Political Frame Worksheet TAFT 1

OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA: Political Frame Worksheet

Jamey Taft

Arizona State University

September 19, 2021

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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

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 current role is a reservation specialist, I take calls to facilitate revenue and schedule

services. I also aim to solve issues before they need management intervention. My situation

involves coworkers who do not align with the company values and the lack of boundaries

when it comes to managing issues that arise between coworkers.

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

The politics of the organization influenced the situation greatly. Like I imagine in most

organizations, there is the workers and the management. After learning that my organization

has a top-down approach, I would say politics play a huge role in how situations are

managed. The organization itself wants each employee to be seemingly capable of handling

issues, yet there is not much clarification on how the situation should be handled aside from

avoiding the infamous yelp review.

According to the reading in chapter 10, managers exercise political power by:

“identifying relevant relationships, assessing who might resist, and develop possible links,

whether to negotiate, facilitate or connect (Bolman & Deal, 2017).” In my workplace

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situation, I had a coworker who would collaborate with others of higher political ranking and

pin issues on those they thought had lower ranking, essentially exercising all energy they

have on ensuring they look like the better candidate while bullying others. When going to

management about issues pertaining to workplace issues with said person, and approached by

management the worker would play innocent and act as if they had no wrong doing.

Management team would then reach out to us and try to “mitigate” the issue by stating they

had a conversation, only to realize nothing was solved. It is a revolving issue that has yet to

be solved and continues to this day.

3) Recommend how you would use organizational politics for an alternative course of

action regarding your case.

Regarding the situation I have dealt with in my organization, if I were apart of

management I would not take the situation lightly. Understandly, hiring people in the current

times is incredibly difficult so the risk of losing workers can be frightening. However, bullying

and the total lack of care being exhibited by this worker goes totally against the culture of our

company and I would consider it an internal threat. If I were in the position of managemnent by

alternate course of action would start with an immediate arrangement of employees, including

them and those they have been effecting. I would sit down with those who have been victimized

and empower them to keep going, I would also create a development plan and show them how

we plan to resolve this issue. Understanding that I have multiple spas, I would remove the person

creating issues from the atmosphere and transfer them to another spa. I would then, give them a

probationary period and reiterate the values of my company and remind them of the importance

of team work and the result of the issues they led on. I would also if in the position like to find a

way to have a team development seminar and learn new techniques for workplace practice.

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During the probationary period, I would check in with management teams and fellow

employees to see the progress of the environment change. If the employee exhibts

unwillingness to change and does not understand how their actions are impacting others, I

would terminate their employment. My role as a leader is to show others that I care

deeply for the vision of the organization and ensure there is ample opportunity for them

to grow. By doing nothing or having no willingness to create a change and exercising my

political influence when my team needs me, could be detrimental to the climate and well-

being of my organization. I will exercise an open door policy, and not just lead with

words, but empower my employees through action.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned

about this frame.

In my current position, there is nothing that I could have done differently. I did what a

responsible employee should when in a hostile situation. I went to my team and expressed my

discomfort. As an employee, I do feel I was failed in this situation—which honestly sucks. I

chose to work for my organization because they advertised a culture of care, and I feel like that is

far from the truth. There was nothing I could do otherwise in my situation to make things better

and honestly, this frame genuinely reminded me of just that. It is not our jobs as a regular

employee to come up with solutions that require upper-level action, and we should not be held to

those standards without proper compensation and titles. Sure, we can exhibit leadership styles

and the willingness to empower our coworkers to do better, but that’s all we really can do. I wish

I had a management title so that I could create change, but that comes with time and I am

honestly not sure how long I want to stay around. I feel like there efforts to help have not done

justice and it’s a shame.

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Reference

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and

leadership (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass