacher's force4ield analysis is shOwn in figure 2.Clearly, for this teacher, the "forces against" are more power-ful than the "forces for" in this case.

Of course, theiratings given for the importance andclarity of each force are critical in determining the final scoresand, thus, the final decition. When force-fieldanalysis is usedby groups as a decision- making tool, there Will likely be sig-nificant differences among group members concerning theratings given each force. The. search for clarity does not elimi-nate subjectivity. Nevertheless, thej techniqueJs a valuablemeans of stimulating thought about all the fOrceS influencing aparticular decision. r.

Force- field's great advantage, in both problem analysisand decision-making, is its simplicity. The technique can bt!learned in a sin&sitting. Yet,.as simple as the procedure is, itnonethelesS provides an alternative to other "oversimplifiedsystems which see only a single cause and effect." Sandersalso points out that it can be used in conjunction with statisticsto "any degree of sophistication which may. be considereddesirable."

FINDING SOLUTIONS:THE NOMINAL GROUP TECHNIQUE

Force-field analysis is quite useful forcharacterizing and

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N.,

'FIGURE 2: A TEACHER'S SAMPLE FORCE-HELD ANALYSIS

1

Goal: To change the girl's grade to a,C to provide hert

,;FORCESFOR

Impor-tance Clarity Score

4 3 12

3 3 9

2 1 2

1

I:-The girl should, havethe opportunity tocontinue hereducation.She would probablybe unable to go tocollege withoutfinancial assistance.

The A through Fgrading systern'isnot an equitablemeasure of studentperformance. 1

Everyone shouldhave the oppor-1tunity to go to college

25

with an opportunity to continue her education..

FORCESAGAINST Clarity Score

Impor-tance

The girl earned a D 8in chemistry.

Standards of perfor- 9'inance should notiexist if they are nott adhered to.

I It would be unfair to 6the other students tochange her grade.

The girl might not 5be "college material."

It would violate the 7teacher's personalvalue system tocharip the grade.,

! TOTALS

Adopted from nuke Field Analysis by Massachusetts State Department of Education:1976.

3 24

3 27

3 18

1

3

5

21

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THE SKILLS: SOLVING PROBLEMS

analyzing problem situations. Although it prescribes changethrough the weakening or strengthening of particular forces inasituation, it does not identify how these changes might bestbe made. Thus, the leader needs some sort of method forgenerating alternative solutions to problems. One such methodis the nominal group technique.

AN ALTERNATIVE TO BRAINSTORMING

The nominal group technique is sometimes called "silentbrainstorming." Brainstorming often cited as a model ofdemocratic procedure is characterized by an open exchangeamong group members in -Which everyone is encouraged toparticipate freely: Some writers, however, believe that brain-storming has some serious drawbacks. Brooke Collison andSuzanne Dunlap, for example, believe that brainstorming is avaluable process but "does not always provide participantswith sufficient time to organize their thoughts and expresstheir ideas."

Andrew Van de Ven and Andre Delbecq contend thatinteracting groups often get stuck on a single topic and merelyelaborate on it. Interacting groups reach for decisions beforeproblems are fully aired and are more geared to problemdisposal than problem understanding. Such groups also,havea regrettable tendency to reinforce certain human weaknesses:people are more comfortable respondingio ideas already pro-posedi than they are coming up with ,new ideas. Verballyproficient members dominate the interacting group. Divergentopinions are often ignored.

To combat these weaknesses, Delbecq and Van de Vett,have, described a group process model in which "individualswork in the presence of each other but do.not interact."

Instead, each individual is writing ideas on a-pad ofpaper in front of him. At the end of 10 to 20 minutes, avery structured sharing of ideas takes place. Each indi-vidual in round-robin fishion provides one idea frOmhis private list which is written on a flip-chart by arecorder in full view of other members.There is still nodiscussion, only the recording of privately generatedideas. This round-robin listing continues until each

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SC! 100L LEADERS, III': I IANDBOOK FORSURVIVAL

member indicates that he has no further ideas to share.The output of this nominal process is the total setCreated by this structured process.

After all aspects of the problem have been explored, the ideasare discussed and then ranked in order of their importance tothe group.

A similar explanation of the nominal group technique(NGT) process has been outlined by Collison and Dunlap.First, the group's task is explicitly defined to avoid confusionand ambiguity during the process. Next, the time limits for theNGT process are announced by the group leader (Or they maybe posted in advance). Specifying a particular time for com-pletion of thetask, state Collison and Dunlap, lerids "emphasisto the feeling of accomplishment within a certain time period."

Third, members are asked to write down their personalresponses to the defined task. During this period, "silence isimportant in order to ensure maximum individuality of lists."Next, the group's ideas are placed via a round-robin processon a master list in front of the group. Items on this list shouldbe unedited and" there should be no discussion of the merit orappropriateness of an item" at this time.

In the fifth step, the group discusses each item on the listwith the purpose of clarifying the meaning of each item. Onlyafter the items are clearly defined are they finally discussed

-and, evaluated by the group. Following discussion, the groupMembers can rank or rate the ideas if they wish, or can decideon a course of action if this is called for.

Because NGT is a flexible method forgenerating ideas, itcan be used'to identify both problems and possible solutions.In an initial round; for example, .group members could beasked to concentrateon identifying the problemS' at hand. In asubsequent round, they could be asked to gene ate solutions.Van de Ven and Delbecq suggest that the two different aspectsmight be approached either in different sessions or by dif-ferent groups.

How effective is the nominal group? Van de Ven andDelbecq cite studies showing that in terms of the "mean num-ber of ideas," "the mean total number of ideas produced," andthe "quality of ideas produced," the nominal groups werefound to be "significantly superior to brainstorming in gener-ating information relevant to a problem."

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Ti II: SKILLS: SOLVING PR0131.EMS

THE NOMINAL GROUP AS ANINTERVENTIOKTECHNIQUE.

Donald Mosley and Thad Green report success in apply-ing nominal group procedures in all areas of problem diag-nosis, planning, and evaluation and in institutions as diverseas business organizations, churches, and a university: Themembers of the organization constitute the membership of thenominal group. Employees work together to identify theorganization's problems and to suggest solutions.

For interventions of this sort, Mosley-and Green recom-,mend a different problem-identification procedure. Theysuggest that the participants list the organization's strengthsbefore they list problems: "Changing this one-sided, negativefocus into a two-dimensional perspective which includesorganizational strengths often has a dramatic, positive effecton the general receptiveness of theentire OD (organizationaldevelopment) effort, most of which still lies in the future."They also recommend thatwhen intervention in a hierarchicalstructure becomes necessary, persons of similar rank shouldbe grouped together to prevent a potential influencing ofsubordinates.

Another, quite different, application' of the nominalgroup is cited by Charles Zastrow and Ralphe Navarre. Theyused the technique to poll a university social work class todiscover student preferences for course content. By means ofthe technique, Zastrow and Navarre report they were able to

'understand the students' interests and were better able toserve thbse interests.

PLANNING NEW PROGRAMSBecause of its ability to"enerate problem descriptions

from a client population, the nominal group technique isespecially suited to the early stages of program planning. It isespecially useful in cases where a "variety of groups, frag-mented in terms of vested interests, rhetorical and ideologicalconcepts, and differential expertise, need to be. broughttogether for a program to emerge or for change to take place"(Delbecq and Van de Ven).

This description..would seem to apply to community

3031

314

of-


service programs in the public schoolS or any service programdeSigned for.the benefit of clients of the school diStrict. Thesemight include programs designed to reach disadvantagedstudents (special skills programs for minority orhandicappedstudents), programs to implementbusing, vocational guidanceprograms, and counseling and testing programs. Within thedistrict itself, the technique can be used to gather informationand ideas about curricular change, policy changes, andprogram implementation.

Delbecq and Van de' Ven have described a programplanning model that makes use of these nominal,group tech-niques. The first step/of 'the model is called the problemexploration phase. A'target group of participants is identifiedin terms of their involvement eitheras potential clients,of thenew program or/as people responsible for implementing it.Which individuals are included in this group depends on thedegree to whith the program will affect them. Once this groupis assembled, members are asked te.identify problems thisnew program must solve.

Delbecq and Van de Ven have discovered that theenumerating of problems' often involves a revelation ofpersonal details. Tor example, a programeing set up to helphandicapped students will probably require the sharing ofconsiderable personal information by the handicapped mem-bers of the nominkgroup.:The'authors feel that the nominaltechnique provides a Way.' kr the participants to graduallyvolunteer these "personal dimensions a little at a

The actual machinery for` running..the group will*varyfrom case to case. In large groups; William Vroman recom-mends that satellite groups& from ten to fifteen members beused. The display of written materials will also depend on thenumber of participants involved: Some commentators recom-mend listing all materials On a large board in front of anassembled group. Often a break in the proCeedings will benecessary to compile and display .the list of problems. Somegroups will choose to vote on and display only the mostsignificant problems uncovered. In some cases it may be moreadvantageous to display all ideas to the group.

Knowledge exploration, the second phase of the model,brings together a Selectedtroup Of clients from phase one anda group of resource experts. This hei%, group is presented with'

304 .1.

315


the list of problems resulting from the first meeting. Usingnominal group technique again, this group responds to twoquestions: "What existing resources can be used to solve theseproblems?" and "What new resources will have to be createdto solve these problems?" 'Respondents list their answers,which are again colledted arid displayed round-robin fashion.From these answers, a list_of existing resources and a list ofnew resources will be developed.

The final phases of the program do not utilize nominalgroup procedures. The actual writing of the program descrip-tion must be accomplished by technicians who match needswith resources. However, the very last phase of the programinvolves reporting back to the participants in phase one anexplanation of the final content cif,the program.

Thorough information gathering and analysis are impor-tant parts of decision-making. The nominal group technique

. presents an easy, convenient method of gathering informationand ideas on a variety of topics from the clients or constituentsof an institution.

ACHIEVING CONSEN&JS: THE DELPHITECHNIQUE

As experienced :leaders know, reaching consensus oncomplex issues can be a frustrating process. Committee n eet-ings -- the traditional forum for decision-making havenumerous disadvantages. Group members, as Lewis Thomasnotes, are often more involved in such ego-based activities as"winning points, leading the discussion, protecting one'sface, gaining applause, shouting down opposition," or"scaring opponents" than they are in actually thinking about'the problems at hand.

.In the past twenty years, however, a new "meeting"technique has been developed that links minds together to do"collective figuring," yet avoids most of the disadvantages ofgroup meetings noted above. This new consensus-producingtool is commonly called the Delphi technique.

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HISTORY AND ASSUMPTIONS OF DELPHI

As Norman Dalkey and Olaf Helmer report, Delphi wasoriginally conceived by the Rand Corporation as a method ofobtaining "the most reliable consensus of opinion of a groupof experts." The general procedure for the Delphi forecast isquite simple. A number of experts on the subject under exami-nation are selected. They agree to respond to a series bf ques-tionnaires to be mailed to them. On the first questionnaire, theexperts answer questions and make predictions about thematter under study. The questionnaires are returned by mail,the results are collated, anda second questionnaire is returnedto each participant:

On this second questionnaire, some means of reportingthe group consensus is employed. The individual's score isalso reported. Each participant whose answer lies outside thegroup consensus (usually defined by a modal or median score)is asked to reconsider his or her original prediction. Anyrespondent who wishes to remainoutside the group consensusis asked to justify that position. A third round of question-naires reports the new consensus and may also include aminority report o(the general reasons participants chose tostay outside the consensus. The original Delphi consisted offive rounds.

