OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Human Resource Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the human resource frame
2. Apply the human resource 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.

At Professional Tax & Accounting, I held an internal role as an Operations

Manager. Within my position, I performed payroll, accounts payable/receivable, billing,

and human resources for the company. I also acted as the client liason where I handled

client concerns and questions. I managed inventory and cleaning, while also managing

the workflow for the entire staff. I worked directly under Denny, the top manager, who

was at best, self-assured, passionate, and believed his innovative ideas were superior to

more traditional methods. At worst, Denny was manipulative, verbally abusive, and at

times, threatening. When Denny was in the office, the air grew stale and the floor

suddenly became thin ice. Because of Denny’s bad leadership, the entire office felt

stressed and failed to perform well at their jobs.

There was a specific point in time when Denny wanted to reorganize the

organization. He wanted to demote our General Manager to a bookkeeper and tax

preparer. He wanted to assume the role of General Manager so that he could manage the

struggling accounting firm more closely. In the midst of this transition, I was asked to

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 create a business proposal. In my proposal, I met each concern he presented with a

thoughtful, creative solution. In my suggested proposal, I had him out of the picture.

When I sent Denny my proposal, I asked him to postpone our all-staff meeting

where he was planning on announcing these organizational changes. I thought that these

big decisions needed more time to be thought through fully. He agreed, but only

postponed the meeting by one hour so that we could meet first. In our meeting, he

disregarded most of my suggestions, while increasing my workload.

After the meeting, I tried to go back to work, but was overwhelmed by how much

I needed to do and had a meltdown. Quickly, my colleagues off-loaded my work to help,

but it didn’t help. The temporary help was not a permanent fix.

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

The Human Resource frame at Professional Tax and Accounting does not allow

for much diversity or differences of opinion. Majority of the staff that works at

Professional Tax and Accounting have been there for a long time, most being mid-age

and at retirement age. This lack of diversity in age had unintended consequences. When

the organization started hiring younger staff, there was conflict. The younger

staffmembers, like myself, were eager and full of new, exciting ideas. These ideas

typically fell on deaf ears that didn’t like change. The accounting firm was struggling in

the first place because people didn’t want to change with the times. It wasn’t until 2017

that we started accepting credit/debit payments. In 2018, I was still scanning in old

archives from 2003. The journey to paperless was daunting and was a battle with a lot of

the staff members that preferred pen and paper. Swifting through paper files to find, or

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 fail to find, vital information caused delays in tax and accounting services. While change

needed to happen, it needed to be done strategically and carefully.

Professional Tax and Accounting also failed to explore what motivates their

people. Instead of getting to know his staff on a personal level, Denny assumed that

money was the sole motivator. He thought they if he paid people enough money, that

would motivate them to work hard and not leave. That may have been the case for some,

but for others, it was farthest thing from the truth.

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

action regarding your case.

Professional Tax & Accounting does not have much of an HR department. I was the

hiring manager along with one other person. We had an employee handbook and a

workplace policy, but there was not much of anything else. In our text we learned about

Human Resources Principles. This is something that would have been unheard of at

Professional Tax & Accounting. My experience in human resources at Professional Tax

& Accounting was more about putting out fires than it was about building a strong

culture.

Instead of submitting a business proposal, I would have responded asking for a

conversation. I would have used the Basic Human Resource Strategies to guide my

conversation with Denny. I would have asked how we can build systems and practices to

implement the philosophy of human ressourses, what we want in a staff and how we can

make the right hiring decisions, how we can invest in our current staff and explore how to

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 take care of their needs, how we can empower our team, and how we can promote

diversity (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p. 144).

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

about this frame.

When I think about how I would use the human resources frame for an alternative

course of action, I think about motivations. Our text shares that, “All these theories

converge on the view that motivating people requires understanding and responding to

the range of needs they bring to the workplace” (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p. 125). For me,

the key here is understanding and responding. I approached Denny in a way that he was

not receptive to and caused conflict. I think Denny and I agree that we wanted the

organization to succeed and for people to be paid well. However, my business proposal

did not reflect that I took an effort to understand Denny.

Professional Tax & Accounting resembled a Model I human resource frame. Of

course, my goal would be to push the accounting firm to resemble a Model II. I think that

if I took an effort to understand Denny, I would be taking a step in the right direction.

Understanding Denny would help us define a common goal and emphasize mutual

influence. Having a culture of open communication and diolgue could prevent some of

the conflicts. The reorganization could have been strategic instead of on a whim.

Additionally, had I been honest with Denny about my frustrations, he may have

responded differently.

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 Reference

Bolman, L. G., and Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and
Leadership (7th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass