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.

I work for a high volume craft brewery and taproom in the Bay Area of California called
Fieldwork Brewing Company. This company is headquartered in Berkley, CA and has
seven different taprooms across the Bay Area. I have worked for this company for two
and a half years now and have been able to work my way up to an assistant manager
position. About a year ago, my company decided to switch the way we provide service
and our point-of-sale system. Where we used to provide table service through a server,
we now allow guests to run their tab through a QR-code that is on each table and we
would drop off their order to them. Our sales have noticeably gone up due to this change,
however it comes with a few downsides. The biggest downside is that the company
needed to lay off multiple servers across all taprooms as that role became obsolete. Our
guest connection also has gone down as many of the taproom associates simple run
drinks and food from the bar to the table, limiting their interaction with the guests.

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

Politics really came into play after a lot of our servers were laid off. The remaining staff
became wary of upper management and found it difficult to believe that they would be
taken care of moving forward. This conflict only heightened when upper management
announced that they would be cutting back on staffing to ensure a lower labor percentage.
Essentially, upper management made it clear that they are looking to short-staff the
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 taprooms, regardless of business demands, in order to save more money despite the fact
that our sales have increased since the transition to QR-code ordering. The remaining
jobs were limited to a few runners, one person pouring beer, and one person in the
kitchen. The difference of interests and values really started to become apparent amongst
staff and management after the POS transition.

Our textbooks discusses how conflict arises from different groups within an organization.
Bolman & Deal state, “Organizations are coalitions of different individuals and interest
groups,” and that “scarce resources and enduring differences create conflict and makes
power the most important asset,” (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p. 191). Not only did
management lay off a lot of employees, they decided that they would also be short-
staffing us moving forward, despite our sales going up. I really shows that there is a
difference in interests between upper management and the front-of-house staff.

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

This is a hard case. When an organization is facing a lack of resources in order to appease
every employee, it puts an emphasis on the enduring differences of interests, beliefs, and
culture. It also puts the organization in a tough position to decided what scare resources
goes to who. However, I do believe that it is important to create trust between partisans
and those in a position of authority. When there is trust between authorities and partisans,
those who are partisans are more willing to give up power and submit. In this specific
case, upper management has broken the trust between the employees and themselves.
Instead they have encouraged that partisans should be in fear for their jobs unless they
submit to their business model. I don’t agree with this type of leadership at all.

I would recommend that upper management look more into difference ways to save on
money before short staffing taprooms. Our quality of service has naturally gone down
since the major layoffs and short staffing began. There are even a few reviews left online
regarding how unfair it is to the employees that we are so short staffed. When the
consumers begin to notice how the political powers at play of an organization it can have
an effect on the organization’s reputation. Reputation is incredibly important to an
organization because a lot of consumers do no want to spend their money on an
organization that is known for poor business practices. For example, when Modern Times
Brewing Company, a majorly distributed craft beer company in California, faced sexual
assault and harassment allegations, a lot of consumers did not want to buy their product
anymore, essentially tanking the business.

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

What I would do differently if I was a part of upper management for the organization, is
refrain from short-staffing the taprooms. I don’t know if upper management thought
about the effects that would have on the employees attitude towards the company, or not.
After recovering from an initial loss of employees due to the server position becoming
obsolete, implementing a tighter staff schedule does not help the tense political climate
that was beginning to grow.

It seemed, to me, that upper management was using their power in order maintain power
and control of the taprooms. Laying off employees, and then pushing forward with short-
staffing the taprooms really made those left in fear of upper management. Specifically,
the staff was feeling fearful of their jobs being in the hands of upper management.
Bolman & Deal state, “Officeholders can exert control only so long as partisans respect
or fear them enough that their authority or power remains intact,” (Bolman & Deal, 2021,
p. 199). Making your staff fearful of you does not seem like the best way to lead an
organization to success.

 Reference

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

(7th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.