Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of the study was to discover and describe the role orientations selected school board members in California adopt as they decide important policy issues. This was accomplished by describing the resources utilized by school officials in the three major orientational dimensions of authority, reference group and decision style. Resources regarded as decision mechanisms were also included. Procedure. All members of five-member boards in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange Counties were sent the Resource Rating Scale through the United States Mail. They were requested to select an important issue with which they had dealt during the 1981-1982 school year and, with that issue in mind, to respond to the stimulus questions. The mean scores of the sums of all responses in each sub-scale were rank ordered and the standard deviation of each sub-scale mean was determined. Findings. The major findings of this study were that the school board members who responded to the Resource Rating Scale relied on resources found within the values and expertise authority orientational dimensions, turned toward the inside reference group and chose an analytic decision style to reach policy decisions. These board members were consistent in both reference group and decision style orientation by selecting the inside analysis decision mechanism as the most preferred avenue toward reaching a decision. Conclusions and Recommendations. School board members tend to adopt certain preferred orientations when making important policy decisions. Therefore, it is recommended that educational leaders thoroughly acquaint themselves with their local board members and with the processes they utilize in reaching decisions. Providing the board with abundant information on important issues and holding together in a coalition within the educational organization itself appear to be the best strategies for influencing decision outcomes.