Running head: SYMBOLIC FRAME1

PCA: Symbolic Frame

Amy Harris

OGL 481

Arizona State University

September 25, 2020

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PCA: Symbolic Frame

Scheu Products had its slow seasons and its peak seasons. Since we sold and

manufactured construction and patio heaters, winter was our peak season. We would

watch the weather and the first sight of a storm on the East Coast, we knew our phones

would be ringing off the hook. There were three of us in customer service (CSR): Sandy

who had been with the company for 20 years and head of CSR, myself who had only

been there for about 6 months, Sherry who had only been there about 2 months, and we

all shared the same responsibilities. We put our phones on a loop, which means that when

a call came in it would go to one of us, the next call to the next girl and so on, that way

we shared the call volume evenly. One day I realized that my phone was constantly

ringing, I would hang up with one customer and right away I would be getting another

call. When I looked around, I would see Sandy on the phone and Sherry was playing

games on her computer. I later realized that Sherry was not getting calls because she kept

her phone off the hook, so the loop would skip her. I brought this up to Sandy, so of

course she and her supervisor Pete talked to Sherry about it and she started putting her

phone back on the loop. Eventually the same situation happened again.

I became extremely frustrated that Sandy and I were taking on the high volume of

calls while Sherry just played games and read websites. One day I had enough, so I e-

mailed Pete and informed him about my frustrations about the ongoing situation, how

Sherry kept making mistakes on rush orders, not processing payments and even forgot to

place an extremely important order for a trade show, and told him that he needed to either

fire her or I would put in my two weeks’ notice. About 20 minutes later Pete came to my

desk and asked me when my last day would be. I gave him the date and that was that.
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Sandy told me later that Pete did not deal well with ultimatums, so as much as he agreed

with me, he let me put in my two weeks’ notice.

Finding how the symbols of the organization influenced this situation is hard for

me to write about. I feel there was a lack of symbols, humor, rituals and even heroes.

When I was hired on as a customer service representative there was nothing done to make

me feel included on the team. I was told what to do, how to do it and that was it. At the

time I did not mind because I was getting paid over minimum wage and needed to pay

rent, so I did as I was told, there was no ritual to make me feel included, “rituals of

initiation induct newcomers into communal membership. ‘Greenhorns’ often encounter

powerful cultural pressures as they join a group or organization” [CITATION Bol173 \p

252 \l 1033 ].

I remember before I started working for Scheu, my mom had worked there and

she would tell me stories about the Christmas parties the company would throw and how

much fun it was, “symbols and symbolic actions are part of everyday life and are

particularly perceptible at weekly, monthly, or seasonal high points. Symbols stimulate

energy in moments of triumph and offer solace in times of tribulation” [CITATION

Bol173 \p 241 \l 1033 ]. My mom even became close friends with some of the girls there,

so I thought it would have been different. By the time I was hired on, the company was

already in trouble financially, so there focus of creating an environment like the one my

mom worked in was pushed aside.

I think that during the hiring process, the ritual of introducing the new hire to

everyone would have helped make it feel more like a team environment, it could have

opened doors of communication, which would have helped resolve issues. I also feel that
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even though the company was financially unstable, even doing a little office party after

work hours just to show appreciation to the workers would have made a more cohesive

team, “Ritual and ceremony lift spirits and reinforce values” [CITATION Bol173 \p

269 \l 1033 ].

Humor would have made the office feel less tense especially during the winter

season when the phones were ringing off the hook, “Humor and play reduce tension and

encourage creativity” [CITATION Bol173 \p 269 \l 1033 ]. This also could have broken

the ice for Sherry and helped us get to know her better and vice versa. Not getting to

know one another made it feel like we were individuals working on our own instead of

working as a team like we should have been the whole time.

Reflecting on the symbolic frame, I would have made more of an effort to make

Sherry feel welcome and a part of the team. Knowing at that point in time that the

company was probably going to be shutting their doors in the near future, I would have

made more of an effort to try to get some of the girls together after work just so that we

could show appreciation to each other which could have made us closer as a team and

become more supportive of each other.

References

Bolman, L. G., & Lee, T. E. (2017). Reframing Organizations. Hoboken: Jossey-Bass.

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