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
Joe Bednarski – Fall 21

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.

The company I am presenting is Lawson products. Lawson is a large scale distributor in

the maintenance, repair, and operations industry (MRO). Distributing hardware,
chemicals, safety supplies and small parts to the maintenance professionals in various
industries. Some of their customers include hospitals, construction companies, factories,
and military. I am a territory sales representative for them. Recently they acquired a
competitor and during this process, brought in additional sales reps which has brought a
lot of tension in the sales force. Territories are no longer defined and there is confusion
between roles and responsibilities. To further make things worse supply chain issues
have been complicating deliveries of products to customers.

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

Lawson is a distributor of hardware, tools, chemicals, and safety supplies servicing the
United States and Canada. The corporate headquarters are strategically located in
Chicago, IL which is symbolic because of the history of the great lakes and the
manufacturing plants in the area. A lot of American made steel is produced in the upper
Midwest which is where the company gets a lot of its products from. American made
products are synonymous with hard work, quality and dependability. So in this case
Lawson tries to supply many goods from the US but rising cost means sourcing from
overseas. Then COVID happened and now many good are out of stock because the come
from over seas.

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

According to Bolman “An organization’s culture is revealed and communicated through

its symbols.” (bolman, pg.242). A logo is a representation of the organization, in

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 Lawson’s case the logo is the letter L in bold block text. This is because it designed to be
a symbol of strength and confidence. However, with recent issues with sales
representatives not being able to effectively service the customers, there has been tension
between the customers and the organization.

Another important aspect of the symbolic framework is the organizational culture and the
role it plays in defining the organization. Lawson is first and foremost a distributor of
goods. But the way it goes to business leads to a very cutthroat, aggressive first come
first served sales organization. This leads to inconsistent pricing between customers and
customers. It leads to tension between sales reps trying to undercut each other which can
make the organization look bad. One example is recently I quoted something at $50 and
another rep quoted $70. Its good for me because I got the sale, but it leads to
inconsistency.

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

After reading about the symbolic frame, I would put more emphasis in organizational
culture and strengthening the communication between members. I would set clear
boundaries between the representatives and make sure there is little overlap between
territories. Another I would focus on is having set of tiered pricing for customers that
way there isn’t discrepancy in quotes for customers. The symbol of the bold L represents
a solid foundation which I think the organization has gotten away from. The importance
of the organizational symbol is often what the customer sees first and if an organization
doesn’t live up to that first impression, then they may not purchase in the future.

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 Reference or References