Purpose: The public expects school leaders to be moral exemplars, yet prior research indicates that teachers and, more recently, school principals may score lower than other career groups on a widely used measure of moral reasoning, the Defining Issues Test. Moreover, little empirical research has been conducted on educators during leadership…

The subjects using either the consensus model or the participative decisionmaking model had more correct decisions on the assigned task than did the same individuals deciding alone. (Author)

Gives definition to the problem-solving process as a cycle of events. The cycle contains numerous stages at which the problem can be deflected in any number of directions depending on the various contingencies surrounding the situation. As a result, problem solving is often an unpredictable process. (Author/IRT)

Cognitive perspectives offer important, unique insights about the nature of expert administrative practice, how it develops, and what can be done to assist that development. The five articles making up this issue address cognitive perspectives on educational administration based on three areas of inquiry: human thought and problem-solving…

Examines the relationship between levels of satisfaction experienced by teachers and the status of their decisional participation. (Author)

Harold D. Lasswell's concept of the decision seminar and its associated idea sets have been successfully applied to educational problems, desegregation cases, and research. Lasswell's idea sets include decision phase analysis, a social process model, five intellectual tasks, and eight value/institution categories. (RW)

Investigates the way individuals seek to resolve role conflict (the resolution-oriented decisions they make), the reasons they ascribe to specific role conflict resolution decisions, and why these reasons differ depending on the role actors, organizational level, and specific nature of the conflict issue. (Author/IRT)

Focuses on a cognitively based reflection process (in a graduate educational leadership program) for developing administrators' expertise in problem solving, decision making, and complex thinking. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of student journal entries around critical incidents during the year-long set of experiences revealed that changes…

Describes the current state of knowledge about human decision-making and problem-solving processes, explaining recent developments and their implications for management and management training. Rational goal-setting is the key to effective decision making and accomplishment. Bounded rationality is a realistic orientation, because the world is too…