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.

I am a Nurse at ABC Children’s Hospital. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, we were
faced with a plethora of issues, amongst them, issues between staff members. Shortly
after the Charge Nurse (lead of a sector) from my sector quit, another one was hired
called Karen. She seemed really ambitious and excited to help the hospital with
innovative ideas. However, this image fell off quickly. She did not get along well with
anyone because of how she was as a person and her skills lacked in every aspect. No one
liked her as a leader adding conflicts of interest. Favoritism was a big thing with her. She
only made life easy for those nurses that would obey her. Felt a lot like a dictatorship

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

The mission that ABC Children’s Hospital works by is very inspiring. Their mission is
family-centric. They want you to feel welcome and ensure that the hospital visit does not
feel institutionalized. For example, they have drawings on walls, waterfalls, trains for
children amongst other things to make the patient and their family feel welcomed. This is
the type of experience we provide to our patients. However, with Karen as the lead, the
environment was becoming toxic and the patient’s families were receiving part of the
blow.

The symbols of the organization didn’t really affect the situation. However, I feel like
they weren’t enforced on Karen and she was never held accountable for her actions which
went against the values of the hospital. Her favoritism would stir up emotions amongst
nurses in our department. On top of that, we were being overworked with more patients
assigned to nurses as usual. Some sort of burst was bound to happen. Our previous
Charge Nurse would assist us with angry parents because they usually ask for someone in
charge. For Karen, this would annoy her, unless you were part of her posse (people she
liked). Karen being furious and talking with an angry parent was never a great

1
 combination. Sometimes she would yell at the parents if they were being persistent with a
request. This is the only way I feel that symbolism affected this situation, not enforcing
serious actions towards Karen due to her unstable behavior.

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

While working, sometimes nurses would get carried away by the heat of the moment that
sometimes they would forget why they are in the career and job they chose. Healthcare’s
sole purpose is to provide medical care for people. On top of that, the hospital has its own
beliefs and mission, to provide the easiest health care possible to make life better (will
not cite for anonymity). An alternative course of action that could be taken is to enforce
these beliefs and hold people accountable. It is not enough to simply provide care, but we
must also follow the hospital’s mission.

By holding people accountable I do not necessarily mean to punish them. There are
several ways to hold people accountable and I personally believe that the most effective
one is to coach someone. One of the five suppositions that distill the symbolic frame
shared by Bolman and Deal is, “symbols arise to help people resolve confusion, find
direction, and anchor hope and faith.” (Bolman & Deal, 2017, p. 242). I think that
coaching individuals by reminding them what our goals and missions are being in this
industry and organization hold them accountable for their actions.

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

In this reflective question, I always tend to want to make changes. The symbolic frame is
no different. I have shared quite a bit how I felt about the accountability towards Karen. I
cannot stress how much this impacted the organization. The image of the hospital was
most likely hurt because of the terrible experience that stemmed from terrible
management.

However, given these circumstances, I think that I should’ve helped my team a little
better. Instead of them lashing out at the patient’s families, I would talk with them and
share the values of why we are nurses and why we work for ABC Children’s Hospital. I
feel like this creates a culture at work that would help a lot. Bolman and Deal share that
culture acts as a glue that unites people (Bolman & Deal, 2017). I feel like creating a
culture is the strongest and most symbolic thing an organization can have.

2
 Reference or References
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership
(6th ed.) [E-book]. Jossey-Bass.