In contrast to European cultures, many American Indian societies have been matriarchal. Indian women have had a great deal of power, both as individuals and as groups, and have held various leadership roles within their tribes. Traditionally, Indian women have worked in partnership with men, and decision-making has been related to consensus building. This paper examines decision-making situations that produced cognitive dissonance for six American Indian women supervisors in higher education. Data were collected by personal interviews with the women. They were 38-55 years old and had been supervisors in educational settings for 15-30 years. Decisionmaking situations that produced dissonance were of two types. Decisions between completely negative alternatives included performance evaluation decisions, decisions that provoked an emotional reaction from employees, and personnel decisions that involved counseling or reprimanding elders. Decisions between alternatives, each of which had both positive and negative aspects, included acting as a role model for young people, decisions involving task orientation and deadlines, and decisions that resulted from gender-stereotyped duties. The women were familiar with traditional methods of matriarchal decisions, including personal reflection. The findings illustrate that: (1) sex-role stereotypes have more of an impact on dissonance than ethnic stereotypes; and (2) there is a cultural reinforcement of decision-making skills that mirrors reflective practice. (SV)