ABSTRACT
Current organizational theory and practice recognizes the importance of both interpersonal relationships and the structure of administration. Rather than presupposing that people are made for organizations, this enlightened concept negotiates between the extremes of organizational necessity and individualization. This management orientation is clearly observed from efforts to develop a human resources organizational contract as a coordinating process in which neither aspect can be truly intelligible without the other. This chapter concerns the human factor in management and the principles and practices that have been utilized for dealing with personnel working in an enterprise governed by public policy. Personnel employed by a public recreational service department perform
duties related to three more or less distinct functions: (1) organization, promotion, supervision, and leadership of the recreational program; (2) planning, construction, and maintenance of recreational facilities and places; and (3) business administration, clerical duties, and other office work. Employees in the last two categories are recruited from the general labor pool of mechanics, laborers, office workers, and other functionaries available to all agencies and enterprises. Their titles are generally similar to those of their corresponding numbers in other businesses and governmental agencies. Their preparation is not necessarily slanted toward recreational service. The adaptation of their skills to the requirements of the recreational service department is a problem of in-service education and staff development. Of course, there are employees who have been prepared for the planning and development specialization for employment in recreational service agencies. These individuals may have studied park planning and design or architectural design with major emphasis on recreational places and structures. Such individuals may have been indoctrinated with concepts of recreational resources. These people would not be recruited from the general labor market but would be selected from institutions of higher education where such specialized programs exist or from the field. Employees engaged to perform duties and undertake responsibilities
directly concerned with recreational service operations are either generalists
educational his/her general orientation to recreational service and in his/her special knowledge, appreciation, and skill in specific recreational activities. The abilities necessary for the organization and management of recreational service, whether in the public or private sector, contribute to his/her stature as a specialist and as a member of a discipline aspiring to professionalism. Management of any organization depends on the persons employed in it.
The success or failure of departmental activity is based on the soundness of human resource management. Human factors must be considered as the vital source for analysis, research, and scientific formulation of policies and principles. In the overall picture of public service administration, the management of human resources is the most important function.1
