Ahmad Hamid

OGL 481

OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Symbolic Frame Worksheet
Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the symbolic frame
2. Apply the symbolic 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 want to reference a situation within my first team. The situation refers to my team
meeting we had about talent and succession planning. This meeting referred to touch on all
five perspectives; Structure, Human Resource, Political, Symbolic, and Ethical. The
meeting's overall summary had to do with the how, when, and what ways we approach
succession planning and talent acquisitions.

Throughout the meeting, many indicators of our structure were not well built for a
successful meeting. Our team's few indicators were the lack of alignment with how we assess
talent and identify we pipeline talent upward within the organization. The second was the
work's human resources side; our organization has taken an aggressive approach to our
inclusion and diversity agenda. This opened up many areas that we are weak in that do not
contribute to the I&D initiatives. We have taken additional steps to ensure that our talent
across the entire US business has an equal and equitable opportunity to apply for any
job/position within the organization as long as they have the basic qualifications. Our market
is piloting this program until the full rollout occurs. This is causing our team to disagree and
different views on how we approach this work, but our HR team has set expectations about
the initiative and allows no room for error. As for the meeting's political side, many personal
opinions and biases were present during the discussion about how we approach this work and
the steps it takes. I find it interesting how many political views show up about succession
planning meetings that can cause some to be offended or disagree. These views help us grow
as we challenge one another's thought and help us work through the biases and political
views we may bring up. The organization has created chief officer roles to hold ourselves
accountable for a more inclusive and diverse company. The plan laid out to be a more
inclusive and diverse organization is symbolic. I come to this organization as a diverse
individual who struggled to see myself in a higher role than a store manager. Our region had
a leadership change that converted our senior leadership's mindsets committed to leaning on

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OGL 481
all individuals for growth within the organization. I was leaned on and grew my career with
this change. I find it symbolic that we now have many visible changes and publicly shared
our initiatives and goals to hold ourselves accountable. Finally, our organization prides itself
as one of the most ethical companies globally and has continued to hold ourselves
responsible for our goals and initiatives. As the one I am referencing, these meetings were
meant to be tense and not aligned as there is no such idea that can identify "what I & I&D
looks like" in an organization that strives to be diverse and inclusive. (Starbucks named one
of the World’s Most Ethical Companies, 2018). (Company Information, 2021)

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

The organization that I am referencing is connect to the people aspect of the business. We
have heard many times the importance of “We are in the people business that happens to
serve coffee.” I find this to be a symbolic statement that has connected me to this situation
described above. The company’s mission statement and values helped me determine that this
particular situation falls short.

The Mission and Values at Starbucks Coffee (Starbucks Coffee).

i. OUR MISSION-To inspire and nurture the human spirit - one person, one
cup and one neighborhood at a time.

ii. OUR VALUES

1. With our partners, our coffee and our customers at our core, we
live these values:

a. Creating a culture of warmth and belonging, where

everyone is welcome.

b. Acting with courage, challenging the status quo and finding

new ways to grow our company and each other.

c. Being present, connecting with transparency, dignity and

respect.

d. Delivering our very best in all we do, holding ourselves

accountable for results

e. We are performance driven, through the lens of humanity.

(Starbucks) .

b. The situation I have encountered strays away from the mission and values as it
lacks the humanity and the fundamental aspect of the mission and values
statement.

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OGL 481
3) Recommend how you would use organizational symbols for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.

I find that the organization's values and mission statement have contributed to
many great things in which the company has grown tremendously. I find that the
company needs to leverage this tool in training and coaching as people stray away from
the company's values. The training and coaching should include the failure of following
these values as they have shaped the company and will continue to measure the
organization's integrity.
I think that the organization should collaborate with senior leadership to clarify
how these values can show up as behaviors in others. For example-when, the value states,
"Creating a culture of warmth and belonging, where everyone is welcome" (Starbucks
Coffee Company). They should come up with some straying behaviors that don't
necessarily contribute to this value statement. When you stray away from this value, you
exhibit behaviors not including all or excludes others from decision-making/activities.
This can help show how not successfully support the organiaztions culture. When these
matters show up with straying behaviors, I think it's important to coach and hold
management or anyone accountable for failing to demonstrate positive behaviors that
connect to the mission and value statement.

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

I would continue to challenge the status quo as that is one of the values and will
continue to shape our organization and how it shows up. When we fail to demonstrate
behaviors that we have set out for ourselves, it sets us up for failure and diminishes our
integrity with our shareholders, customers, and employees. Therefore I find it essential to
hold everyone within the organization accountable to our mission and values statement.

Creating a sustainable culture that is connected with the symbolism of the

organization will uphold its integrity. Holding all employees accountable will prevent this
from straying away and making poor decisions like the one described above. This will
contribute to a more aligned organization that practices ethical, unbias, and healthy
business transactions.

Reference or References

"Mission Statement." Starbucks Coffee-Our Company. Starbucks Coffee Company. Web. 11

Apr. 2021.