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.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

The OM called me into his office on March 8th , 2016. He expressed to me that if I did not

agree to get certified for kid’s club that he was unsure if my position as a service representative,

would be stable. Claiming that members would be more comfortable with me, a female,

watching their children rather than my male counterpart who was certified. This conversation left

me devastated as I knew I had no interest in being certified to work in kids club. Which had the

ability to rob me of additional growth within the organization.

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

Politics ran very deep within the organization, especially at a club level. Each

club (location) was grouped with nearby locations. The groups of locations in the same

geographical area would be referred to as districts. Daily, monthly, and annually the

locations would compete against one another for the highest sales. The competitive edge

also came with rhetoric that did not increase over all organizational alignment. Rather,

the competition and rhetoric led to a greater divide. Also, the people who work in the

fitness industry are often people with high personal power. Meaning, “individuals who

are attractive and socially adept—because of charisma, energy, stamina, political

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 smarts..are imbued with power independent of other sources.” (Bolman & Deal 2021, pg.

202) The more personal power you showed the more people flocked to you. Often,

engaging in some conversation tha includes gossiping about what is happening in your

district. More diologue happened about quotas than consistent connection between

management and team members.

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

Due to politics, pathways of growth normally happened through connections. Rather

than there being defined paths that employees can take if they wanted to grow within the

organization. I would want to implement a program where each employee is asked on a

regular basis how they would like to continue to grow. If they are satisfied within their

position. This way overall morale can be increased because the employees feel supported to

grow in a healthy environment.

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

I would engage in more direct diologue. I would work on feeling more confident

within my own skin to voice how the commentary made me feel. I wish that I didn’t have to

go to my general manager. Rather, I would have been able to talk to my OM directly without

fear of being supported. The fact that the OM had the confidence to push his limited beliefs

on me, makes me wonder what pressure he was under. Was it pressure from other clubs in

our district who brought in more money than our locations kids club? If so, the competition

shouldn’t be between the locations and rather more support via resources should be given to

the locations individually.

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 Reference

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing  organizations: Artistry, choice, and

leadership (7th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass