Discussion Topic #4 Prompts

Prompt #1:  What did you learn about organizations, and/or the behavior of individuals
within an organization?  How do the ideas presented in Part Four (the Political Frame) of the
B&D textbook enrich your understanding of the ways in which organizations and the people
working in them function? 
This week’s readings helped me understand that there where there is power, there is politics. I
learned that personal power comes from the ability to apply influence tactics, which include
reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and sacristy. In
chapter 10, it is said that “Many people think of politicians as arm-twisters, and that is, in part,
true. But in order to be a successful arm-twister, one needs to know which arm to twist, and
how.” (Bolman, p. 205). Chapter 10 also lists four key political skills that managers exercise as:
agenda-setting, mapping the political terrain, networking and building coalitions, and
bargaining and negotiating (Bolman). Understanding the skills that exist within political power
enhanced my understanding of the topic and helped me to understand how politics exist within
organizations.
Prompt #2:  How can you apply the concepts that you have learned about in the readings to
your personal or organizational life?  Be specific. 
Reflecting on the Leadership Orientation assessment, I scored the lowest in the Political section.
The discussion of the skills that exist within the political frame resonate with me and enhance
my understanding of what skills I can work on to enhance my political power as a manager/
leader. Understanding that politics exist in every organization gives me the motivation to
enhance my political skills. Specifically, I need to work on networking. As an introvert, I tend to
be shy in social situations. This makes it harder for me to branch out and make new
connections. I know this is something I am need to work on as I advance in my career.
Prompt #3:  Compare how structural theorist, human resource, and political frame theorists
view power. 
The structural frame finds power within an organization existing in a well-fitting structure.
Because structure dictates the way an organization runs and how the people working in the
organization function, the right structure can make an organizational powerful. Power is also
distributed to individuals throughout the organization. The human resource frame finds power
in an organization’s people by implementing an HR strategy, hiring the right people, keeping
those people, empowering them, and promoting diversity. Finally, the political frame finds
power through individuals of an organization set agendas, map out the political terrain,
networking, building coalitions, and negotiating.
Prompt #4: What are the four strategies of principled bargaining?  Come up with an example
of a bargaining situation in which you were involved (or that you are familiar with).  Connect
the use (or failure to use) each of the strategies within the context of your example.  
The four strategies of principled bargaining include separating people from the problem,
focusing on interest and not positions, inventing options for mutual gain rather than locking in
on the first alternative that comes to mind, and insisting on objective criteria (standards of
fairness for both substance and procedure). The best example of bargaining that comes to my
mind is the Shift Supervisors at my job picking which holidays we’ll work. The rule is that
everyone must sign up to work three holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day,
New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day). Every year there is negotiating and bargaining that takes
place. There is always a discussion that takes place where everyone states which holidays they
need off and which ones they are willing to work. The bargaining takes place when people
invent options for mutual gain by negotiating with each other for their preferred holidays off
and not locking in on the first idea that comes to mind.
Prompt #5:  Throughout your progression in the Organizational Leadership program, you have
had a number of courses that include content complementary to the political frame.  Please
highlight what you would consider to be two of the most important things (ideas, concepts,
theories, models, processes, skills, etc.) that you have learned in previous coursework that
you can relate to the Political frame.  Briefly discuss each key learning, the course where you
learned it, and its connection with the Political Frame.
I believe that the Organizational Ethics course corresponds with the political frame and the
theme of morality and politics. Organizational Ethics covers various ethical theories and
practices that relate to organizations and the political frame. Some of which include social
contract theory (respect for possessions, shared information, systems of control, and
evolution), environmental ethics (emphasizing the need to conserve scarce resources and
nature as an important part of being human), and responsibilities of business executives (having
responsibility to maximize share value and highlighting the ethical importance of all
stakeholders).
Prompt #6:  How does politics work in an organization, group, or team with which you are
affiliated? 
When looking at the team at my Starbucks location, the store manager has the most power. As
our leader, she creates a vison that balances the long-term interests of our team and a strategy
for achieving the vision within our store. The Shift Supervisors are the second most powerful
after the store manager, as we run the daily operations with the store. During morning shifts,
there are usually two shift managers (the opener and the mid). These two managers must work
together to support each other, but usually the power shifts from the opener to the mid as the
day progresses. After the Shift managers are the barista trainers. They hold the most power
out of all the baristas because they are responsible for training and coaching baristas. Another
aspect to the power distribution/ political power that exists within our store is that your power
partly depends on how long you have been with the company. That being said, a barista who
has been with the company for 5 years may end up having more power than a Shift Supervisor
who has only been with the company for a year.
Prompt #7:  How does politics affect outcomes in your place of employment (or other
organization) for, say, customers, employees, colleagues, stockholders, surrounding
community and/or any other stake-holders?  How has your organization or team
demonstrated being a political arena and/or political agent?  Describe enough of a situation
concretely to provide context and use concepts from the readings in your response.
Politics greatly affect outcomes in my place of employment. A recent example involves the
Black Lives Matter movement. When the protests took place over the summer, Starbucks
issued a statement to their partners saying they could not wear anything BLM related to work
(shirts, pins, ect). This sparked debate and backlash from the partners (stakeholders). Because
enough partners and customers spoke up in disagreement, they had enough power to influence
Starbucks to retract that statement and provide partners with Starbucks/BLM t-shirts that we
could wear to work as part of our uniforms.

Bolman, Lee G.. Reframing Organizations (p. 193). Wiley. Kindle Edition.