What Delphi amounts to,' then, is "a really quiet, thought-ful conversation, in which everyone gets a chance to listen," asThomai notes. 'The background noise of small talk, and therecurrent sonic booms of vanity, are eliminated at the outset,and there is time to think."

Rand researchers discovered that the "controlled opin-ion feedback" that Delphi provided was successful in shapingdiverse thoughts into meaningful consensus. It was extremelysuccessful in answering almanac-like questions and producingconsensus predictions about "future technologies. The firstDelphi attempted to gather opinion about the amount ofnuclear firepoWer that would have to be directed at UnitedStates industrial targets to reduce munitions output by acertain amount. Since then,'Delphis have been used to predictenergy demands, growth trends, and the depletion of re-sources. Not surprisingly, when social scientists saw the suc-cess of Delphi they were attracted by both its consensus-

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Ti E SKILLS: SOLVING PROBLEMS

producing powers and its future-predicting qualities. Theywanted to use it in their own research.,

But as W. Timothy Weaver points out; the kinds ofquestions Delphi was most successful in answering had objec-five, "knowable" technological factOrs to them. The socialsciences do not yet include such factors. It cannot be deter-mined, for example, when "alienation and impersonality ofurban living will reach its maximum." In fact, says Weaver, wedo not even know "what it means to speak of a maximum inthis case:" Because the data base kir the social sciences is somuch less developed than it is for the hard sciences, and becauseof differing interpretations of social indicators, Delphi forecastshave been less successful when dealing with social issues.

THE NEW FORMS OF DELPHI

Although the Delphi cannot be used to predict the "like-lihood of a certain future," Weaver believes we can use theDelphi to talk in terms or What the future "can be made to be."The technique can be used to help define and create a con-sensus about social and institutional goals. When used in thisway to project a set of values and goals, Delphi is an importanttool in futures planning.

The traditional forecasting Delphi has given way ineducation to the "normative" Delphi where the goal is toprobe values and preferences rather than future events.Richard Weatherman and Karen Swenson analyze two formsof Delphi that have the greatest applicability in school districts:the "strategy probe" and the "preference probe." The strategyprobe might be employed' by a school district that has man,dated a new program and wants to poll opinion on the choiceof a strategy to implement it. The first questionnaire might beopen-ended and simply ask respondents to suggest alterna-tives. Subsequent questionnaires would ask respondents tonarrow their choices and compare the alternatives in terms ofcost, ease of implementation, and so forth. In consecutiverounds,-a consensus toward a single strategy will emerge. Ifthe respondents themselves are the persons responsible forimplementing the program, the move toward consensus will

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further guarantee the program's success.The preference probe is used in cases when a school

district wants to poll its clients or constituents about its prior-ities. This probe reveals essentiatinformation about the par-ticipants themselves and their preferences, which the districttakes into[account when 'setting its goals.

Both these .probes differ- significantly from traditionalDelphis in -that they do not depend on expert opinion. Whencomparing two studiej, Gordon Welty discovered that.in thearea of /values forecasting laymen and experts producedroughlyithe same results. There is no need, then,, especially inthe area of values forecasting, for a selected panel.

SAMPLE APPLICATIONS

,Delphi has many variations. The following applicationsexemplify some of the situations to which the method hasbeen/applied.

Paramus, New Jersey, Public Schools

Arlene Hartman describes hoW the Delphi techniquewas modified in one school district fqr use as a-"short-termdecision making and conflict resolution" tool.

In the Paramus Public Schools, cUrriculuin developmentis carried out by committees appointed by a broad-basedCurrictilurri.Council. The-AdministratiVeCquikil consistingof all principals in the district has the right to reviewproposals from the Curriculum Council before they are sent tothe school board for approval.

In one instance, a committee composed of teachers,parents, and students was established by the CurriculumCouncil to review the curriculum for gifted and talentedstudents. The committee sought representation from theprincipals, but none was able to serve. When the committeelater presented its .proposals to the principals, however,,several major points of disagreement emerged.. -Meetingsbetween the two groups only heightened-and polarized the

:differences.The groups then asked Hartman = the district's Curri-

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1118 SKILLS: SOLVING PROBLEMS

cultim Coordinator to resolve the conflicts without furtherjoint meetings. "Given the need to reach consensus withoutcommon meetings," states Hartinart, "I felt a variation on theDelphi Technique would be the best tool for resolVing theconflict."

Hartman composed a list of twenty policy statementsthat represented key, issues between the two groups and thensent the list to committee members and principals. IndividualsCould respond in one of three ways toeach of thestatements:they could agree with it, they could-indicate :that-they wereuncertain but willing to try it for a year, pr they; could disagreewith it. If they disagreed, they were asked to indicate howthey would amend the stateaent to make it acCeptable.

After the results were compiled, Hartman sent :evisedlists back. to the respondents. Each individuals "phase two"list indicated, the number of respondents who had selectedeach choice,' the individual's initial choice "as a reminder of hisor her original decision," and, below each statement, a sug-gested change-or addition. "In this phase; the respondents-were to check their preference again, whether the same ordifferent, and indicate whether or not they would accept themodification statements.".

After phase two, not more than one person disagreedwith each of eighteen of the twenty amended :statements. Ofthe remaining two statements, two respondent's still disagreedwith each. Since these results showed a near consensus on thepolicy statements, the statements were amended to the curri--culum- committee's original' report- and- Sea tothe schoolboard, which approved the report.

Hartman believes-that this modification of Delphi has.many advantages over normal group processes. Every indi--vidiial must make a choice on every issue, thtis reducing thelikelihood that vocal members will be overly influential. Whensomeone diSagrees, he or she must offer specific amendmentsto the statements offered. But respondents-canalso choose the"middle ground" of letting a policy be tried fora year. Finally,anonymity reduces the likelihood that those :in positions ofauthority will force consensus from subordinates.

Hartman concludes by warning that this form of Delphiis not a panacea. A great deal of "footwork" is needed to makethe process work. Potential areas of compromise must be

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assessed. Informal meetings with key individuals from bothgroups must be held to synthesize the initial policy statements."Statements must be written quite carefully to minimize thepossibility that different interpretations of their meaning mayoccur, possibly ,resulting in 'false' agreement." Finally,', the"mediator" must be perceived as fair and neutral..

Staff Development Preferences

The Delphi technique was recently used in two publicschool districts in Kentucky to assess inservice needs, accord-ing to Kenneth Brooks. Before questionnaires were sent out,each certified employee was given an identification numberthat "allowed lesponses to be anonymous while permittingthe researcher to categorize responses by participant (teacher,principal, etc.) and by work site (individual school or Centraloffice)." ,

Staff members wereagked to fill-out questionnaires thatasked them to identify five areas in which there was acriticalneed for inservice and five areas where inservice was thoughtto be undesirable. A critical area for inservice was defined as"a topical area of professional concern that the individual feltcould be improved.through staff development."

The responses to the questionnaires were combinedinto two lists and then returned to the participants for ranking.Staff members rated desirableinservice topics on al seven-point Likert scale, and they indicated whether they agreed or

:disagreed with topics on_theundesiredlist. _ _The responses were analyied "and a measure of central

tendency and frequency determined." The ranked topic listswere again returned to the partiCipants, who "were instructedto review the group,position and indicate their own pogition inlight of this additional information." Respondents were alsogiven the opportunity to support their views with brief narra-tive statements.

Although the original degign of the Delphi cal lled forthree rounds of rankings, after two rounds "sufficient consen-sus had been achieved to make than unnecessary: Brooksnotes that the staffs of differentschobls had significantly dif-ferent priorities for inservice. Thus, the district provided eachschool with a record of how its staffranked the inservice items.

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TI I SKILIS: SOLVING PROBLEMS

EllenstoiOn, Washington; Public Schools

The Delphi technique gives school districts an excellentspecialized method of ,polling their communities aboutattitudes and preferences concerning school policies. AlfredRasp, Jr. reports on such a use of Delphi by-the public schoolsin Ellenstown; Washington: Through a survey the districtsought to collect "data from which goals for building betterprograms could be developed." This four-phase Delphi wasmailed to a sample of "local students, staff, parentk citizens,and teacher trainers fromthe state colleges and universities."The first questionnaire was fairly open-ended. Whenrecording their opinions, respondents were asked to think interms of the period from 1975 to 1985:

As a result of the experiences provided by the Ellens-town School District, students should:Know36 Able toFeel

EllenstoWn School District should:IncreaMainhinReduceFrom these first-round questionnaires, a second ques-tionnaire was developed that,contained #. list of statements.Respondents were asked to circle numbers on A' one:to:seven.,

-scale.°Hereare-tWiikiiiple items:As a result of the experiences provided by the Ellens-town School District, each student should:

View competition in allthings as healthy.

Be able to read and under-stand a newspaper.

A third-round questionnaire was mailed only to thosewho responded to the second questionnaire. In the thirdround, the modal answer (the answer cited most frequently)was indicated by a square. The individual's response was indi-cated by a circle. Respondents were asked to study each item.

low high1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

a

.--

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SCII0OL LEADERSHIP: IIANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL

If the mode for the item did not represent their thinkingat thatmoment, they were requested to state their reasons in.a spacefollowing the item. The third questionnaire had this form:

As a result of the experiences provided by the Ellens-town School District, each student should:.low high1 Ef 3 4 Q.) 6 7 View competition in all

things as healthy.1 2 3 4 0 CI 7 Be able to read 7.4nd under-

stand a newspaper.The fourth round recalculated the consensus' from the

third round and also included a; minority dissenting report foreach item. The respondent was asked to consider this infor-mation as well as the group consensus and to make a finaljudgment. Rasp and his colleagues decided, in retrospect, thatthe fourth round was not necessary.

The results of this survey, concludes Rasp, providedEllenstown's superintendent and staff with valuable informa-tion from citizens about community values and school priori-ties. Even in the face of certain limitations, "Delphi does havestrength and utility. It collects and organizes judgments in asystematic fashion. It gains input. -It establishes priorities. Itbuilds consensus. It organizes dissent. In short, it cannot beoverlooked'as a useful and reliable decision-making tool."

Dallas-Fort Worth SWEP Survey-

The Skyline Wide Educational Plan (SWEP) institutedby the Dallas and Fort Worth Independent School districts is amuch larger, more ambitious attempt to survey communityvalues for the school district than we have thus far encoun-tered. Robert Bums reports that the procedures vary slightlyfrom traditional Delphis in that only two questionnaire roundswere used. Also, the number of participants (over 900 personsinvited to respond) was quite large in this case. The attritionrate for the two questionnaires was 75 percent; that is, nearly700 people either did not respond at all or dropped out afterthe first round. COnsidering the attrition rate, the decision tohave only two rounds may have been wise.

Unlike the Ellenstown Delphi, the first SWEP question-,

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naire was not open-ended. It corisiStea of 105 goalstatementsin the general categories of "baSic skills, citizenship, ethics,aesthetics, careers, health and recreation, and life manage-ment." In addition, the queStiOnnaireincluded twenty -nine"process goats statements." For each item, respondents wereasked to answer" in two wayS. Simple yes-no answer wasrequested to see if the respondent felt that the item repre-sented 'a "core" skill that 'allistudent.§-should have beforecompletion of theirprogram of studies." A five-point Likertscale was also used so that the respondent could assign apriority to each item. On the second questionnaire; space wasallowed for the expression of Minority opinions.

Perhaps, an even greater difference between this andearlier surveys, is theuse of a-qomputerto analyze and displaythe data. The districts have not only analyzed the answers tofind the degree of consensus for each item, but have alsoanalyzed the data in terms of "age, sex, patron; ethnicity,occupation, and residence." The use of the computer certainlymakes it possible to manipulate the data in more ways formore purposes. Used this Way, a Delphi probe can be anextremely complicated procedure.

