Main Article Content
Abstract
Decision-making is one of the most important elements in the administration of any organization. In higher education, college is an institution, in which the principal is a prime person who makes decision. This article investigates the perception of college principal towards his decision Making style. Numerous studies in the area of Management and Leadership indicate that one’s decision making style (DMS) is reflective of one’s leadership style. Using the Decision Making Styles Inventory (DMSI) developed by Rowe and Boulgarides (1992), this paper attempts to explore and report the managerial DMS among 130 college principals in Kanyakumari District. The scores derived from Decision making inventory were categorized into four decision styles namely: Directive, Behavioral, Analytical and Conceptual. Results revealed that a majority of principals adopted at least one very dominant or dominant DMS intensity level for Behavioral DMS along with one or two back-up decision styles. These findings indicate that most of the principals possessed more than one style category implying that they have considerable flexibility in their managerial DMS. These findings have implications for leadership training.