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. (Insert Restatement Here)

The situation I will be analyzing here is the strategic decision to change the name of the
company from Facebook, Inc., to Meta Platforms, Inc. and rebrand the company with an
emphasis on the Metaverse. The company has presented this decision as more than just a
name change and re-branding exercise. It has been presented as a major strategic shift for
the company that includes a grand vision that will affect other parts of the technology
industry and society in general. But is this decision to change the company name just
about publicly acknowledging the future direction of the company?

The metaverse concept of a virtual world is not new. So why all the fanfare from Meta?
The company experienced a string of controversies over the years preceding the
announcement of this name change. The effect of these controversies was negative for the
company's users, advertisers, employees and potential regulators. Analyzing the decision
to re-brand Facebook as Meta by using the four frames, will provide different
perspectives on the problems faced by the company’s management and how this
rebranding could be crucial to improve how the company is perceived by these
constituencies.

My role is external to the company Meta. For this project my role will be an external
analyst who is evaluating the strategic decision to rename the company and focus on the
metaverse.

2) Describe how the symbols of the organization influenced the situation. (Insert 2 Long
Paragraph Description Here to Earn Excellent)

There are many symbols at Meta Platforms, Inc. that influenced this situation. One of the
symbols comes from an interview Mark Zuckerberg gave to Business Insider where he
said that “Move fast and break things” was a directive he gave the Facebook team. This

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 has become a widely known saying inside and outside the company (Blodget, 2009).
Another important symbol is the idea that Facebook was an open and unbiased platform.
WIRED magazine noted that “This notion that Facebook is an open, neutral platform is
almost like a religious tenet inside the company. When new recruits come in, they are
treated to an orientation lecture by Chris Cox, the company’s chief product officer, who
tells them Facebook is an entirely new communications platform for the 21st century, as
the telephone was for the 20th” (Thompson, 2018). The company’s mission is to “give
people the power to share and make the world more open and connected” (Gillett, 2017)
was another symbol that communicated to employees that they are doing good for the
world. An open office environment where a CEO who addresses employee questions
directly and spontaneously in company meetings are also symbols that reinforce a culture
and image of openness. Mark Zuckerberg is an example of a “living logo” (Bolman &
Deal, 2021), symbolizing a different kind of CEO who is young, technically smart and
approachable in his jeans, t-shirt, sneakers and hoodie. He symbolized a different
approach to running a business and the possibility that you could build a successful
company that does good by breaking some rules.

However, as Facebook became a platform for news, moving fast and being open created a
situation where they were not thinking about news based on facts versus news based on
lies. Being open and unbiased, meant that they did not consider how their algorithms
might promote content that was harmful to users. When Facebook did research into the
effects of Instagram on teen girls, they found out it was harmful to many girls. Facebook
employees also discovered that human traffickers were using Facebook to lure women
into abusive employment situations and armed groups in Ethiopia were using the site to
incite violence against ethnic minorities. But company executives were slow to respond
or did not respond at all (Dow Jones & Company, 2021). As employees and the public
learned about these things they were in conflict with the vision and values of the
company. The symbolism and reality were not aligned.

3) Recommend how you would use organizational symbols for an alternative course of
action regarding your case. (Insert 2 Long Paragraph Recommendation Here to Earn
Excellent)

An alternative course of action in this situation using symbols would be to first replace
the CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, instead of changing the company name. The new CEO
would need to be someone with a reputation for high integrity, who is also well aligned
with the company culture of technical knowledge and youth. Ideally they could find a
new CEO who comes with their own stories or myths that support the idea of actually
being honest and responsive to problems when they come up. Other executives could also
be replaced who are highly visible but were also responsible for not taking action to
address problems when they knew about them. The new executive team could then begin
to change some of the company symbols to reflect the changes that are necessary to move

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 forward. This could include changing the company mission and the way the CEO
interacts with employees.

A second alternative course of action would be to highlight and publicize when problems
are found with the platform’s algorithms and publicize what actions are being taken to
improve or fix the problem. They also could create a program to acknowledge employees
inside the company who find problems with the algorithms or harmful ways they affect
users. They could continue to fund outside groups to do research on the harmful effects of
social networks, but also communicate who they are working with. Furthermore, they
could share the results publicly and the actions they are taking as a result. By publicizing
the progress they are making, this could help eliminate the situation from happening
again in the future.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame. (Insert 2 Long Paragraph Reflection Here to Earn Excellent)

Given what I have learned about this frame, I would change the name of the company in
the same way that Facebook, Inc., changed to Meta Platforms, Inc. Also, I would update
the company mission. The current mission the company has is “to give people the power
to build communities and to bring the world closer”. As for the News Feed Integrity Task
Force, fact checking, Facebook Journalism Project and hiring more people with
journalism experience are all current changes that the company is making and I agree are
good changes to be made. They have also made changes to their paywall policies for
news organizations and the way they promote news organizations known for their
quality. I also agree with these changes.

Additionally, what I would do differently is to make changes in executive management.

The CEO is responsible for the culture of the company. The symbolism of leading by
example is most important in the CEO. In this situation, Mark Zuckerberg has not lived
up to the company’s values. He has not been open and honest with employees, users, and
or government officials. He has had years to make changes and only seems to make them
when outside forces begin to affect the company. The outside forces are a lot of negative
publicity, when the company is called before Congress, when advertising sales drop or
when the stock prices go down. He does not seem to make changes because it is the right
thing to do or because it is what the company values are. This is why I do not think this is
something that will change in him, so I would replace him with a new CEO.

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 References

Blodget, H. (2009, October 1). Mark Zuckerberg on Innovation. Business Insider.

https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-innovation-2009-10

Bolman, L. G. & Deal, T. E. (2021) Reframing organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership
(7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass

Dow Jones & Company. (2021, October 1). The Facebook Files. The Wall Street Journal.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-facebook-files-11631713039

Gillett, R. (2017, December 7). 7 Reasons Facebook is the Best Place to Work in America and
No Other Company Can Compare. Business Insider.
https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-best-place-to-work-in-america-2017-
12#facebookers-are-driven-by-the-companys-mission-2

Thompson, N. (2018, February 12). Inside Facebook’s Two Years of Hell. Wired.
https://www.wired.com/story/inside-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-2-years-of-hell/