Leading through restructuring

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standardized tests for everyone. They do favor a sample of students that is tested as one data set among many. The area of short-term results is one in which Hargreaves and Fink disagree with Fullan, who supports the commitment to short-term results. For Fullan (2005) short- term results are required by the public to show progress is being made toward long-term goals.

Principle 2: Length. Endurance and Succession. To preserve leadership over time, it cannot depend on individual leadership. Leadership capacity should be developed in others and distributed throughout the organization. With distributed leadership in place and plans made for leadership succession, the organization can continue to implement its mission with minimal disruption. Fullan expands on this concept by borrowing from Jim Collins and his popular publication Good to Great. Collins (2001) found that charismatic leaders do not lead to sustainability unless Principle 2 is implemented.

Principle 3: Breadth. Distribution Not Delegation. Distributed leadership with true decision-making power is broadly disseminated. The organization needs to monitor how well the distributed leadership is working to ensure that, in the end, an authentic professional learning community is working toward improvement in the teaching and learning process.

Principle 4: Justice. Others and Ourselves. This principle speaks to the issue of social justice. Individuals and teams must not work to improve their own school at the expense of others. They should not raid other schools for students, teachers, or other resources. At the district level, no school should be treated as though it is special. For example, magnet schools or choice schools should not be treated differently in terms of resources (or they should not exist at all because choice causes competition for students, teachers, and other resources).

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Schools should cooperate and work together for the greater good of all students.

Principle 5: Diversity. Complexity and Cohesion. Embracing diversity helps to avoid negative standardization practices such as those fostered by NCLB. Diversity helps bring people with different ideas together to learn from one another. Strong networks from within and among schools and districts, such as the Comer Schools, the Coalition of Essential Schools, and the National Writing Project, increase their sustainability. Certainly, modern technology such as program websites, blogs, and wikis provide easy access to networks among people from all over the world. Networks are also important to Fullan, who believes that networks, both lateral and vertical, build school and district capacity.

Principle 6: Resourcefulness. Restraint and Renewal. We need to use our resources wisely to ensure that we do not exploit or deplete them, and we must renew those resources to sustain high levels of commitment to the mission and vision. Hargreaves and Fink identify three sources of renewal:

1. Trust. A climate of trust enhances the commitment of members to organizational goals. When there is a lack of trust, the organization cannot move forward and PLCs are impossible to form.

2. Confidence. The organization must have expectations of success. Members must be confident they can achieve their goals.

3. Emotion. Positive emotions are necessary to keep the organization moving toward its mission and vision.

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Fullan calls this principle “cyclical energizing.” Fullan would agree with Kurt Lewin’s concept of the three-step change process as described in Chapter 8 : unfreeze, moving, refreeze. People need productive downtime that reenergizes them for continual improvement.

Principle 7: Conservation: History and Legacy. We need to learn from our past successes and failures. We should not forget the past by simply building something new; we should use organizational memory to build on positive cultural norms. However, we should be purposeful about what past practices we want to abandon and what past practices we want to continue or adapt. At the same time, we should not romanticize the past, which can interfere with our judgment of what was good.

Distributed leadership and sustainable leadership concepts are not without their critics. Henry Levin (2006), professor of economics and education at Teachers College of Columbia University, has been critical of the research base for each and doesn’t believe the researchers provide sufficient guidance for practice. But even Levin admits that the work of Spillane on distributed leadership and that of Hargreaves and Fink on sustainable leadership are “useful to generating discussions and further study for students, researchers, and practitioners” (Levin, p. 43). We believe that distributed leadership and sustainable leadership are the right concepts for today’s transformational leaders to implement in schools, and for today’s researchers in school leadership to study. In the final section of this chapter, we present the work of Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) which lends research evidence to these concepts.

