OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA- Human Resources 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

Medtronic is an organization in the medical device industry. It supplies many different

medical device platforms, from implantable devices to surgical tools. Medtronic started
due to a power outage that affected all of the patients that had pacemakers plugged in and
could not run during the outage. Earl saw an opportunity to battery power the devices so
that they could treat the patients not being connected to a wall plug. I am a technician in
the battery department. My department builds many different models of battery
specifically for Medtronic devices. I have a wide range of responsibilities ranging from
equipment support, to calibrated device management, to doing equipment and or tool
qualifications. My situation revolves around when I was a team lead for one of the
production lines. The supervisor had ultimate say but I was allotted a lot of input into the
decisions. I had a situation that I was told I had to give one operator to another line. We
had a good group of eight people with one that was a lot slower at the processes. I was
told the other line needed a solid person, so I was not allowed to give that one slower
operator to them. So, the first decision was pretty easy that I would give them one of the
newest additions to my line. I then h. to decide between the two. Both were very punctual
and had both learned about the same amount of the processes at the same speed and had
equal quality of their work. My decision ended up coming down to the social makeup of
the group. One of the two connected a lot more with two strong personalities on the line,
and at times those two could make me feel as if they were strong holding me into things.
I decided that since I had the opportunity, I could not let them become a trio. So, I gave
that operator to the other line. It was a tough decision and had so many inputs into why I
made the decision I did, it also could have come with multiple different outcomes.

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 2) Describe how the human resources of the organization influenced the situation.
The human resources of my company played a large part in my decision making for this
situation. It was the main part actually. I had to consider how all the operators would
function within the group they were currently in and also how they would function with
the new team if I were to move them. I was under pressure to give the other group a great
operator that could get along with the current team and give good output. While at the
same time I did not want to hinder my own line.

The readings stated that “the human resource frame centers on what organizations and
people do to and for one another” This sums up my entire decision. I had to consider
peoples strengths and weakness, how they interacted or could interact with the current
groups and what output they would give for the organization. This decision was about
people and who would fit the best on each assembly line. I feel like this situation was
hard to not look at from the human resources frame. (Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E.)

3) Recommend how you would use the human resources for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.
I think the alternative course of action would have been to meet with the upper
management and appeal to them that there were other actions we could take. Such as
switch my slow operator to another line and get a strong operator from them to give to
the line that needed one. I could have appealed to them how important all the other
operators were to the assembly line.
I also could have had the discussion with the operators to see if anyone wanted to shift to
the other line. I think had I talked to them before making the decision it would have been
a different outcome. If they had a heads up that someone had to move and why then it
would not have ended with the one operator leaving the company.

4) Recommend Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you
have learned about this frame.
I think that I would have produced the same solution however I think I would have been
able to put a little more thought into it after learning about the frame. I also think that I
would have questioned the motives behind taking someone from my line also. I would have
pushed for my weaker assembler to move somewhere else and get a strong assembler from
that line. Then the two lines would benefit from the change. There are lines in my building
that would have been fine taking a slower performer. I think that I could have had more
conversations with my boss about the struggle I was having, and why, and possibly could
have changed the request.

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 Also, alternatively I could have decided to keep the other operator as he had more of
a connection with the other operators. This could have been a positive outcome as he may
have stayed with the company if I did not move him away from the friends he had made.

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 Reference:

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