Sharon Carter
North Central University
Assignment 10: Shared Decision-Making and Communication
The use of technology has significantly improved the communication options within our society. The use of electronic mail and social networking sites are widely used to communicate personal and business related information within organizations to help fulfill their personal goals, missions and visions. As school districts transition through one of the worst economic times in our nation’s history, the use of shared power from leadership to stakeholders’ increases power (Annenburg Media, 2010). Stakeholder involvement within an organization which promotes shared decision-making is a critical component; therefore, school community relations are concerned more with involving stakeholders in collaborative efforts and activities that are ultimately intended to bring about school improvement and increased student success (Van Meter, 2000). Hoy & Miskel (2008) asserts that the involvement of multiple stakeholders, such as parents, administrators, students, teachers, school board members, businesspeople, policy makers, news media, and taxpayers, provides a great gauge on the various viewpoints that should be considered in making a decision. Specifically, the Group-Agreement Decision-Making Style is defined as “the leader shares the problem with subordinates as a group and together generates and evaluates alternatives in an attempt to reach consensus” (p. 358). In this instance the principal would be willing to follow through with the decision of the majority stakeholders. The shared input and decision-making from stakeholders can provide school districts and school leaders with pertinent information to aid in goal attainment. External environments of a school are synonymous with the resources that are accessible by educational stakeholders to achieve the goals of the
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