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Research on Sustainable Leader Behavior

We focus on one major research study by Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) for two reasons: (a) it is a meta-analysis that analyzes 69 studies of leadership behaviors correlated to student achievement, and (b) this research has had wide impact on school districts around the United States since it was published. The studies in the meta-analysis include a total of 2,802 schools, representing all school levels, with approximately 1,400,000 students and 14,000 teachers. For each study, “a correlation between general leadership and student achievement was either computed or extracted directly from the study” (p. 30). The typical study used in this meta-analysis had questionnaires asking teachers their perceptions of principal behaviors, rather than asking the principals themselves. The average effect size, which they call a correlation, between leadership and achievement for all studies combined was .25. By school type, the correlations were as follows: .29 for elementary schools, .24 for middle or junior high schools, and .26 for high schools. In a hypothetical example, the authors interpret this result to mean that principals in the top half of a normal distribution when compared to principals in the bottom half would have 25% higher pass rates. This improvement is significant. So what do principals who are top performers do that improves student achievement? Marzano, Waters, and McNulty identified 21 specific behaviors which we list here in Table 9.1 in order of highest to lowest correlation to student achievement.

To help our readers interpret these findings, we took liberties with the Marzano, Waters, and McNulty data and categorized the specific behaviors listed in Table 9.1 into general areas of focus in Table 9.2 . Listed next to each area of focus are the item numbers from Table 9.1 . There is

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some overlap as some specific behaviors appear in multiple areas of focus, such as item 14, which focuses on communications, school culture, and change leadership.

From our analysis of the specific behaviors, there are five associated with instructional leadership. This result is not surprising, considering much of the literature on school leadership in the last 20 years has focused on the importance of instructional leadership in helping teachers and parents improve student learning.

Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) also performed a factor analysis that resulted in the 21 behaviors being categorized into two lists of behaviors most associated with two types of change strategies. They found that all 21 behaviors were associated with first-order change, that is, change that is incremental and not very distruptive to school routine or culture. All 21 behaviors, they reported, are necessary for the day-to-day, regular management of the school. They found that seven of the behaviors, however, must be the focus of leaders when attempting second-order change, termed “deep change” that “alters the system in fundamental ways, offering a dramatic shift in direction and requiring new ways of thinking and acting” (p. 66). For second-order change to occur, leaders must emphasize the seven behaviors which are listed below (the item number from Table 9.1 appears in parentheses):

1. Is knowledgeable about current curriculum, instruction and assessment practices (item 6)

2. Inspires and leads new and challenging innovations (item 18) 3. Ensures everyone is aware of current theories and practices and

makes discussion of these a regular aspect of the school culture (item 14)

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TABLE 9.1 Specific Principal Behaviors and Average Correlations Source: Adapted from Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005).

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Specific Principal Behavior Average Correlation to Student Achievement

1. Is aware of details and undercurrents in the running of the school and uses the information to address current and potential problems

.33

2. Adapts leadership behavior to the needs of the situation and is comfortable with dissent

.28

3. Monitors effectiveness of school practices and their impact on learning

.27

4. Is an advocate for the school to all stakeholders

5. Protects teachers from issues and influences that detract from their teaching time or focus

6. Is knowledgeable about current curriculum, instruction and assessment practices

.25

7. Establishes a set of standard operating procedures and routines

8. Provides teachers with materials and professional development necessary for success

9. Is willing to challenge the status quo

10. Fosters shared beliefs and a sense of

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community and cooperation

11. Involves teachers in the design and implementation of important decisions and policies

12. Recognizes and rewards individual accomplishments

.24

13. Establishes clear goals and keeps those goals in the forefront of the school’s attention

14. Ensures everyone is aware of current theories and practices and makes discussion of these a regular aspect of the school culture

15. Establishes strong lines of communication with teachers and students

.23

16. Communicates and operates from strong ideals and beliefs about schooling

.22

17. Is directly involved in the design and implementation of curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices

.20

18. Inspires and leads new and challenging innovations

19. Has quality contact and interactions with teachers and students

20. Recognizes and celebrates accomplishments and acknowledges failures

.19

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21. Demonstrates an awareness of the personal aspects of teachers and staff

.18

TABLE 9.2 Areas of Focus for Specific Principal Behaviors

Areas of Focus Item Numbers from Table 8.1

Instructional leadership (includes professional development)

3, 6, 8, 14, 17

Communications 4, 14, 15, 16

Change leadership 9, 13, 18

Decision making and problem solving 1, 2, 11

School culture 10, 14, 16

Relationship building 19, 21

Recognition 12, 20

Order and discipline 5, 7

4. Is willing to challenge the status quo (item 9) 5. Monitors effectiveness of school practices and their impact on

learning (item 3) �. Adapts leadership behavior to the needs of the situation and is

comfortable with dissent (item 2) 7. Communicates and operates from strong ideals and beliefs about

schooling (item 16)

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They warn us, however, that four other behaviors are negatively associated with second-order change:

1. Fosters shared beliefs and a sense of community and cooperation (item 10)

2. Establishes strong lines of communication with teachers and students (item 15)

3. Establishes a set of standard operating procedures and routines (item 7)

4. Involves teachers in the design and implementation of important decisions and policies (item 11)

Deep change can result in certain faculty and staff becoming alienated and principals “pay a certain price for the implementation of a second-order change innovation” (p. 74).

Principals who use the 21 specific behaviors in the Marzano, Waters, and McNulty study are clearly demonstrating transformational and moral leadership. Leadership is distributed and it will sustain over time.

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Final Thoughts This chapter began with a discussion of the difference between leadership and command, with particular attention to the differences in the role of power in both leadership and command. Clearly, organizational leaders have a range of theories of leadership from which to choose in selecting a leadership style.

For example, one may choose to use a traditional, top-down, directive approach, often thought of as bureaucratic. Such an approach assumes that the best information and the best ideas for solving problems are found in the upper echelon of the organization and should be passed down the line to be implemented by those in the lower echelons. This approach predictably creates a transactional relationship with followers in which motivation and effort are circumscribed by the expectations inherent in the agreed-upon transactional relationship. An alternative is to choose a more collaborative, or transformative, leadership style in working with others, in the belief that useful information and good ideas may well be found anywhere in the organization and should be shared in the leadership process. At its best, collaborative leadership creates a transformational relationship with followers in which they are motivated by uniting with others in a mutual commitment to share in solving problems and creating solutions, as well as by the sense of mutual effort, or team membership, involved.

But the major factor in deciding which approach to use in exercising leadership lies in the belief that one approach is more effective in producing better outcomes than the other. Educational organizations today are confronted by demands for near-constant change in dealing with problems that are highly complex, often poorly understood, and ambiguous

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—and with outcomes that are uncertain. Organizations must be nimble, adaptable, and responsive. The contemporary scientific paradigm of leadership under these conditions is to use a collaborative style that emphasizes teamwork. The goal is to transform the relationship between leader and followers so that participants are energized and motivated by unity of purpose and mutually shared values.

Adult learners, such as teachers, are motivated to learn new ways when they are active participants in their own learning, forging new ideas about the future of their lives at work and participating actively as team members in making the central decisions regarding their work. To move an organization from traditional transactional leadership to transformative leadership requires the development of a new process that is pursued steadfastly over time through which teachers can learn new roles and new skills required for active participation in teamwork and collaboration. This transformative team-building process must include constant attention to the building of greater levels of trust not only between the leader and the followers but among the collaborating followers, too. Thus, transformative leaders understand that leadership is a never-ending process of growth and development—a process of building human capital in the organization. This progress can be achieved by using distributed leadership, which in turn can be achieved by utilizing professional learning communities, and through the 21 specific behaviors of leaders that Marzano, Waters, and McNulty found associated with student achievement. In this way, sustainable leadership can be attained.

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Reflective Activities 1. Review the types of power in the French and Raven typology.

Describe two leaders in your experience who displayed one or more types of power. Then indicate how effective you believe these leaders were based on the types of power they used.