USING THE DELPHI

-Under-what-conditiOns-should'DelphtbeigedrCarlMoore and James Coke suggest that ifis advantageous in thefollowing situations: (

The problem does, not "lend itself to precise..analytical techniques but can benefit from subjectivejudgments on a collective basis.The individuals needed to contribute to the examina-tion of a broad or/complex problem have no history ofadequate communication a n d may represent diversebackgrounds with respect toexperience or expertise,More individuals are needed than can effectivelyinteract in a face; to -face exchange.Time and cost; make frequent group meetings in-feasible. . .

The efficiency ; of face-to-face meetings can be in-

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111E SKILLS: SOLVING PROBLEMS

creased by a supplemental group Communciationprocess.Disagreements among individuals are so severe orpolitically'unpalatable that the communication processmust be refereed and/or anonymity assured.The heterOgeneity of the participants must be pre-served to assure validity Of the results, i.e., avoidanceof domination by quantity or by strength of person-ality ("bandwagon effect").

As successful as Delphimay be in these kinds of situa-tions, some precau:tions for the would-be designer ofa probeare offered by almost every writer on the subject. Early in thedeSign stage, a decision must be made about a method ofreporting results. Although some Delphis supply verbal ratherthan numerical data, most rely on a mathematical measure ofconsensus.

I Of the mathematical probes mentioned above, theSWEP survey reported its results in terms of the mean (theaverage of all responses). The Ellenstown schools' Delphireported its results,in terms of the mode (the response mostfrequently ChoSen)4 Frederick Cyphert and Walter Gant rejectthe mean- because "few of the response scales used in a Delphiinstrument assume equal intervals." The Mode is generallyfavored "in effortLto-gain-opinions-about-desired-futtutcOnditiOns," while the median (the number midway betweentwo extremes) is "often used in surveys focusing on judgmentsabout time or quantity."

Another factor ina Delphi survey is time. Questionnaireresults must be read and analyzed, and the new questionnaireCompiled and mailed out quiCkly. Long delays between roundsimust be minimized' if respondents are to be kept interested.'Margaret Skutsch and Diana Hall estimate that three roundsof a mail-out Delphi with thirty respondents would requireabout'142 hours of work and two months for completion of theproject. More complex projects would require correspondinglymore time.

A more significant problem conceals the need for objec-tivity in composing the questiOnnaire materials. Rasp notesthat "almost every study on the Delphi has testified to anuneasiness regarding the development of the second ques-

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WIP=none roMplerlaMplIMMIO.n. "" "I 4r,


tionnaire." Michael Folk and other writers point out that thetranslation of raw verbaldata into a goal statement or any kindof supposedly objective item is a difficult task. The content issubject to the biases of the compilers.Carl Moore and James Coke believe that Delphis oftenfail because the designer imposes "views and perceptions of aproblem upon the respondent group by overspecifyingthestructure of the Delphi and not allowing for the contribution ofother perspectives related to the problem. " Other reasons forDelphi failure are poor techniques of summarizing and pre-senting,the group's data, and the assumption of some usersthat Delphi can substitute for all other human communications.

THE CONSENSUS PHENOMENON

The greatest philosophical controversy over Delphi hasto do with the consensus phenomenon itself. What causes it?W. Timothy Weaver says the Delphi process assumes that theexperts or respondents will make logical, reasoned conclu-sions. But, he maintains, people may in fact change towardconsensus for social or psychological reasons:Mo_ore _and_Coke-suggest-that-aii- artificial consensusmay be generated when the designer Imderestim tes thedemanding nature of a Delphi. If respondents are not recog,nized as consultants and properly compensated for their time

(assuming the Delphi is not an integral part-of. their job func-tion), they may more easily agree with the nonn.-----Cyphert and Gant's study even provides some evidence-that the Delphi can be used to manipulate participantresponse. They inserted a bogus item in their questionnaireresults and reported that it had achieved a high degree ofconsensus. Subsequent responses showed that participants

tended to rate it higherwhen informed that its consensus washigh. Richard Weatherman and Karen Swenson, along withmany others, warn that this convergence phenomenon needsto be studied more closely: Paradoxically perhaps, the Delphicannot give reasons why people prefer one idea over another.It only explains, in ^the minority report, why consensus doesnot occur.

Some critics warn that the Delphi is a conservative,

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THE SKILLS: SOLVING PROBLEM S

establishment-orientetinstrument. Weatherman and Swe -. son point out thatdivergent thinkers, who may be under-representedon a Delphi panel, may prove to be the best forecasters.Such persons might find' it - especially difficult toacquiesce or be committed to a consensus and fail toparticipate at all. This difficulty may be reflected initem content as well: if experts representing the maincurrents of thought in a discipline develop items onthe initial questionnaire, the error may be com-pounded.

As the.future forecasting tool it was designed to be, heDelphi is not given high marks. However, as a-tool to gat erinformation about values and ways the future can be shaDelphi can be extremely valuable. Michael Folk offers so niefinal advice for those who are considering their own Delphi.First, you will learn more al?out the procedure-by doiri ityourself. Second; acquaint yourself with alternative versi ns,especially those that deemithasize future forecasting. Theil,e isno reason, for example, why Delphi-must be restricted fo a_mailing format....Third,acquaint-yourself with "thEliferatiire so-there will beno disappointment about the outcome.

A COMPARISON OF NOMINAL GROUPAND DELPHI

John Crawford and William Cossitt cOmpared threegroup processes in terms of "their ability to facilitatd thequantitative and qualitative productivityof a decision- makinggroup." Forty-five subjects, working in groups of five, weretold to use regular face-to-face communication, the nominalgroup technique, or a three-round, three-day Delphi to pr parea list of recommendations for a job description.

As the researchers had hypothesized, the Delphi groupscame up with the largest number of ideas twenty4sevencompared with the nominal groups' seventeen and theiface-to-face groups' ten. The decisions made by the Delphi groupswere also adjudged to be of significantly higher quality thandecisions made via the other techniques.

The study's findings largely support the idea that "oneif,

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can'improve the quantity and quality of a group's decision-making productivity by systematically removing the inhibitingeffects of face-to-face interaction from the group process."This can be achieved without significantly diminishing parti-cipants' senses of soda-emotional satisfaction with the groupprocess, according to the authors' data. Although there was atrend toward less satisfaction as face-to-face contact lessened,the trend was not significant. '

Crawford and Cossitt suggest that all three techniquescan be used in a situation where it is desirable to maximize thenumber of ideas generated, their. uality, and the satisfactionof participants. For example, following a four-round Delphi,participants couldmeet in a face-to-face conference that utiliiesthe more significant elements of the nominalgroup procedure.Used together in this way, these techniques can generatebenefits that can "exceed the general advantages of Delphialone."

CONCLUSION

The school district is a people-oriented enterprise. Forthis reason it is important that all school leaders, regardless oftheir technological literacy, be involved in solving the district'sproblems and making its policies. If modern managementtheory has anything at all to say to school districts, it is that allemployees have valuable contributions to make, and they arehappier in jobs where their opinionsare solicited and respected.The models included here have been selected because theyoffer a nontechnological alternative to problem-solving andbecause they solicit and respect the opinions of involvedworkers and clients.

But a model, by its nature, provides only a generaloutline or working definition. When it comes into contact witha real situation, it can, and should, be changed in many ways.What we.have provided here are only broad outlines that arenot intended to be inclusive or exhaustive of materials onthese models. We hope they furnish a simple place to begin.

328

317

BIBLIOGRAPHY

<,

Many Outhe items in this bibliography are indexed in ERIC'smonthly. catalogs Resources, in Education (RIE) and Current Index toJournalmit Education (CuE). Reports in RIE are indicated by an"ED"number; journal articles in-CIIE are indicated by an "EJ" number.

Most items with an ED number are available from the ERIC'Document Reproducfion Service (EDRS), P.O. Box 190, Arlington,VA 22210. To order kormEDRS, specify the ED number,Ltype of

s, reproduction desired' microfiche (MF) or paper copy (PC), andnumber of copieS. Add postage:figured at the current rates, to theCost of all orders and include check or money order payable to EDRS.ED numbers not yet assigried are available from the Clearinghouse.

-INTRODUCTION

Austin, Gilbert R. "ExemplarysSChoOls and the Sear& for Effective-ness." Educational Leadership, 37, 1 (October,1979), pp. 10-14.EJ 208'050.

Balderson, James H. "Principal Power Bases: Some Observations.".The Canadian Administrator, 14;7 (April 1975), pp. 1-5. EJ 115902.

Barth; Roland S. "Reflections on the Principalship:" Thrust for Edit-catimuil Leadership, 9, 5 (May- 1980), pp. 4-6.,

Bennis, Warren G. "Leadership Theory and AdmihistratweBehiv-ior: The Problem'of -Authority:" Adminiltratim Science Quar--krly, 4, 3 (December 1959), pp. 259-60.

Bird; Charles. Social Psydilogy. New York: D. Appleton-CenturyCompany, 1940.

Blumberg, Arthur, and Greenfield; William. The Effective-Principal:Perspectives on Scho01- Leadership. Boston: Allyn and Bacon,1980.

Burns, James MacGregor: "Two EXcerpts from leadership'." Edit--calm:al Leadership, 36, 6-(March 1979), pp. 380-84. EJ 197 875.

Congress of the United States, Senate Select Committee on EqualEducational Opportunity. "Revitalizing the Role of the SchoolPrincipal," [Part VI, Chapter 24, Section BJ. In its TowardEqual Educational Opportunity (92nd Congress, 2nd Session.Senate Report No. 92-0000), pp. 305-07. Washington,U.S. Government Printing Office, ,1972. Complete docu-ment, 445 pages, available as ED 072 153 MF $0.91 PC $30.05.

Edmonds, Ronald. A Discussion of the Literature mid Issues Related toEffective Schooling. [19791. 49 pages. ED 170 394 MF $0.91 PC

Snot available fromEDRS.5

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SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: FOR SURVIVAL

Fiedler, Fred E.; Chemers, Martin M.; and Mahar, Linda. ImovvingLeadership Effectiveness: The Leader Match Concept. New York:John Wiley & Sons. 1976.

GOldhainmer; Keith; Becker, Gerald; Withycombe, Richard; Doyel,Frank; Miller, Edgar; Morgan, Claude; De Loretto, Louis; andAldridge, Elementary School Principals and Their Schools:Benidui:of Brillhince and Potholes of Pestilence. Eugene, Oregon:Center for the Advanced Study of Educational AdminiStri-tion, University, of Oregon, 1971. 209 pages. ED 056 380 MF.$0.91 PC $15.20:

doiton,,..Richard A., and McIntyre, Kenneth E. The Senior HighSchool principalship, Volume II;Te Effective Principal. Reston,Virginia: National Aisociatiolvof Secondary School Princi-pals, 1978. 98 pages. ED 158 440. NASSP, 1904AssociationDr., Reston, VA 22091. $5.00 prepaid.

Hanson, E. Mark. Educational Adiistration and Organizational Be-;miff:Boston: Allyn &Bacon, 1979.

Lipham, James M. "Leadership: General Theory and Research." InLeaderMiP: The Science and the Art Today, edited by Luvem L.Cunningham and William J. Gephart, pp. 1-15. Itaska, Illi-riios: F.E. Peacock Publishers, 1973.

