OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Symbolic Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the symbolic frame
2. Apply the symbolic 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.

Starbucks has gone through a major culture change that is effecting the moral of the
organization. Starbucks has to figure out how to move forward as an organization with
the currrent culture and also change the culture. My role within the organization is a shift
manager leading baristas in day to day activities.

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

Culture was the main issue with this problem faced by Starbucks. The siren is a big
symbol at Starbucks. It symbolizes the Starbucks sprint. The green apron symbolizes the
warmth and connection found in the Starbucks baristas. Coffee was obviously central to
the organization as it symbolises bringing people together. This was all being lost.

These symbols lost their purpose. Many baristas couldn’t tell you anything about coffee.
The green apron was starting to fade. Connection was scarce as baristas were
overwhelmed with lots of orders and not enough labor. Online orders created distance
between baristas and the customers. The siren didn’t mean anything anymore.

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

Starbucks has already built strong symbols. The siren, the green apron, coffee, to name a
few. These are symbols they need to harness. They have gotten away from the brand and
the purpose. With these old symbols, they can use them in the same way they had before
to create the culture they want again.

I think another way they could use symbols would be to create a new one all together.
This could help build comradery between the current baristas. They actually did this by
creating a new blend of coffee designed by partners for partners. This symbolises the

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 companies dedication to partners by investing all the profit from the blend back into the
partners.

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

I think that Starbucks did a great job solving this problem. They were able to understand
the purpose that symbols have within the brand and bring that back to the purpose. They
were also able to create some new symbols for their partners as well. That was a great job
on their part.

They also showed the importance of coffee as well in their approach. They decided to
give partners (employees) twice the ammount of training on coffee as they did
previously. This gave baristas the ability to expand their knowledge of coffee. This helps
bring their partners (employees) back to the mission at Starbucks.

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 Reference

03, M. (n.d.). Highlights from Starbucks $1 billion partner store investments and the story
behind them. Starbucks Stories. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from
https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2022/highlights-from-starbucks-1-billion-partner-
store-investments-and-the-story-behind-them/