OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Political 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.
• Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.
The The situation selected for my personal case analysis revolves around an overly
ambitious founder and CEO, Trevor Milton, and the fraudulent actions taken that led to
Federal Fraud charges and his personal demise. My role with the organization is an
external investor.
• Describe how the politics of the organization influenced the situation.
The politics of the organization had a detrimental impact on the situation as I feel the
charismatic influence of Trevor Milton was one of the main catalysts leading to the
situation. When an organization is in its initial stages the actions taken set a precedent for
how the organization will operate. Nikola Motors is now established and under new
management but when Milton was at the helm he seemed to disregard the concerns of the
board. As described by Bolman and Deal (2021) the board, in turn, is elected by and
accountable to shareholders. And the shareholders are often a large and scattered group of
absentee owners. Milton manipulated the numbers and situations to create an illusion that
Nikola was producing results leading to billions invested by a multitude of stakeholders.
Milton was successful as a politician when he was the leader of the organization. As in
many cases, his ambition and charm led to many followers of his cause. Bolman and Deal
(2021) states as events unfolded it is often hard to separate individual performance from
group performance or a host of other factors, including good or bad luck. Therefore, it is
understandable how those closest to him were submissive to his power. He had an
incredible amount of personal power based on achievements and personality as well and
the more power one has the harder it is to control them.
• Recommend how you would use organizational politics for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.
Organizational politics could have been used to change the outcome of the situation by
creating a system in which more teamwork was utilized with less individual effort by
Milton. Increasing collaboration within the organization could have created more
transparency decreasing the chances of an incident to mislead the public from occurring.
As Bolman and Deal (2021) states informal networks perform a number of functions that
formal structure may do poorly or not at all—moving projects forward, imparting culture,
 mentoring, and creating “communities of practice.” With more collaboration as a catalyst
there are a variety of advantages that could have been at Nikolas disposal had Milton
relinquished some authority to the rest of the organization.
Politics were evident as they are in any organization. Therefore, the issue was the
negative repercussions of the imbalance of power being taken advantage of by Milton.
Isolating departments and decision makers can have unwanted consequences for
organizations as Bolman and Deal (2021) wrote if we banish moral discourse and leave
managers to face ethical issues alone, we invite dreary and brutish political dynamics.
Intradepartmental focused initiatives would have reduced the likelihood of Milton
pushing these false claims successfully.

• Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame.
Given what I have learned regarding the political frame I would not have given Milton
the amount of power he possessed. This could have been reduced by requesting more
oversight in departments pushing Nikola to monitor Milton closer and taking away the
opportunity to mislead. Regarding longevity in an organization especially as a top player
Bolman and Deal (2021) states from a political view, “happily ever after” exists only in
fairy tales. Today's winners may quickly become tomorrow's losers or vice versa. I would
have also been more aware of this in decision making, placing more emphasis on
becoming more independent of the polarizing founder.

The different types of power in the text was a stark reminder of the all the different
dynamics at play within an organization. The distribution of this power was imbalanced
from the nexus of the organization with Milton being involved every step of the way.
After the underbounded system utilized by the first generation of leadership, a system just
touching the overbounded line needs to be in place. As losing the founder of the company
before the first product being launched would have destroyed almost any other
organization Nikola needs to focus on transparency with investors and building a culture
of collaboration.

Reference
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership
(7th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass