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.

The organization I chose to identify and examine throughout the course is a boat
rental company that I had previously worked for. This organization had several locations
in which they rented various types of boats to their customers ranging from manually
powered boats such as kayaks, to larger electric and gas powered boats. The role I had in
this organization was an internal one in which I was an employed by this company and
was acting as a standard employee working under a manager at one of the organizations
locations. I was responsible for the day-to-day tasks and activities that most other
standard level employees also had the responsibility of completing. I carried out most all
of the routine work from scheduling, preforming transactions, and checking customers in,
all the way to instructing customers on how to safely operate their rental and
cleaning/repairing the work area and rentals. The situation I chose to analyze involves a
conflict between employees when external factors had a major influence on the work
environment. This conflict came as a result of a disagreement between a standard
employee and a supervisor over worker safety and the responsibilities and obligations we
have to our job when a major storm hit the business location, and decisions had to be
made whether to sacrifice worker safety in order to preserve significant organizational
assets.

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

When analyzing the situation from the symbolic frame, I feel as though the
organizations symbols provided a space for the conflict to take place. While I do not feel as
though the symbols of the organization contributed to the conflict as much as other frames, it
did however help to set the scene of the conflict and potentially impacted the mindsets of the
employee and supervisor when entering the argument between them. Firstly, this location
provided many symbols that indicated a casual environment and attitudes. This was seen
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 through things such as what the employees wore and how they interacted with one another.
Employees wore work boots or athletic sneakers to work given that they would have to
conduct some form of manual labor, along with shorts and a company t-shirt. While the
uniform was regulated to some degree, such as the shorts needing to be the color grey,
overall however the uniform was very casual and aided in contributing to a casual mindset
surrounding the job and the work. This relaxed mindset was also present in how those
working at the location interacted with one another. Even when addressing the manager in
charge of the location as a standard employee the interaction was always lighthearted with
the conversation often not about work but rather something which the manager/employee
have in common or found interesting. The easy-going nature of the environment typically
made the job much more enjoyable as it allowed for employees to enjoy interacting with one
another and usually prevented stress levels from rising to much as the environment was not
high-pressure/stakes. This however, I felt helped to contribute to the conflict occurring in the
situation being analyzed.

I say this as I feel the employee who entered the conflict with the supervisor when the
storm hit I believe felt somewhat overwhelmed by the situation, which could have
contributed to the heightened emotions at the time, and thus escalating the conflict. I think
that the causal nature of the job was flipped on its head in a short period of time and the
employee was not prepared for the chaotic situation ahead. While employees had to pay close
attention to safety procedures and things of that nature as they were working around water
and heavy machinery, there was however no serious training given to employees on what to
do in situations like major storms. With this lack of training employees usually just followed
what others who had more experience at the location were doing in situations such as these.
On the day of the storm the shift was, like most others, casual in nature and very quickly
those working at the location were thrust into a high stakes situation that they did not have
much instruction for, or experience with. This I felt helped to fuel the conflict as when the
tension rose, the employees and supervisor did not have an organizational process or
experience to rely on. The “go with the flow” attitude the location/organization had was also
reflected in things such as the lack of core values or vision given to employees. Principles for
the staff to fall back on in dire situations, such as the one being analyzed, could have been
greatly beneficial on the day of the storm when employees were struggling to decide what the
correct course of action was which led to the conflict. If things such as principles and what
the organization valued was expressed, the employee and supervisor who entered the conflict
might have been in agreement as to what the correct course of action was as they could fall
back on the organizations values to guide the situation. Instead, the staff had to attempt to
figure this out in the moment, which caused a disagreement in what the organization would
want.

