OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Structural Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the structural frame
2. Apply the structural 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.

When I first became a manager, I took over a store that was under performing in sales and
customer satisfaction. Apron arriving at this location, I quickly found that this location was
severely understaffed. I also discovered that there were no clear goals and system operations
were not clearly defined. I was given the goal to drive sales, increase customer satisfaction by
decreasing the customers time in the drive thru. When having the first management meeting with
my shift team, I found that they did not get along and did not agree in each other’s leadership
style. I had John (fake name) and Ryan (fake name) who were more operations focus and were
more of an autocratic style of leadership. I had Megan (fake name) who was more of a servant
style type leadership and Henry (fake name) style of leadership was a bureaucratic style. Right
away I can see that the team was not on the same page with each other and did not respect each
other’s leadership styles. They did not see the benefit in others leadership style or try to work
together to make it work.

This created a negative work environment which created a lot of conflict and tension not just
with each other, but with the baristas that worked there. I can clearly see that the baristas did not
enjoy working at this location or actually understood what the goals were. There was so much
tension and confusion from the management team, it made the work harder for the baristas which
created a negative culture and environment within the store. I felt that this was going to take a
while to help improve the culture and experience within the store.

There was major conflict between the morning shifts and the closing shifts. With a more
bureaucratic style leadership, Henry, as the opening morning shift manager, would begin his shift
upset already because the evening management did not set the store up as the standard. With
John and Ryan as the closing management, they closed the store the way they wanted and felt the
store should be closed. John and Ryan also did not agree with each other on how to close the
store. They would do closing tasks differently and the standards were different from one another.
This created confusion for the transitioning shifts and for all the baristas. The baristas would
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have to adjust their standards with each of the different managers. This created a lot of tension.
Some baristas liked working with one but not the other, which created lack of respect for the
management team and as well for each other. There was constant questioning from the baristas
with the management team and their leadership. This created a very heavy and tense work
environment; this explained the high turnover rate and low hiring rate.

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

The Structure of Starbucks is like a Pyramid. “A chain of command is a hierarchy of

managerial and supervisory strata, each with legitimate power to shape and direct the behavior of
those at lower levels.” (Bolman & Deal, p.56) You have your Baristas, then shifts Supervisors,
Store Manager, District Manager, then Regional Director, etc. They are all responsible for
supporting each other for success. They need to provide the information and tools so that each
role can be successful. The structure within Starbucks is there for everyone to be successful.
There are processes and standards in the way we behave within Starbucks. When there is a lack
of communication and leadership, this is when the roles become difficult to perform to success.

The District Manager is responsible for the Store Managers Success. The District Manager
can only support when they are given the correct information and reports from the Store
manager. I can see that the District Manager was not clearly informed about the situation within
the store during the time the failing store manager was enrolled. The Store Manager before me
did not have a good system and approach to their work. There clearly was no structure and
standards during their time there. The Store manager never had meeting with their shift
supervisors to work together to create teamwork. There were also no clear goals given to the
team to work on. No coaching was provided to correct behavior. I can see that the shift team did
not feel confident to coach their baristas because they did not have the support from their
manager for these coaching conversations. Each role from barista to Store Manager acted almost
separate from each other. It was clear of the lack of structure within the building. There was a
lack of role clarity as well, everyone did not understand how their role contributed to the success
of the store.

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

The way I would use structure is to create plan of actions for myself and make it transparent
to my entire team as well as my District Manager. I would use the tools and resources given to
me to begin my process, to reconnect the team, to create buy in, to help my team to become
successful and to work together to achieve success. I would first start at step one. To create
structure, I would have to first understand where everyone is at with understanding their roles.
Are they working in routine? Who has standard gaps? I need to close all the standard gaps before

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I can proceed to work on driving the business. I also need to understand what is important to my
team.

Creating transparency will help my team understand where we are going. If they don’t
understand or see the vison, it is important that I help them through this. “When the time for
restructuring comes, managers need to take account of tensions specific to each structural
configuration.” (Bolman & Deal, p.79) During this time, I would lean in more into my shift
team. Having goals and clear expectations of their roles to start with, also understand the tension
they are having with each other. I would have team building exercises to create respect for each
other. I would also start with hiring to bring in the right people for the roles, to help build a
different culture of warmth and belonging. Being clear and kind is important step to creating this
structure that is needed. Having Goals and actions plans to help close those gaps to build a better
foundation is the first important step, it will help everyone to make the next step easier.

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

I did not learn this on my own. I went through so many different leaders. Learning from
many different examples. “Managers search for options among the array of possibilities drawn
from their accumulated wisdom and the experiences of other.” (Bolman & Deal, p.76) Some of
these things I would not have done is differently. The few things that I would have done
differently is to act soon and to make the hard decisions urgently. I think having more one on
ones would help faster to understand each induvial on where they are at on understanding their
role within the organization. I did not consider the effect on the leadership change within the
store. I knew there needed a reorganization but did not understand why they did not understand
the need of it. “Leadership Changes. Reorganization is often the first initiative of new leaders. It
is a way for them to try to put their stamp on the organization, even if no one else sees a need to
restructure.” (Bolman & Deal, p.87)

I needed to create buy in first. That is what I would have done differently. “Changes, whether
driven from inside of outside, eventually require some form of structural adaptation. Structural
change invariably produces confusion and resistance; things get worse before they get better.”
(Bolman & Deal, p.92) I would also try to bring the structure to be tighter. I felt that I may have
been a little loose, this will create a lost sense of understanding what they and or other are doing
within the organization. (Bolman & Deal, p.75) Again, I wouldn’t do things too differently than
how I approached this situation. The biggest change is acting with more urgency and consider
the change of leadership more. I thought that just myself coming in will change everything, that I
would bring a sense of leadership that was lacking. I needed to understand that I could not “save”
everyone, some did not believe in the vision and choice not to buy in.

References

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 Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice,
and leadership (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

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