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 had been pursuing a promotion/move to the project management department in my

current organization. When I asked for an opportunity in project management, the
organization could not find or make the change happen. This was due to the fact that there
currently is no one available that would be able to replace me in my current position as a
senior designer. Currently, there are no mid-level designers that could be trained in time to
manage and produce at the same level I currently am. The organization has been in need of a
project manager as well, but the timing was never right to pull me from design. When they
were faced with me leaving the organization and being out of a designer and a project
manager, they made the choice to deal with the designer shortage and fill the project
management position. If they had let me leave, they would have been dealing with filling
two positions instead of just my current position as a designer.

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

In my organization a symbol that is widely used by management to motivate and give

employees a sense of prosperous future is their policy to “train your replacement”. This
motivates both everyone on the organization from the lower-level positions to the higher
ones. The lower level or entry level position members are eager to learn and please the
person that is directly over them, in hopes of being the person that is chosen to be the
replacing candidate for the position. The person training is also incentivized to provide good
training and getting the person that will replace them in their current position ready to take
over with minimal disruption. None of us can move up without having a replacement fully
capable of taking over our current positions.

Because of this symbol we all expect that positions are filled from within the organization
and count on that for our career growth. In my situation the symbol contributed to the
situation negatively because I was not able to train my replacement. Due to a period of poor

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employee retention of new level designers, the organization lacks mid-level designers for me
to train as my replacement. By following the current organizational policy, it would take
years for a new designer to be ready to take over my senior designer position, hindering my
promotion or opportunities elsewhere in the organization.

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

In my organization, there is also a symbol from the historical perspective of the

organization, of the founder that started the company from the bottom up with a lot of hard
work and long hours. He started the company from his home office and then moved on to an
office space and started to add employees to take on the added responsibilities of a growing
company. The story of the company and its origins is always shared with new employees
during their onboarding process, presented as a symbol of perseverance and success through
hard work. According to Bolman & Deal, “Stories carry history and values and reinforce
group identity” (2021, p.282) and as part of the symbolic frame help create and maintain
cohesive teams.

I could have used the symbol of the company’s history to motivate management to find
ways to make my promotion happen. By reiterating that I have been working hard and
producing for the organization because I want to advance up in my position and grow in my
career. I could persuade my manager and upper management to give me the opportunity that
I deserve. I have been getting educated on my own and worked hard to become a better asset
to the organization, this embodies the organization’s symbols and demonstrates my will to
grow and accomplish my goals.

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

“An organization’s culture is revealed and communicated through its symbols” (Bolman
& Deal, 2021, p.254). If the organization’s leaders want to maintain the culture and policies
in place and continue to follow the asserted symbols. They need to keep the meaning of the
symbols alive and clearly evident for it to keep motivating people. I would show
management that it would be a bad precedent to set by not finding a way to provide me with
a well-deserved opportunity. If team members see a well-respected and experienced member
of the organization working hard to make themselves a good candidate for a promotion.
Seeing that the opportunity is not made available by management, will discourage many of
them. There for, the organization would lose the motivating benefit of the company’s
historical symbol.

Another thing that I could have done differently is to look for a mentor in the project
management group. This would allow me to not only learn from the mentor but also make

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that person my ally in my quest for my promotion into the project management department.
This could also be a beneficial relationship for the mentor. If the mentor is looking to move
up in the organization, he would have to train a person to replace them in their current
position, and that person could be me. Therefore, implementing the “train your replacement”
symbol that is so widely promoted in the organization.

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 Reference

Bolman, L. G. & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership
(7th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass