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.

The situation that I will be referencing is employee layoffs and how this ultimately
impacted and altered the culture within Taco Cabana.

In 2020, the covid-19 pandemic was starting, and organizations were all struggling to
find how to function. Businesses were not earning money because of restrictions placed
by the government, employee staffing concerns, safety fears of working in proximity of
others, supply issues, communication breakdowns and more. This unfortunately made it
hard for businesses to survive or even thrive. Many businesses were lost, closed or sold
because profitability was just not there. This inevitably impacted jobs, culture and morale
in most or if not all industries and businesses. People were also having to take on more
responsibilities in their roles to compensate for the work that was not being performed by
a full team.

At height of the pandemic, Taco Cabana’s executive team met to discuss the state of
business. It was determined that hard decisions were going to have to be made for Taco
Cabana to survive and keeps its doors open. We were going to have to perform layoff’s
and close some stores. My involvement around these discussions were related to field
operational teams and not in the corporate office setting. With reducing the workforce
within the organization, employees and leaders were having to pick up the workload of
those that were laid off; with no added compensation or benefit. Lack of communication,
appreciation and stress from the pandemic aftermath, lead to a culture disruption within
the organization.

Taco Cabana was a prior employer of mine and my role was a Regional Human
Resources Manager. In my capacity, I lead a team of 4 Human Resources Business
Partners supporting field operations throughout the organization. We supported in the

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 people aspect with items such as minimizing risk, development, recruiting, performance,
compensation, consulting, regulatory/compliance, talent and more.

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

Taco Cabana was known for an authentic positive culture that enhanced the lives of the
communities they serve, including the staff. The organizational symbols that were lived
in the workplace, influenced the situation when these symbols were diminished;
destroying teamwork and internal culture (Bolman & Deal, 2021). The organization itself
was not living up to its mission and values, as it strived to navigate functions through the
pandemic era. Leaders did not understand the importance of putting people first and
inspiring leader movement, yet instead focused on the financials to stay afloat.
“Managers who understand the significance of symbols and know how to evoke spirit
and soul can shape more cohesive and effective organizations” (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p.
272).

The symbolic meaning behind Taco Cabana servicing its community, started to shift
when the layoff’s occurred. Employees purpose of being given an opportunity to shape a
difference, was not felt. The uneasiness of the layoff’s created a shift around vision and
values of internal personnel. The culture shift from positive to negative, influenced some
of the ritual changes in employee behaviors day to day. For example, you would typically
see every employee greet, smile and embrace one another at the start of shift. This
changed to employees dragging feet, being unapproachable and not being cheerful.

Upper leadership also shifted their symbolic rituals and ceremonies that they conducted
as part of their routines, such as communication practices and company-employee
engagement incentives. This change impacted some cultural aspects and employees were
no longer feeling the value of teamwork and recognition.

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

Using organizational symbols, I would have created rituals that would have helped to
improve employee morale and culture. I would have created rituals that would have offset
the negative shared feedback we were getting from our field teams, to try and help
improve the experience. This could have been as easy as a pre-shift meeting that allowed
our leaders to pump up our teams and ensure we celebrated and recognized our
employee’s day to day. I think in doing so, teams would have felt more valued and
appreciated for the work that they were conducting. If we did the same on the leadership
side to the field side, it would have also broken the communication barriers that were
presented in the situation.

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 I would have also ensured that our symbolic ceremonies conducted at an organizational
level remained for our teams. Having our monthly townhalls and team recognition events,
would have remained. I would have considered a shift to an online format with the
restrictions placed with the covid-19 pandemic. Keeping the ceremonies alive would have
helped to socialize, stabilize, reassure and convey messages to our teams (Bolman &
Deal, 2021). Ensuring that as a leader, we stayed true to our identity so that our teams
could function through adversity.

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

From the beginning, I would have ensured that we would have discussed our company
mission and values and the importance of us ensuring we stayed true to our identity. With
the uncertainties going on, being vulnerable and sharing the concerns that could have
arose if we did not address and create solutions prior to initiating the layoffs. I would
have brought up examples and ideas on how to navigate these changes, while keeping our
symbols as an organization. I would have challenged us to keep our vision top of mind
with any decision we were to make for the company.

I would have approached our company changes differently by challenging upper

leadership with staying rooted in our actions. The traditions we created as an
organization, took a hit because we changed our actions from focusing on people, to
focusing on bottom line numbers. Knowing how this shifted culture, I would have
ensured our rituals, ceremonies and actions rooted on people first aspects would remain
intact versus being removed.

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 Reference or References

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

(7th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Jennings, L. (2021, July 26). Anil Yadav’s “entrepreneur Mindset” drew him to acquire Taco

Cabana. Nation’s Restaurant News. https://www.nrn.com/fast-casual/anil-yadav-s-

entrepreneur-mindset-drew-him-acquire-taco-cabana