2. Working on Your Game Plan. What leadership theory will you follow: transactional, transformational, or moral leadership? Describe what specific behaviors you will use to implement your theory. Feel free to borrow ideas from this chapter, such as distributed leadership, parent involvement, sustainable leadership, and specific behaviors from the Marzano, Waters, and McNulty study. Then, using your Game Plan ideas, consider the following advertisement and write a letter as directed in application for the position.

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Critical Incident Leadership at North River Middle School

Cliff Jameson, principal of North River Middle School, sat in the superintendent’s waiting room to be called in for a special meeting to discuss his school’s state test scores—a discussion he dreaded. The scores were down from the previous year, as they had been the year before. In addition, his school did not make adequate yearly progress (AYP), as required by No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and he feared that he was about to be fired as principal.

The superintendent, Linda Thompson, opened her door and welcomed Cliff into the office. She began, saying “Thanks for coming in, Cliff. I know that the teachers in your school get along with you, and they seem to like you. So as a leader, you must be doing something right, but you know that I have been concerned about the standardized test scores and AYP data from your school for the past two years. After we talked last year, the reports you provided about your plans for improvement seemed promising. Tell me how things went from your perspective. Why didn’t the scores improve?”

“Linda, thanks for the opportunity to explain things,” Cliff began. “To start the year off last year, I met with the different grade levels, and I went over their data pointing out where the problems were. I indicated that each of them had to improve their test scores over last year or their jobs would be in jeopardy based on our new district evaluation system. It was clear to me, looking at the reading test scores, that we had to hold some in-service workshops for all teachers to show them how to teach reading in the content areas. It was also clear to me that, as I visited classrooms, many students were not on task. So I scheduled some classroom management in-service to help improve in this area. The other big area that we focused on was getting the kids prepared for the state test. I helped by providing some test prep software and other materials for all classrooms that focused directly on those areas that would be taught on the test.”

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“Did you get any input from the teachers about what they thought went wrong and what would help?” asked Linda.

“Of course,” Cliff responded. “I asked each of them to send me their ideas and told them that we would discuss them at later meetings, but I got very few comments, and none of them were on target. We did all of the in- service training early in the school year. And I visited everyone’s class along with the assistant principals to ensure that teachers were focusing on the basics, that students were on task, and that they were prepared to take the test. We did everything we could based on our analysis of the situation.”

“So what went wrong in your opinion, Cliff?” asked Linda.

“Well, as I said, we visited the classes, and we don’t think that the teachers followed through with the training well enough and also didn’t use the materials to prepare the kids for the test. But things will be much different this coming year.”

“Cliff, I have to be honest with you. If your scores go down again, I will have to recommend your removal as principal.” Linda asked. “What are your plans to improve the situation at North River?”

“First, we are going to have the same in-service programs as last year, but I plan to bring in expert presenters, who will have more hands-on activities to get the teachers more involved in the training. People learn better by doing, not by just sitting and observing. Second, I have been far too lenient in my evaluations in the past. I am going to recommend probation for all of the teachers whose scores went down by more than five percentile points. This will put a little fire under them and get them motivated. And finally, I am going to work with the administrative team to do more classroom visitations to ensure that things are going as planned. Linda, I know that I

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can turn this school around, and I appreciate another year at the helm to prove to you that I am a good leader.”

1. How would you characterize Cliff Jameson’s leadership behaviors? Is he a good leader?

2. Cliff asked the teachers for feedback about what went wrong, but he got very little from them; none of which he thought was appropriate. Why do you think this happened? What techniques could he have used to get more—and more helpful—feedback from the teachers?

3. Cliff said that none of the meager feedback from teachers was on target. How do you interpret what the teachers might really have been saying to him?

4. Place yourself in the superintendent’s position. Develop a coaching plan using ideas from this chapter to help the principal meet the goals for this school.

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Suggested Reading Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

This highly readable, Pulitzer Prize-winning volume vividly interprets the contemporary understanding of leadership. The aim of the book is to illuminate the dilemmas of political leadership; hence, it draws many of its examples from great political leaders. However, the lessons for educators are clear and readily understandable. Highly recommended not only for its impeccable scholarship but also for the intellectual quality that is revealed by the open, straightforward writing, which makes its ideas easily accessible.

