Educational leaders must routinely make decisions affecting students, staff, and parents within schools as well as within the entire school district...

Educational leaders must routinely make decisions affecting students, staff, and parents within schools as well as within the entire school district for the immediacy and into the future. Most of these decisions will have a substantial effect on all stakeholders, particularly on the future lives of each student. Educational leaders must then possess a clear understanding of how to make effective decisions, utilizing as much related data and information as possible, considering other related factors and circumstances, being aware of previously established precedents, consulting others, and determining all possible outcomes on stakeholders. At the school-district level, educational leaders must know when it is best to implement a personal decision affecting schools or when to support school-based decision-making.

Educational leaders must also engage in conflict resolution, with these outcomes again substantially affecting all stakeholders, particularly students. How do educational leaders effectively manage conflict between themselves and other stakeholders as well as support conflict resolution between staff, students, parents, and even board of education members? During conflictual situations, effective educational leaders support a win-win for all involved parties and never become the depositor or resolver of conflict between others, yet attempt to assist others to resolve it amongst themselves as much as possible.

Utilizing the assigned readings for the course as well as additional applicable scholarly sources, complete parts I through IV of the assignment below:

Parts I and II: Decision-Making 

Part I: Decision-Making Flow Chart Process: As an educational leader, develop a visual illustration involving a flow chart of your decision-making process. Be sure to clearly depict how you would make effective decisions at the school or school district level within an educational setting of interest. Review page 289 in the Owens and Valesky text for an example. You may wish to use an applied example of how you would arrive at a decision within your visual illustration. 

Length: 1 page, not including title and reference pages

References: Minimum of 2 scholarly resources

Part II Decision-Making Top-Down vs. School-Based: As an educational leader, defend when it would be more appropriate to make decisions at the leadership level and when it would be more appropriate to support school-based decision-making. You may wish to use an applied example for each form of decision-making. 

Length: 2-3 pages, not including title and reference pages

References: Minimum of 2 scholarly resources

Parts III and IV: Conflict Resolution

Part III Five Orientations of Conflict Resolution: As an educational leader, describe the five common orientations (i.e., competitive, avoidant, accommodation, sharing, and collaborative) for addressing conflict in relation to leader cooperativeness (i.e., high vs. low) and assertiveness (high vs. low). Provide an applied example within an educational setting of interest of how you would utilize the sharing or collaborative orientations to realize effective conflict resolution. 

Length: 2-3 pages, not including title and reference pages

References: Minimum of 2 scholarly resources

Part IV Dealing with Difficult Individuals: As an educational leader using an applied example within an educational setting of interest, describe how you would manage a difficult individual (e.g., staff, student, parent, board of education member) to successfully diffuse a conflictual situation.

Length: 2-3 pages not including title and reference pages

References: Minimum of 2 scholarly resources