Anissa Spadavecchia

OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Symbolic Frame Worksheet
Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the symbolic frame
2. Apply the symbolic 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.

Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

The organization that I have chosen to represent is Amazon. The reason for this is
Amazon is a very successful company and I have been using them for years. My role is to
really dig deep and find out why they’re such a great company with this personal case
anaylsis. The role I have chosen is Human resources because it’s a huge role in every
company/organization.
Describe how the symbols of the organization influenced the situation.
The Symbolic Frame focuses on how humans use meaning, belief, and faith to create a
culture. In any organization, there are certain values, rituals, ceremonies, and stories that
make up the environment and symbols of the group and attract members that support the
cause.
Amazon has huge values. They agreed on five core values and wrote them down on a
whiteboard in a conference room: customer obsession, frugality, bias for action,
ownership, and high bar for talent. Later Amazon would add a sixth value, innovation.
When Amazon.com launched in 1995, it was with the mission “to be Earth's most
customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might
want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.”
At Amazon, they work with smart, passionate people who are building new products and
services every day on behalf of our customers. Their Leadership Principles empower us
to be owners and innovators while maintaining our customer centricity.
Recommend how you would use organizational symbols for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.
Their mission is to continually raise the bar of the customer experience by using the
internet and technology to help consumers find, discover and buy anything, and empower
businesses and content creators to maximise their success. We aim to be Earth's most
customer centric company. Our vision is to be earth's most customer-centric company; to
build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to
buy online.
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus,
passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking.
Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment
by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon
Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. Amazon's
mission, vision & values motivate 68% of Amazon employees. Besides getting paid, the
“company mission” is the most important thing about their work for 8% of employees at
Amazon. 15% of employees say that the main reason they stay at Amazon is because of
the Amazon company mission.
Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame.
The Symbolic Frame addresses people's needs for a sense of purpose and meaning in
their work. It focuses on inspiring people by making the organisation's direction feel
significant and distinctive. It includes creating a motivating vision, and recognising
superb performance through company celebrations.
"You will live the company motto, "Work Hard. Have Fun. Make History."" For the
industry there is great pay, strong benefits package, great co-workers, & visionary
leadership.” This is a huge symbol towards the company.