Lipham, James M. and Daresh, John C., eds. Administratim and StaffRehilionships in Education: Research and Practice in ICE Schools.Wisconsin Research and Development Center for IndividualizedSchooling Monograph Series. Madison: Research and Develop-ment Center for Individualized Schooling, 1979. 149 pages.ED 186 448.. Wisconsin Research and Development' CenterDocument Service, University of Wisconsin, School of Edu-cation, 1025 West-Johnson St., Madison, WI 53706 ($6.50).

Myers, Donald A. "The Chatauqua Papers: A Dissent." National..Elementary principal, 54, 1 (September-October 1974), pp. 18-26. EJ 104 149.

Sergiovanni, Thomas J. "Is Leadership the Next Great TrainingRobbery ?" Educational Leadership, 36, 6. (March 1979), pp.388=94. EJ 197 877.

Teiry, George R. Principles of Manageinent. 3d ed. Homewood, Illi-noii: Richard D. Irwin, 1960.

Thomon, Swap. "Editorial: Effective Leadership." NASSP NeWS-' letter; 27, 8 (Apri11980), p. 2.

Welte, Carl E. "Management and Leadership: Concepts with anIMportant Difference." Personnel Journal, 57, 11 (November1978), pp. 630-32, 642. EJ 197 456.

1 .

320 .

3 3

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CHAPTER 1: PORTRAIT OF A LEADERBass, Bernard M. Leadership, Psychology, and Organizational.Behavior.

New York: Harper & Brothers. 1960.Bird, Charles. Social Psychology. New York: D. Appleton-Century

Company, 1940.Blumberg, Arthur, and Greenfield, William. The Effective Principal:

Paspectives on School Leadership. Boston: Allyn and Bacon,1980.

Cartwright, Dorwin, and Zander, Alvin. Group Dynamics: Researchand-Theory. 3d ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.

Goldhammer,Keith; Becker, Gerald; Withycombi, Richard; Doyel,Frank; Miller, Edgar; Morgan, Claude; De Loretto, Louis; andAldridge, Bill. Elementary School Principals and Their Schools:Beacons of Brilliance and Potholes of Pestilence: Eugene, Oregon:Center for the Advanced Study of Educational Administra-tion, University of Oregon,1971. 209 pages. ED 056 380 MF$0.91 PC $15.20:

Gorton, Richard A., and McIntyre, Kenneth E. The .Senior HighSchool Principalship. Volume II: The Effective'Principal: Reston,Virginia: NatiOnal Association of Secondary School Principals,1978. 98 pages. ED 158 440. NASSP, 1904 Association' Dr.,Reston, VA 22091. $5.00 prepaid..

Gouldner, .Alvin'W. Studies in Leadership: Leadership and DemocraticAction. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1950;

Hanson, E. Mark. Educational Administrationand Organizational Be-havior. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1979.

Hemphill, John K.; Griffiths, Daniel E.; and Frederiksen, Norman.Administrative Performance and Personality: A Study of the Prin-cipal in a Simulated Elementary School. New York: TeachersCollege, Columbia University, 1962. .

Hurlock, Elizabeth B. Child De-velum:Mt. NewYork: McGraw-HillBook'Company, Inc., 1956.

Lipham, James M. "Leadership: General Theoryand Research." InLeadership: The Science and the Art Today, edited by Liivern L.Cunningham and William J. Gephart, pp. 1-15. Itaska, Illi-nois: F.E. Peacock Publishers, 1973.

Morphet, Edgar L.; Johns, Roe L.; and Reller, Theodore L. Educa-tional Organization and Administration: Concepts, Practices, andIssues. 2d ed. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prehtice-Hall,.1967:

St. Clair, Kenneth, and McIntyre, Kenneth. "The Recruitment,Selection and Preparation of Educational Leaders." In Leader-ship: The Science and theArt Today, edited by Luvern L. Cuh-ningham and William J. Gephart, pp. 271-304.'itaska, Illinois:F.E. Peacock Publishers, 1973.

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SCHOOL LEADERS/fir: HANDBOOK FOR SD RVIVAl.

Speiss, Jack. "Concepts of Leadership." 1975. 15 pages. ED 102 680. MF $0.91 PC $2.00.

Stogdill, Ralph M. Handbook of Leadership. A Survey of Theory andResearch.. New York: The Free Press, Macmillan PublishingCompany, 1974; ,.

Wilson, Robert E. "The Anatomy oP Success in the Superinten-dency." Phi Delta Kaiiiian, 62, 1 (September 1980), pp. 20-21.EJ 232 032.

Yahraes, Herbert. What Research Shows About Birth Order, Personality,and IQ. Rockville, Maryland: Division of Scientific and PublicInformation, National Institute of Mental Health (DHEW),1978. 13 paged. ED 178 204 MF $0.91 PC $2;00.-

CHAPTER 2: WOMEN AND BLACKSAdams, Edward F. "A Multivariable.Study of Subordinate Percep-

tions of and Attitudes toward Minority and Majority Mana-gers." Journal of Applied Psychology, 63, 3 Uune 1978), pp.277-88. EJ 181520.

Behavior Today...The. Prcifessionals' Newsletter, 5, 2 (January 14,1974).

Biklen, Sari Knopp. "Introduction: Barriers to EquityWomen,Educational Leadership, and Social Change." In Women andEducational Leadership, edited by Sari Knopp Biklen andMarilyn 'B. Braniiigan, pp. 1-23. Lexington, Massachusetts:D.C. Heath and Company, 1980.

Byrne, David R.; Hines, Susan A.; and McCleary, Lloyd E. TheSenior High School Princip4ship. Volume l: The National SurveyvReston, Virginia: National Association of Secondary SchoolPrincipals, 1978. NASSP, 1904 Association Dr., Reston, .V/A22091. $3.00. /

Chapman, Robert L. "The Role Expectation of the Black UrbanPrincipal As Perceived by Himself, Administrators, Influen-tials, and Other Active Community Persons." Paper, Ameri-can Educational Research Association annual meeting, NewOrleans, February 1973. 28 pages. ED 075 527 MF $0.91 PC$3.65.

Coffin, Gregory C. "The Black AdMinistrator and How He's BeingPushed to Extinction." American School Board Journal, 159, 11(May 1972), pp. 33-36. EJ 059518..

Dale, Charlene, T. "Patterns of Discrimination." In Wanted MoreWomen: Where Are the Women Superintendents? by CharleneDale and others, pp. 1-7. Washington, D.C.: National Coun-cil of Administrative Women in Education, 1973. Entire docu-ment 29 pages. ED 084 620 MF $0.91. PC not available fromEDRS.

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"The ElusiVe Black Educator." School Management, 13, 3 (March1969), pp. 54-85.

Ethridge, Samuel B. "Impact of the 1954 Brown vs. Topeka Board ofEducation Decision on Bladk Educators.' The Negro Educa-tional Review, 30, 4 (October '1979), pp. 217-32. EJ 215 279.

Frelow, Robert D. "The Racial Integration Model and MinorityAdministrators." Paper, American Educational Research As-sociation annual meeting, New Orleans, January 1973. 12pages. ED 078 110 MF $0.91 PC $2.00

Friedan, Betty, and West, Anne !Grant. '"Sex Bias: The Built-inMentality That Maims the .Public Schools:" American SchoolBoard Journal, 159, 4 (October 1971), pp. 16-20. EJ 041700.

Funderburk, Earl C. "Women: Their Responsibility in ProfessionalUnity." In Women: A Signift'iant National Resource, pp. 23-29.Washington; D.C.: Ameiican Association of School Admini-strators; and National Council of Administrative Women inEducation, 1971. Entire docUment 50 pages. ED 082 297 MF$0.91. PC not available from EDRS.

Gross, Neal, and Trask, Anne Et The Sei Factor and the Management of1 Schools. New York: John Wiley & Sons, _1976.

'1/ .1 ,

H-,ines, Vynce A., and Grobman, ulda. "The Weaker Sex Is LosingOut,"American School Board Journal, 132, 3 (March 1956), pp.100, 102:

IHoyle,, John: "'Who Shall Be Principal?" Natiokil Elilnentary Princi-

pal,, 48, 3 (January 1969); 'pp'. 23-24.James, J. "C. "The Black Principal: Another Vanishing American."

National Elementary Prineipdl, 50, 4 (February 1971), pp. 20-25.0035 645.

Johnson, Dorothy. "What Is the Future of Women in School Admi-nistration?" in Women:IA Significant *Natitinal Resource, pp.31-45. Washington, D.C.:1American Association of School

iAdministrators; and National Council of AdministrativeWomen in Education, 1971. Entire document 50 pages. ED082 297 MF $0.91`PC not ayailablefrom EDRS.

Krchniak, Stefan P. "Variables Associated with Low Incidence ofWomen in School Administration: Towards Empirical Under-dings." Paper presented at annual meeting of American Edu-cational Research AssOciatlon, Toronto, March 1978. 25 pages.ED 150 719 MF $0.91 PC $2.00.

Krohn, Barbara: "The Puzzli4 ;Case of the Missing Ms."'Nation'sSchools and Colleges, (November 1974), pp. 32-33.

Lyon, Catherine Dillon, and !Saari°, Terry N. "Women in PublicEducation: Sexual Discrirbination in Promotions." Phi DeltaKappa'', 55, 2 (October 19'4), pp. 120-23. EJ 085 962.

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Meskin, Joan "The Performance of Women1School Administra-torsA Review of the Literature." Administrator's Notebook, 23,

=1(1974).Mickish, Ginny. "Can Women Function as Successfully as Men in the

Role of -Elementary Prindpal?" Research Reports in EducationalAdministration, 2, 4 (January 1971). Boulder, Colorado: Bureauof Educational Research, 1971. 20pages. ED 062 679 MF $0.91

'PC $2.00.Miner, John B. "Motivational Potential for Upgrading among Minor-

ity and Female Managers." Journal of Applied Psychology, 62, 6(December 1977), pp. 691-97. EJ 171 503.

Moody, Charles IY:'11.1E; BlaCk Superintendent!" School Review, 81, 3(May 1973),. pp. 375:82.-EJ 080138.

Pharis, William-L., and Zakariya,,Sally-Banks. ;The.Elementary SchoolPrincipalship in 1978: A Research Study. Washington, D.C.:National AssociatiOn of Elementary School-Principals, 1979.132 pages. ED 172 389..NAESP, 1801 Noith Moore St., Arling-ton, VA 22209: $15.00.

Pierce,-Barbara. "Few at the Headof the Gass!" Ms.,9, 6 (December1980), p. 25 :,

Schmuck, Patricia Ann: "Deterrents to Women's Careers in SchoolManagement." Unpublished article. n.d.

Schmuck, Patricia Afai. Sex-Differentiation in Public School Administra-.Lion. "Wanted: More Women" Series. WaShington, -D.C.: Na.-tional Council of AdminiStrative Women in Education, 1975.130 pages. ED 126 593 MF $0:91 PC not available from EDRS.

Schmuck, -Patricia Ann. "The Sex Dimenion: -An .Overview." InEducational Policy and Management: Sd, Differential, edited byPatricia Schmuck and W. W. Charters, Jr., pp. 4-9. NewYork: Academic Press, 1981.

Seawell, William H., and Canady, Robert Lynn. "Where Have Allthe Women Cone?" National Elementary Principal, 43, 4 (May/June 1974); pp. 46,48.

Townsel, Charles W. "The Urban School Administrator: A BlackPerspeCtive." n.d. 18 pages. ED 117 254 MF $0.91 PC $2.00.

