Edginton, E. and Williams, J. (1978). Productive Management of Leisure Service Organizations: A Behavioral Approach. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Policymaking and the Legal Basis for Leisure Service OrganizationsLeisure service managers need an understanding of the concepts involved in the process ofpolicymaking. They should be able to conceptualize the many facets involved in this process andintegrate these as they pertain to the organization. Managers must understand the nature ofpolicies, the process of policymaking, the different types of policy structures, factors affecting thepolicy process, and their role in the policy process. A policy, like a budget, is a plan. It is a wayfor an organization to delineate a course of action that guides the behavior of both employees andconsumers.Policies provide leisure service organizations with guidelines that delineate such Factors as thetypes of services to be offered, acceptable forms of employee behavior, the relationship betweenthe employees and the consumers, and standards for consumer behavior (e.g., acceptable forms ofconsumer behavior In public park facilities). Policies are made by people; they are notorganizational monoliths. In the first section of this chapter, we will discuss policy, the process ofpolicy formulation, and the environmental factors of which managers must be aware.In the second half of this chapter, we will discuss the legal basis for leisure service organizations.Any group of individuals has a set of rights, privileges, power, and authority that allows it tooperate within society. This is also the case with leisure service organizations. In many cases,these rights and so on are derived from formal legal codes. Legal considerations fall within thepolitical environmental subsystem. Knowledge of the legal parameters will enable the leisureservice managers to concentrate their efforts on areas that they know will serve their clients mostproductively.POLICYMAKINGWhat is Policy?Policy is usually thought of as the formal guidelines an organization has established for itself; butthere may also be a set of informal policies within an organization. The definition used in thisbook maintains that a policy is a course of action that guides human behavior. For our purposes,this suggests that a policy, as a course of action, will govern the behavior of individuals within anorganization. Formal policies, usually expressed as written documents, delineate the purposes,aims, goals, objectives, principles, procedures, and rules that provide direction to individualswithin an organization. Informal policies consist of norms, mores, and customs present within anorganization that affect individual and collective behavior. Informal policies may have greatimpact on the organization because they have the potential to displace formal policies. Essentially,policies—formal and informal—may be thought of as the plan or plans that organizations follow.There are three ways in which policy affects behavior in organizations:1. Enabling behavior to occur that would be difficult or even impossible without policy.2. Regulating behavior into routine matters.3. Inhibiting behavior that would be widespread or easy without policy.An example of a policy that would enable behavior to occur is the adoption of a rule which setsforth the hours and days of operation of a community swimming pool by a park and recreationboard. Adoption of this policy enables the park and recreation director to open the facility at acertain time and utilize the resources of the organization to operate and promote the activity. Italso inhibits certain types of behavior in that it restricts the hours the pool can be used. Whenformulating a policy, the manager must be cognizant of the complementary nature of inhibitingand enabling behavior; the adoption of a policy that enables certain kinds of behaviors can in factinhibit other behaviors.Policies also serve the function of regulating certain types of behaviors. By routinizing certainpatterns of activity, an organization is able to concentrate more of its resources on major issues. Itreduces the need for repetitive decision-making in areas that can be delegated to subordinates by amanager. If a manager were confronted with the task of having to make decisions on each matterof concern to the organization, his or her time and energy would be misused. A park manager canroutinize maintenance procedures so that the maintenance staff knows what jobs have to be doneand during what time period, rather than having to decide on a daily basis. On the other hand,routine can be equated with rigidity. Organizations must be extremely careful in this regardbecause ruts can be created within an organization. People can easily become creatures of habit,inflexible and unable to respond to changing expectations. The manager must periodically reviewthe tasks that have been routinized in the organization to insure that they are in fact consistentwith organizational goals and objectives.Policies are useful to organizations for several other reasons too. They help clarify relationshipsand patterns of communication by establishing networks of communication and levels ofauthority and responsibility. They can help an organization evaluate its goals and objectives bypresenting a clear picture of the methods and procedures utilized to achieve them. Policies alsoprovide for consistency. The resources of an organization, especially its human ones, can uni-formly be directed toward the goals of the organization. If all employees know the direction inwhich the organization is moving, they can contribute their work effort toward this end.Once an organization has developed a documented set of policies and has set forth its philosophy,goals and objectives, and rules and procedures, its actions become somewhat predictable. If anorganization says that its purpose is to provide leisure services by organizing activities, it can beassumed with a relatively high degree of assurance that it won’t be publishing books.Predictability can lead to the reduction of criticism both from within and without the organizationbecause individuals understand what to expect from it. The establishment of policies allowsindividuals to develop a set of expectations that are likely to be realized in