John DeSpain

OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Human Resource Frame Worksheet
Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the human resource frame
2. Apply the human resource 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.

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

I am a Store Manager for Starbucks. Just a few months ago, we had a partner on my team
working in the drive thru taking orders. This is one of the more challenging positions, and
we were leaning on her as an experienced partner. However, she had not been in the
position for some time and required some coaching from the manager on duty around her
resonsibilties in that position. The partner on the floor reacted very negatively and walked
into the backroom for an extended period of time. She phoned me at home and expressed
concerns about how her shift managers were coaching her on the line in front of
customers. I was able to meet with everyone involved and gain an idea of what was really
happening with this situation.

I had decided that there was merit for us to all invovled (the shift manager involved, the
barista, and myself) to meet for a mediation session to talk through what had happened.
Overall, this meeting went really well. Both partners left the session with commitments to
try to understand where the other was coming from and felt better with each other. It was
a really valuable meeting for both of them, and me as a leader.

2) Describe how the human resources of the organization influenced the situation.

Starbucks is known for providing an uplifting work environment and has consistently
been ranked as one of the best places to work from various business journals and
magazines. I’d say Starbucks spends most of its time focused on retention and keeping
employees. Investments in tuition assistance, stock grants and healthcare are just a few I
could name of many benefits.

In this particular situation, I also think it was a culture piece that allowed for us to all sit
down and talk things out. At Starbucks, we call our employees “partners.” We are
commitied to each other and work closely together. I don’t think I could have had this

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mediation session in any other organization I worked for. I’d have to have discussions
seperatly. Because we create a culture of partnership, we were able to get so much out of
the mediation session and both partners left feeling like they both had been heard and
seen.

3) Recommend how you would use the human resources for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.

One thing that I wish I had known when I went into this conversation was around self-
protection and the limitations that it presents. I found the Dale and Susan example in the
textbook a good example of this. Working through the mediation, the first bit was
awkward and clunky. Both partners had their walls up and felt they were in the right and
the other was in the wrong.

Reflecting on self-protection, I likely would have framed up the mediation differently. I’ll
admit, this was not something I was completely comfortable with either. I was really
leaning into a course I took here at ASU on the conflict resolution, but nowehere in the
course did it mention self-protection. It’s important to keep this in mind when mediating
or communication with others.

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

From our textbook, one thing that resonated with me was around investing in people and
their training. Reflecting on this situation, one miss I can identify on my behalf was not
circling back with my shift supervisor to see what additional support she may have
needed from me on how to handle this type of situation if it were to ever happen again. I
certainly could have invested more of my own time into really trying to understand how
the supervisor was coaching and how we could fine tune it. I think as a whole our
organization could invest in training for supervisors overall. If we can build up the
capability of our leaders, we can really start to unlock what is possible for the
organization.

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Reference or References