OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Politcal Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the political frame
2. Apply the political frame to your personal case situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

The situation I choose for this assignment is the arrest of two African American

men in a Philadelphia Starbucks location. Both men were arrested and removed from

the store by police as an act of discrimination by the store manager for them loitering.

The two gentlemen were waiting for another peer to meet them at the store to discuss a

business deal, but because they had not yet made a purchase the store manager called

the police. At the time I was working for Starbucks as a district manager about 2 hours

from where the incident had taken place.

2) Describe how the politics of the organization influenced the situation.

The policitcal frame into influence the situation in a few different places, starting

with the political promotion culture within. Many times in Starbucks promotions are not

based on merit but rather the relationships with the hiring manager. I have seen store

managers get promoted who were failing at running their stores to becoming a district

manager because they were friends. Having people who were promoted because of

political reasons does not set the team up for success in the long run

1
 Another biggest highlihgs where politics were involved heavily was in how they

cleaned up the situation in the public view. The morning after the incident the CEO of the

company went on national morning shows and apologized for the incednt stating the

manager was wrong. I agree that public statement needed to be made and ownership

needed to be taken but they did this without even investigating what had happened first to

fully understand. This was the first thing I thought about when this thought came across

in the weekly reading “It is foolhardy to plunge into a minefield without knowing where

explosives are buried.” (2017) They made this move to try and get in front of the PR

nightmare that was brewing.

3) Recommend how you would use organizational politics for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.

When thinking through how I could creat a different course of action when

responding to the situation that had occurred I would have focused on a full

understanding. Standing up in front of the country and saying this should not have

happened and we will fully investigate to ensure it never happens again would be a great

starting point. I felt as though throwing the manager and district manager under the bus

without all of the facts was a very rash choice.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame.

What I would do differently is so many things but from a political frame I would

ensured that the leaders running the business should have been. As a leader it is your job

to evaluate the values of the people working for you to see if they align with companies.

For someone to racially profile guests nad have them arrested they had some misaligned

values and should not have been in the position to make these decisions.

2
 Another thing I would have done politically is ensuring that leaders were in

positions because they have the capability to do so. It was found that there had been some

quick promotions and hiring out of desperation that had played into this situation. I am

not one that thinks someone on me team should get promoted because I have a

relationship with them. Starbucks needs to recognize the hard work that people put in and

the ones that are successful and focuse on their businesses rather than kissing up to the

leaders.

3
 Reference or References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing Organizations. In Reframing organizations

artistry, choice, and leadership 6th ED (p. 207). Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass.