Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Mel D. Coleman
Committee Member
Paul Borthwick
Committee Member
Maryellen Maher
Keywords
actions, analysis, applied dissertation, board of education, board governance, board-superintendent relations, boards of education, capitulation, conflict, conflict management, data collection, democracy, dissatisfaction theory of democracy, documentation review, educational politics, effective strategies, elite theory, governance, group pressures, interest groups, interviews, leadership, management, micropolitics, observation, patterns of behavior, power, pressure group conflict, pressure groups, qualitative research, school district leadership, school districts, semi-structured interviews, superintendent vulnerability, superintendents, triangulation
Abstract
The purpose of this applied dissertation was to investigate the impact of conflict induced by pressure groups on board of education governance, conditions that result in the board capitulating to pressure group demands, and the resulting vulnerability of the superintendent.
Literature used as a framework for this applied dissertation included the relatively new field of micropolitics, the impact of micropolitics on school district leadership, vulnerability of superintendents, board/superintendent relations, the elite theory, why and how interest groups form, power of interest groups, and the dissatisfaction theory of democracy (R. Danis, 1984).
A qualitative approach was utilized for this applied dissertation. The applied dissertation was designed to answer two primary questions: (a) To what extent and in what ways does pressure group conflict impact board of education governance? and (b) What effective strategies can be utilized by boards of education to manage conflict of pressure groups to avoid capitulation and minimize vulnerability of the superintendent?
The primary means of data collection were threefold: researcher observation of key actors’ behaviors and actions, documentation review and analysis, and semi structured interviews with superintendents from selected school districts that had experienced similar conflict. The researcher analyzed triangulated qualitative data to draw conclusions about patterns of pressure group behavior and effective board of education management of pressure group conflict.