Truett, Carol, "Women-in Educational AdMinistration: Is There aBasic Role Conflict?"- Paper presented at conference onWomen and Work, Bloomington, Indiana, March 1979. 29,pages. ED 172 440 MT $0.91_ PC $3.65,

Weber, Margaret B.; Feldman, jean R.; and Poling, Eve C. "WhyWomen Are Underrepresented in Educational Administra-tion." Educational Leadership, 38, 4 (January 1981), pp. 320-22,Enflo 448.

Wilson, LaVal S. "Training Minority Men for theSuperintendency."Phi Delta Kaman, 53, 3 (November 1971), pp. 187-88. EJ 046.052.

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CHAPTER 3: LEADERSHIP STYLES

Barrett, Leverne A., and Yoder, Edgar P. "Are You an Administratoror a Leader?" NASSP Bulletin 64; 440 (December 1980), pp.56-59. EJ 236 618.

Bonoma, Thomas V., and Slevin, Dennis P. Executive Survival Manual:A Program for Managerial Effectiveness. Boston; and'Belmont,California:- CBI Publishing Comliatiy; and Wadsworth Pub-lishing CoMpany, 1978.

DeTurk, Phillip H. "Survival in the PrinCipalship." National Elemen-tary Principal, 56, 2 (November/December 1976), pp. 33-3T EJ150 155.

Fiedler, Fred. E. A Theory of Leitclerstilp Effectiveness. New York:McGraw-Hill Book Company,1967.

Fiedler, Fred E. "Responses to Sergiovanni." Educational Leadership,36, 6 (March 1979), pp.,394-96. EJ 197 878.

Fiedler, Fred E.; Chemers, Martin M.; and Mahar, Linda. ImprovingLeadership Effectiveness: The Lead& Match Concept. New York:John Wiley & Sons. 1976.

Gates, Philip E.; Blanchard, Keiineth H.; and Hersey, Paul. "Diag-noSing Educational LeadershipiProblems: A Situational Ap--proach." Educational Leadership, 33, 5 (February 1976), pp.348-54.

Halpin, Andrew W. "How Leaders Behave." In Organizations andHuman Behavior: Focus on Schotils, edited by Fred D. Carverand ThOmas J. Sergiovannii, pp. 287-315. New York:McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1969.

Hanson, E. Mark. Educational Administration and Organizational Be-- havior.-Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1979.

Hencley, Stephen P. "Situational Behavioral Approach to the Studyof Eduational Leadership." In Leadership: The Science and theArt Today, edited by Luvern L. Cunningham and William J.Gephart, pp. 139-64. Itaska, Illinois: P.E. Peacock Publishers,1973:

Hersey, Paul, and Blanchard, Kenneth. Management of OrganizationalBehavior: Utilizing Human ResOurces. Englewood Cliffs, NewJersey: Prentice-Hall, 1969.

Holloway, William H., and Niazi, Ghulam A. "A Study of Leader-ship Style, Situation Favorableness; and the Risk TakingBehavior of Leaders." Journal Of Educational Administration, 16,2 (October1978), pp. 160-68. EJ 199 523.

Upham, James M. "Leadership: General Theory and Research." In-Leadership: The Science and thd, Art Today, edited by Luvern L.Cunningham and William J. Gephart, pp. 1-15. Itaska, Illi-nOis: F.E. Peacock PublisherS, 1973.

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McGregor, Douglas. Tlie Human Side of Enterprise. New York:McGraw-Hill, 1960.

Miskel, Cecil G. "Principals' Attitudes Toward Work and Co-workers, Situational Factors, Perteived Effectiveness, andInnovation Effort." Educational Administration Quarterly, 13, 2(Spring 1977), pp. 51-70. EJ 164198.

Reddin, William J. Managerial Effectiveness. New York: McGraw-HillBook Company, 1970.

SergioVanni, Thomas J. "Is Leadership the Next Great TrainingRobbery?" Educational Leadership, 36, 6 (March 1979), pp.388-94. EJ 197 877.

Sergiovanni, Thomas J., and Elliott, David L. Educational and Organi-zational LeaderShip ht Elementary Schools. EngleWOod Cliffs,New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1975.

Tannenbaum, Robert, and Schmidt, Warren H. "How to Choose aLeadership Pattern." In OrganizationalBehavior and the Practiceof Management, edited by David R. Hampton, Charles E.Summer, and Ross A. Webber, pp. 501-09. Glenvi0v, Illinois:Scott, Foresman and Company, 1968.

CHAPTER 4: SCHOOL -BASED MANAGEMENT

Beaubier, Edward W., and Thayer, Arthur N., eds. Participative Man-ago:etaDecentralized Decision Making: Working Models. AMonograph. Burlingame: AssociatiOn of California School Ad-ministrators, 11973). 87 pages/ED 073 542 MF $0.91 PC$6.95. /.Bremer, John. "Power and the Principalship." National ElementaryPrincipal; 55, 2 (November-December 1975), pp. 18-21. EJ 127664.

Caldwell, Brian J. "Resource Allocation at the School Level: AnExamination of School-Based Budgeting in Canada and theUnited States." Paper, Seventh National Conference on Edu-cational Administration, Australian Council for EducationalAdministrationrAdelaide, South Australia, August 31-Sep-tember 5, 1980. 54 pages. ED 195 044 MF $0.91 PC $5.30.

California State Department of-Education. Establishing School SiteCouncils. California SchooLImprovement Program. Sacramento:1977. 30 pages. ED 150 737 MF $0.91 PC not available fromEDRS.

Cunningham, Luvern L. "The Magnificent Pandora of Decentraliza-tion." The School Adininistrator, (June 1970), pp. 5-8. Copiesnot available.

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Cunningham, Paul H. "Decentralized Budgeting: Making the llan-.ageinent Team Work." Paper, National School Boards Asso-ciation annual meeting, Anaheim, April 1978. 16 pages. ED154 499 MF $0.91 PC $2.00.

Decker,:Erwin A., and others. Site Management. An Analysis of theConcepts and Fundamental Operational Components Associatedwith the Delegation of Decision=Making Authority and Control of

;Resources to the School-Site Level in the California Public SchoolSystem. Sacramento: California State Department of Educa-

_ tion, 1977. 37 pages. ED 150 736. Publications Sales, CaliforniaState Department of Education, P.O. Box 271, Sacramento,CA 95802. $1.50.

Dickey, William K. "School Site BudgetingA School BusinessAdministrator's View." EducationatEconomics, (February 1977),pp. 15, 17. No longer, published.

,FoWler; Charles W. "School-Site Budgeting and Why It Could Be:the Answer to Your Problems." Executive Educator, PreinierIssue, (October 1978), pp. 37-39. EJ 194 000.

Gasson, John. "Autonomy, the Precursor to Change in ElementarySchools." National Elementary Principal, 52, 3 (November 1972),pp. 83-85. EJ 067451.

GOI4rIer, Doug. "A Principal's Open Letter to Stephen Bailey."National Elementary Principal, 59, 4 (June 1980), pp. 17-18. EJ227 828.

1Guthrie, James W. "Creating Efficient Schools: The Wonder Is TheyWork at All." Paper in The Financing of Quality EducOtion,

Proceedings of a Sympo:iiiim (Rochester, New York, October 27-28,1977), edited by William A. JOhnson, Jr. and others. Rochester,New York: Urban League of Rochester;and College of Educa-tion, University of Rochester, '1977. 27 pages. ED 1771672.Complete document, 117 pages, ED 177 668 MF $0.91 PC$8.60.

Houts, Paul L. "The Changing Role of the Elenientary School Prin-cipal: Report of a Conference." National Elementary Prinival,55, 2 (November-December 1975), pp. 62-73. EJ 127 671.1

"An Interview with ScotiThomson.'"NASSP Bulletin, 64, 432 (Janu-ary 1980), pp. 76-84. EJ 214 230.

Kirst, Michael W. "The Changing Politics of Education: Actioni andStrategies." Paper in The Changing Politics of Education: Pros-pects for the 1980's, edited by Edith K. Mosher and Jennings L.Wagoner, Jr., pp. 145-70. Bloomington, Indiana: Phi DeltaKappa, 1978.26 pages. ED 166 786. CoMplete document, 359pages, ED 166 774. McCutchan Publishing Corp., 2526 GroveSt., Berkeley, CA 94704. $14.00.

"`,4.-2-4 327


Longstreth, James. "School Site' Management and Budgeting Sys=tems: A Guide for Effective Implementation." Preliminarydraft, mimeographed. Washington, D.C.: National UrbanCoalition, 1197,91.

National Urban Coalition., "Four Case Studies of School Site LumpSum Budgeting." Preliminary draft, mimeographed. Wash-ington, D.C.:,National Urban Coalition, [circa 19781.

Parker, Barbara. "School Based Management: Improve Educationby Giving Parents, Principals More Control of Your Schools."American School Board Journal, 166, 7 (July 1979),pp. 20-21, 24.EJ 1204 749.

Pierce, Lawrence C. School Based Management. OSSC Bulletin Volume23, Number 10. Eugene, Oregon: Oregon School Study Coun-cil, Univerdity of Oregon, June 1980. 56 pages. ED 188 320.Oregon School Study Council, University of Oregon, Etr, te,OR 97403. $2.00, $1.50 prepaid..

Schofield, Dee. Community Involvement in Educational Governance.School Leadership Digest, Second Series, Number 2. Arling-ton, Virginia: National Association of Elementary SchoolPrincipals, 1975.30 pages. ED 112 455 MF $0.91 PC $3.65.

Shuster, AlberttH. "Going It Alone: The Autonomous School."National Elementary Principal, 53, 3 (March-April 1974), pp.52-56. EJP96 027.

Throop, Frank Allen. "Professional Autonomy in the Lansing PublicSchools:A Model for the Decentraliiation ofdministrativeFunctions in an Urban School System"- Ph.D. dissertation,Michigan State University, 1973.207 pages. University Micro-films, Dissertation Copies, P.O. Box 1764, Ann Arbor, MI48106. Order No. 74413, 987. MF $13.00 PC $24.00.

Tucker, Harvey J., and Zeigler, L. Harmon. The Politics of EducationalGovernance: An OvErview. State-of-the-Knowledge Series,Number 36. Eugene, Oregon: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educa-tional Management) University of Oregon, 1980. 73 pages.ED 182 799. ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management,University of Oregoh; Eugene, OR 97403. $3.50.

Wells, Barbara, and Carr, Larry. "With the Pursestrings, Comes thePower." Thrust for Educational Leadership, 8, 2 (November1978); pp. 14-15. EJ 200 705.

Zale, Andrew P. "Toffler: Schools Will Be More Flexible." AmericanSchool Board Journal, 167, 7 ( lily 1980), p. 4.

328r.

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CHAPTER 5: TEAM MANAGEMENT .

American Association of School Administrators. The AdministrativeLeadership Team. Arlington, Virginia: 1979. AASA, 1801 NorthMoore St., Arlington, VA 22209. $3.50.

Anderson, Lester W. "Management Team Versus Collective Bar-gaininifor Principals." NASSP Bulletin, 54, 346 (May 1970),pp. 169-76. EJ 020 959.

"The Brewing--and, Perhaps, Still PreventableRevolt of theSchoolPrincipals.' American School Board Journal, 163, 1 (January1976), pp. 25-27. EJ 130 919.

Coelho, Robert J. "Administrative Team ApproachDevelopmentand Implementation." Paper, American Association of SchoolAdministrators annual meeting, Dallas, February 1975. 21pages. ED 106 947 MF $0.91 PC $2.00.

Cross, Ray. "The Administrative Team or Decentralization ?" NationalElementary Principal, 54, 2 (November-December 1974), pp.80 -82. EJ 107 277.

