DO THE BENEFITS OF SDM OUTWEIGH ITS DISADVANTAGES?

SDM是否利多於弊？                 

SDM(Shared decision-making) has the potential to improve the quality of decisions; increase a decision's acceptance and implementation; strengthen staff morale, commitment, and teamwork; build trust; help staff and administrators acquire new skills; and increase school effectiveness (Lynn Balster Liontos 1993).

SDM可以提高決策的質量，增加決策的接受度和可行性，加強員工的士氣，責任心和團隊合作，建立信任，幫助員和管理人員掌握新技能，以及提高學校效率。

A larger number of alternatives can be generated and analyzed when more people are involved, often resulting in innovative approaches to issues. In a fifteen-month study of six schools that switched to SDM, Lange found that as autonomy was achieved, better decisions were made than would have been under centralized school management. Trust also increased as staff gained understanding of management complexities and principals learned to respect faculty judgment.

當越多人參與SDM，越能創造並分析可供選擇的策略，經常能形成議題的革新途徑。有一項長達15個月的研究，觀察六所學校轉換成為SDM模式的結果。Lange發現團隊實現了自治，且與過去的集中管理比較，SDM能作出更有效的決策。行政團隊的信任增進了對管理複雜性的瞭解，也更能夠學習到尊重校長和行政團隊的判斷。

However, SDM brings challenges as well. It places new demands on teachers and administrators. All participants must contend with a heavier workload and the frustrations that accompany a slower group process. Increased demands on participants' time may pose the greatest barrier to implementing and maintaining SDM.

然而SDM也受到挑戰。SDM對老師與校長的要求很多。所有參與者會有更多的工作量，也因緩慢的團隊合作，增加參與者的工時，可能造成執行及維持SDM的困難。

In an SDM environment, teachers, who typically work in isolation from other adults in the "egg-crate organization of schools," must "engage other adults, negotiate, resolve differences, and come to decisions" concerning issues that have not traditionally fallen within the scope of their duties (Carol Weiss, Joseph Cambone, and Alexander Wyeth 1992). To do this effectively, say these authors, teachers have to "extend themselves into new arenas of expertise."

在SDM環境下，傳統上在 “蛋箱學校組織”獨立工作的老師，必須與他人合作，協商，排除不同觀點後做成決定。以上都不在他們傳統上認定的工作範圍內。 為了有效率的達成，這些老師必須學習新的專業。