The Park and Recreation Commission - Observation Report

Participation Observation Report

Saehyun Oh(Sam)

Psc 775 (Organization theory in PA)

1. Meeting : Mt. Pleasant Parks and Recreation Commission (regular meeting)

 Date: March 27, 2012

 Time: 7:00 - 8:00 pm

 Venue: City Hall

 Participants: the Commission members(7), Park and Recreation Staffs(3)

2. Observation Reports

A. Mission and Composition

The Park and Recreation Commission is one of commissions of the city of Mt. Pleasant. It advises the city Commission on leisure time needs of the community, as well as plan for development of park facilities and recreation programs. It consists of seven city residents who applies for the commission member and appointed by the City Commission. The term of the commission is three years. The members of commission are not paid for any activities as a member of the commission (City of Mt. Pleasant, 2012).

The chairman of the commission explained that most members are retired, and all members are glad to serve voluntarily their home town. He also insisted that all members know well the roles of the commission as an advisory which has not any power to control the executive. They, however, participate actively in meetings which are hold on every fourth Tuesday of each month (personal communication, March 27, 2012).

B. Interaction among the members

The commission discussed the agenda of the meeting through the free communication among the members. The chairman, for instance, played his roles as a moderator of the meeting and encouraged the other members to state their own opinions about the agenda. Despite they do not receive any payment for participation in the meeting., the members listened earnestly to the report from the staffs of the Park and Recreation Department and discussed actively every agenda.

As theory Z explained that Z type management makes members of an organization reliable to each other and improve the loyalty of members to company, the commission can be defined as Z type organization due to the following two perspectives: First, the members trust each other that they do not seek private interests through the commission because the commission has no power to control the executive. Second, the members love their home town and are glad to serve their hometown as volunteers. That means they have loyalties for their communities and the commission. The members can communicate very well among themselves through understanding each other and sharing the goals of the commission. The internal interaction among the members, therefore, is well organized.

C. Interaction with community

The commission has the two stakeholders including the community of the city of Mt. Pleasant and the Department of Parks and Recreation. In my opinion, the members usually are provided the information about all projects which were finished, are being operated, and will be operated by the department of parks and Recreation through the reporting in the meeting. The members can advise the executive by sharing the information. The relationship between the members and the staffs of Department of Parks and recreation seems to be horizontal because I could not find any authoritarian attitude from the member and staffs. That may cause from the power of the commission which