Duncan, Robert C. "New Wine in New Bottles: The AdministrativeTeam Revisited." Planning and Changing, 7, 2 (Summer 1976),pp. 3544. EJ 150 202.

Erickson, Kenneth A., and Gmelch, Walter H. School ManagementTeams: Their Structure, Function, and Operation. ERS Monograph.Arlington, Virginia: Educational Research Service, Inc., 1977.66 pages, ED 144 230. ERS, Inc. 1800 N. Kent St., Arlington,VA 22209. $9.00.

Floratos, ,Nick; Murchison, William .R.; Baumgartner, Jay; Long,John; Guest, Bill; and Walker, Don. "The Management Teamand Survival."Thrust for Educational Leadership, 8, 2 (November1978), pp. 5'-8. EJ 200 701. .

McNally, Harold J. "A Matter of Trust: The Administrative Team."National Elementary Principal, 53, 1 (November-December1973), pp: 20-25. EJ 085 992.

National Association of Secondary School Principals. ManagementCrisis: A Solution. Washington, D.C.: 1971. 33 pages. ED 056399 MF $0.91 PC not available from EDRS.

Salmon, Paul B. "Are the Administrative Team and Collective Bar-gaining Coinpatible?" Compact, 6, 3 (June 1972), pp. 3-5. EJ061 340.

Schmuck, Richard A. "Development of Management Teamwork:National Overview." Paper, Educational Managers AnnualAcademy, Wemme, Oregon, July 1974. ED 094 4% MF $0.91PC $2.00. --

Starr, Warren D. "Forging the, Administrative Teaiii." NASSP Bid-letin, 62, 414 (January 1978), pp. 16-20. EJ 171 506.

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Wynn, Richard. Theory and Practice of the Administrative Team. Wash-ington, D.C.: National Associationof Elementary School Prin-cipals. 52 pages. ED 082 367 MF $0.91 PC not available fromEDRS.

'CHAPTER 6: PARTICIPATIVE DECISION-MAKING

Alutto, Joseph A., and Belasoi, James A. "Patterns of TeacherParticipation in School System Decision Making." EducationalAdministration Quarterly, 9, 1 (Winter 1973), pp. 27-41. EJ 070763.

Anthony, Margaret, "An Inside View of Shared Leadership." Edu-cational Leadership, 38, 6 (March 1981), pp. 487-88. EJ numbernot yet assigned.

Crockenberg, Vincent, and Clark, Woodrow W., Jr. "Teacher Parti-cipation in School Decision Making: The San Jose TeacherInvolvement Project." Phi Delta Kappan, 61, 2 (October 1979),pp. 115-18. EJ 208 030.

Keef, James L. 'Teacher 'Restlessness' and Decision Making." Clear-., ingHoitse, 52, 9 (fvfiy 1979), pp. 410=12. EJ 202 531.Knoop, Robert, and O'Reilly, Robert. Participative Decision Making in,

Curriculum. (1975). 10 pages. ED 102 684 MF $0.91 PC $2.00.Likert, Jane Gibson, and Likert, Rensis. "New Resources for Im-proving School Administration." NASSP Bulletin, 64, 435

(April 1980), pp. 49-58. EJ 219 600.Lipham, James M. Effective Principal, Effective School. Reston, Vir-' ginia: National Association of Secondary School Principals,1981. 26 pages. ED number not yet available. NASSP, 1904

Association' Dr., Reston, VA 22091. $3.00, payment mustaccompany order.Longstreth, James. "School Site Management and Budgeting Sys-tems: A, Guide for Effective Implementation." Preliminary

draft,/mimeographed. Washington, D.C.: National UrbanCoalition, [19791.

'Lowell, CarlDuane. "The Distribution of Power, Group-Decision,and Behavioral Outcomes." Ph.D. dissertation, University ofOregon, 1972. 296 pages. University Microfilms International,P.O. Box 1764, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Order No. 73-13746 MF$7.50 HC $15.00.

McNally, Harold J. "A Matter of Trust. The Administrative Team."National Elementary Principal, 53, 1 (November-December1973), pp. 20-25, EJ 085 992.

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Mohrman, Allan M., Jr.; Cooke, .Robert A.; and Mohnnan, SusanAlbers. "Participation in Decision Making: A Multidimen-sional _Perspective." Educational Administration ,Quarterly, 34,1 (Winter 1978), pp. 13-29. EJ 183277.

Mt. Diablo Unified School District. The Mt. Diablo Individual SchoolManagement "ISMS." Concord, California: 1978. 105 pages.ED 163 618. MF $0.91 PC not available.

Muccigtosso, Robert M. "Leadership through Shared Problem Solv-ing." Momentum, 11,1 (February 1980), pp. 28-31. EJ 226 873.

Piper, Donald L. "Decisiotunaking: Decisions Made by Individualsvs. Thiise.Made:bY Group Consensus or Group Participa-tion." Educational AdMinistration Quarterly, 10, 2 (Spring 1974),pp. 82-95. EJ 100 938:

Schmtck, Richard A.; Rimkel, Philip J.; Arends; Jane H.; and Arends,Richard I., The Second Handbook of Organizational Development inSthools. Palo Alto, California: Mayfield Publishing Company,1977. Mayfield Publishing Co., 285 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto,CA 94301. $16.95.

Speed, Noel Eric. Decision Participation and Staff Satisfaction in Middleand Junior High Schools That Individualize Instruction. Madison,Wisconsin: Research and Development Centerf for Individu-alized-Schooling, University of Wisconsin, 1979. 228 pages.ED 182 849 MF $0.91 'PC not available from EDRS.

Wadia, Maneck S. "Participative Management: Three Common-Problems." 'Personnel Journal, 59, 11 (November 1980), pp.927-28. EJ 235 787.

Weingast, David. "Shared LeadershipThe Damn Thing Works.' "Educational Leadership, 37, 6 (March 1980), pp. 502-4, 506. EJ217 753.

CHAPTER 7: SCHOOL CLIMATE

Brookover, Wilbur; Beady, Charles; flood, Patricia; Schweitzer,John; and Wisenbaker, Joe. School Social Systems and StudentAchievement. Schools Can Make a Difference. New York: PraegerPublishers, 1979. 237 pages. 6'

Chamberlin, L. j: Effective Instruction through Dynamic Discipline.Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill, 1971.

Clark, Frank J. Improving the School Climate. Operations Notebook 19.Burlingame, California: Association of California SchoolAdministrators, 1977. 43 pages. ED 145 567. ACSA, 1575 OldBayshore Hwy., Burlingame, CA 94010: $2.00, members;$4.00, nonmembers.

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Coleman, James S., and others. Equality of Educationiil Opportunity.Washington, D.C.: Department of Health, Education andWelfare; U.S. Government Printing Office, 1966. 235 pages.ED 012 275. MF $0.91 PC $16.85.Halpin, .Andrew W. "The Organizational Climate of Schools."Chapter 4 in Theory and Research in Administration, pp. 121-249. New York: The Macmillan Co.;3966. Out of print.Halpin, Andrew W., and Croft, Don B. The Organizational Climate ofSchools. St. Louis: Washington University, 1962. 199_ pages.-ED 002 897 MF $0.91 PC $13.55.Howard; Eugene R. "School Climate Improvement." Thrust forEducatiotileadership, 3, 3 (January 1974), pp. 12-14. EJ 092 195.Jencks, Christopher, and others. Inequality: A -Reassessment of theEffect' -of Family and Schooling in America. NeW York: BasicBooks, 1972. 399 pages. ED 077 551. Basic Books, Inc., 404Park Ave. S., NewYork, NY 10016. $12.50.Lindstrom, Robert J. "Between Cliff-Hangerand Climax." Thrust forEducational Leadership, 7, 2 (November 1977), pp. 6-7, 14.Lipham, James M. Effective Principal, EffectiveSchool. Reston, Virginia:National Association of Secondary Schobl Principals, 1981.26 pages. EA 013 836. NASSP, 1904 AssociationsDr., Reston,VA 22091. $3.00..

Litwin, George and Stringer, Robert A., Jr. Motivation andOrganizational Climate. Boston: Division of Research, GraduateSchool of Business Administration, Harvard University, 1968.214 pages.Maynard,. William. "A Case Study: The Impact of a HumanisticSchool Climate." NASSP Bulletin, 60, 399 (April 1976), pp.16-20. EJ 149 642.Ogilvie, Doug, and Sadler, D. Royce. "Perceptions of School Effec-tiveness and Its Relationship to Organizational Climate."fournal pf EducationalAdministration, 17, 2 (October 1979), pp.139-47. EJ 225 433."On School Effectiveness: A Conversation with Peter Mortimore."Educational LeaderShip, 38, 3 (May 1981),pp. 642-45. EJ numbernot yet assigned.Phi Delta Kappa. School Climate hnprcrvement:A Challenge to the SchoolAdministrator. An Occasional Paper. Bloomington, Indiana:. 1974. 149 pages: ED 102 665. Phi Delta Kappa, Eighth St. &Union Ave., Bloomington, IN 47401. $3.00.Ravitch, Diane. "The Meaning of the New Coleman Report. " Phi'Delta Kappa'', 62, 10 (June 1981), pp: 718-20. EJ number notyet assigned.Rutter, Michael; Maughan, Barbara; Mortimore, Peter; Ouston,Janet; and SMith, Alan. Fifteen Thousand Hours. Secondary

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Schools and Their Effects on Children. Cambridge, Massachu-setts: Harvard University Press, 1979. 285 pages.

Schtjuick, Richard A.; Runkel, Philip J.; ,Arends, 'Jane H.; andArends, Richard I. The Second Handbook of Organization bevel-opulent in Schools. Palo Alto, California:-Mayfield PublishingCompany; 1977. 590 'pages. Mayfield Publishing Co., 285Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94301. $16.95.

Shaheen, Thbmas Av and Pedrick, W.-Roberts. School District ClimateImprovement: A Challenge to,the School Superintendent. Denver.CFK Ltd., 1974. 154 pages. ED 105 605. Nueva-Day Care andLearning Center,-CFK,Ltd. Publications, 6565 Skyline Blvd.,Hillsborough, CA 94010. $4.00.

Steele, Friti, and.Jenks, Stephen...The Feelof the Work Place:-Under,standing and Improving Organization ClitniiteReading,MaSsa-chusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1977. 194 pages.

Warrick, D. D: "Managing the Stress of Organizational:Develop-ment." Training and Development Journal, 35, 4 (April 1981),,

36 -41. EJ 241 906.Wynne, Ecl,Ward A. "Looking at GoodSchools." Phi Delta Keppan,

62, 5 (January 1981), pp. 377-81.-EJ 238 632.Zigarmi, Drea, and Sinclair, Ron. "TheEffect of a Strike on Perceived

Organizational Climate: A'Study of a Middle School." Educa-tion, 99, 3 (Spring 1979), pp. 270-78. EJ 203 589.

CHAPTER 8: COMMUNICATING

Armistead, Lew. 41n Organic Guide to School Public Relations: ACSAOperations Notebook 5. Burlingame, California: Association ofCalifornia School Administrators; 1977. 55 pages. ED 151 943.ASCA, 1575 Old Bayshore Highway,' Burlingame, CA 94012.$2.00 members; $4.00, nonmembers.

Bagin, Don; Grazian, Frank; Harrison, Charles. PR for School BoardMembers. A Guide for Members of Boards of Education and SchoolAdministrators to Improveand Strengthen School Informatimi Pro-grams. Volume 8: AASA Executive Handbook Series. ERIC/CEM State -of- the - Knowledge Series, Number 33. Washing-ton, D.C. and Eugene, Oregon: American Asgociation ofSchool Administrators; and ERIC Clearinghouse on Educa-tional Management, 'University of Oregbn, 1976. 74 pages.ED 127 656. AASA, 1801 N. Moore St., Arlington, VA 22209.Stock No. 021-00458. $2.50 prepaid.

