OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Politcal 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.

As a person who was required to follow the recommendations of OSHA and the
Emergency Temporary Standard during the pandemic while at work, I was and still am
directly affected by the decisions that they made on behalf of the public. The company I
work for is Vanguard Veterinary Associates and we partner with a few business by
setting up in their parking lots to give pet vaccinations. Like many of you, I was required
to follow the mandates that were put in place, which included wearing masks and
becoming vaccinated or face regular testing. Since our clinics are set up outside, wearing
the masks in the Texas heat for hours at a time got to be quite uncomfortable and it was
not always easy to breath. As soon as they let us know that we could stop wearing masks
if we got vaccinated, many of us did go get our vaccines. My personal role was to stay
educated on the changing rules and to hold our clients and fellow employee's to the
standards as they were updated by OSHA to ensure a safe work environment. OSHA's
role in helping prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the workplace is the situation I will be
studying further this class. They are tasked with mandating and implementing health
standards in the workplace, which is a crucial role. However, the role they have in
preventing the spread of the virus in the workplace has been debated. They issued an
emergency temporary standard for employers that had over 100 employees that was
eventually withdrawn, due to the court finding that they did not have the authority to
make such mandates. Many businesses challenged OSHA's authority to mandate mask
wearing and vaccinations due to employees protesting being forced to do so.

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

OSHA is a part of The United States Department of Labor and the Secretary of
Labor is part of the Executive branch of the government. Politics has very much
influenced the situation of OSHA mandating masks and vaccinations. Our government
made decisions based on the information they had at the time, and when new information
was discovered, they adjusted the mandates as they thought was appropriate.

The public didn't always agree with the mandates that were being forced on them.
Many workers protested being forced to wear masks, get vaccines, or even be forced to
discuss their vaccination status and plans with their employers. While many people
understood that the government was just trying to do what they thought was in the
public's best interest, there were many more vocal ones who were not ok with that. As
someone who was in the first group, I did understand the reasoning that OSHA used in
creating the mandates. However I also understood the valid concerns of the ones who felt
OSHA was overstepping their jurisdiction.

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

In our society, the government would be considered the authority and the workers
who are required to follow the mandates would be the partisans. “Authority is essential to
anyone in a formal position because social control depends on it... If partisans are
convinced that existing authorities are too evil or incompetent to continue, they will risk
trying to wrest control. (Bolman/Deal, 2017, p. 191). Many workers believed the
government did not know what was best for them, that they were able to determine their
own safety risk and didn't need to be told what to do.

If the authorities had negotiated or bargained with the partisans, there could have
been a middle ground reached instead of just one way or the other. More discussions
could have been had earlier in the pandemic that could have adjusted the mandates at a
more appropriate speed.

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

I would not have done much differently, as I don't get very involved with politics
or voice my concerns to my local politicians. However, as a leader in my organization, I
could have suggested my team members contact our city leaders and inform them of their
stance on the matter and let their voice heard. There are some co-workers who are very
outspoken and who were very opinionated about us being mandated to wear masks or get
vaccinated.

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 Reference:

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership
(6thed.).San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass