The Dynamics of School Principals’ Decision-Making in Managing Opinion and Strategic Policy Consensus in Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59374/waosan.v1i1.5Keywords:
Organizational Politics, School Principal., Decision Making, Heresthetics, Machiavellian StrategyAbstract
This study aims to explore the dynamics of organizational politics in the strategic decision-making process of school principals through the lens of heresthetics theory and Machiavellian strategy. Schools are often perceived as neutral administrative institutions; however, in reality, they are arenas of contestation of interests involving negotiations between leaders and influential groups, particularly senior teachers. Using a qualitative case study approach involving eight key informants, data were analyzed using the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña to map the behind-the-scenes tactics employed by leaders. The findings reveal that principals act as skillful herestheticians through three main strategies: strict agenda setting to prevent disorder, the use of “the fox” tactic to co-opt senior teachers through informal channels, and issue reframing to transform perceptions of loss into collective gain. These findings indicate that the resulting consensus is often pseudo-democratic, where policy legitimacy is built upon carefully designed political strategies to appear as shared aspirations. This study contributes scientifically by offering a pragmatic perspective on educational leadership, emphasizing that political competence is a crucial element in ensuring organizational stability and the sustainability of strategic policies.
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