Carpenter, C. C. "Principal Leadership and Parent AdvisoryGroups."-Phi Delta Kappa'', 56, 6 (February 1975), pp. 426-27.EJ 110 933.

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SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: HANDBOOK FORSURVIVAL

Gemmet, 'Richard. A Monograph on Interpersonal Communications.Redwood City,. California: San Mateo County Superintendentof Schools, 1977. 48 pages. ED 153 323. San Mateo CountyOffice of Education, 333 Main St., Redwood Clity, CA 94063.$2.00, checks payable to County School Service Fund.

Hofstrand, Richard K., and Phipps, Lloyd J. Advisory Councils forEducation: A Handbook. Urbana: Department of Vocational andTechnical *EducatiOn, University of Illinois, 1971. 49 pages.ED 057 213 MF $0.91 PC $3.65.

Ingari, Sandro. "A Case Study in Human Relations!' NASSP60, 401 (September 1976), pp. 103-6. EJ 153 064.

Jung, Charles; Howard, Rosalie; Emory, Ruth; and Rene.Interpe6onal Comunications: Participant Materials and Leader'sManual: Portland, Oregon: Northwest Regional EducationalLaboratory., 1973. 935 pagesED 095 127. Xicom, Inc., Pro-duction Management, RFD 1, Sterling Forest, Tuxedo, NY10987. Participant manual, $14.50; leader's manual, $22.50.

Price, Nelson C. School-Community Councils and Advisory Boards: ANotebook for Administrators. Why? Who? What? When? How?Operations Notebook /8. Burlingame, California: Association ofCalifornia SchoolAdministrators, 1977. 49 pages. ED 145583.ACSA, 1575 Old Bayshore Highway, Burlingame, CA 94010.$2.50.

Pulley, Jerry E. "The Principal and Communication: Some Points ofInterference." NASSP' Bulletin, 59, 387 (January 1975), pp.50-54. EJ 110 325:

'Sayers, Susan. Effective Groups: Guidelines. for Participants. Keys toCommunity Involvement Series: 9. Arlington, Virginia; and Port-land, Oregon: National School Public Relations Association,and Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 1973. 23pages. ED 161125. NSPRA, 1801 N. Moore St., Arlington,VA 22209. $2.00; set of 15 keys, $24.00.

Schmuck, Richard A.; Runkel, Philip J.; ArendS, Jane H.; andArends,Richard I. 71w Sectlint Handbook of Organization DeveloOnent inSchools. Palo Alto, California: Mayfield Publishing Company,1977.590 pages. ED 163 664. Mayfield Publishing Company,285 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94301. $16.95.

Schutz, William. "The Ego FIRO Theory and the Leader as Com-pleter." In Leadership and Interpersonal Behavior, edited by

-Luigi Petrullo and Bernard M. Bass, pp. 48-65. New York:Holt, Rinehart and Winston,1961.

StantonJim; Whittaker, Bobbi; and Zerchykov, Ross. Resource Guideand Bibliography on School Councils. Boston, MassaChusetts:Institute lor Responsive Education, 1978. 104 pages. ED 157142 MF $0.91 PC not available from EDRS.

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Valentine, Jerry W.; Tate, Bradford L.; Seagren, Alan T.; and Lammel,John A. "Administrative Verbal Behavior: What You SayDoes Make a Difference." NASSP 59, 395 (December1975), pp. 67-74. Ej 135 571.

CHAPTER 9: LEADING MEETINGS

Augeri-13-.Y-.-Hozirto 'Rijn'gther Business Meetings: A-Bhsinessman's----Guide to Meetings That Get Things Done. St. Paul: Visual ProductsDivision; Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co., 1972.191 pages. Visual Products Div., Minnesota Mining & Manu-facturing Co., 3M Center, Building 220-10W, St. Paul, MN55101. $11.95.

Bormann, Ernest G., and Bormann, Nancy C. Effective Small GroupCommunication. Minneapolis: BurgesS Publishing-Co., 1972.102 pages. Burgess Publishing Co., 7108 Ohms Lane, Min-neapolis, MN 55435. $5.25.

Bormann, Ernest G.; Howell, William S.; Nichols, Ralph G.; andShapiro, George L. Interpersonal Communication in the ModernOrganizhtion. 1969. 315 pages. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs,NJ 07632. $12.95.

Bradford, Leland P. Making Meetings" .Work: A Guide for Leaders andGroup Members: 1976. 121 pages. University Associates, 7596Eads Ave., La Jolla, CA 92037. $10.00 jver.

Burgoon, Michael; Heston, Judee K.; and McCroskey, James. SmallGroup CommunicatiOn; A Functional Approach. New York: Holt,Rinehart and Winston, 1974. 217 pages. Holt, Rinehart andWinston, 383 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10017. $8.95.

"Burnt-Out Principals:" Newsweek, 91, 11,March 13, 1978, pp. 76-77 .

Doyle, Michael, and Straus, David. How to Make Meetings Work: TheNew Interaction Method. New York: Wyden Books, 1976. 301pages. Wyden Books, 747 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017.$2.50.

Dunsing, Richard j. You and I Have Simply Got to Stop Meeting ThisWay. New York: AMACOM, American Management Asso-ciations, 1978. 164 pages. AMACOM, 135 West 50th St., NewYork, NY 10020. $9.95.

Fordyce, Jack K., and Weil, Raymond, Managing WITH People; AManager's Handbook of Organization Development Methods. Read-ing, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1971.192 pages. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Jacob Way,Reading, MA 01867. $7.95.

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Halverson, Don E. Effective Meeting Management. Redwood City,California: San Mateo County Office of Education, 1977. 46pages. ED 173 941. San Mateo County OffiCe of Education,333-Main St:, Redwood City, CA 94063. $2.00.

Jay, Antony, "How to Run a-Meeting." Harvard Business Review, 54,2 (March-April 1976), pp. 43 -57. EJ 134 472.

Jones, John E.,-apd Pfeiffer, J. William, eds. The1979 Annial, Handbookfor Group Facilitaiors. La Jolla, California: University Msoci-ates, 1972-1979. University Associates, 75% Eads Ave., .LaJolla, CA 92037. Paper $14.50 each annual; looseleaf $36.50each:

Lowell, Carl Duane. "The Distribution of Power, Group-Decision,and Behavioral Outcomes," Ph.D. dissei-tation, University ofOregon, 1972.2% pages.

Maude, Barry. Managing Meetings. London: Business Books Limited,1975. 70 pages:Business Books Ltd., Mercury House,- Water-loo Rd., London SE 1. £5.95.

Parker, Jack T. The Collier Quick and Easy Guide to Running a Meeting.New York:'Collier Books, 1963. 93 pages. Out of print.:

Schindler-Rainman, ,Eva; Lippitt, Ronald; and Cole, Jack. TakingYour Meetings Out of the Doldrums. La Jolla, California: Univer-sity Associates, 1977. 100 pages. University Associates, Inc.,7596 Eads Ave., La Jolla, CA 92037. $7.50.

Schmuck, Richard A.; Runkel, Philip J.; Arends, Jane H.; and Arends,Richard'i. TheSecomt Handbook of Organization Develapment inn

Sc /tools. Palo Alto, California: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1977.590 pages. Mayfield Publishing Co., 258 Hamilton Ave., PaloAlto, CA 94301. $16.95.

Snell, Frank. How to Hold a Better Meeting. New Yotk: -Harper &Brothers, 1958. 148 pages. Out-of-print.

Spa ulding,'William E.'"Undiscovered Values in Meetings." Journalof Systems Management, 29, 6 (June 1978), pp. 24 -27.

Tannenbaum, Robert, and Schmidt, Warren' H. "How to Choose aLeadership Paftern." Harvard Business Review, 36, 2 (March-April 1958), pp. 95-101. Also reprinted in Harvard BusinessReview, 51, 3 (May-June 1973), pp. 162-64, passim.

This, Leslie E. The Small Meeting Planner. Houston, Texas: GulfPublishing Co., 1972. 234 pages. Gulf Publishing Co., P.O.Box 2608, ATTN: Book Division, Houston, TX 77001. $12.95.

Toffler, Alvin. Future Shock. New York: Bantam Books, 1970. 561pages. Bantam Books, Inc., 666 Fifth Ave., New York, NY10019. $2.75.

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CHAPTER 10: MANAGING TIME AND STRESS

Association Of California School Administrators. An Update on TimeManagement. ACSAOperations Notebook 8. Burlingame, Cali-fornia: 1979. 65 pages. ED 172426. ACSA, 1575 Old BayshoreHighway, Burlingame, CA 94010. $3.50.

Block, Arthur. Murphy's Law and Other Reasons Why Things Go Wrong!Los Angeles: Price/Stem/Sloan, 1980.94 pages.

Born, W. Michael. "Time Management for the Harried CampusAdministrator." Educational Record, 60, 3 (Summer 1979), pp.227-33. EJ 211 312.

Colorado State Department -of Edutation. A School Improvement-Accoun tability_Process Kit. PAKNo.- 4.6-Managing Time. Den-ver: District 'Planning and Attbuntability Services, 1975. 35pages. ED 141 924 MF $0.91 PC $3.65.

Cross, Ray. "How to Beat the Clock: Tips on Time Management."National Elementary Principal, 59, 3 (March 1980), pp. 27-30. EJ219 611.

Douglass, Donna Niksch, and Douglass, Merrill E. "Timely Tech-niques for Paper.work Mania." Personnel Administrator, 24, 9(September 1979), pp. 19-22. EJ 206 368.

Drucker, Peter F. The Effective-Executive. New York: Harper & Row,1966. 178 pages.

Dudley, Donald L., M.D., and Welke, Elton. How to Survive BeingAlive. Garden City, -New York: Doubleday & Co., 1977. 179pages.

Duignan, Patrick. "Administration Behavior of School Superinten-' dents: A Descriptive Study." Journal of Educational Adminis-

tration, 18, 1 (July 1980), pp. 5-26. EJ 236 676.Giammatteo, Michael C., and Giammatteo,_ Dolores MI Executive

Stress and Athitinistrators. Reston, Virginia: NationalMsociation of.Secondary School Principals, 1980. 67 pages.ED 180134. NASSP, 1904 Association Dr., Reston, VA 22091.$4.00.

Giesecke, Carol, and others. Self-Instructional Module on Time Utiliza-tion. D1 Revising Existing Structures, Document No. 70g, Revised:independent Study-Training Material for Professional SupervisoryCompetencies. Austin, Texas: exas Education Agency; andDepartment of Educational Administration, University ofTexas, 1975. 54 pages. ED 120 989 MF $0.91 PC $5.30.

Gmelch, Walter H. "Release From Stress." Oregon School StudyCouncil. OSSC Bulletin, 24, 9, 10,(May/June 1981), pp. 1-75.OSSC, College of Education, University of Oregon, Eugene,OR 97403. $6.50.

Gmelch, Walter H. "The Principal's Next Challenge: The Twentieth

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Century Art of Managing Stress.' NASSP Bii 62, 415(February 1978), pp. 5-12. EJ 173 446.

Ivancevich, John M., and Matteson, Michael T., "Optimiling HumanResource?: A Case for Preventive Health and Stress Manage:-ment." Organizational Dynamics, 9, 2 (Autumn 1980), pp. 4-25.

