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.

My role was internal with Freeport-McMoRan which is a mining company with

several mines in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Chile, and Indonesia. I was a water

truck driver and my job was to drive the water truck while following the rules and

precautions, remember the mine roads, learn to drive on the opposite side of the road and

use the technology in the vehicle to water the roads safely. My first day on the job

training as a water truck driver, my mentor told me to make a U-turn. With the safety

requirements still in mind from training about making a proper U-turn, I knew the rules

that had to be followed. As I began to do so, she yelled at me and said, “Just make the

turn!” As difficult as it was for me, I did not listen to her and proceeded with the proper

instructions. It was terrifying to have her yell at me like that because I was nervous

driving already. I shut down after that because it was scary to think about what would

have happened, if I did make the U-turn when she told me to. There were other haul

trucks on the mine road at the time, and I could have caused an accident if I would have

listened to her. Five minutes later, one of the supervisors that was on duty listening to the

radio, called and said that he wanted us to park the vehicle in a parking area and he would

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 meet us there. Once we got there, I exited the vehicle and was placed with a new mentor.

I do not know what happened to the mentor and the situation was never brought up again.

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

The political frame of Freeport-McMoRan influenced the situation because entry-

level employees have no power. My mentor was an entry-level employee who spent 12

hours of her shift in a haul truck, alone, doing her job. When she began training me, she

gained power that she is not used to having. It was obvious that she quickly became

comfortable with abusing her power by putting me in an unsafe situation. Along with

putting me in an unsafe situation, my mentor made multiple comments prior to the

incident that a powerful leader should not say to a trainee.

Another way that politics of the organization influenced the situation was the

networking and coalition issues amongst the entry-level employees. “People rarely give

their best efforts and fullest cooperation simply because they have been ordered to do so”

(Bolman & Deal, 2021, p. 218). As a haul truck driver, she was not ever told to network

or build coalitions with others. The haul truck drivers that are entry-level employees only

communicate with one another to announce something over the radio, otherwise their job

does not require communication with anyone during the 12 hours of their shift. I believe

that this influenced the situation because my mentor was forced to communicate with me,

when her position never required her to.

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

To involve more organizational politics at Freeport-McMoRan, I would focus on

the lower level and entry-level employees. Organizational politics is used in higher

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 divisions, but that is the only place. For the course of action regarding my case, I would

want to find different ways to include the entry-level employees in discussions where

they feel like they have a voice. These discussions would include meetings that involve

issues surrounding their jobs. If these employees have a voice, they will feel like they

have some power.

Another course of action that I would take is, creating a way for these employees

to network with one another and build coalitions. By helping the employees network with

one another, I believe that it will help make the job less stressful and they won’t feel

alone during their shift. If the employees are able to develop a relationship with one

another, they will know people that will be able to be there when needed.

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

As I’ve learned about the political frame, I have realized that there is not much

that I could have done differently in my situation related to politics. Given the

circumstances of my situation, I was not a person of power who could easily influence

my situation. Since it was my first day of training, I was not able to network with the

other interns because the only time that I was able to see them was at the end of the day.

The only thing that I would have done differently after learning about the political

frame, is spoken up and asked to be placed with another mentor before the incident

occurred. The reason that I would have done this before the incident is because I noticed

that my mentor was abusing her power, through the way that she was communicating

with me. If I would have been able to see that right away, I would have done everything I

could to not have her as my mentor.

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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