Drath, W. (2001). The deep blue sea: Rethinking the source of leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

“Too often,” Drath observes, “in thinking about leadership we are like persons standing on the shore, captivated by the dancing, sparkling whitecaps on the ocean and entirely missing the deep blue sea. The whitecaps are real enough, but their source lies within the action of the ocean itself.” And it is so with organizations as well, he contends: The deep blue sea to which he refers is our own educational organization, and understanding it lies well below its surface. Thus, he introduces us to a new way of thinking about organizations and exercising leadership in them. He emphasizes, as the contemporary leadership paradigm does, facilitating relationships and meaning between and among people and organizations. Strongly recommended.

DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & DuFour, R. (Eds.). (2005). On common ground: The power of professional learning communities. Bloomington, IN: Solution

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Tree.

The editors and authors of this book have had years of experience as public school teachers and leaders, and have solid academic credentials, too. Now, as consultants, they are in the forefront of the movement to help teachers and principals rebuild the cultures of their schools to meet the new educational goals that the United States has embraced. At the heart of their approach is to help faculty members shift their working environment from that of traditional isolation of teachers in classrooms to developing it into a collaborative, professional learning community.

Fullan, M. (2005). Leadership & sustainability: System thinkers in action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

This short book is important because it is one of the first books to proffer a theory of sustainability for schools. Fullan outlines eight elements that leaders need to implement in order to ensure that the school and the district sustain leadership and change efforts: public service with a moral purpose; commitment to changing context at all levels; lateral capacity building through networks; intelligent accountability and vertical relationships; deep learning; dual commitment to short- and long-term results; cyclical energizing; and the long lever of leadership, which emphasizes the importance of sustainable leaders and the critical mass of leaders who implement the elements of sustainability.

Hargreaves, A., & Fink. D. (2006). Sustainable leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

The importance of this book is its research base: a series of longitudinal studies of eight high schools in various settings both in the United States and Canada. From this research, the authors developed seven

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principles of sustainable leadership that are discussed in this chapter of our book. The strength of Hargreaves and Fink’s book lies in its research connection and in its practical examples of each of the seven principles.

Heifetz, R. A. (1998). Leadership without easy answers. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Heifetz brings an extraordinarily broad background to this discussion of the key concepts of adaptive leadership. He clearly illuminates issues such as distinguishing between adaptive problems and technical problems, and the differences between authority and leadership. His approach is both theoretical and practical, and it is leavened with his own experiences as a medical doctor, a psychiatrist, and a musician. Fullan’s work (described above) draws heavily from this book by Heifetz.

Helgesen, S. (1990). The female advantage: Women’s ways of leadership. New York, NY: Doubleday Currency.

This widely read book argues that men tend to think in linear fashion, lean toward hierarchical organization, emphasize logic, seek power for themselves, are uncomfortable with ambiguity, and are goal-oriented, whereas women tend to think in terms of more global connections rather than in straight lines, emphasize human interaction processes rather than hierarchy, have no great interest in personal power, are easily able to tolerate ambiguity, and are process-oriented. The result, Helgesen argues, is a marked difference in thinking and organizational behavior between men and women—a difference that Helgesen firmly believes gives women a decided advantage as organizational leaders.

Marzano, R. J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. A. (2005). School leadership that works: From research to results. Alexandria, VA: Association for

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Supervision and Curriculum Development; Aurora, CO; Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.

This book presents the results of a meta-analysis of 69 leadership studies that found a .25 average effect size for leadership behaviors and student achievement. The 21 top-ranked principal behaviors are presented along with the results of a factor analysis in which the 21 behaviors are categorized into two lists most associated with two types of change strategies. Every student of Educational Leadership should read this book as it has been highly influential across the U.S. in influencing leadership strategies and evaluation of leaders.

Rosener, J. B. (1990). The ways women lead. Harvard Business Review, 68(6), 119–25.

Having studied 456 female business executives, Rosener reports that they behave very differently from male leaders in similar positions. She found that men emphasized a command-and-control style (rational decision making, giving orders, appealing to the self-interest of followers), whereas women tended to work more “interactively” (sharing information and power, promoting empowerment, motivating people by appeals to organizational ideals and a shared vision of the future). Many women have found this article appealing, yet it remains highly controversial because the quality of the research design and methods have repeatedly been criticized.

Wheatley, M. J. (1999). Leadership and the new science: Discovering order in a chaotic world (2nd ed.). San Francisco CA: Berrett-Koehler.

This is an erudite, witty exploration of new ways of thinking about and exploring science. Not a book focused on education, it draws upon a wide range of sources and people to illustrate the new problems of

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dealing with uncertainty, emerging new ideas, and rapid change across a broad spectrum of science today. It is highly recommended to educational leaders because it shows us brilliantly that the world of schools is not unique and that leadership problems in the schools are part of a much larger mosaic.

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References Bass, B. H. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New

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Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Collins, J. (2001). Good to great. New York, NY: Harper Collins.

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Darling-Hammond, L., & Bransford, J. (2007). Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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DuFour, R., & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional learning communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement. Reston, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Epstein, J. L., Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C., Jansorn, N. R., & Van Voorhis, F. L. (2002). School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Fiedler, F. (1967). A theory of leadership effectiveness. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

French, J. R. P., & Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 150–167). Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.

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Hargreaves, A., & Goodson, I. (2003). Change over time? A study of culture, structure, time and change in secondary schooling. Chicago, IL: Spencer Foundation.

Heifetz, R. A. (1994). Leadership without easy answers. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Heifetz, R. A., & Linsky, M. (2002). Leadership on the line: Staying alive through the dangers of leading. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Hemphill, J. K., & Coons, A. E. (1957). Development of the leader behavior description questionnaire. In R. M. Stogdill & A. E. Coons (Eds.), Leader behavior: Its description and measurement (pp. 6–38). Columbus, OH: Bureau of Business Research of Ohio State University.

Henderson, A. T., & Mapp, K. L. (2007). A new wave of evidence: The impact of school, family and community connections on student achievement. Austin: TX, Southeast Educational Development Laboratory. Retrieved from http://www.sedl.org/connections/resources/evidence.pdf

Hersey, P., Blanchard, K. H., & Johnson, D. (1996). Management of organizational behavior. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Jeynes, W. H. (2007). The relationship between parental involvement and urban secondary school student academic achievement: A meta- analysis. Urban Education, 42(1), 82–110.

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Kanter, R. M. (1983). The change masters: Innovation and entrepreneurship in the American corporation. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Keirsey, D., & Bates, M. (1984). Please understand me: Character and temperament types. Del Mar, CA: Prometheus Nemesis.

Levin, H. M. (2006). Can research improve educational leadership? Educational Researcher, 35(8), 38–43.

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Marzano, R. J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. A. (2005). School leadership that works: From research to results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development; Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.

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Spillane, J. P., & Diamond, J. B. (2007). Taking a distributed perspective. In J. P. Spillane & J. B. Diamond (Eds.), Distributed leadership in practice (pp. 1–15 ). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

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Chapter 10 Decision Making

As we defined it in Chapter 9 , the exercise of leadership involves working with and through others—individually and in groups—to achieve organizational goals. When the goals of the organization emphasize

stability, refinement, and continued application of existing practices, and maintenance of existing levels of performance

the contemporary paradigm of organizational studies supports the use of bureaucratic top-down methods as likely to be highly effective ways of working with and through others. However, when the organization is required to handle successfully

demands for quick, adroit, nimble responses to rapid, pervasive change in the environment while dealing, at the same time, with emerging problems arising from the need for change that are ambiguous and poorly understood, and the outcomes of possible alternative solutions are not knowable in advance,

the contemporary paradigm of organizational studies supports the use of collaborative methods as likely to be more effective ways of working with and through others, which is why, though educational leaders have a theoretical choice between using traditional bureaucratic methods to work with and through others or using collaborative methods, under contemporary conditions in educational practice, collaborative methods are generally the methods of choice.

