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

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

(My company is anonymous, as to not reveal secrets, as such the name is made up)

At Blowfish Services, residential and commercial construction, there is an issue

of bloat, debt, and an extensive amount of quality issues. My role as the contractor is to
fix and repair the long list of issues. The primary issue involves a lack of control from the
project managers, lower, middle, and higher management as by freeing highly trained
experts to do what they do best produces many benefits but leads to challenges of
coordination and quality control (Bolman & Deal, 2021, pg. 8). Management has been
structured in such a way that issues go unseen for months, as they battle in a political
arena to maneuver above the trife of lower management and the common workers such as
myself. This has been made more difficult by the lack of positive cultural concepts that
are essential to team dynamics.

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

The symbols of the organization, people, stories of errors, and long lists of
mistakes enable negativity, distrust, and unhealthy behavior by using past examples as an
excuse for unprofessional behavior currently. We deal with the often-insurmountable pile
of issues, people unfit for their role, the mundanity or ridiculous nature of the tasks with
humor. These symbols are symbols of division more so than unification (Bolman & Deal,
2021, pg. 252). Without out going into specifically who and what, as this is an
anonymous description. The company employed various higher-ups who have abused
their power. They have become symbols of the long-lasting issues with the project. We
might say “remember how bad it was when so-and-so was here?”. Or we’d recall the
various long remembered issues present that we still face the repercussions of. Our
symbols became mistake, after mistake, with no sense of belonging of understanding.

In some ways the project had been an experience of co-miserating in the

experiences we had negatively impacting the quality and professionalism of our current
work. With the negative associations made with the cultural symbols of the company
actions associated with certain individuals became inherently negative. There were
1
 periods of frustration, and disgruntled behavior that fueled office politics and posturing in
an unhealthy manner (Bolman & Deal, 2021, pg. 306). The effects of this can be seen
with nearly everyone approaching issues with skepticism, without much confidence, or in
a state of confusion. Certain tasks and items became viewed through almost an entirely
negative lens, because often these were issues, luckily our role was to rectify these issues
and able to allow these symbols to be looked at more fondly because of the changes we
were able to make. Again, non-specific, particular areas of the buildings look much nicer,
fixing broken parts of the buildings, and re-painting some areas. This lightened the
negative feelings of there being too much to possibly deal with. With new items
completed, we could be much more positive about the future of the project.

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

My recommendation would have been to provide employees or partners with

incentives to continue working on the project. Perhaps statements each month to the
status of the project and what the future entails. Instead, we have always been entirely left
in the dark for the future despite having been working for them for over a year. This
absence of positive symbols led the project on a pretty dark path. With rampant cynicism.
I would try to combat this cynicism with something good to look forward to. In some
since from issue to issue it would allow spirits to be raised and breathing space for work
to move forward into (Bolman & Deal, 2021, pg. 295). Incentivizing instead of firing, or
in addition to firing would have lessened the effects of constant worry, and negative
symbolic thinking towards figures or history at the company.

I think a recognition of these negative symbols in the project, and a broadening of a point
to new horizons, which the firing of nearly all staff members was already quite an
alternative course regarding symbols of the project. With each new firing as symbol was
born of how the project was ran. I would have stepped in with a person, or a few people,
that needed to come in and revitalize the project. Frankly, even that would not be worth
it. The project was rumored to be cursed. So, if anything positive did come up, it would
be soured shortly after. An alternative would be to do as I stated, maintain a positive
workplace environment, with symbols of lasting change, like our team, rather than
continue to beat the dead horse of past failures. Create new changes and symbols worthy
of optimism.

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

Having heard more about the frame of symbolism, it was our project that lacked
any positive symbols, therefore I would as a manager, create new symbols and fight back

2
 against the poor reputation the project has held for so long. This drastic change would
fight against the negative symbols, and replace the old symbols with new achievements.
Something along the lines of looking forward, rather than backwards. I feel the business
did not account for the negative impacts of the various issues that compounded over the
years resulting in poor quality and unprofessional behavior. To associate the company
with the negative symbol that this project has become, contractors not wanting to work
with them because of this project and various connections that could have been
prosperous, turn unwelcoming because of the symbol this project represents for the
company. Over the years, the company has gained a poor reputation for this project, and
overall, the perception of quality has dropped significantly. Years of the project have
been called something akin to navigating a maze, a circus, and the feeling of being stuck
in the twilight zone have been referenced many times in conversation (Bolman & Deal,
2021, pg. 270). Our collective experiences denote such connotations as well.
The twilight zone is a reference to something that does not make sense, on this
project we have dealt with issues that do not make rational sense. It is an unusual
situation on this project and having known about the impact of the symbolic frame, I
believe there may have been fewer negative connotations towards the work, the project,
or the organization. In many ways, Blowfish Services has created a “Twilight Zone”
through improper managerial practices, reliance on managers to create a cohesive
environment and had not done so. Our job site was a twilight zone, it didn’t make sense
for a very long time. Symbolically, our project felt like a disaster, mismanaged, out of
sync with the other areas of the project, and scattered. I believe a unifying symbol, a
team, that did their work properly, like ours could be the uplifting symbol the project
needs. As such, I believe our team coming in and achieving excellence in our craft has
been a positive symbol and has made a significant impact on the project.

3
 References

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