OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Structural Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the structural frame
2. Apply the structural 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.

As a Starbucks barista, I had a manager committing many unethical acts. Because of

this, the morale of the team went down, and goals were not being met. I took the
initiative to contact higher management to get it under control and fixed, but this seemed
to be a very slow process.

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

The structure we had at this time was a simple hierarchal structure. This was because
we had a DM (district manager) who was in charge of the SM (store manager), who was
then in charge of all of the workers in the store. With this said, the SM also goes down to
the shift supervisors, who can then go down to all the partners at the store. Because of
this structure, it makes it difficult to report things about your superiors because of the
disconnect. This can also make it difficult on the shift supervisor level because there are
multiple of us, which can make communication difficult if our store manager is here.

This structure and the situation at hand allowed for these unethical acts of the manager
to go unnoticed because of the power difference. The main issue that was run into was
informing the DM of these actions. At this time, the DM was on vacation, so it was very
difficult to get ahold of them until they got back, which took about two weeks. Also, this
power shift and his being a new manager made it hard to address these issues because
of the tone change of the team. This change also assisted in him ‘getting away with it’ for
so long. Also, his being new and not knowing much about him helped him show blatant
favoritism by giving more hours to specific people. This also happens because you give
your manager this inherent trust, and it is hard to see these negative things right off the
bat.

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

This situation had many faults because of the structure of the team. The structure made it so
people didn't feel comfortable in their work environment, and it was always a toss-up as to
whether or not it was going to be a good or bad day. I feel that because of the hierarchical
nature of the structure at the store level at Starbucks, I think I should look at Helgeson's web
of inclusion. I believe that putting the DM at the center of this structure with all the other
stores around him and allowing them to lean on each other is important. This could then
almost filter into a matrix style of structure in which the individual stores will work. This
would help in this situation because it would have given us extra support from other store
managers to get this situation figured out faster.

“Helgeson coined the expression “web of inclusion” to depict an organic form more circular
than hierarchical. The web builds from the center out. Its architect works like a spider,
spinning new threads of connection and reinforcing existing strands” (Bolman & Deal,
2017). This structure would almost force the DM to communicate more with everyone, not
just the store managers. As I said earlier, this would help create a better support network.
Also, this would help prevent things from slipping through the cracks. This is because it can
create a comfortable environment for all the partners to lean on each other if there are
problems.

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

I believe I handled the situation to the best of my ability at that time and used all the possible
resources that I knew of. At the end of the day, the manager was removed because of my
leadership. This was because I didn't think it was right and called it out. One of the things I
would have done differently was contacting other store managers at the time to hopefully
find a different way around the original manager. Another thing I would have done
differently was to call business ethics. At the time, I didn't have much knowledge, but I know
that calling them would have definitely expedited the process while the DM was out of
town.

In the end, I believe that I handled the situation very well. I did what I did because I had the
best interests of the partners in my store in mind. I took it upon myself to fall into that
leadership position because I saw something that was wrong and it was affecting my team, so
I did something about it. I went through the chain of command, which would be the district
manager, and he handled it from there. I gathered evidence, and this is what I used when I
went to the DM. Also, the tone I used was one of frustration and concern for my team, and
this is the part I'm very proud of.

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 Reference or References

Bolman & Deal. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley
& Sons.