Lindsey Mills

OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Political 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 role is that I am currently a Certified Store Manager Trainer for Starbucks. This
means I train people who are internally and externally promoted for the Assistant Store
Manager and Store Manager positions. I train them for what is called the SMT30. The
situation is that in the last six years, I have seen an alarming number of managers that
have been trained by either myself or other Store Manager Trainers (SMT’s) in my area
leave the company. I believe there is a breakdown somewhere in the system beyond what
they receive during their training time with SMT trainers. Ultimately the situation I want
to address with my organization is the inconsistency of follow-up and support for newly
trained management partners. The end goal I would like to see is more Store Managers
stay with the company and feel connected to the Mission and Values beyond pretenses.

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

(Insert 2 Long Paragraph Description Here to Earn Excellent)

Not everyone wants to admit that politics play a role in every organization. But, the fact
is that whenever you involve groups of people, there will also be politics. It can be a
balancing act for managers and leaders to navigate through the various layers that
encompass political territory as Bolman, (2017, pg. 205) states “the nimble manager
walks a tightrope: developing a direction, building a base of support and cobbling
together working relations with both allies and opponents”. It is important to realize that
political skills are important to the role of managers. When I think about politics at
Starbucks I think about the political skills needed for managers. These are skills we do

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 not talk about but are imperative to be successful in the role. One of the key skills
Bolman, (2017, pg.206) identifies is the political skill of mapping the political terrain.

One area where I see the political frame connected to my situation is in the area of
communication. After digging into the political frame I realize that district managers
need to map out and create clear channels of informal communication between SMT
trainers and the trainees. This is part of establishing trust between DM’s and new
trainees. Communication is important at any stage in one’s career but is even more
critical when a new employee has been hired. There is also a lack of building
relationships, networking, and accountability between SMT trainers. There is little to no
follow-up to ensure all SMT trainers are training new management partners the same
way. This has led to inconsistencies across the district and ultimately turnover in the
Store Manager role. From personal experience, I have seen some SMT trainers use all the
tools and follow training plans while others take the training plan as a “guide or
suggestion” which creates inconsistencies. Without the networking support of other SMT
trainers, it is hard to come up with collaborative strategies. This becomes especially
difficult when Store Managers transfer out of the district and seem to be struggling in
their new role.

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

One of the first recommendations I have is for SMT trainers to build an engaging
network. Areas for Starbucks are typically 12 districts. Within these districts, there are
usually 12 stores. In each district, there are usually 2 SMT trainers. This would be a
group network of 24 people. There needs to be more consistency within the training
process and collaborating together is one way we could all ensure we are teaching the
same program. Collaboration would also create accountability among the SMT trainers
Bolan states that “managers often fail to get things done because they rely too much on
reason and too little on relationships” (Bolman, 2017 pg.209). These trainers are key
“players” in the political environment of training within Starbucks and influence the
learning process as well as impact the retention rate for Store Managers. There also needs
to be a better follow-up program created for what happens to managers after they have
been in the role after 90 days. There is an SMT 90 program but I don’t see accountability
or execution of this regularly. Perhaps SMT trainers could get involved in the follow-up
process instead of relying on the District Manager.

The second recommendation I would make is to the training program itself. Currently,
newly trained Store Managers get 4 weeks of training. I purpose an additional week of
training for new store emersion. During this week the new store leader can work to build
relationships, create expectations for informal and formal communication between
themselves and the new team. This would also give the new store manager time to assess

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 the political terrain of their new store. For example, time to see where challenges in their
new store might be and who could potentially be an ally to help with these. This could be
incredibly helpful especially before they are burdened with the responsibility of working
on the floor and completing the day-to-day managerial duties.

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

One of the most important things I have learned from the political frame is that all
effective leaders need to have political skills. This is not something I had thought of
before. One thing I could have done differently regarding the SMT training program is to
use my voice to see change sooner. I had never thought of my district as a “political
terrain” before. I have been working in my district for 10 years and have been training
newly hired Store Managers for 8 of those years. I think that people look up to me in my
district and I realize that now that my recommendations could influence to change the
outcome of the SMT training program. I have seen the gradual deterioration of SMT
training and I did not realize until now how the utilization of political networking with
other SMT trainers could play a critical part in solving the problem we have now.

Reflecting on what I would like to do now that I’ve learned these political framing skills,
I am hoping to take these insights back to my District Manager and Regional Director.
Using political framing skills like mapping an agenda for an extended training plan for
SMT’s. Another is collaborating and creating a network for SMT trainers so that we as
trainers can gain support and engagement with each other as we train more people for the
company. This would help create cohesiveness and build allies to keep the training
program alive. Utilizing these skills I know I can help to come up with a collaborative
strategy to overcome the problem of store manager retention.

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 Reference or References

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

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