The two issues of stability and change are contrapuntal: They are inseparable parts of almost every decision in which the educational leader is involved. The effectiveness and quality of decisions that are made in an organization usually reflect the skill with which the leader has orchestrated these two issues.

The fast-paced world of school administration seems, on the one hand, to demand that the leader make decisions quickly, without needless ado, and move on to other pressing business. This velocity creates the temptation to make the decision unilaterally, for the sake of speed and efficiency, and be done with it. On the other hand, it is becoming increasingly clear that healthy organizations characteristically find strength in opening up participation in decision making and empowering relevant people at all levels of the organization to contribute to the quality of the decisions made. There are two reasons for this: First, empowering people to participate in important decisions is highly motivating to them; second, broad participation infuses the decision-making process with the full spectrum of knowledge and good ideas that people throughout the organization have to contribute. This inclusion is especially and particularly important in organizations peopled by knowledge workers, such as schools.

As it is for all organizations, the environment of educational organizations today is dominated by the dynamics of change —fast-paced, pervasive, insistent change. To keep pace—or, better yet, to set the pace—it is imperative that schools be nimble, responsive, adaptable, and capable of constantly developing themselves from within (or, as the popular phrase

has it, reinventing themselves). It is an increasingly competitive environment. The secure monopoly that school districts once had is no longer secure because attention is increasingly focused on results in the form of student achievement and because competitors promise to produce better results than the established public schools have accomplished. In a real sense, the competition is global, not merely local, because clients of educational organizations anxiously compare the results posted by local schools with those in other parts of the world. In this context, the educational leader is constantly making judgments about how to make a decision—more particularly, who should be involved in making it and how these others should be involved in the process.

Therefore, this chapter focuses on participative decision making. It begins, however, with a brief background discussion on decision making in general and a discussion of so-called rational decision making. We then discuss the realities of working in schools, how these realities influence the behavior of leaders in their decision-making efforts, and the need to develop a theory of decision-making practice. The Vroom-Yetton normative leadership model is presented, which offers guidance in determining how to make decisions, in terms of involving other people. This is a very important guide to leadership action and should be studied closely for the implications it has for effective leader behavior. The chapter closes with a suggestion for a simple, practical paradigm for shared decision making and a decision-making flowchart for team decision making.

The significance of decision making at the organizational and administrative level has a long history. For example, in a landmark book, Herbert Simon (1950) observed that “a general theory of administration must include principles of organization that will insure correct decision-making” (p. 1). By 1959, Daniel E. Griffiths had proposed a theory that administration was decision making. He maintained that,

first, the structure of an organization is determined by the nature of its decision-making processes; second, that an individual’s rank in an organization is directly related to the control exerted over the decision process; and third, that the effectiveness of an administrator is inversely proportional to the number of decisions that he or she must personally make. (1959)

Griffiths’s theory, which was highly influential in educational circles for many years, highlights two important concepts: (a) The administrator’s task is to ensure that an adequate decision-making process is in place in the organization; and (b) because such a process is in place, the effective administrator makes relatively few decisions personally, although those few may be particularly potent in their impact on the organization. In this view, the administrator’s influence resides more firmly in creating and monitoring the processes through which decisions are made by the organization than in personally making large numbers of the many decisions that are required in any busy complex organization.

However, Simon, Griffiths, and their colleagues at that time envisioned that decision making could be rationalized, made logical, systematized, and optimized by applying logical- mathematical methods to the solution of educational problems. Many people believed them then, and many still would like to. With the passage of time, however, it has become apparent that many of our most entrenched educational problems are so ambiguous, multifaceted, and complex that they simply cannot be reduced to algorithms into which various quantitative data can be plugged to yield optimum educational decisions. Indeed, since the mid- twentieth century, there has been growing understanding that the human complexities of organizational life in commerce as well as in education sharply limit the usefulness of such decision-making approaches in many kinds of organiza