OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Human Resource Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the human resource frame
2. Apply the human resource 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.

In July of 2016, my father, the majority owner of H&G Construction, unexpectedly died.
His staff and project teams were rattled to their core. At the time, he was in various
stages of construction on three major projects. Though I had left H&G Construction a
few years before, I still retained my ownership stock. Having served as Vice President of
the company, I had the skills and expertise to step into a leadership role and guide the
company through various issues on active projects.

Those leadership actions occurred virtually simultaneously over the course of a few days
following my father’s death, and they were:
 Beltway Park Baptist Church: meet with the owner and the project team to
determine how to avoid lawsuit and to address the roof issues.

I called a meeting with the roofing company and the owner. In the meeting I went
over all of the typical talking points and got the same excuses that had been given
before. Then, I showed a video of rainwater cascading into the building. The
owner of the roofing company turned pale and his jaw dropped. Then I asked him
to fix the roof or the next step would be unavoidable litigation. He mobilized a
crew the next day and spent almost $100,000 out of his own pocket to make the
repairs over the next several weeks. The issue was resolved.

 Hendrick Home for Children: meet with the owner and project team to close out
the project and distribute funds.

This issue did not have the drama that Beltway Park Church did, but there were
some problems to face. Subcontractors were concerned that they would have to
wait on probate court before they would get their final payments. The problem
was that a couple of subcontractors tried to submit bogus invoices, thinking that I

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 would not know the difference. I collaborated with the project owner and H&G
Construction project team to ensure that all distributions were legitimate. It took
a few weeks longer that it would have had my father not died, but we sorted
through all of the close out documents and distributed all funds appropriately.

 Abilene Civic Center: meet with the city and the project team and make an action
plan to complete the project on time.

The city manager and architect were panicked. This project was only about
halfway completed and had a very aggressive construction schedule. The facility
had to be completed within 60 days, as events were already on the calendar for the
Abilene Civic Center. I met with the project team and asked more of them than
they had been doing. I was only able to be there two days per week, as I had my
own company to run with a full workload. I worked seven days a week for
months, and successfully completed the project on time. Some of my own
worked suffered a bit, but we eventually pulled through and completed
everything.

2) Describe how the human resources of the organization influenced the situation.

My father did not place much value on human resources. He was a top-down
authoritarian and viewed employees as expendable tools. My first observations of his
employees were that everyone was between 35 and 45 years old, none had any college
level education, and they were all Hispanic. There was a great sense of collaboration
between them socially, but also a disconnect from organizational direction. They listened
to each other, collaborated, and worked well together; but had to be told what to do. The
employees had no feeling of influence over their work and certainly did not see any
correlation between their work and how it impacted organizational goals.

This is how my father had it set up. He liked having all of the control. I think it made
him feel safe. He did not have any faith in his people to make decisions. As such, with
his death, the lack of his influence on his human resources stifled the situation. Good
managers are able to multiply themselves through their employees. My father used his
people as tools to accomplish the work and he was successful at this. However, the
situation surrounding his death could have gone much smoother had his people been
empowered instead of used.

3) Recommend how you would use the human resources for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.

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 I am not at all in alignment with that manner of management. When I stepped in to the
situation, I met with his employees and immediately treated them as a team that we were
all on together. As stated in the text, “Information is necessary but not sufficient to fully
engage employees. The work itself needs to offer opportunities for autonomy, influence,
and intrinsic rewards (Bolman & Deal, 2021).” This is the essence of what changes I
brought to better engage my human resources to get the organization through this
difficult period.

In the following weeks, the employees really did come together as a team. I could see
their motivation changing from simply “being there for the money” to having truly
intrinsic connection to their work. It’s true that “managers and organizations that focus
only on money will miss other opportunities to motivate (Bolman & Deal, 2021).” I
included them in decision making about what was going on and treated them as valuable
assets for their insights on these projects. They were eager to be more involved and
responded immediately to my leadership approach.

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

I believe that the approach I brought to the situation was the right approach. I left this
company (amicably) years prior over my disagreement with how people, including
myself, were treated. My father and I simply agreed to disagree on the matter. I have
always believed in symbiosis between people and organization. The human resource
frame centers on what organizations and people do to and for one another (Bolman &
Deal, 2021). People are half of that equation. If we focus solely on the health of the
organization and neglect the needs of the people that work there, then we miss a great
opportunity.

I saw a quick response in the employees once they were empowered and included in
tackling the issues we faced on these three projects. The fact that we made it through all
of the issues successfully reinforces that the right approach and the right decisions were
made. I would not have done it any other way.

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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)