Erik Rubbelke

OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Symbolic Frame Worksheet
Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the symbolic frame
2. Apply the symbolic 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.

In 2015 I served as the Assistant Detachment Commander of 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.

This was the first time I had served as an Assistant Detachment Commander, and during
this time my boss was sent to another country to provide assistance and I was left in
charge of my own detachment for the first time. It was during this time that I learned that
while a team may consist of many members, the leader of that team is the face of the
organization, and the way that leader acts and behaves is the way people perceive the
team to be performing at the time! I learned quickly that I must appear calm and as
though everything is absolutely under control at all times, or the personnel I was sworn to
protect would suspect something was up and begin to live in a state of unease themselves.
The leader of a group is symbolic of the team itself. When individuals have faith in the
leader based on their demeanor and how they carry themselves, they will have faith in the
team just as well.

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

I quickly realized that there were a few occasions in which I may have appeared lost, or
new to my new position. However, what the embassy needed was a leader who was
calm, cool, collected, and confident. They needed to see someone who had complete
control of any situation so that they would believe the team as a whole had every
situation under control just as well. At first, I may not have appeared as confident as I
needed to be because I was uncomfortable and in very unfamiliar territory, often seen as
the youngest individual the table in a room full of career diplomats, but still looked to for
protection by every individual in the community. While I may have believed that others

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were looking at me as though I was not experienced or old enough, I was wrong; these
people simply needed to see that I was confident and had things under control so that they
would understand the team was well prepared for whatever may come their way. It was
my responsibility to build a distinctive reputation and identity of the organization based
on how I chose to carry myself (Bolman & Deal, 2017).

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

Understanding that I was the symbol others used to base their opinions of the team as a
whole, I would have made more of an effort from the very beginning to conceal any
sense of nervousness or inexperience. I know that I was well prepared for this moment of
leadership, but because it was my first time I felt anxious. The pressure I felt of my team
relying on me to lead was simple, that is something I have dealt with for years now.
What was new, was having personnel from all the various entities within the embassy
look to me as a leader as well. I found myself sitting in many meetings which I would
never have expected to be sitting in on and working with embassy cohorts some 30-40
years older than me. When working with individuals with that much experience, I think
it is natural to feel a little bit of anxiety.

Whatever anxiety these cohorts may have sensed about me must have made an impact on
the way they viewed our team. Had I been able to conceal some of my anxiety or
nervousness, our embassy colleagues would have viewed us to be as calm, cool, and
collected as we knew that we were if an emergency were to arise. Beyond that, I would
not use this sense of symbolism to implement any sort of alternative course of action.

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

I would not do anything different, aside from making an effort to appear more in control.
While I was aware and completely understood that the Detachment was mine, that we
were well trained and well prepared to handle any situation, I needed others to believe
that as well. When my boss departed, there was more than likely a short gap where the
amount of confidence faltered because some individuals could certainly tell that I was
new and perhaps I looked like a fish out of water at first.

Within a few weeks, I know that I realized I knew exactly what I was doing and what
needed to be done, and it then came naturally. It was simply a lack of inexperience
which put may have put a slight hint of uncertainty upon my face, which is what those
personnel may have seen during that time. As the symbol of the organization, when my
attitude towards the situation changed, so did the attitudes of the embassy staff towards
not only my self but towards their protective security detachment as a whole!

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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