In any organization, such as a school system, the number of stakeholders, bureaucracy, and politics increase the difficulty of the problems involved in finding good solutions.
Modern management theory has come up with several approaches designed to insure that problems are identified and framed correctly, the options are clearly delineated, and decisions are made according to the best information, with the most acceptable cost (or risk) to benefit alternative as the outcome.
While these approaches are far from foolproof, they do eliminate many of the pitfalls of ad hoc decision-making lacking a structured procedure. Even if you don't believe that the movement of the stars in the sky affect personal human destiny, it is enjoyable to have your horoscope done for the simple fact that it deals with many aspects of personality that almost anyone enjoys thinking about. In a similar manner, using the seven-step decision-making process focuses your attention on virtually all the elements necessary to consider in order to make a good decision, although it does not guarantee the best solution will be adopted.
We will use a hot-button conflict as a case study, and will examine the problem and possible outcomes from several different problem-solving points of view.
In their book The Principalship, Drake and Roe recount an apparently hypothetical incident in which materials relating to homosexuality were displayed by two teachers in their classrooms, resulting in complaints by parents. Due to the parental objections, the principal forced the materials to be taken down. This infuriated the two teachers involved, and one of them protested to the teachers' union, as well as to the local human relations board. He also reported the incident to the superintendent of schools and the local newspaper, accusing the principal of censor ship.
The incident became a community-wide controversy when the paper wrote an editorial in support of t...