OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Political Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the political frame
2. Apply the political frame to your 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.

The HART or Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, a semi-autonomous

agency of Hawaii’s government, is responsible for completing the Honolulu Rail Transit.
This project is supposed to be completed with a budget of $4 billion and end in 2022. The
original plan for the project is to build an above-ground rail system that is 24 miles long
going from Kapolei to Monoa on the island of Oahu, to minimize the traffic. But because
of internal and external problems surrounding the project, the project has accumulated
cost overruns of $12.4 billion in 2021 and is estimated to finish in 2033 with an
additional price tag of $11 billion. (Honore, 2020) It has also been shortened to a 20-
mile-long rail system that will stop at Ala Moana

I play an external role as a tax-paying citizen of Hawaii, I also live on Oahu and
am affected by traffic caused by the project. Because of the cost overruns and the
additional price tag to finish the project, the government needed to raise the sales tax in
Hawaii to get approval for federal funding, or else the project would never be completed.
I also live on the island of Oahu, but this project does not benefit me but I still have to
pay taxes that help fund the project.

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

The political frame has a major influence on the situation. The main reason that
the project even started was because of politics within the Hawaiian government. The rail
project has been in the works since the 1960s but was not approved until 2005 by the city
council of Honolulu. (Reyes, 2005) In 2008 Honolulu mayor elections were influenced
by the rail project and created a coalition that was trying to stop the rail project. With the
pressure from the protests, the City Council and Mayor Hannemann proposed a city
charter amendment that allow the residents of Oahu to vote on starting the project. (Au,

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 2008) But leaving it to the voters is also a political move because the project would
benefit the residents that are close to the rail, which accounts for the majority of the
island’s population. While the population that is further away disapproved of the project.
“The island's precincts also show that voters in many parts of Oahu disagree with the
project, primarily those living in Windward and East Oahu.” (Au, 2008)

The project has also started on the wrong foot, by being delayed because of
federal funding. “Challenge for the city is getting federal approval of the project's final
environmental impact statement — a milestone that must be passed before construction
can begin.” (Hao, 2010) This was caused by Governor Linda that disapproved of the
project, delaying the project by conducting a thorough review the project before she
accepts the environmental impact statement. (Hao, 2010) This successfully delayed the
project for about a year. When the project started in 2011 there has already been some
cost overruns due to lawsuits because bids for the construction of the first 9 stations
exceeded $100 million. This happened before CEO Dan Grabauskas was hired for a
three-year contract for HART. (City and County of Honolulu) After Dan, there have been
4 different CEOs, all of them only having a 3-year contract. This causes a shift in the
power dynamics to change every 3 years within the organization.

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

The alternative course of action that I would recommend for organizational

politics is to frame the successes that the project has achieved and stick with a CEO for
longer than three years. “Framing: Control of meaning and symbols is what Mann refers
to as ideological power.” (Deal, 2021) Framing the project’s agenda in a more positive
light would smooth out some of the dissatisfaction from the public. This in turn would
ease the pressure from the governor’s office, which would allow the city and county of
Honolulu to gain more influence over the project. This in turn would smooth the approval
process of Federal funding.

Allowing the CEO of Hart to stay longer than 3 years allows the CEO to have
more access to the project but also controls the agenda. “Access and control of agenda:
Organizations and political systems typically give some individuals and groups more
access than others to decision arena.” (Deal, 2021) Since the agenda on the rail is to
minimize traffic, giving more time to the CEO would help solidify their networks and
won’t ruin the political ecosystem that is within the HART organization. Even though
this does create more influence on the CEO, the control of the position will still be with
the City and County of Honolulu.

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

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 Reading this frame showed me that choosing my allies or building my
relationships, is important at any level within the organization. Having allies is a step in
building a coalition that could influence my goals. It is also equally important to know
your enemies or opponents that could hinder your projects.

“Keep your friends close, and enemies closer.” Is not a saying for identifying
people or groups within your environment. It is a saying that is used for observing
influential people and their behaviors to help predict actions or events that would happen.
This would help create strategies that would overcome issues so that the agenda can stay
on track.

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 References
About. Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation. (2022, March 10). Retrieved from
https://honolulutransit.org/about/

Au, L. (2008, October 19). Voters can derail $4B project. Voters can derail $4B project -
Hawaii News - Starbulletin.com. Retrieved from
https://web.archive.org/web/20100601215930/http://www.starbulletin.com/news/hawaiinews/
30935624.html

Au, L. (2008, November 10). Hawaii News Archive. StarBulletin.com. Retrieved from
http://archives.starbulletin.com/content/20081110_Voters_on_route_drive_rail_victory

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

City and county of. 03/01/12 Daniel Grabauskas Named HART Executive Director. (2016,
February 2). Retrieved from
https://web.archive.org/web/20180511124553/https://www.honolulu.gov/csd-news-2012/5840-
03-01-12-daniel-grabauskas-named-hart-executive-director.html

Hao, S. (2019, September 23). Back issues & archives: Honolulu Star. Advertiser. Retrieved
from https://www.staradvertiser.com/back-issues/

Honore, M. (2020, November 19). City pushes Rail's opening to 2033, price tag soars to $11
billion. Honolulu Civil Beat. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from
https://web.archive.org/web/20210422033353/https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/11/city-pushes-
rails-opening-to-2033-and-price-tag-soars-to-11-billion/

Reyes, B. J. (2005, August 11). Council gives transit go-ahead 13 years after initial rejection.
Honolulu Star-Bulletin News /2005/08/11/. Retrieved September 18, 2022, from
https://web.archive.org/web/20100808202611/http://archives.starbulletin.com/2005/08/11/
news/story2.html