This paper presents findings of a study that examined teachers' and administrators' perceptions of barriers to shared governance or site-based decision making. The eight barriers included ethics, gender bias, political interference, harassment, communication, personal values, cultural diversity, and resources. Data were gathered through a survey of 130 graduate students from 7 education courses at different institutions throughout northwestern Georgia. Respondents were asked to attribute responsibility for the barriers to either faculty or administrators. Seventy-four percent of the sample were involved in some form of shared decision making. Respondents from schools not participating in shared governance showed significantly different opinions from those whose schools were not participants. Personnel from city systems, which are smaller, indicated a joint responsibility toward overcoming the ethics barrier. However, they believed that the administrator was responsible for resource and cultural-diversity barriers. Elementary-school personnel identified the principal as responsible for the barriers of personal values and ethics. Personnel from urban schools said that both faculty and administrators impeded progress in preventing gender bias, promoting cultural diversity, and making resources available. Most faculty defined shared decision making as a process--developing and belonging to teams. However, very few respondents mentioned the curriculum, the students, or the community-at-large as being part of the action. (LMI)