Uses of the benefits approach to leisure.

In the December 1997 issue of Parks & Recreation magazine, you read about some of the basics of the Benefits Approach to Leisure (BAL). That article mentioned that the BAL is used to guide policy development, research, instruction, and management (as Benefits-based Management [BBM]). There are two ways in which BBM is being applied. The first application is one in which it is used to optimize an array of benefit opportunities, which is referred to as the Optimize Benefit Opportunities approach. The other application of BBM is when a recreation service is strategically programmed as a social intervention to help prevent, resolve, or reduce the adverse impacts of a specific social problem or alternatively to capture a targeted benefit. This is known as the Capture A Specific Benefit approach.

The first approach involves BBM being used to optimize the benefit choice options of the customers served. It is based upon the fundamental tenet of all representative systems of government, in which each citizen is reasonably sovereign and should have an array of options from which to choose. Under this approach, several benefit opportunities are provided from the management of several recreation sites, areas, or facilities. The major tasks are to determine which types of opportunities will be provided where, when, in what amount, for whom, and at what price. Because BBM requires comprehensive consideration of the impacts on all customers and stakeholders, including local communities, customers should not be limited to the on-site visitors. One of the appeals of BBM is that it has proven to be effective in defining what this array of benefit opportunities should be and how it should be provided.

The second approach, Capture a Specific Benefit, is best illustrated by the growing number of park and recreation departments that are structuring leisure programs specifically to prevent at-risk youth from causing problems for themselves and for society. Me fall 1996 issue (Vol. 14, No. 3) of the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration describes this use of BBM and includes results of several case studies. You may also want to consider consulting Witt and Crompton (1996). This approach can also be used to capture other individually targeted benefits, such as increased understanding of the natural environment and environmental processes; promotion of physical activity to improve and maintain physical and mental health; provision of opportunities for the elderly to improve their systems of social interaction and networking; and maintenance or improvement of the economic conditions of local communities. Normally, these types of benefit opportunities are included as one of many provided, but emphasized, in the Optimize array of benefits approach. Thus, the benefits approach can be used to focus on only one type, or only a few benefits, and needs not be used to provide an array of benefit opportunities, as is sometimes mistakenly thought. In fact, many park and recreation agencies are incrementally adopting BBM by focusing on a narrow set of benefits in the beginning.

The public policymakers and managers who have applied the BAL have found it easy to understand. They appreciate it and think it is the way that recreation policies and managerial directions should be developed and implemented. This sentiment is shared by a growing number of leisure educators and scientists.

Over time, the BAL has become easier for practitioners to implement because the procedures used in the past by different federal, state or provincial, and municipal agencies have now become more standardized. This has simplified and expedited the process of implementing the BAL. Several user's guides that are currently being prepared describe those procedures and will facilitate wider and more constant uses of the BAL.

Where to From Here

The notion of managing recreation resources to realize benefits is not a new one; it dates back at least to the times of Aristotle. It was also the base of the parks and recreation movements in the United States, Canada, and England, which were founded on the articulation of the social merits of recreation in the mid- and early 1900s (Allen, 1996). Since then, that concept had been urged by many others before the BAL was developed, including Kelly (1981) and Driver and Burch (1988). In fact, Howard and Crompton (1980, p.311) were probably the first to express the basic concept of BAL when they wrote, "The ... question to ask is, `What is the best way these benefits [of managing park and recreation resources] can be facilitated, given the resources available ... People expend their money and time ... with the expectation of receiving benefits, not the delivery of services themselves.'" So, the BAL is not a new concept, but until the basic structures of the benefits approach were built at the Applications Workshop in 1991, there was no systematic, conceptually integrated, and operational means of promoting and applying that approach.

