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.

I work for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and serve a dual role
within the organization. I’m a principal information systems business analyst and
diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) program manager at the direction of our Strategy
Innovation and Change department. At their core, both roles are outwardly service
oriented roles with vastly different objectives. In my business analyst role, I am tasked
with managing a portfolio of key internal information systems projects that are designed
to improve efficiency in how staff can perform their work. My role in DEI is constantly
evolving, but at a high level the direction is to oversee equity initiatives within my
department of approximately 300 employees.

The situation that I will be analyzing for the remainder of the course is my role in
driving DEI initiatives within my organization. My role is to align these stakeholders
(some with competing interests) and be a leader for change in the organization that
improves the employee culture, enhances pathways for career mobility, and increases
equitable outcomes for employees and public rate payers. A specific situation that I was
tasked with in this leadership role was deciding on method to track the various projects
that the DEI program would oversee. Some examples of these projects include
implementing systems to track disciplinary cases by demographics to gain insights into
how disciplinary actions are administered; identifying methods to prevent water shut offs
for communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic; and designing a
mentorship program to enhance the culture and mobility within the department.
Ultimately, I decided on a change management, structured approach that included
developing a program charter, project planning forms, with scheduled report out
meetings.

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

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 A key symbol that influenced Diversity Equity, and Inclusion initiatives
throughout the organization occurred when our governing commission committed to
advancing equity through an official resolution condemning systemic racism. This
demonstrated the importance of DEI to all members of the organization, not just to those
working directly on DEI initiatives. When DEI projects and program teams were forming
within the organization at direction of the Mayor of San Francisco, there was uncertainty
about where the projects stood within the organization and what implementation could
look like. The racial justice resolution provided needed momentum to the program teams
to communicate the “why” behind Diversity Equity, and Inclusion within the
organization from a messenger (the Commission) that is universally respected.

Within my project team, the racial justice resolution provided me the platform to
outline a story about why we are conducting intentional work with a focus on
inclusiveness. Like this week’s reading states, “There are times in the history of
companies…when it is necessary to stop and think about the road we have traveled”
(Bolman & Deal, 2021, p.256). What that meant during the implementation of our project
team was reflecting on the injustices like those the organization conducted toward the
Native American population to obtain the land and resources that allow the organization
to operate a $1 billion utility. Through understanding some of the situations where the
organization fell short, the project team(s) were able to work toward delivering equitable
outcomes. An example of this is a racial equity online library designed to educate staff on
the history of the organization as well as diversity awareness training that can be applied
to leading diverse teams.

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

I would use the racial justice resolution organizational symbol to outline a vision
to encourage coercive isomorphism. Within the organization, there are three (3) other
DEI program leads because the programs are segmented by division. While there is
partnership between the programs, there are areas that could be improved such as
standardizing on mentorship program requirements. Each division is developing a
mentorship program for their staff with the long-term goal for all divisions to align once
human resources compliance hurdles are addressed. However, each division is gathering
requirements in a different manner. So, I would recommend those at the oversight and
leadership levels to coerce each group to standardize not just on the mentorship program
implementation, but on any major program that has overlap.

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

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 I would identify areas where ceremonies can be included to enhance the social
aspect of working on project teams. So much of diversity work is really work with people
and creating specific spaces for people to be in community and find areas where they
have commonalities. Scheduled ceremonies could provide the project teams to see some
of the more tangible aspects of their work. For those working on systems that improve
data analysis by demographic, it can be difficult to see how it impacts the organization.
However, if highlighted in a ceremony those teams could better understand how some
staff may have been treated differently based on their gender, race, or sexuality and the
systems that they are enhancing provide information to leaders within the organization to
address potential inequities.

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 Reference
Bolman, L. G. & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership
(7th ed.)