Janet Rodriguez

OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Structural Frame Worksheet
Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the structural frame
2. Apply the structural 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.

I work for a before and after school childcare program called Kids Express. There
are multiple roles in Kids Express but my formal role is Child Care Provider II (CC2).
Some of my tasks include, supervising/monitoring the safety of children, organizing and
planning curriculum, recording and reporting to parents and management of any injuries
or accidents. Although I am a CC2, I have been trained by my site leads to run parent-
table in case of emergencies or if they are out sick.
A situation that occurred in my workplace was during a time I had to run parent-
table when one of my site leads was out. At the time we also had a new lead who was still
training but was not ready to run parent table on their own yet.

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

The structure of the organization influenced the situation that occurred. Kids
Express structure could be described as underuse versus overload, little work causes
boredom which leads getting into other peoples way (Bolman & Deal., 2017, p. 74).
Working with kids can be a busy job but when numbers began to drop, the job becomes
easier. In my situation, I had to run parent table while Sam, a newly hired site lead, had to
take over a group.

The situation was influenced because aside from Sam’s wanting to help, she was
also not very interested in being with a group. As someone who is hired to be a site lead,
Janet Rodriguez

I can understand Sam’s desire to be at parent table. Sam continuously came to the parent
table asking questions about the job while I was in the middle of attending to parents,
staff, and students. Her actions led to having other employees keep an eye on her group
that she was soley responsible for. Her boredom caused her to come to parent table when
she did not need to and cause me to stress more than I should have. If Sam would have
been ready to be at parent table, she would have kept herself busy there while I would
have remained with my group.

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

After experiencing this situation in the workplace, I would use an alternative

course of action. I would restructure Kids Express into a simple structure type of
organization. Virtues of flexibility and adaptability is seen in simple structure (Bolman &
Deal., 2017, p. 79). This would be benefical for Sam specifically because a coordinator,
who should know how to also run parent table, could provide direct-supervesion. The
coordinator would give Sam the flexibility to practice running parent table while in the
midst of being trained. In this moment it would have been more appropriate for Sam to
ask questions and create scenarios to get a better understanding of the job.
As someone who is hired to work as CC2, having a direct supervisor at the site
during this situation would have been very helpful. An authorative figure could have
prevented myself from feeling overwhelemed, the day going by much smoother, and
Sam’s questions and concerns being answered. I believe using this structure would have
caused an alternative course of action. There is a chance of distraction being caused by
the coordinator but for the sake of a new hire like Sam, I think it would have a positive
affect on the organization and team.

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

Given that I have read and learned about simple structure, I would have done
things differently. Knowing that we would be short staffed, I should have suggested to
Janet Rodriguez

the team that we ask for a coordinator to come to the site to help instead of another
employee from the district office. Having someone who had little to no clue on what was
going on was no help at all. I know for a fact the team would have appreciated it more if
an authorative figure would have helped Sam to do her desired role while I did my role in
staying with my group of kindergarteners. Being placed in a role that is meant for Sam
can also caus confusion for other team members in who to follow.
In having this authorative figure, the team would have had a framework that
worked best for each of them. To add on, everyones worries for that day would have
eased up knowing a coordinator was on site to manage, oversee, and help the team.
Despite not having that person to oversee everything going on, the day ended up being
successful but there was so much that could have been avoided. If a situation like this
were to come to light again, I would ask for the authorative help and involve themselves
in the day to day opertions. This would benefit coordinators in actually seeing how things
are run at each site which can simulate ideas to improve and restructure the organization.
Janet Rodriguez

Reference or References

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

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