OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Political 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.

Proper operations of a retail store are one of the most important ways to achieve sales
goals, inventory accuracy, and great customer experience. As an operations manager in a
jewelry store called Kendra Scott, I was the go-to leader for just above everything in the
store. From leading the sales floor with coaching and development, shipment receiving,
and inventory projects, and any other updates, or tasks sent from corporate. In a high-
volume store, there is an expectation to maintain sales, complete projects on time, and
make any adjustments needed based on traffic and demands. With the amount on your
plate, there was low compensation for our teams, considering the increasing pressure to
make sales and complete tasks with unrealistic expectations, and low support from senior
field leadership. In November of 2021, just before the holidays, myself and 5 others left
the company after feedback and new ideas were continuously downplayed or disregarded
for months by the district manager (DM) and senior management. The store was now
lacking leadership that cared and of knowledgeable experience. Due to this, the DM felt
the stress and tension of what it is like to work in this environment, and now in an
extremely understaffed store.

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

The politics of this organization are interesting, and as mentioned before, it is somewhat
like what I presented in the HR Framework. Corporately, the company displays ‘Family”
as being important, using this to build a base and coalitions. Although, senior
management wants these coalitions to be ‘yes-men’, to keep things running as is. Without
feedback and ideas, positive change will likely never come about. Therefore, leading to
the high turnover, unengaged employees, and overall poor long-term outcomes.

1
 Eventually, myself and several other high performing managers, started to see that many
practices are unfair and unproductive. The text shares, “There is no guarantee that those
who gain power will use it wisely or justly,” (Bolman & Deal, 2017, pg. 199). I think this
describes the politics of Kendra Scott well, as senior management needs to satisfy
executives, therefore, you must act how they want, to be granted opportunities in the
future. If you are outside this so-called coalition, especially in the field, you will be
ignored and unsupported. It is hard to build your own coalition that presents feedback and
honesty when many others working in the field desire to be granted opportunities and
attention from higher management and will do conform in order to do this. So long that
this type of organization runs, change with be very slow to come about.

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

Although I typically do not find extreme use of the political frame tactics necessary, in
this case, I do feel as an alternative, some political technique could gain insight to
corporate employees. With that being said, a few store locations (that feel the same way)
can act as a coalition to bring about change. With a store of 15 people alone, and then
multiple locations, it could be enough to reach corporate level employees to display all
the information that is being ignored. One key aspect to building this coalition, would be
that it must be solutions-focused, so we can present a positive opportunity for change and
growth. Possibly, incorporating HR may be useful when creating the employee group and
presentation/survey results.

The tricky part to an alternative course of action to this situation, when using the political
framework, is that you are pushing the same people to make a change or decision that
may not genuinely want to do it. Although, the information itself could make some
individuals or teams want to change, others will have a bottom line that comes first. The
problem that senior field leaders (DM & RM) face is the executives that want the
cheapest outcomes in every aspect of the business, leading to the way they treat the field
to satisfy these executives. With this being embodied into the business model, an entire
new executive / management team may be the option that makes more movement.
Additionally, I would recommend an outside consulting firm that can provide expertise,
unbiased opinion, and training opportunities.

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

When working with the political frame, it is crucial to take mutual interests and outcomes
into consideration when collaborating with different roles throughout the company. The
political frame can be a normal part of organizations, including coalitions, committees,
and groups that part take in other processes. For my case here, coalitions were used is a

2
 negative light, creating a base that was meant to follow in line, and not question anything.
Considering I did step away from the mundane expectations and spoke up when
something didn’t seem right, there is not a lot I would change now. I spoke up to 2
different senior level managers, and they chose to satisfy the norm and the pretty picture
that corporate wanted to see, rather than present reality to those that could implement
huge change. The pressure that corporate executives put onto these roles to keep the
coalition in line led to this unfortunate outcome.

Seeing that executives wanted to fulfill their own agenda, some of the field managers,
including myself, could have done more to raise a voice, considering we started to see the
pattern with the senior management. I eventually gave up and pursued a new job,
knowing that greed and selfishness ran throughout the organization, I did not see a future
here. My store tried to blaze a path to change, but eventually, it is clear when you do not
belong to a coalition or organization.

3
 Reference

BOLMAN, L. E. E., & Deal, T. (2017). Reframing organizations. JOHN WILEY & Sons.