OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:
PCA-Politcal Frame Worksheet
Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the political frame
2. Apply the political 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.
My role within the organization that I work for is as a Production Lead Assistant. The main
focus of my role is to lead teams of people well implementing best practices. The situation that I
spoke about in Module 1 was a tangled-up mess between the training department within the
company (Plxues Corp) and the departments I work in. I had to develop a cross-training program
for our department to ensure we understood the training gaps and where certifications were
needed. The training department assumed I did not know what I was doing. Still, when they
came to speak to me, they no longer questioned how I came up with the program but instead
used that program for their new inline trainer program throughout every Plexus Corp in America.
2) Describe how the politics of the organization influenced the situation.
Throughout this process, between creating the training needed for the department,
I was into the point of the confrontation that took place. There are a few times that I can
see where the organization's politics took place. The first one is the direct line of
communication. As I would typically go to my boss for issues and concerns, I did not go
to the training department for much of anything. I think this tipped the scale for me
because the training department should be the immediate training needs for the entire
facility. So, in this case, they play the string to what happens with training. Even though
they provided a general outline, they did not go all the way. That is why I had to do more
of the work. In this case, the training department does fall into the direct line of authority
and power.
The other political situation within my situation was who could train the people,
who could have access to the files that I made, and how they would be
accepted/implemented. As it was my job to create the files as directed by my supervisor,
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it was in her power to present them, plan them, and who would have access to it. She also
had to get the direct okay from other leads within the area to get their concerns for the
matter at hand. This meant the human interaction that took place here also had a direct
authorities power over how things would happen within the department, not just the
employees but also the actions that I took part in. So these politics were prominent
players in how things played out the way they did.
3) Recommend how you would use organizational politics for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.
When I consider what I can do to use organizational politics to help make an
alternative course of action regarding my situation, I think about the process within the
company and the outside. I question myself on how other businesses I have worked for
manage this. What I found to be complicated is that Plexus is a large organization with an
ecosystem that has stemmed from political organization structure. As a fast-growing
technology company, it is essential to be one step ahead of other people and
organizations. This holds to companies within the corporate areas and all over the world.
In our reading, Reframing Organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership by Bolman,
L.G., Deal, and T.E. they state, “The same factors that spawn politics inside organizations
also create political dynamics within and between ecosystems. Organizations have
parochial interests and compete for scarce resources” (Bolman et al., 2017, p.225). In this
case, the training department had its way of doing things but did not consider the
company as a whole. They did the bare minimum, and how I would change that is by
collaborating with the training department to get these side political dynamics taken care
of. By thinking of the ecosystem as a whole and using all the resources, we can get, we
can better the opportunities and processes for future training.
Using the concept of this large organization and its organizational politics, I think
to rework the system a bit to where there is much more focus and energy used on the
common goal and how to sustain it. I also believe that allowing more people to learn the
process to help the training department better get everyone trained and tracked through
each process. This can be implemented throughout each facility so that there are names
with certifications for each employee. This also makes preparing for an audit that much
easier. In all, I believe these alternative courses of action using politics can best this
situation.
4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame.
I believe organizational politics can be both bad and good. To get better results, I
think playing the political game within my organization would have given the company
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better chances and more growth in my role. What I have learned so far in my leadership
role within the company, growing with them, being a part of it, and believing in their core
values has gotten me far. Now, considering and participating in political matters has
helped me gain more traction and relationships. These relationships have opened many
doors into the company where I am helping out other plants to better the outcome for the
company and their ecosystem as a whole.
I believe that I listed above for an alternative course of action using political gains
within the company would have been the best course of action. This would have bettered
the company and helped me grow in experience and relationships. My ideal goal is to
make it up into corporate life, and by doing so, I need to be a part of things that challenge
me not just as a leader but also as a devoted employee who can use the systems set forth.
As I come forward learning each frame, I understand more of what I could have done to
better the situation and how I can sustain and continue to improve the problems I come
across.
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Reference
Bolman, L.G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, choice, and
leadership (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
