Group Problem Solving.

This pamphlet discusses group problem solving in schools. Its point of departure is that teachers go at problems from a number of different directions and that principals need to capitalize on those differences and bring a whole range of skills and perceptions to the problem-solving process. Rather than trying to get everyone to think alike, principals should take advantage of the holistic approach of the idealists, the analysts' power of logic and deduction, the realists' ability to keep the situation in perspective, the pragmatists' drive to find the shortest route to the payoff, and the synthesists' gifts for creative speculation. A basic attraction of group processes is that one can reap the benefits of both convergent and divergent thinking, and both the analytical and the intuitive. One of the obvious advantages of group problem-solving over individual effort is that the alternative suggestions generated by a committed group will almost always be greater in number and richer in creativity. These ideas are illustrated by a series of hypothetical examples and anecdotes. (TE)