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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.

My situation is how I was impacted by the Salt River Project’s (SRP)

post-pandemic transition from in-person to a hybrid workplace in Fall 2022. Upon this
shift, SRP required more space to host the influx of employees at their Public
Administration Building (PAB). As a result, they implemented shared workspaces instead
of cubicles, assigned new technology equipment to operate remotely, then rolled out
Workfront and Microsoft 365 (M365) software to foster virtual collaboration.
Unfortunately, this change coincided with my introduction to the company.
After spending the previous three years working in retail, I joined the Quality
Assurance and Asset Management (QAM) team as a Digital Asset Management Intern.
For this role, I managed the distribution and archival of photo and video files. While I
acclimated to the foreign organizational procedures and software, the environment
changed around me. Our team’s situation was particularly dire as the group worked in
separate office buildings. That reliance on virtual discussions to build rapport yielded
miscommunication on tasks and project delays.

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

To meet its fiscal year goals, an organization needs structure. At SRP, these
strategic goals involve six sectors: Customers, Community, Sustainability, Workforce,
Leadership, and Finance. Because of that, they have divided leadership into nine
Assistant General Managers (AGM) to represent each department tied to fulfilling their
mission. To oversee multi-team collaboration, SRP utilized an all-channel network with
lateral coordination to manage its employees and projects. In this team configuration,
workers created connections outside of their department to promote the flow of
information (Bolman & Deal, 2021). That involved daily meetings to update progress on
tasks, Project Management Officers (PMO) to coordinate roles in a Workfront campaign,
matrix structures to collaborate between departments, and networks to partner with
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external entities for a program (Bolman & Deal, 2021). Although each process was new
to me, SRP introduced Workfront and Microsoft 365 shortly to everyone before.
Due to that unfamiliarity, employees struggled to navigate, and SRP instituted
weekly PMO meetings to discuss those issues. For the QAM team, the problems included
finding the information for a created asset, knowing where to log hours for a task, and
remaining in contact with others when collaborating on a project. Where an in-person
workplace encouraged employees to meet in conference rooms, the hybrid environment
led to meetings planned days later to accommodate schedule conflicts. This coupled with
the inexperience in operating on that platform, led to prolonged completion dates. Often
generating more inefficiency compared to the previous process.

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

Although workers became accustomed to the transition, they could have

benefitted from greater organizational preparation. Among the lessons described in the
textbook, I would caution lack of clarity versus lack of creativity. After experiencing
uncertainty, the employees adjusted their actions to personal preferences rather than
adapting to company expectations (Bolman & Deal, 2021). SRP workers were reluctant
to login from home and sought methods to operate under the previous platform instead of
Workfront. Despite being counterintuitive to the proposed strategies, it was familiar to
them. Unfortunately, that decision led to extra effort as each PMO had to reallocate that
information.
While remaining in their model, I would recommend copying lateral
coordination’s task force strategy to gradually implement these changes. Through month-
long Product-Oriented Delivery (POD) groups, this would involve members from various
teams working together on a trial period to troubleshoot the system. During that time,
they would collaborate on their daily tasks through the platform and voice concerns. By
understanding the issues from separate departments, the organization can adapt to them
before full-scale implementation. This would help team leaders guide employees through
their version of the transition and become proactive in addressing on-set problems.

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

In retrospect, I believe that SRP’s structure of an all-channel network and lateral

coordination was a reasonable decision. By this, employees remained cognizant of
interdependencies within a project and communicated with departments to maintain a
clear understanding of the current expectations. However, the flaw within this structure
was its time-consuming nature and requirement for high-level communication (Bolman &
Deal, 2021). In the transition to a hybrid workspace, those problems were amplified. This
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caused team members to take longer to complete their assignments and to schedule
meetings to clear up that confusion.
As the leader, I would have advocated for a simple hierarchical approach. In
this approach, subordinates report to a middle manager that relays their message to upper
management. Ultimately, simplifying the modes of communication and supporting
employees when engaged in cross-department discussions. Within our QAM team, the
common problem was uncertainty of job responsibilities and minimizing the point of
contact. By implementing a simple hierarchy system, this system addresses both concerns
with the separation of departments. With managers facilitating external discussion, this
helps their subordinates focus on the immediate task. Despite being a short-term solution,
this approach eases the employees into their new procedures. Overall, preparing them to
re-expand their roles when the platform finalizes.
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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.