Chelsea Velasquez

OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Politcal Frame Worksheet

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

In 2020 the non-profit children’s museum I was employed with furloughed myself and
the rest of the staff due to lack of funds available to pay us. I was in an internal
administration position as an Outreach and Programs Specialist. The situation in question
leaves room for speculation of the what if outcomes that could have ensued had some
minor adjustments been made with the funds allocated to the museum.

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

Unfortunately, in this scenario the political influence was hands down the executive
director. Although, I feel that the board of directors could have had a heavy influence as
well, I do know that their goal was to open the museum up no matter what. Opening up
the museum means needing people to work and run the museum, especially since it is a
children’s interactive museum. The agenda of the executive director was purely to use the
funds given to us on updating the museum since there was not a definitive time of
potential re-opening. A major factor in this situation was obviously the uncertainty of the
virus, and with that was also the back and forth of the government orders here in
California.

Another side to this situation was the influence of the big sponsors of each exhibit in the
museum. They are putting in money for these exhibits only for them to be sitting unused.
With that pressure our director felt even more compelled to express to them that the time
was crucial to conduct repairs rather than focus on reopening since it was not in the
foreseeable future. This issue was just building continuiosly as the weeks continued into
the lockdown.

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

Considering that the museum I worked for was a non-profit, the idea of a union was not
really in the spectrum. Though, an idea mentioned in the text under Sources of Power
could have played a role in making a difference here. “When decisions are made, the
interests of those with a, “seat at the table” are well represented, while the concerns of
absentees are often distorted or ignored” (Bolman & Deal, 2017 p.194). In this context
regarding my situation, we, the staff, were the ignored absentees.

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 While I don’t believe that the furlough was malicious, I do think the board and director
were not considering the employees enough. With that idea I feel that moral and ethic
issues can be evident. A set of questions in the text provide the exact questions I would
have liked to ask my now, ex director and board. “Are you comfortable discussing and
defending your choices? Would you want to be on the receiving end of your own
actions?” (Bolman & Deal 2017, p. 215). These questions emphasis “openness” (Bolman
& Deal 2017, p. 216), and for our organization I felt that was the core of our system from
the beginning within our team. Apparently not in the midst of a global pandemic.

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

Given the frame context with this scenario, I think the only thing that I could have done
was to fight for my team and my position. In the text there was a mention of the various
movements that ensued from mistreatment. It would be wrong of me to compare this
situation at the same level of intensity as those, but it was still an important job to many
of us on payroll. Especially myself who spent so much time building my skills knowing
that one day I would love to be the executive director at a museum similar to that one.
What I learned from the political frame is geared toward alternative parts of an
organzaition that don’t necessarily adhere to this situation perse.

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 Reference or References