OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Human Resource Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the human resource frame
2. Apply the human resource 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.

Our electrical contracting company in the Phoenix area was founded five years ago by
my husband. I started working for the company a year after its inception, in 2020. We
focus on commercial projects, comprising 80% of our business. We prioritize quality
craftsmanship and customer satisfaction, relying heavily on word-of-mouth referrals. My
role in the organization encompasses human resources and finance management,
overseeing employee onboarding, account management, and strategic planning.
Challenges arose due to my husband's disconnection from the team and clientele,
stemming from his need to work another full-time job as the business was still in its
infancy. This led to employee dissatisfaction, misconduct, and a lack of accountability
from employees and staff. This specific situation I'll be analyzing pertains to an absentee
boss and how it affected the beginning stages of the business, as well as put the business's
long-term success in jeopardy.

2) Describe how the human resources of the organization influenced the situation.

Human resources were put on the back burner as my husband was juggling his full-time
job and building the company simultaneously. He was scrambling to keep projects going
and sometimes felt like he couldn't keep his head above water. For this reason, our
employees suffered. We managed employee satisfaction in other areas, which helped ease
the discomfort of an absentee boss. We would provide lunch and beverages throughout
the week to our employees and make it a point to take our employees and their spouses
out for a nice dinner once a quarter. This gave us a chance to talk with them on a personal
level, helping to build trust. Autonomy was another benefit our employees had, but this
benefit would eventually lead to a dysfunctional team without enough structure to
sustain. Our employees were craving structure and a hands-on boss, not more
independence. There needed to be less freedom and more accountability. In turn, it hurt
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 our employees and our business. Our employees felt unsafe because they didn't have
enough guidance. Some basic needs were being met, but more was needed to provide
safety and respect.

Our key employees were in the apprentice phase of their careers and were craving
guidance from their bosses. While desiring to be there for our apprentices, my husband
was spread too thin and often outsourced their training. This showed a disconnected
concern with their training and communicated that their continued education wasn't a
priority. "A skilled and motivated workforce is a powerful source of competitive
advantage" (Bolman & Deal, 2021). We had motivated tradespeople who came into our
company eager to learn and grow from a master electrician whom they idolized. The
realization that they weren't going to be trained hands-on by their boss brought
discouragement and, in the long run, affected their trust in their boss and the company.
Investing in our crew, their education, and continued training was a vital aspect of their
dedication to the success of the company. They were our most valuable assets, and we
were unable to meet their emotional needs and sustain their desire for respect and
personal accomplishment (Bolman & Deal, 2021). Our inability to meet those needs cost
us two great employees, who moved on to other opportunities where their needs were
met.

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

With my current knowledge, I would have prioritized employee satisfaction from the start
of SD Electrical. The need for hands-on training from my husband and consistent
informal and formal connections would have been prioritized from the jump. The
company grew unexpectedly fast in the early years, and because of the rapid growth, a
formal training program needed to be established. Our electricians were trained, but they
chose our company in good part because they wanted to learn and grow further in their
trade, directly from my husband. My husband established a great friendship with our
guys but needed to prioritize their training, which our young electricians craved. Their
needs weren’t being prioritized and we weren’t providing what was originally
communicated as an incentive, hands-on training from my husband.

While we understood the importance of prioritizing our workforce, we needed to ask

ourselves what was important to them. We incentivized them in ways that weren’t a
priority to them as individuals, "people want things that go beyond money, such as doing
good work, getting better at what they do, bonding with other people, and finding
meaning and purpose" (Bolman & Deal, 2021). We could have done a better job of
providing our apprentices with what they desired most: the proper training to excel at
their profession and to learn from the boss they idolized directly. An endless supply of
Monsters and free lunches will not fulfill their most profound need as our employee; they

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 wanted to develop and find a deeper meaning and purpose within their chosen profession.
While a nice incentive, team parties were different from what they were looking for. We
should have prioritized what was individually crucial to our employees, ensuring their
needs were met. This would have saved us from losing two great apprentices initially
looking to work for us for the long haul. We now implement consistent hands-on training
with all our employees. My husband, now working full-time for our company, can
dedicate his full attention to training and connecting with our employees personally and
professionally.

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

Your company is only as good as your employees. As a manager, you might think you
know what your employees value, but you could also be projecting your own priorities. A
wise manager will seek to understand what's important to their employees, helping to
fulfill their needs and, in turn, will empower them to feel connected to the company's
overall success. If employees feel well cared for and prioritized, they will feel valued and
work hard for a company whose culture they believe in. "Organizations need people (for
their energy, effort, and talent), and people need organizations (for the many intrinsic and
extrinsic rewards they offer), but their respective needs are not always well aligned"
(Bolman & Deal, 2021). I would keep our approach the same: our level of care and
concern for our employees. I would change what we prioritized and how we went about
it.

The level of satisfaction our employees felt working for our company wasn't enough to
keep them on. When we weren't meeting the aspects of the job they valued, they needed
to move on to find them elsewhere, "when individuals find satisfaction and meaning in
work, organizations profit from the effective use of their talent and energy" (Bolman &
Deal, 2021). We missed an opportunity to partner with these employees and find out what
they valued most in working for us. This would have saved us from losing them,
fulfilling their need to improve their skills with the opportunity to move up in the
company. Trust and value would have been at the forefront of our approach, and
everyone would have benefited. This was a great learning opportunity for us as a
company and caused us to make significant changes to our structure to rectify the
problem.

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 References

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

Ronquillo Y, Ellis VL, Toney-Butler TJ. Conflict Management. [Updated 2023 Jul 3]. In:
StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available
from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470432/