Kiev, .Ari, M.D. A Strategy for Handling Executive Stfess. Chicago:Nelson:Hall, 1974. 178 pages.

Koff, Robert; Laffey, James; Olson, George;,and Cichon, Donald."Stress and the SChool Administrator." Adiniistrator's Note-book, 28; 9 (1979-80). pp. 1-4. EJ 242 356.

Lakein, Alan. How to Get Control of Your Tine and Your Life. NewYork: Signet,.The New AMerican Library, 1974. 160 pages.

Lewis, Darrell R., and Dahl, Tor,.. ',,'Time Management in HigherEducation Administration: A Case Study." Paper, AmericanEducational Research Association annual meeting, Washing-ton, D.C., January 1975. 25 pages. ED 104 239 MF $0.91 PC$2.00.

Mambert, W. A. "Busy, Busy, Busy,7---and,Promises to Keep."Credit,6, 6 (November/December. 1980), pp. 25-27.

Manuso, James S. 'Executive Stress Management." Personnel Ad-.miniStrator,-24, 11 (Novembe'r 1979), pp. 23-26. EJ 210942.

Quick, James C., and Quick, Jonathan D. "Reducing Stress throughPreventive Management." Human ResourteManagement, 18, 3(Fall 1979), pp. 15-22: EJ 211 009.

Reynolds, Helen, and Tramel, Mary E. Executive Time Management:Getting 12 Hours' Workout ofan 3-HottrDay.-Englewood Cliffs,New Jersey:, Prentice-Hall, 1979. 174 pages.

Sexton, Michaell:, and,SwitKer, Karen Dawn Dill. "The Time Man-vagement Ladder." Educational Leadership, 35, 6 (March 1978),pp. 482-83, 485-86. EJ 175 684.

Smith, Lee H. "A Systematic Approach to Self/Unit/OrganizationTime Management:I' In Defining Leadership. AAUSCU Studies-1930No. 3, edited by Hollis Moore and others, pp. 33-49.Washington, D.C..: American Association of State Collegesand Universities:1080. 49 pages. Complete docuMent ED 192702. American Association of State>Colleges and Universities;-,Suite 700, One Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C. 20036. 52.50.

Washington, Kenneth R. "Urban Principals afid Job Stress." PhiDelta Kappa,,61, 9 (May 1980), p. 646.

Weldy, Gilbert R. TIME: A Resource for the School Administrator.Washington, D.C.: National Association of Secondary SchoolPrincipals, 1974. 63 pages. ED 094 475, NASSP, 1904 Associa-tion Dr., Reston, VA 22091. $3.00

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CHAPTER 11: MANAGING CONFLICT

Bailey, Stephen K. "Preparing Administrators for Conflict Resolu-tion." Educational Record, 52, 3 (Summer 1971), pp. 223-39. EJ045 040.

Frey, Diane, and Young, Joseph A. "Managing Conflict in Educa-tional Settings." NASSPBulletin, 62,415 (February 1978), pp.18-21. EJ 173 488.Kelley, Edgar A. "Principles of Conflict Resolution." NASSP Bid-

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letin, 63, 426 (Apri11979), EJ197 922.Lipham, James M., and Hoeh, James t1., Jr. The Principalship: Foun-dations and Functions. New York: Harper and Row, 1974.Nebgen, Mary K. "Conflict Management in Schools." Administra-tor's Notebook, 26, 6 (1978), pp. 1'74; EJ 183 246.Robbins, Stephen P. Managing Organcationa: Conflict. A Nontradi-tional Approach. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,"197,4.156 pages.Schmidt, Warren H., and Tannenbaum, Robert. "Management ofDifferences." In The Social_Technology of Organization Develop'

-.anent, compiled by W. Warner Burke and Harvey A. Horn-stein. pp. 127-40. La Jolla, California: University Associates,1972. 340 pages.Schmuck, Richard A.; Runkel, Philip J.; Arends, Jane H.; andArends, Richard I. The Second Handbook al Organization Devel-opment in Schools. Palo Alto, California: Mayfield Publishing'Company, 1977. 590 pages. Mayfield Publishing Co., 285Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94301. $16.95.

CHAPTER 12: SOLVING PROBLEMS

Brooks, Kenneth W. "Delphi Technique: Expanding Applications."North Central Association Quarterly, 53, 3 (Winter 1979), pp.377 -85. EJ 206 895.Burns, Robert J. Skyline Wide Educational Plan (SWEP) Product Evalua-tion Report: Educational Goals for the Future (1980's). SWEPEvaluation Repoit No. 2. Dallas: Department of Research andEvaluation, Dallas Independent School District, 1974. 120pages. ED 109 760 MF $0.91 PC $8.60.Collison, Brooke B., and Dunlap, Suzanne Fitzgerald. "NominalGroup Technique: A Process for In-Service and Staff Work."School Counselor, 26, 1 (September 1978), pp. 18-25. EJ 188503.Crawford, John E., and Cossitt, William B. "Effective DecisionMaking within the Organization: A Comparison of Regular,

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NGT, and Delphi Group Processes." Paper, Western SpeechCommunication Association annual meeting, Portland,Oregon, February 1980. 40 pages. ED 182 786 MF $0.91 PC$3.65.

Cyphert; Frederick R., and Gant, Walter L. "the Delphi Technique:A Case Study." Phi Delta Kappan, 52, 5 (January 1971), pp.272-73. EJ 031 660.

Dalkey, Norman, and Helmer, Olaf. "An Experimental Applicationof-the, Delphi Method to the Use of Experts." ManagonentScience, 9, 3 (April 1963), pp. 458-67.

Delbecq, Andre L., and Van de Ven, Andrew H. "A Group ProcessModel for Problem Identification and Program Planning."Journal-of Applied Behavioral Science, 7, 4 (Summer 1971), .pp.466-92. EJ 048 000.

Folk, Michael: "A Critique of Some Future. Prediction Techniquesand Their Implications for Educational Planners." EducationalPlanning, 2, 3 (January 1976), pp. 35-52. EJ 144 690.

Gaskell, William G. The Development of a Leadership Training Processfor Principals. Filial Report. Ellensburg, Washington: CentralWashington State College, 1973. 59 pages. ED 074 6i5 MF$0.91 PC $5.30.

Hartman, Arlene. "Reaching Consensus Using the Delphi Tech-nique." Educational Leadership, 38, 6 (March 1981), pp. 495-97.EJ 243 844.

Massachusetts State Department of Education. Force Field Analysis.Boston: 1976. 17 pages. ED 153 190 MF $0.91 PC $2.00:

Moore, Carl M., and Coke, James G. "Delphi: An Overview, AnApplication, Some Lessons." Paper, Speech CommunicationAssociation ,annual meeting, Washington, D.C., December1977. 32 pages:-ED 149 403 MF $0.91 PC $3.65.

Mosley, Donald C., and Green, Thad B. "Nominal GroupingAs anOrganization Development Intervention Technique." Trainingand Developinent Journal, 28, 3 (March 1974). pp.30-36.

Rasp; Alfred, Jr. "Delphi: A Decision-Maker's Dream." Nation'sSchools, 92, 1 (July 1973), pp. 29-32. EJ 079 292.

Sanders, Stanley G. "Force-Field Analysis: A Functional Manage-ment System:" Planning and Changing, 7, 4 (Winter 1977), pp.143-47. EJ 157 006.

Skutsch, Margaret, and Hall, Diana. Delphi: Potential Uses in Educa-tional Planning. Project Silent-School: Chicago Component. Chi-cago: Department of Facilities Planning, Chicago Board ofEducation, 1973.30 pages..ED 084659 MF $0.91 PC $3.65.

Thomas, Lewis. "What Is Delphi?" Educational Leadership, 38, 6(March 1981), p. 497. Reprinted with permission from LewisThomas, The Medusa and the Snail. New York: Bantam Books,1980.

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Van d/Ven, Andrew /H., and Delbecq, AnIdre L. "Nominal versus/ Interacting Group Processes for Coinmittee Decision-Making/ Effectiveness" of Management Journal, 14, 2 (June/ 1971), pp. 203 -12.

V,roman, H. William. ."An Application of the Nominal Group Tech-/ .nique in, Educational Systems A4alyE;s." Educational Tech-nology, 15, 6: (June 1975), pp. 51-4 EJ 139 679.

Weatherman, Richard, and Swenson, Karen: -.Delphi Technique."Chapter 5 in Futurism in Educatiolin Methodologies, edited byStephen P. Hencley and James R. 'pies, pp. 97-114. Berkeley,California: McCutchan Publishing Corpoiation,1974. Entiredocument 510 pages. ED 113 795. McCutchan PublishingCorporation, 2526 Grove Street, erkeley, CA 94704. $15.20plus $0.75 handling.

Weaver, W. Timothy. "The Delphi For casting Method." Phi DeltaKappan, 52, 5 (January 1971), pp. 67-72. EJ 031 659.

Welty, Gordon. "Some Problems of S, lecting Delphi Experts forEducational Planning and Forecasting Exercises." CaliforniaJournal of Educational Research, 24)3 (May 1973), pp. 129-34.

Zastrow, Charles, and Navarre, Ralph/ie. "The Nominal Group:. ANew Tool for Making Social Wor EducationRelevant." Jour-nal of Education for Social Work,- 13 1 (Winter 1977), pp. 112-18.EJ 155 404.

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INTERVIEWS

CHAPTER 4: SCHOOL-BASED MANAGEMENT

Brown, Larry, educational specialist, Office of DistrictManagement,Division of Pub lid Schools, Departme . of Education, Talla-hassee, Florida. Telephone interview, 2 October 1980.

Corey, A. Stanley, supc_Tintendent, Irvine Unified School District,Irvine, taliforniai Telephone interview, 27 October 10.80.

Gowler, Doug, principal, Sagebrush Elementary School, CherryCreek,School District, suburban - metropolitan Denver, Colo-rado,Telephone interview, 28 October 1980.

Guthrie, James, profesor of education, University, of California,Berkeley. Telephone interview, 23 October 1980.

Henriquez, Armando, superintendent, Monroe County School Dis-trict, Key West, Florida. Telephone interview, 23 October1980.

Lindstrom, Robert, superintendent, Oak Grove School District, SanJose, California. :Telephone interview, 29 October 1980.

Longstreth, James, foner superintendent, Alachua County SchoolDistrict, Gainesilille, Florida, now professor of education,University of Florida, Gainesville. Telephone interview, 23October 1980.

Moretti, Ernest, ,assistant superintendent for instruction, Fairfield-- Suisun Unified School District, Fairfield, California. Tele-phone interview, 28 October 1980.'

Pierce, Lawrence C., professor and department head, Departmentof Political Seience,'University of Oregon, Eugene. Interview,22 October 1980.

Prophet, Matthew, superintendent, Lansing School District,Lansing, Michigan. Telephone interview, 22 October 1980.

CHAPTER 5: TEAM MANAGEMENT

Baumgartner, Jay, principal, Madison Elementary School, Rio LindaElementary School District, Rio Linda, California. Telephoneinterview, February 1981.

Bon trager, Mark, administrative assistant to the superintendentand former principal, Yakima Public School District, Yakima,Washington. Telephone interview, February 1981.

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INTERVIEWS

Coelho, Robert J., superintendent, Attleboro School District, Attie-boro, Massachusetts. Telephone interviews, February, June1981.

Shyler, Dale, principal, Yakima Public School District, Yakima,Washingtcin. Telephone interview; February 1981.

CHAPTER 8: COMMUNICATING

ring, Jodie, principal, Vejas Elementary School, Walnut Valley,Califomia.-8 February 1980.

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