Blazing New Trails - Connexions

106 CRITICAL ISSUES IN SHARED LEADERSHIP
sample. The dilemma of problems versus predicaments was one of the least experienced
dilemmas but according to the superintendents of this sample it was one that caused them
more stress than most of those more frequently experienced dilemmas. The sample
respondents identified that although they confronted the dilemmas of: creativity versus
discipline of thought; commitment versus compliance; and motivation versus manipulation;
frequently in their leadership roles, those dilemmas did not cause them as much personal
stress as some of the other less frequently experienced dilemmas. These issues may not often
be addressed in educational leadership programs, but they need to be as most of these
superintendents dealt with them, and they do cause leadership stress.
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The 258 superintendents of this sample from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New
York, and Pennsylvania provided valuable insight into the decision-making and problemsolving
approaches that they used in leading their respective school districts as well as the
dilemmas that they frequently confronted and those dilemmas that caused them the most
stress. This sample identified the significance of the Hoy and Tarter (2008) decision-making
and problem-solving approaches for educational leaders. Specifically, the incremental and
classical approaches were those approaches most frequently used by superintendents to make
decisions and solve problems related to school administration. However, the shared decisionmaking
model and mixed scanning were also approaches frequently used by superintendents
to resolve issues in their respective districts. The satisficing approach and the garbage can
approach were both employed by superintendents but not to the same level of frequency as the
incremental, classical, shared decision-making, and mixed scanning. Most superintendents
also employed the political approach to make decisions and solve problems but not to the
degree of frequency as the other six approaches. There were significant differences in the
approaches used based on administrative experiences, school district setting, and student
population. Generally, the smaller the school district in terms of student population, the more
rural the school district and the fewer the number of other administrators in the district, the
more frequently, the superintendent employed more of the seven categories of decisionmaking
and problem-solving to resolve issues in the district. The context of the school district
influenced the decision-making approaches more than the background and experiences of the
superintendent according to the findings of this sample.
The superintendents of this sample also reported that they were faced with the 12
dilemmas as articulated in educational leadership and literature of the past 90 years. However,
the frequency of facing those dilemmas occurred in hierarchal fashion with leadership versus
management, motivation versus manipulation, creativity versus discipline of thought, conflict
versus consensus and commitment versus compliance as the top five dilemmas with a mean
score of at least 6.7 out of a possible score of 10. However, when asked to identify those
dilemmas that caused them the most stress, the sample superintendents identified that personal
life versus professional life was the most stressful dilemma, followed by leadership versus
management, trust versus change, and problems versus predicaments. However, there were
significant differences between female superintendents and male superintendents in terms of
the motivation versus manipulation dilemma as females faced this dilemma significantly more
than did their male counterparts. In addition, superintendents with the most years of
experience faced the problems versus predicaments dilemma more frequently, perhaps,
because of their interest in addressing this dilemma more than their less experienced
colleagues. There were also significant differences between based on school setting with rural