As external forces demand change in the delivery of postsecondary education and institutions seek to take advantage of new opportunities, the potential for achieving higher levels of student and institutional success is vast. New technologies, communication tools, data use, and organizational constructs present key factors in improving the…

This guide to solving problems and managing dilemmas is practitioner-driven. The concepts, language, examples, and cases are crafted to appeal to teachers and administrators interested in improving how they solve problems and manage dilemmas in classrooms, schools, and districts. Part 1 of the book lays out the author's approach to framing…

Educators, in the United States and throughout the world, are looking for new structures to embue teachers with decision-making authority and responsibility. This study maintains that before changing existing structures, it is necessary to examine and improve the current decision making process. The report outlines 12 guidelines for successful…

The purpose of this article is to describe a teaching strategy to help elementary students understand the complexities of historical decisions by actively engaging them in learning activities involving the arts. For journal availability see SO 504 433. (Author)

Outlines an approach, termed the "Communications Laboratory," that educators can use in managing the conflicts that can arise when the district wants to close a school and some segments of the community do not. (IRT)

The author presents ideas on what the school administrator should know in order to successfully manage conflict situations so that the conflict does not impede school functioning, and suggests that proper handling of the inevitable conflict situations that arise can bring about group cohesiveness and unity. (KC)

Explores reasons for the conflicts that arise in participative decision making and, based on concepts concerning types of human behavior and group effectiveness, develops guidelines for determining the appropriateness of participation in various types of decisions. (Author/IRT)

Activity requires secondary students to make an entrepreneurial decision concerning a conflict between long-term and short-term results. Students read a dilemma story involving an automobile manufacturer. They must write down positive and negative consequences for alternative decisions on a "Human Consequences Matrix" and an "Economic Consequences…

Offers ten tips intended to help administrators make decisions and resolve conflicts. (Author/JM)

Describes a lesson for teaching elementary school students about moral issues and decision making. Suggests that students read "Tucker's Countryside" by George Selden and evaluate moral choices made in the story. Offers a series of activities surrounding the reading of the book. (SG)

Although superintendents reflect their districts' value systems, very little attention is paid to values in administrative preparation programs. This study uses relatively routine external and internal conflicts in school districts as a means to explore superintendents' value orientations. Most prefer action and are aware of their personal values.…

By identifying and weighing the effects of an act on each constituency, a matrix based on John Stuart Mill's theories of utilitarianism illuminates and helps resolve complex ethical dilemmas. Application of the approach is illustrated with a simulated case study concerning the issue of reputation in a small private college. (Author/MSE)

Reported are results from two runs of the simulation "Bureaucratic Bargaining," developed to help students understand the inherent tension between roles and belief systems in American foreign policy decision making. To determine their belief systems, 165 students enrolled in an introductory international relations course were tested with…

Recommends a classroom exercise to demonstrate intergroup relations. Possible learning outcomes include conflict resolution, decision-making, trust, and increased understanding of differences between competitive and collaborative behavior. (Author/DB)

Argues that the case study method of assessing human interactions in organizations provides incomplete information and contains inadequate judgment criteria. Examines epistemological assumptions on which case study or interpretive methodology rests (including cultural analysis of organizations) and recommends an alternative problem-solving model…