Collegiality can effectively address complex schoolwide problems requiring shared expertise or cohesive schoolwide action for resolution, but traditional teacher autonomy may inhibit such collegiality. Two New Zealand schools used collegial processes to develop solutions to schoolwide problems. Forest High was worried that staff failure to meet parental expectations about homework contributed to declining enrollment. Midway Elementary was developing schoolwide procedures for monitoring student achievement. Researchers interviewed the schools' principals and staff, audiotaped meetings, and analyzed relevant documents. The results found differences in problem-solving success stemmed from differences in how the schools integrated collegial processes with responsibility for the quality of problem solving processes and outcome. Though Forest High management believed that involvement in decision making was sufficient to ensure solution adequacy, the high value placed on professional autonomy created a disconnection between development of the solution and requirements for implementation. Consequently, the homework problem was not adequately solved. At Midway Elementary, the principal's requirement that the problem be solved limited professional autonomy. Staff took responsibility for solving the whole problem, not just developing an assessment scheme in isolation from other aspects of their professional lives. Midway's successful problem solving was related to the task-focused collegial process. (Contains 24 references.) (SM)