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

In order to give employees a foundation to fall back on, I would implement

principles or values that the organization would like its employees to reflect. I think that
in the situation being analyzed, the typically casual work environment that got
transformed into a chaotic and stressful one was difficult for the employee who entered
the conflict to manage as they had not been given a clear direction or something to adhere
to. If prior to this incident what the organization valued in these situations was expressed,
then that employee may have had a much easier time handling the situation and coming
to a decision with the supervisor on what the best course of action was. Even expressing
simple things such as safety being the number one priority or going the extra mile even
when it is challenging, could have been some things for the employee and supervisor
alike to call back to better help them decide what to do in that circumstance. I think this
would have been especially helpful as the manager was not present during the shift in
which the storm occurred to provide direction. Without the manager present to make
significant decisions in regards to employee safety and protecting valuable organizational
assets, that responsibility fell onto the supervisor and employees working at the time who
did not understand the organizations priorities in the way that the manager would. If these
had been expressed as symbols for the employees it could have potentially provided a
direction for the staff to work towards as they could then understand what the leaders
within the company would expect at that time. With no core values being displayed the
staff was left to make decisions based on personal opinion, not the principles of the
organization.
While I do feel that the casual nature of the job that is expressed through things
such as the attire employees wear, or the way in which the staff interacts with one
another, contributed to the conflict arising as the job quickly swung into a disorderly and
stressful situation. I do not think however, that this casual environment needs to be
changed in order for things of this nature not to occur, but rather, provide symbols for
employees on what to do in situations such as these. If the job became too rigid the
already burnt-out employees would most likely leave the company fairly soon after.
Instead, doing things such as placing a sign on the wall of the office at the location that
lists either steps to take or priorities to have when major storms impact the location.
Doing something such as this would have allowed for the staff that day to know exactly
what to do even without the presence of the manager, and provide them with something
to fall back on so that already stressed minds do not need to make decisions on what to
do. Having something for employees to reference I felt could have gone a long way in
this situation as the conflict revolved around what actions the staff should take in that
moment, and by providing employees with a clear direction, that conflict might never
have taken place as there would have been no need to debate what the next move
forwards was.

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

After reflecting on the situation and analyzing alternative courses of action

through the symbolic frame, I have determined that it would have been difficult for
myself to have taken action from the perspective of this frame. I say this as I was not in a
position within the organization to institute symbols that would have been meaningful
enough to promote the necessary change. In order for the conflict to have been potentially
minimized or not occur at all, what the organization values and the ways in which they
would want challenging situations such as major storms to be handled would need to be
displayed. I did not have the power within the organization to do this, nor did I have the
knowledge of what those actually running the organization would be looking for even if I
had the ability to reflect important symbols. In order for the change to take place, the
symbols that are presented to the staff would most likely have to come from the locations
management or the owners of the organization themselves. Along with this, establishing
symbols can sometimes require time in order for them to be regularly recognized and
practiced, and in the case being examined since the situation was only over the course of
one evening I do not think there would have been anything from the symbolic frame that
I could have done in the moment. With this being said, I think there may have been
actions I could have taken after the incident occurred.

While I obviously did not have the hindsight to express how the organizations
symbols could have helped play a role in managing the situation being analyzed and
preventing the conflict, I do however feel as though afterwards I could have helped to
establish symbols that would. I might not have been able to prevent this incident from
occurring, however, I might have been able to prevent future similar events from taking
place within the organization. Looking back on the situation, I could have approached
management and explained to them how the staff that day was thrust into a challenging
and potentially dangerous situation without much guidance from the organization on
what to do outside of a few basic steps. I could explain how if some more direction was
provided there might not have been as much running around and debating on what to give
priority to from the employees and supervisor that day as that already would have been
established. I could also mention some of the solutions I came up with in the answer to
the previous question, such as putting a sign in the locations office for all to see detailing
the steps to take and priorities to have for when storms impact the location so there is no
confusion over what to do. I think that presenting these ideas to management could go a
long way in preventing storms from causing conflicts to arise amongst the staff as
employees would be able to recognize the symbols reflected by the organization and be
able to put them into practice.

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 Reference or References