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 at Starbucks Coffee Company is a District Manager. In my role, I oversee the

operations of a number of different Starbucks cafes/drivethrus and assist the managers of
each location with the smooth operations of their respective stores. With the recent increase
in locations unionizing, I knew that eventually it would impact me and my district
specifically. We have a location currently petitioning and they have been making the life of
the manager at that location miserable for quite a while. While their treatment of the manager
is inexcusable, I can understand why they feel as though they need to seek outside
representation to speak up for them. They went through a rough many months before the
current manager took over and during that time, they did not have the support they so
desperately needed, resulting in the union push.

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

The politics of the organization heavily influenced the situation in this scenario because
Starbuckc Coffee Company is very much a company run by partners for partners and it
has always been. There is now a small number of partners working for the company who
feel that they do not have a voice and believe the only alternative solution to get what
they wamt is to form a union that will negotiate on their behalf for things like higher
wages, better benefits, etc. By banding together with other like-minded individuals, these
partenrs are under the impression that they hold the barnaining power now when in fact
they, as partners, held the bargainin power the entire time as stakeholders in the
company.

As a very progressive company that has made great strides in many different areas of the
coffee industry over the years, I can understand how some unhappy partners working for
the company could feel that their contributuions do not matter. In communicating with
our leaders directly, which we have the unique power to be able to do, meaningful change

1
 can be made out into words for others to follow. Having access to the big decision
makers in such a large company like Starbucks Coffee Company allows for our concerns
to be addressed quickly and dent to the right tems in order to best support the partner
experience.

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

As an alternative course of action in this case, I would turn to my perrs on this topic to
not only ensure that I have all of the information necessary to be able to make the most
informed decision possible, but to be in the best situation to support my team. An
alternative course of action could include us sending more of our store partners to the
support senter in tdowntown to allow the partner to take tiem perfecting the menu and out
offerings to make it esier to be a guest
Using the organizational politics from Starbucks Coffee Company in this alternative
course of action, I would allow more partners to provide meaningful and relevant
feedback to you guys (team leaders) in an attempt to get everyone onto the sake page,
wherever we are located in the workd.

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

As for what I would do differently for next time, I would work to ensure that I cease to
engage in as little personal life questioning as possible. By cutting our my feedback on
the food stuff, my team is less focused on the shortcomings of the project and therefore
are more willing to accept it.
From what I have learned in the frame, I have learned that everything in business is
political in some form or another. Everyone comes from some form of politically biased
family and workig around the fairly onboarded new partner jouing our team.