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

Name: Carlos Cumbe

OGL 481 Political Frame Worksheet

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.

My role at Manchester United Football Club is a sporting director known

as a director of football in Europe. My role includes handling many aspects of the
club, including recruitment and advisement of players. According to Career
Trend, “the mission of a director of football operations is to help create the best
team possible.”

The situation I will be analyzing is to set up the proper tactics, goals,

strategies, and structures to lead the club to success as it used to be under our
great manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who left the club 7 years ago. To be specific,
my situation will reflect on transitioning Manchester United a European soccer
club, back to winning the Premier League and the Champions League. I will be
analyzing the DNA and culture of the club when Sir Alex managed the club, our
current situation, and implement my own strategies to gain momentum and
develop this club to greatness, once again. It’s a challenging situation as it
requires “Putting people in the right roles and relationships and properly
designed, these formal arrangements support and accommodate both collective
goals and individual differences” (Bolman & Deal, 2017, p. 48).

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

The situation was influenced by the politics of the organization as the club
took a different approach after the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. New owners
purchased the club from America; this led to new tactics, new strategies, new
culture, new rules, and new sponsorships. Due to what the current leader wanted
to do at the club and what was available to him including signing new soccer
players across Europe was not achievable as the new owners invested in
different approaches. They use tactics of purchasing superstars instead of
focusing on developing home ground players or going for players who are ready
to take the next step and represent the club.

The structure change as they appointed a new board of directors, giving

them all the power and decision-making of the club. Evidently, the new owners
set a new political dimension as they set the stakes, the rules of the game, and
the parameters of players (Bolman & Deal, 2017, p. 221). It has influenced the
situation as these strategies have not worked, it does not represent the culture
that Manchester United is based on.

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

To take an alternative course of action regarding my case, I would use the

power given to me as the new director of football at Manchester United and
recommend using organizational politics by building linkages to important
stakeholders and try to negotiate alternative tactics for long-term success and
possibly take over English soccer and become political dynamics of our
ecosystem. I would use the four skills of managers as politicians to hopefully put
the club back on track by making the right decisions and putting the right people
in the right roles. I would set an agenda for change, map the political terrain
which includes mapping players, power, and interest. I would focus more on
building relationships instead of worrying about reason, and finally, include
bargaining and negotiation as tactics to get the best results.

Interestingly enough, this gave me a deeper insight into organizations as

political and political agents. I feel like most organizations are being run with old
procedures and practices. Would we not make a difference if we actually reinvent
how organizations set the stakes to get the best out of human beings? instead of
using people to just make a profit and provide minimum wages. It is up to us to
be innovative and create organizations that will encourage Self-empowerment/
Self-management, freedom of autonomy, organizations that are humane, open,
and allow people to thrive and do their best work.
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4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame.

After reading and learning about the 4 key skills of managers as

politicians, and integrating positive politics with an ethical framework and moral
dialogue, I learn that it is possible to play politics and still make decisions in an
ethical way. In addition, when handling conflict in organizations I have to be
conscious that conflict is normal and inevitable, it is a natural byproduct of
collective life (Bolman & Deal, 2017, p. 197). Certainly, I can reflect on the fact
that well-handled conflict can stimulate creativity and innovation that make an
organization a livelier, more adaptive, and more effective place.

In this frame, I learned the idea of positive examples of the manager as a

constructive politician as in recent years decisions in the club have been driven
by profit and status instead of winning trophies. I can relate this to a situation that
impacted our club in recent times, and if I were in charge I would have supported
our head coach with a situation he faced with a superstar and his agent. Having
two years left in his contract, Paul Pogba’s agent spoke to the press saying that
the relationship within the club is negative and that his player will leave next
summer. Our manager should have had moral support that way he didn’t have to
face it alone in front of the media. The club could have made its values clear,
hold Paul Pogba and his agent accountable for their actions, as their intentions
were bad, and finally validate the need for dialogue about ethical choices and
how to calm things between the player's agents and the club. 

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 Reference or References

Amico, S. (2017, July 26). Job Description of Football Operations. Career Trend. https://
careertrend.com/about-6401089-job-description-football-operations.html

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership
(6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass (Perusall Version Only)