OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Human Resource Frame Worksheet

Alex Quevedo

OGL 481: Organizational Leadership Pro-Seminar I

Dr. Kate McCain

04/3/2022
Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

The brief description for the situation chosen was as follows. Ted owner/boss

made me the foreman of the organization after relieving his son Brad from that position

due to the lack of responsibility to the position. Ted made this choice after figuring out

how often the team lacked the presence of their leader for guidance in the projects. When

the decision was made, to fire him and make me foreman I had little knowledge about the

role I was going to be put in. What I will discuss is what happened and the actions that

lead to what caused the situation to happen. Part of the situation was Brad’s lack of

leadership towards the team. The situation is based on what the organization should have

done in order for this situation to have been not as disruptive.

Describe how the human resources of the organization influenced the situation.

From a human resource stand point the organization had an average value on the

aspect. As employees we were valued and certain things were available to us. Like the

organizations that were discussed in the reading we were not on the level of google or

anything on that level. There could have definitely been some improvements on

employee development. For my particular situation this would have had a significant

impact on the outcome. The little emphasis that was put on employee development kept

me from learning to aspire to one day becoming a foreman which was the role I was put

into without any formal training. In chapter eight it talks about Management styles,

“leadership style had a powerful impact on productivity and moral”( Bolman & Deal,
2017 ). This was one significant issue there was a big absence in leadership I would

consider it to be a laisses-faire leadership. This was not the right leadership that we

needed. We needed a leader that we could ask questions and work along with us to make

sure any issues were addressed properly and in a timely manner.

Brad the son’s owner did not take the significant time to train or teach the team

basic foreman responsibilities which we could use in his absence. What he would do in

certain cases where he knew he was going to be absent; he would make sure that all

materials were ordered and that we understood the tasks that needed to be completed

during his absence. Which at the time, the rest of us did not think much different than

okay we will be fine with that. The materials we used had different specifications in

regards to different uses that were designated within the required engineering. These

aspects were the important ones that we needed to know but never were trained for.

When he was relieved from his position, I was then in charged of doing these things

without any proper training. Some of our employees had left to pursue different

organizations because they felt that they only were seen as people set to only due one

specific job. They never felt that they would be valued enough to move up in the

organization so they pursued other opportunities.

Recommend how you would use the human resources for an alternative course of

action regarding your case.

 The main thing that I felt could have significantly had an impact on this situation

would have been proper training in advancement for the future. Even though we were a

small company, there was also some room for advancement. If they would have taken the

time to teach one or two of the employees that had been there the longest to maybe one

day take over the foreman position or even maybe one day expanding the organization by

adding another crew. This would not have only impacted the situation for future growth

of the organization but of development of it’s employees. This would have minimized the

impact of the foreman being relieved from their position and having someone within to

replace them.

According to the reading, promoting from within has a significant advantage. The

people know the culture and the organizations values. They don’t need to train these

aspects which for some organizations are the hardest to teach and implement. It gives

employees a significant feeling of involvement and are focused on long-term

employment and not just a job for now. That being said if they had taken the initiative to

further my training, I would have been able to transition into the new role with minimal

implications. That not being the case, it took a lot of on-the-job training that was coming

from the owner. This meant that it took time out of his role of finding new projects to

keep everyone working. This also significantly minimize the intake of new projects

because there was not someone that could preform the duties of the foreman. The whole

organization suffered in multiple ways that would have been waved if the proper training

would have taken place prior to the incident.

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

about this frame.

After I took over the position, I learned how important it was to teach others about

the role of foreman. I slowly started to teach everyone on the team how to read blueprints

as much as they could understand. They all did not read fluently but I taught them

significant things they could understand. Everything that I felt could have been different I

did. My uncle who was next in line below me, I taught him where to find the specs for

materials needed for certain parts of the build. I taught him to understand some of the

engineering parts of the blueprint that required more attention in order for the quality of

the work to be up to specs.

Part of being the foreman was knowing how to read blueprints, but the biggest

part was to be able to encourage the team to do the work and to the highest quality. I

learned that a leader in this situation was one that was also a part of the team and not just

the one to tell them what to do. I worked along with each one. I understood what it took

to do every job and needed to happen so that the next task that followed would

seamlessly transition along. By doing this I was able to get jobs done faster and I was

also able to time them better to help make sure that materials were available and

production would not suffer.

 Reference or References

Bolman, L. G. & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership (6th

ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass