Maybe she likes golf or tennis. Maybe her father belongs to what once used to be called a smoking club a century ago. Or perhaps, as a writer, she saw a need and a challenge and asked the Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Motel Association if she could write a comprehensive book for them that would bring club management into the twenty-first century.

It should be noted that in a disclaimer in the front pages from them, the Club Managers Association of America and the American Hotel and Motel Association stipulate that this book she wrote has nothing in it they recommend, endorse or use as a standard. This protects them legally, I guess, but it seems very odd to me why they should need protection. The book is not filled with her opinions, but is written with the help of people in the business about what makes a club more effective and welcoming.

The Contents

There are six sections to the book, which are issues discussing the Club Board and Committee Orientation and the what, why, who and how of it; the Club Bylaws: Determining the Need For Change, which gave a rather fascinating history of these clubs' bylaws and recent laws implemented or denied, like in Texas where they killed a bill that said clubs of fifty or more members could not discriminate in any way. (Fine, Texas, stay in the nineteenth-century, but leave the rest of America alone! We women and minorities in race and religion are too good for ya.) Club Rules, explaining their purpose and other dynamics; Roles and Responsibilities of Club Volunteer Leaders, describing why we need them; Effective Board and Committee Meetings, encouraging progress and showing why it is needed, (the description of board members as actors and actresses, wet blankets and such and how to deal with them was quite amusing) and finally Ethics.

This last issue is interesting even if you're not in club management. It begins with no definition of ethics, but rather the various angles of it and how different people interpret them. There are three, according to an associate professor of marketing and hospitality services: the utilitarian principle, the principle of rights and of justice. However, it is pointed out that ethics is "not merely a feel-good proposition" and philosophy. They are put into law more and more as time goes on.

Yet, laws provide only a minimum standard for ethics. They do not demand that any business behave ethically, only that it not behave unethically. p. 204.

Do club members want to be ethical, though? Social responsibility is a big part of ethics, but many don't want it. As one member commented, he had enough participation with charities at his job and he just wants the club to be his escape. The author, Bridgette Redman, also goes into the ethics in labor relations, obstacles to ethics, conflicts of interests for board members, human resources issues, supplier/vendor concerns, membership issues and environmental interests. If a board member is confused as to where he stands on ethics, he will appreciate the questions given him to reflect on and to discuss.

Every section, filled with graphs, charts, lists and colored-box examples of what Redman is explaining, ends with a case study followed by discussion questions. I would have preferred these case studies at the beginning instead to create more interest and purpose in reading the sections. Rather than showing you what you have learned, which is repetitious, the case studies would then show you what you need to learn, if anything. They are still very good descriptions of problems that are encountered in club affairs.

Final Thoughts

I must confess that I read (much of) this book solely because I know the author, one of Epinion.com's category leads in Books, but I'm glad I got into it finally because I had nothing else to read, hehe. It didn't sound like it would be as interesting as it was. Maybe if it had had a more colorful title, you know? White Papers sounds like school or government documents! I found it to be very practical (not practicable, heehee!), thorough, interesting for the most part (except in the middle) and helpful for board members. There was only one typo that I noticed on page 105 and just a few awkward sentences.

As I said, anyone could find this book interesting (try reading the case studies first instead of last) and I can recommend it highly with no worry of repercussions, unlike the corporations, because I have nothing at all to gain from it (Epinions.com has assured me of that!). Redman also lists other book and web resources on ethics for your greater benefit. I noticed that Club Management Association of America is holding its World (?) Conference in San Diego the end of January 2001 (contact Redman for 2003's conference) and this is the place to be if you're at all curious about learning more of today's golf and tennis clubs.

Redman's book, White Papers on Club Management, was included in CMAA's Bookmart at the bottom under Club Management Resources from the Educational Institute (http://www.cmaa.org/bookmart) with very high praise of its usefulness if you would like to read that and/or order it. There's actually a second book on more boring elements of club management, or so I'm told, which I didn't read and is shown and described briefly there. My copy of the first, 240-page book was free, ha ha, but for non-members (or non-reviewers) the price is $45, I think.

So to answer the title question, Redman, a nice redheaded girl, is quite impressively showing us she can write more than her opinion! Way to go, Bridgette! :-)


Recommended: Yes