Reference no: EM133244596

Case: Decision Making Scenario Four: Sparkling Lake Adventure Camp

You are a member of the Sparkling Lake Adventure Camp Management Board. This Board sets guidelines and policies for Camp Sparking Lake Adventure Camp, a summer camp for children 10-16 years located in the Haliburton Highlands in Northern Ontario. Children have been coming to Sparking Lake Adventure Camp for over 50 years and some of the children coming now had parents who also came when they were children. Children who come to the camp come for a 2-week period and during that 2-week period sleep in tents, learn to swim, hike, build a camp, canoe, kayak, go wilderness trekking, learn how to build campfires, read a compass, go zip lining, learn about wild animals and acquire many more skills and memories. The children's parents pay high fees to have their children attend Camp Sparkling Lake Adventure Camp and so at this point the camp is quite stable financially.

Recently some parents have written to the Board and have begun to pressure the camp to take their younger children, those under 10 years and in one case a five-year-old. The Management Board is composed of an experienced camp director, a local lawyer, a parent representative, a Haliburton Highlands community member and a member of the local Town Council. The Management Board has read all of the letter from the parents asking that their younger children attend and the Management Board knows it is going to need to make a decision.

Some of the members of the Board feel taking younger children would ruin the experience for the older ones, create too much risks and liability and ruin the experience for older campers. Other members feel Sparking Lake Adventure Camp could rise to this challenge and provide the camping experience for these younger children. The policies of Sparkling Lake Adventure Camp, at this time, do not allow younger children to attend and so policies and practices would need to change and no one knows if camp staff would need to be trained differently. The financial gain could be significant as well.

A decision needs to be made. How will the Sparkling Lake Adventure Camp Management Board proceed and solve this problem?

Question: What decision making mode was used?