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 was employed with the organization for 20 years in which during the time I held

different positions including Administrative Aide, Coordinator, Facility & Program

Supervisor, and Recreation Superintendent. There were three departments total that I worked

in throughout my time with the City of Lynwood.

In my case study I will concentrate on the importance of employment retention and lack

of Human Resource leadership/responsibilities. A very tragic situation took place in the

organization that, due to lack of Human Resources leadership responsibility, there was a loss

of life.

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

The politics of the organization influenced the situation because the elected officials were

just too involved in the hiring process of the organization. A role that really only the Human

Resources Director and City Manager should have a joint say so in the process. When hiring

a department head the elected officials of the organization wanted a say so in the decision

making process. For years this has been and continues to be the process. Elected Officials

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 would actually provide a name or names to the City Manager of who they want to hire even

before the position was open to the public. Just as there were warning signs with the

Challenger Space shuttle, there were warning signs early on in this case. The perpretator (a

city employee) did not have his back ground check completed because the director wanted to

hiring him because they were short staff. This did not sit well with the victim, who was the

manager of the division. He expressed to the director his concerns and they were ignored.

Organizaitons are coalitions of different individuals and interest groups (Bolman & Deal,

2021, p. 191). The City of Lynwood has interest groups within the organization in this case

the elected officials. These elected officials would benefit in say in the hiring of department

heads. For example lets say they choose a Public Works director because they are a friend of

a friend. When given that opportunity they expect for the Public Works director to make

projects near where they live a priority. This is the type of interest the have for themselves

not the community.

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

The way I would use organization politics as an alternative course of action regarding this

case would be to have the unions become a bigger part of the hiring process. In my current

organization when interviewing for a position they invite a member of each union to seat on

the interview panel. This provides employeeto provide there input on who they thing should

be hired. For instance, when we are hiring a principal we would have the Administrative

Assistant of the school along with a teacher from the same school and another principal in on

the panel. Having a diverse group in the panel provides feedback and different perspectives

of the expection they would have of a new hire.

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 Having union representatives on the panel is a positive political agenda. It is always great

to have a good working relationship with union members. By doing so you are showing them

that the organization cares about their opnions. Union members could also attribute to politicals

by communicating with the elected officials in this case. In the unions from the City of

Lynwood, we would always endorse two candidates. In order to receive our endorsement the

union meet with elected officials to get a sense of what their agenda is when if and when they

become elected, by doing so unions build relationships with politicians and could also help

address issue they may not be aware.

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

After reading this weeks chapter there is one thing that I would not do and that is ignore

warning signs regardless if you are trying to please a stakeholder. Absolutely nothing is

worth losing a life. Regardless if you want to keep people happy and stick to deadlines you

need to make safety a number one priority always. Being transparent is essential in any

organization and when you disclose information to stakholders about possible hazards I am

sure they would rather delay a project for a few weeks then be on the six o’clock news.

Something that I would do and continue to do is be a leader with morales and values.

Sometimes people forget their place in an organization when they are in a leadership capacity

for a long time. Some leaders find the easy way out even if it means being unethical. This is

case is one of the reason why I want to continue to pursue my career in Human Resources

Management, this case is the reason why I continue to be involed in unions and have a voice.

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 Employee stafey is important to me and I question when people become comfortable and

forget about that. Good politics exists but it is out weighted by bad politics.

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 Reference

1. Bolman, L. & Deal, T. (2021) – Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership
(7th Edition)