Since 1991, the BAL has returned us to our roots, and we are once again articulating more clearly the theme of benefits in policy development and managing for explicitly targeted benefits. But, we have just started redefining those roots. Each of us must be involved to keep the process going. Specifically, we each must help to "reposition" our profession and the services we provide in the minds of the public, the legislators at all levels of government, and the providers of other social services. The position we must strive for is one in which members of each of these groups recognize and understand clearly the actual value being added to human lives and to the general welfare by recreation and related amenity services (Crompton and Witt, 1997). Then, we must deliver the benefits that add that value. Until we are so positioned, recreation services will continue to lack the political parity they deserve with other social services, and we will not be able to add as much value as we can. As aforementioned, it is up to each of us.

References

Allen, L. (1996). A primer: Benefits-based management of recreation services. Parks and Recreation. March: 64-76.

Buckley, W. (1968). Modern systems research for the behavioral scientist. Aldine Chicago, IL: Publishing Company.

Crompton, J. (1993). Repositioning recreation and park services: An overview. Trends, 30,30 (4) 2-5. Washington, D.C.: Park Practice Program, National Park Service.

Crompton, J. and Witt, P. (1997). Repositioning: The key to building community support. Parks and Recreation. October: 80-90.

Dustin, D. and Goodale, I (1997). The social cost of individual "benefits." Parks and Recreation. July: 20-21.

Driver, B. and Burch, Jr., W. (1988). A framework for more comprehensive valuations of public amenity goods and services. In G. Peterson, B. Driver and R. Gregory (Eds.). Amenity resource valuation: Integrating economics with other disciplines (31-45). State College, PA: Venture Publishing, Inc.

Driver, B., Brown, P. and Peterson, G. (Eds.). (1991a). The Benefits of Leisure. State College, PA: Venture Publishing, Inc.

Driver, B. and Bruns, D. (In press). Concepts and uses of the Benefits Approach to Leisure. In T. Burton and E. Jackson (Eds.). Leisure Studies at the Millenium. Venture Publishing, Inc.

Godbey, G., Graefe, A. and James, S. (1992). The benefits of local recreation and park services: A nationwide study of the perceptions of the American public. School of Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management. State College, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.

Howard, D. and Crompton, J. (1980). Financing, Managing, and Marketing Recreation & Park Resources. Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers. Dubuque, IA.

Journal of Park and Recreation Administration. (1996). Vol. 14, No. 3.

Kelly, J. (1981). Social benefits of outdoor recreation. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Department of Leisure Studies, University of Illinois.

Parks and Recreation Federation of Ontario. (1992). The benefits of parks and recreation: A catalogue. Ottawa, Canada.

Sefton, J. and Mummery, W. (1995). Benefits of recreation research update. State College, PA: Venture Publishing, Inc.

Witt, P. and Crompton, J. (Eds.). (1996). Recreation programs that work for at-risk youth: The challenge of shaping the future. State College, PA: Venture Publishing, Inc.

Benefits Marketing in Action

The Top 10 Uses of the Benefits Slogan, Logo, or Products

10 R. Dean Tice, executive director of NRPA, delivered several Benefits calendars to Vice-President Al Gore's office in February 1997.

9 Billboards sporting the Benefits slogan and logo have been spotted in several communities. Monmouth County, New Jersey, created 13 billboards in its parks.

8 DeKalb County (GA) produced an ongoing cable TV program that tied in Benefits to programs and activities.

7 As part of a contest, children in Wausau, Wisconsin, covered city buses with the Benefits slogan and original artwork.

6 The city of New Britain, Connecticut, is planning to paint the bottom of its swimming pools with the Benefits slogan.

5 Hundreds of voice-mail and answering-machine messages now include the Benefits message.

4 In Long Beach, California, every community center and recreation center welcomes all who enter with double-door-size Benefits doormats.

3 Benefits koozies proved influential in the passing of a multimillion-dollar bond measure in Florida.

2 Screen-saver marquees have been instantly changed to read "Parks and Recreation: The Benefits are Endless...[TM]" with a few simple keystrokes.

1 Mountain Home, Idaho, helped us invent the new Benefits Basketball, which features phrases geared specifically towards at-risk youth.