The organizational and decision-making characteristics of four school-based management models being developed in Dade County, Florida; Chicago; Los Angeles; and Spain are compared in this paper. The key differences lie in the origin of and reasons for change, and the common focal point is the creation and empowerment of a local school council at…

This study examined the hypothesis that the reason people believe the two sexes have different personality traits is because they enact roles that vary in power. Men usually enact a dominant role, expressing personality traits of self-assertion or agency, while women usually enact a subordinate role, expressing the personality traits of…

This report describes efforts to test a model of leadership effectiveness that centers on "macro variables" and "discretionary leadership." Macro variables were represented by the complexity of the environment, context, and structure of a unit. Discretionary leadership was defined as influence over and above that typically…

Familial power structure in Mexican and Mexican-American farm labor families was explored by standardized interview to determine if the commonly held view of husband dominance could be substantiated. Egalitarianism was by far the most common mode in both decision-making and action-taking. Dominance-submission patterns are much less universal than…

Asserts that there exists specific economic practices directed toward black families, which force the latter to exist as survival units in the so-called American economy (translated as white supremacy economy). These practices cannot be adequately understood it is held, and thus cannot be effectively countered unless viewed in the total context of…

A study examined the creation of a new division within an organization, where members of management were primarily from an "immigrant" or regulatory culture, to determine the effects on management and professional satisfaction. Data were elicited through both a survey instrument and in-depth interviews with 26 current employees and 12…

On March 1989, the Aspen Institute convened a group of experts to assess Soviet progress in computer and information technologies, their current and likely impact on Soviet society, and appropriate ways for U.S. policymakers to respond. Major issues addressed by conference participants included: Will new information technologies encourage a…

Article III of the U.S. Constitution called for a federal judiciary that would dispense and administer justice in accordance with the principles on which the United States was founded. There was considerable ambivalence among the Founding Fathers as to what was the appropriate role for the judiciary, an ambivalence that has continued to the…

Educators have recently become more willing to realign the educational system. One approach is restructuring, which can take many forms. This study looks at three districts that restructured teaching, two with career ladders and one with shared governance. The reforms took two directions--professional and bureaucratic--which had important…

Discrepancies between actual and desirable organizational cultures, with a focus on the implications for improving administrator training, are examined in this report. The desirable characteristics of a productive school culture are determined and compared with the perceptions of Australian and U.S. staff. A mailed survey of 587 practitioners in…

Much of the story of illiteracy is about the powerless, and reporting on it can focus on who lacks power and why. However, much of the untold story about illiteracy is about people with power who are choosing not to wield it--educators, economists, elected officials, presidential candidates, corporate leaders, publishers, and the literate public…

The condition of the academic profession today is examined with a focus on the teaching and research functions in the academy. The diverse settings in which academics work are considered in three parts: (1) the foundations of the academic profession (the evolution of institutions; the elaboration of disciplines; and the open system); (2) the…

Although spouse abuse is a common occurrence it rarely results in prosecution; among the reasons for the low prosecution rate is the disproportionate degree of power in the marital relationship. To look at instances of spouse abuse in black and white families, and to examine the distribution of decision making influence in these homes, 366…

Even though the first citizens of the United States were skeptical about singular authority, the Constitution gave the president independent authority and strong powers. But as chief executive, he would be responsible to the people for the exercise of those powers. The modern presidency is a product of 200 years of growth and experience, yet much…

Student brinkmanship in residence halls, resident assistant (RA) leadership, and residence social climate are discussed. In "brinking" the system, students challenge authority in ways that provide scant grounds for the institution to apply punishment. The study looks at relationships between: the RA's leadership behavior and student…