OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Political Frame Worksheet

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

The situation that I found to be a challenge in my leadership journey was a time

where I needed to coach a barista as a shift supervisor at Starbucks. This barista had
transferred to our store recently and was struggling to connect and develop a good
relationship with the team. This barista had a history of talking over authority figures who
were relaying information to her, misgendering coworkers, and had an overall attitude
problem. One day, this barista was rude to one of her coworkers which resulted in me asking
her to step to the back room so we could discuss her behavior with the support of my
assistant store manager (ASM). I was attempting to coach her on her behavior and attitude,
but she began to speak over me loudly and state that she had only had issues at this location
and that it was leadership’s fault. Shortly after, we sent her home half an hour early and she
never returned.

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

Politics within the organization refers to the ongoing contests that arise from the
clashing individual or group interests (Bolman & Deal, 2021). Within the story
recounted above there is evidence of clashing interests between myself, who represents
the authority in the situation, and the barista. As the shift supervisor, I have the goal of
ensuring that not only is the team moving towards the goals that Starbucks corporate sets
for us but also that everyone within the team gets along well enough to function. This
barista was unfortunately not meeting either of these expectations as she would
incorrectly make drinks and argue with you when you would inform her how to correctly
make the drinks. This conflict developed as I attempted to exert my authoritative power
in order to have this barista act in a way that better aligned with my own goals as well as
that of the organization. Conflict in organization’s are particularly likely to occur when
boundaries are cross, in this instance the barista mistreating others was my personal
boundary that she crossed (Bolman & Deal, 2021).

An interesting political dynamic in this story, or at least one I believe to play a

large role in this, was that this barista did not meld well enough with the group to be a
part of a coalition. Upon reflection, I can see how difficult it must be to try to navigate
within an organization where many if not most of the present coalitions or groups don’t
include you and how that might incite some conflict. People are more compliant with
authority when they perceive the people in authority as credible, competent and sensible
but despite many authority figures embodying these traits this barista would only seem to

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 behave herself in front of the store manager (Bolman & Deal, 2021). The coalition of the
shift supervisor team did not have positive impressions of her due to her actions and I
believe that influenced the coalition that consists of the rest of the barista team. Overall, I
think that the differences between the barista’s values, beliefs, interests and perceptions
of reality differed too much than that of the store’s current team.

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

There are two primary alternative courses of action that I thought might have been
useful in turning this situation around. The first method being the “hold your enemies
close” method in which you develop links with potential opponents in order to improve
communication, their knowledge, or for negotiation (Bolman & Deal, 2021). I believe
that I initially did a weaker version of this when I was first training this barista by being
courteous and friendly, but I think that had I made her feel more like part of the team
sooner into her time with us then she may have chosen to act differently. I could have
encouraged her to improve her drink quality standards and behavior by saying that since
she is a part of the team and since this team delivers high quality drinks whilst getting
along together then she must follow suit. The barista may not have disrespected her
coworker if she felt more included within our coalition.
The second method that I thought of to deal with this situation utilizing
organizational politic would be to select and implement a more forceful method of
exercising my political influence. This would look like using a more authoritative style
of leadership in which using a threat, like writing someone up, is significantly more
common than more passive leadership styles. I typically lean against this but using a
credible threat is crucial in bargaining and only works if your opponent believes you’ll
utilize it (Bolman & Deal, 2021). As a softer leader, I believe that I may have given this
barista the impression that I was too relaxed and would allow her to mistreat others and
disrespect leadership. Overall, I think she may have changed her behavior sooner had she
realized how upset or how much boundary crossing her actions were causing.

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

For the most part, with this situation I do believe that I did the best I could with
what resources and the inexperience I had as a newer leader. However, if I could go back
in time, I do think that I would use a little bit of the above-mentioned methods to better
implement this barista into the group. I would have made it clear from the beginning that
she is a member of a team and as such is expected to act and behave as a team player.
That might look like me explaining exactly how her actions contributed to making the
team look incompetent or that her negative remarks towards other team members brings
the entire team down. Potentially, I could have focused her on our similar goals and

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 interests to make her feel more included. Additionally, I think it would have been smart
for me to encourage the other more experienced baristas to feel comfortable coaching her
whenever they saw her making a drink incorrectly. This could both reassure her that the
team cares but also reaffirm the standards for everyone.
If I could change my behavior in this situation, I also would have been more
confident in exercising my authority. I should have felt more confident and held my
ground more when she was disrespectful of other’s pronouns, when she made drinks
incorrectly, and when her behavior of talking over authority figures became issues. This
situation may not have gone on as long if she felt that a potential write-up could happen if
she did not change her actions sooner. Essentially, had I coached her sooner and with a
stronger conviction she may still have been a member of the team today.

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 Reference

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership
(7th ed.). San Francisco, CA