Erik Rubbelke

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.

Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

In 2015 I served within a Marine Security Guard detachment charged with providing
security for the U.S. embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. Marine Security Guard
detachments around the world are responsible for protecting our nation’s information and
diplomatic personnel stationed abroad.

Detachments range in size and are uniquely structured compared to a typical military as
there are no Commissioned Officers directly attached to the detachment, meaning that the
senior Marine in the country is typically a member of the enlisted ranks. Within these
detachments, Marines from various military backgrounds come together to secure the
grounds and protect its personnel at all costs. The Marines charged with serving on this
duty are generally those of the most responsible nature, and often hand-selected go-
getters who do not hesitate to act in the absence of orders or direction. As one can
imagine, it can become difficult to provide enough competent individuals to fill these
billets due to the maturity and caliber of the individual required. Compounded with poor
international relations between the United States and various nations abroad, detachments
are often short-handed and this was the case during my tenure in Venezuela. The U.S.
maintained deteriorating diplomatic relations with the host nation, who was not willing to
approve visas for additional servicemembers to come support our mission. When my
boss was sent to another country to provide assistance and I was left in charge of my own
detachment for the first time, this proved to be a major challenge for me as a leader in
need of fine-tuning when it came to leadership skills.

During these undermanned times, our detachment maintained superb operational

readiness despite the many challenges that we faced. Administratively, we reported to a
military chain of command located in another country and reported operationally to a
civilian Special Agent within the embassy community. During this period, my team and I
were not only members of a Marine Security Guard detachment but also active
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participants in the embassy community, hosting happy hours to improve comradery

across all government entities, and providing personal time to serve as members of the
employee association, etc..

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

The human resources of the organization greatly influenced this situation. First of all,
though somewhat prepared, I would not say that I was immediately ready to assume the
role that I had taken on. As it was my first time, my team members did not care but
instead expected superb leadership and guidance because I was their single point of
contact in a time of crisis. I think that we can all relate to having a boss that is not ready
or competent enough to fill their current role and dealing with the headaches that
inevitably come from this. Looking back on it now, I know that I was ready to fill this
role. However, at the time, having never filled it, I was uncertain of my readiness and
simply took it in stride. During this time, it was on me as a leader to give those under my
charge my absolute best, and when I did not have the answer, it was my job to find it. I
had to grow quickly, and learn that if my subordinates thought I did not know what was
going on or what the next step was, they would stray from my direction and drift in one
of their own.

Another issue during this time was the stress of being understaffed. This meant that my
team was overworked during a time of hardship and lacking manpower, with only me to
look to when things got rough. We had fought the good fight in an attempt to receive
more members for our team, but due to the difficult and unproductive diplomatic
relations between the United States and Venezuela, we were unable to receive additional
members for our team during this period. This was an additional burden that I had to
learn to manage, attempting to balance workload between those that we did have on hand
while ensuring that each team member receives ample time to decompress as well.

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

Looking back, I would utilize those around me as a support system for my leadership. 
By providing them more responsibility and working on my own delegation/supervisory
skills, I could have taken various different actions which would have made things better
for all within my detachment during this period. Additionally, had I recognized how
many resources I had at my disposal to teach me the things that I did not know, I would
have reached out to them more frequently.
 
Though I may have been the senior man in my detachment within one specific country,
there was a network of other detachment commanders throughout the region who were
willing to provide instruction, wisdom, and guidance to a brother in need. Had I known
how willing these individuals were to provide some assistance, I would have picked up
the phone and called them much more often than I did.

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

Knowing now what I have learned about the human resources frame, I feel I could have
done better under these circumstances. Though understaffed, I was surrounded by
competent hand-selected individuals who were working alongside me for good reason.
Because I was new to the leadership position of Assistant Detachment Commander, I felt
a personal sense of responsibility for absolutely every decision made, action taken, and
outcome experienced by those under my charge and those around them. I believe this
was the right attitude, as ultimately it was all my responsibility. However, simply because
I was responsible for all outcomes does not mean that I was not able to delegate tasks to
ensure the mission was complete, both challenging those around, enabling them to grow
professionally, and preserving my own sanity.

Had I provided as much information as possible to keep my command informed and

utilized this experiences to create developmental opportunities for my teammates, they
may have developed a sense of pride in their work, ownership in their organization, and
fulfillment in their day to day duties (Bolman & Deal, 2017). Additionally, this type of
action would have fostered a self-managing team that may have required additional
supervision at first but ultimately would have been much more effective at the end
(Bolman & Deal, 2017).

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Reference or References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership

(6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass