OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Structural Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the structural frame
2. Apply the structural 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 organization is a small boutique business started by a single entrepreneur in 1984. 

The organization comprises four employees who service the film industry by providing
locations and equipment rentals to hundreds of clients annually. The leader preaches
family and loyalty.  With the tenure of employees lasting decades, one would assume
everyone believed this ideology. However, in actuality, the leader is an authoritarian who
rules with an iron fist and demonstrates questionable structural, human resource, political
and symbolic frames.  

I was the organization's newest member, hired to support the one salesperson to increase
business.  The owner believed the business was stagnant due to the salesman's lack of
technical skills and drive. Some of that was true, but the biggest issue was how the
organization's structure had removed the tools and passion from this individual to do
more than the minimum.  Over time, my responsibilities grew, and I became the lead
salesperson and the spokesperson for the team in dealings with the owner.

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

The company's organizational chart is a single-owner, with four employees split into two
functions. Two are sales representatives who rent space and equipment, negotiate pricing,
and solidify the terms and conditions of each deal. The other two are maintenance and
attend to the client's needs on-site. Each employee is knowledgeable, skilled, and
experienced.   
The owner is present for up to three hours daily and never interacts with clients.  He
comes in to check on the daily happenings, gives orders, then departs.  His directives
fluctuate daily and can be influenced by emotion or monetary need.  Rarely do you get a
reaction that is based on sound business practices. He is an authoritarian leader who
openly states, “my way is the only way.”  This motto goes for the employees, as well as
clients. This type of leadership forces the employees to work as a team out of necessity
for survival.  

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 Employees are paid based on the net receipts each month, and everyone is paid the same. 
The structure was put in place with the intent that employees would work together to
bring in as much business as possible. However, in actuality, the team works as a unit to
circumvent the owner's policies and constraints, which hinder the ability to close deals.  

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

Being the newest employee, I needed help navigating the instability of procedures.  Due
to their past failed attempts, the team didn’t have answers or ideas.  They had resolved to
do things as mandated and not question the validity, no matter how ridiculous.  This
didn’t sit well with me, and I was determined to instill a structure that focused on
empowering the employees and growing the business.  To do so, I had to figure out how
to communicate with an authoritarian who had one way of doing things, his way.  
My biggest frustration was the lack of a structural frame.  I had a long history of running
sales teams and increasing bottom-line revenue.  This organization had no monthly or
yearly forecasts from which a traditional sales team would work. Instead, the owner
would create a monetary number each month based on business expenses and any
personal expenses and/or purchases he had for the month.  We never knew that number,
but he would kill or approve deals based on what was in his head.  Without a financial
structural frame, there were incalculable losses in revenue and clients, resulting in a
smaller employee paycheck.  These actions fueled problems within the human resource
frame, such as a lack of trust or loyalty to the leadership, communication issues, and
ethical practices.  Therefore, my priority was to make changes to the structural frame by
creating a historical business record to create personal sales goals and a pricing structure
with a policy sheet that clients could use to put their projects together.  This was the first
step to restructuring the organization.

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

Bolman and Deal discuss the “principles of successful structural change” (p. 94).  The
first was to “study the existing structure and process to understand how things worked
and what wasn’t working fully.”  As an employee, I deeply understood each frame of the
organization, and each frame needed restructuring.  I knew from experience that nothing
was going to change overnight.  It would take deliberate, thought-out, and timely
execution to have successful changes.  
Another principle of success is to “develop a new conception of the organization’s goals
and strategies attuned to the challenges and circumstance.”  Our biggest challenge was
moving past the irrational decisions we were shouldered with.  I figured out a
communication channel that the owner responded to. I would plant suggestions, which he
would reinterpret as his idea.  This became a tool we regularly used to start reframing the

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 organization's human resource and structural frames. As a result, the employees became
empowered to make rational decisions, resulting in increased revenue.  Clients were
happier as the terms of each deal we standardized, which had been an issue prior. 
Employees didn’t feel hopeless anymore as there were options to express ideas and get
suitable directives that would empower them to utilize their skill set. 
My actions were out of necessity for a more significant payday and better working
conditions.  In hindsight, I can’t say I set out to restructure this organization, but rather it
was out of survival from the horrible working conditions.  I used my experience and
instinct.  I would have the tools gathered from the OGL coursework if I were in the same
position today.  I would have a better understanding of the mental model of the owner. 
My process would be structured and deliberate rather than bestrewn. 

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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