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.

The situation is that the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (DCR) will be

facing a dilemma with accommodation for inmates presently in the establishment and

new committals by the courts. Due to refurbishment works that will be contracted and

carried out, DCR will have to empty out Blue and Green wings one at a time, to carry out

the project. DCR will be looking to downsize the population, create additional

accommodation and seek the help of the courts in relation to putting a hold on new

committals from being sent to our establishment.

My role is the Senior Project Officer responsible for all projects and maintenance works

at the Prison. For this situation, I have to manage the constructing of additional cells to

make space for accommodation for the population at our establishment and the possibility

of new commitals, and liaise with the Superintendent’s about a plan and solution to

downsize the existing population and to address the court about the possibility of putting

a hold on sending new committals to our establishment for a given period.

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

Symbols take many forms in organization. Myth, vision, and values imbue an

organization with deep purpose and resolve (Bolman & Deal, 2021). Symbols of an

organization depicts the harsh reality that employees in the organization go through on a

daily basis in their work life. For my organization, our Superintendent is the symbolic

force that influenced the situation. As our hero, the values that the Superintendent carrys

with him and instilled in our officers and inmates, and because he serves as a powerful

icon in our establish, he influenced the situation positively by getting a resolution for the

situation we are facing.

Also, with the symbolic frame being a frame that addresses the needs of people and the

fulfilment of their work, symbols of our organization influenced the situation by

rectifying the situation with the refurbishment of Blue and Green wings. The officers and

inmates in our organization has the right to basic needs. The need for job security, safety,

and physiological needs are a right to all, so refurbishing the wings will fulfill these needs

for the empolyees and inmates alike.

3) Recommend how you would use organizational symbols for an alternative course of

action regarding your case.

With organizational symbols, the process involves forming motivating vision as it

inspires the employees of the organization by making the organization’s direction and

goals feel significant and attainable. As an alternative course of action regarding my case

I would use organizational symbols by focusing on the officers and inmates being that

symbols mediate the meaning of work. I would incorporate officers and inmates to help

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 with satisfying their own basic need, their physiological needs and safety needs by

allowing them to assist with the refurbishment works of the wings. This would allow for

the sharing of knowledge, fostering collaboration, and help to lead people into the future.

Also, I would use organizational symbols for an alternative course of action by sharing

the myths, vision, and values of our leader and organization with the courts and parole

board, which would allow them to see our insight and direction, with hopes of gaining a

better and stronger coalition with them. This would ultimately help us with trying to

convince the parole board to issue more parole for inmates, downsizing our population,

and the court system helping with the possibility of putting a hold on sending new

commitals to our establishment for the refurbishment time period.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned

about this frame.

The symbolic frame interprets and illuminates the basic issues of meaning and belief that

make symbols so potent, and depicts a world distinct from popular canons of rationality,

certainty, and linearity (Bolman & Deal, 2021). The symbolic frame is all about the

people, their needs for a sense of purpose and meaning in their work. So, after learning

about this frame, the one thing I would do differently is use the culture that we now

embodied in our organization at my advantage to reiterate the needs of our officers and

inmates, their needs for a sense of purpose and meaning in all they do on a daily basis

while at work.

Vision turns an organization’s core ideology, or sense of purpose, into an image of the

future (Bolman & Deal, 2021). I believe that if officers and inmates see and understand

our vision, realize the purpose and how beneficial and rewarding the refurbishment work

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 is, they would adapt and conform more to it. As a result, after taking care of the basic

needs of officers and inmates, officers would work better, look after inmates more

appropriately, and in return, the inmates would feel safer, get better retreatment and

would be less violent or disruptive to staff or each other.

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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 (ASU Bookstore Automatic Purchase-Perusall

Version Only)