Prompt #1: 

What did you learn about organizations, and/or the behavior of individuals
within an organization?  How do the ideas presented in Part Three (the Human
Resource 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 really drove home how important it is to represent the culture you
would like to see in your organization when you are in a leadership position on a daily
basis. This can be done by the way you show up for your people in person and when
taking care of them. The B & D textbook offers a lot of wonderful examples of ways to
accomplish this such as hiring the right people, keeping employees through rewarding
them well and recognizing their efforts and loyalty, and investing in employees (Bolman
& Deal, p. 143, 2017). I have seen these ideas fail to be upheld time and time again.
Leadership becomes irritated that the staff is lethargic and unenthusiastic about their
jobs, and employees feel scorned and unimportant. People are driven to find community
where they are free to be their truest self and be recognized for their hard work.

Prompt #2:  How can you apply the concepts that you have learned about in the
readings to your personal or organizational life?  Be specific.

I can apply the concepts that I have learned about in the readings in all aspects of my
life. Relationships are relationships and people are driven to invest in those that invest
in them. If you truly care about the people that surround you and care for them
intuitively, the bond strengthens and results in more care and mutual respect. Looking
forward to my career as a flight instructor, mutual respect and human resource
management will be key to my success. Building trust through consistent
encouragement and guidance will ensure my students have confidence in my expertise
and stay with me through multiple phases of their training. They will also be more
inclined to refer their friends to me if I show up for them and care about their progress
and betterment.  

Prompt #3:  List the reasons cited in the text (Chapter 7) as why managers persist in
pursuing less effective strategies than those obtained through high involvement, high
performance or high commitment management practices.  How have you experienced
these organizational pressures in your own work life (please elaborate)?

The reasons cited in chapter 7 of the text regarding why managers resist better ways of
managing people include, fear of losing control or indulging workers, investing in people
requires time and persistence to yield payoff; conclusions that slashing costs, changing
strategy or reorganizing is more likely to produce a quick hit, and the dominance of a
financial perspective that sees the organization as simply a portfolio of financial assets
(Bolman & Deal, p. 137, 2017). These are all very accurate descriptions that help the
reader understand why there might be constant change in their organization and selfish
efforts to attempt profit maximization. The restaurant industry is fairly notorious for
engaging in these less effective strategies in my experience. The restaurant I used to
work for made random attempts to take care of staff but the overall tone was not one of
care and doing the right thing. I did not feel a sense of loyalty to them due to the lack of
care exhibited when interacting with me. Many of my coworkers felt the same.

Prompt #4: As outlined by Bolman and Deal (Chapter 7), although every organization
with productive people management has its own unique approach, most of their
strategies can be captured in six general strategies.  What are these six basic human
resource strategies?  How have you experienced these general strategies in your own
work life (please elaborate)?

The six basic human resource strategies are, build and implement an HR strategy, hire
the right people, keep them, invest in them, empower them and promote diversity. The
company that best understood these basic human resource strategies most effectively
was Dutch Bros in Sacramento. The franchisees understood that you can teach anyone
to do a job, but you cannot teach work ethic or personality. This was SO key in creating
a strong team. This is something that we are not fully capable of doing right now in a
hiring crisis. My store is extremely short staffed and management is largely hiring
everyone that applies that seems decent enough. It has been difficult to work with the
new employees due to how young they are and their lack of work ethic.

Prompt #5:  Throughout your progression in the Organizational Leadership program,

you have had a number of courses that include content complementary to the human
resource frame – perhaps more connections here than with any other frame (in your
various leadership courses – and courses like OGL 220 Behavioral Dynamics in
Organizations, or BIS 343 Social Processes).  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 Human Resource frame.  Briefly discuss each key learning, the course
where you learned it, and its connection with the Human Resource frame.

Two of the most important theories I have learned in previous courses that relate to the
human resource frame are the Trait vs Skill based leadership approach that was
analyzed in OGL 300, as well as positive and negative reinforcement analyze in OGL
310. Regarding the trait vs skill theory, certain traits and skills possessed by leadership
can encourage or discourage teamwork and cohesiveness. Skill based leadership
believes that leadership can be taught and that being a great leader is a choice and
constant pursuit. This ties well into the human resource frame, as great leadership
appeals to followers as humans with needs in the same regard. Positive and negative
reinforcement is a theory that also ties into human resource and behavior. If more
positive reinforcement were to occur, leadership would be more proactive in hiring and
maintaining high value talent. With most organizations engaging in negative
reinforcement, the common thing is to respond to situations as they show up instead of
planning for them to occur. This can be unhappy staff or unsatisfied customers.

Prompt #6:  How do the Human Resource aspects discussed work in an organization
with which you are (or have been) affiliated?  What sorts of personnel policies and
management strategies are espoused theories versus those in use?   (This is about the
concept/frame not an HR department.)

Human resource aspects discussed in this week’s readings are highly prevalent for
many of the organizations I have been affiliated with. Overall, there are 2 businesses
that stand out as proactive in planning for customer and employee satisfaction through
a clear outline of company values and taking care of employee’s needs as well as
approaching them as individuals. Most of the organizations I have worked for have been
largely self motivated and money motivated. They did not care nearly as much for their
employees as they cared about themselves and how well their family was taken care of.
While I can understand the root cause of this attitude, I have come to understand
through education and personal experience that this is the least productive approach to
business.

Prompt #7:  How does morale or other human resource issues affect outcomes in your
place of employment (for customers, employees, stockholders, surrounding
community and/or any other stake-holders).  Describe enough of a situation
concretely to provide context and use concepts from the readings in your response.   If
you don’t think there are healthy or unhealthy aspects in your organization relating to
the human resource perspective going on, think again more carefully and perhaps
revisit the readings to broaden your definition and understanding.

Morale and human resource issues affects all outcomes. Morale and human resources
are the bread and butter of most organizations, especially customer service focused
organizations. When customers are the key to organizational success, you must have
happy employees that make whatever purchase the customer is partaking in so worth it
that they come back again and again. Repeat customers are key to business growth and
development, and repeat customers are fostered through relationships and community.
This relationship and community is achieved through people who are content with the
company they work for. They are the representative of the brand and can make or break
the success of the brand. As Bolman and Deal explain, “When individuals find
satisfaction and meaning in work, organizations profit from effective use of their talent
and energy. But when satisfaction and meaning are lacking, individuals withdraw resist,
or rebel. In the end, everyone loses” (p.156, 2017). When everyone is taken care of,
many employees will be happy and share the good news, so to speak. Customers will
take notice and become attracted to the energy, atmosphere and overall positive energy
emitted from the place of business, encouraging them to continue to come back and
foster relationships with the employees and the business.

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing Organizations (6th ed.). Jossey-Bass.