OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Symbolic Frame Worksheet

Olivia Schutt February 15, 2022 OGL 481

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

I have an internal role with Starbucks as a shift supervisor. A shift supervisor is in

charge of the floor while they are in the store, meaning it’s my job to give barista
breaks, have enough product for customers through pulling food and entering store
orders, and make sure baristas have the resources they need to do their job. It’s
important for me to know my fellow partners (employees) because it’s my job to
put them in a position on the floor that they enjoy and can succeed in.

Starbucks has been experiencing a lot of scarcity with products due to supply chain
shortages that the world has seen during the pandemic. These shortages arose
because COVID-19 caused many manufacturing facilities to shut down, the
transportation of goods was more difficult throughout the pandemic, and the labor
shortage that resulted from uncertain times left many jobs needing to be filled
(McCarthy, 2021). Most of Starbucks’ distribution centers were low or completely
out of everyday products that we use in-store. Distribution centers also felt the
effects of the labor shortage and had trouble finding employees to fill the open
roles in our hubs. Starbucks didn’t even have truck drivers to deliver our product if
the distribution centers had it. This resulted in many difficult day-to-day
interactions with baristas and customers. Starbucks’ mission is to nurture the
human spirit, but this shortage oftentimes caused people’s spirit to become
disheartened. Starbucks was once a reliable place to get coffee, breakfast, and a
smile. But throughout the pandemic, we saw this notion change and customers felt
frustrated with partners because they weren’t able to get their favorite menu items.

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

At Starbucks, organizational symbols of the siren are known around the world. This
symbol evokes history and trust, as it is something most of us have seen all our lives. The
hero of this organization is Howard Schultz, a seasoned storyteller who set the stage for
Starbucks long ago. His stories define culture, give direction, and reassure partners across
the globe. Core values are displayed in Starbucks through community boards. Each store
has a community board that displays local events and aims to bring people together. We
often display partner of the quarter plaques, select a barista to be featured on the board,

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 and post our victories as a store. This helps make our values known as an organization
and invites customers to connect with partners.

A siren has a symbolic seductiveness, luring sailors to their deaths through an irresistible
song. It is safe to assert that Starbucks weaves this seductiveness into their logo by
having desirable products to suck people in. With Starbucks being heavily affected by the
supply chain shortage, desirable products were hard to obtain. The seductiveness of
Starbucks is watered down if customers aren’t able to get the food and beverages that
have sucked them in. The siren and culture of reliability Starbucks has worked so hard to
own loses it’s potency and leaves customers unsatisfied.

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

Starbucks culture is the ultimate driver of behavior, decision making, and the baseline for
all interactions in each store. They aim to be a beacon of selling coffee, but this can be
difficult if products aren’t showing up in stores. An alternative course of action for this
situation using the symbolic frame would be to remind partners of the deep history of
Starbucks. Throughout the pandemic, interactions become more difficult for partners and
a lot of them lost their hope in the future. Reimagining a future where we all come out on
top after the pandemic and supply chain shortages would be a way to give partners hope.

A way to accomplish this would be to give partners time to communicate and reflect on
their shifts at work, utilizing our values as a company to take care of each other and the
community. In order to take care of the community, partners need to take care of each
other. We lost this idea throughout the pandemic and have to work to get it back. Values
are known but have lost meaning. Giving partners time to connect with each other, trust
each other again, and remind each other what it means to be a partner is an alternative
way to handle this situation.

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

What I would do differently in this situation is form a ritual focusing on partners

connecting with each other again. “Enacting a ritual connects an individual or group to
something mystical, more than words and rational thinking can capture” (Bolman &
Deal, 2017, p. 251). This is what partners need. We need to be connected to our
organization’s higher purpose again. We have been in a constant state of fight or flight
for almost 2 years, and taking the time to reconnect to each other, our community,
customers, and our organization is vital to the continuing growth of Starbucks.

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 The symbolic frame is meant to be a foundational resource for all partners and stores
across the country. Our values are supposed to create a culture that supports the vision of
our future. We have lost track of that vision and need to utilize our history, heroes and
heroines, and ceremonies to get back at it. The “every store fend for themselves” model
we’ve seen during COVID-19 hasn’t worked and has diminished the feelings that
Starbucks evokes in partners and customers alike. To reignite the feelings our values
provoke, we need to make time for each other.

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 References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing Organizations (6th ed.). John Wiley &
Sons. 

McCarthy, B. (2021, October 17). Here's Why the Supply Chain is a Mess - and Will Be

For a While. Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved January 16, 2022, from

https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/2021/10/17/heres-why-the-supply-chain-

is-a-mess-and-will-be-for-a-while/