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.

My organization is the car Dealership, Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram. I work in the

customer service experience department where I am the leader of a team that works to

ensure our customers have pleasant experiences when coming and doing business with

our dealership. The situation is that we have received negative feedback and surveys from

our customers who are upset about the lack of communication from the dealership’s

service department’s repair advisors. Customers are not being updated about their

vehicles in service, they also call and have a hard time reaching their service advisor.

Overall, customers are having negative experiences with our service department,

affecting the organization as a whole. The organization is losing customers because of it.

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

In an organization the central functions of symbols are, expressing meaning and

emotions, creating order, clarity, predictability, reconciling contradictions, protecting

symbols from uncertainty, and encouraging creative alternatives to existing choices.

According to Bolman and Deal, “Meaning is not given to us; we create it,” (Bolman &

Deal, 2021). Our company logo has an image of a road with the name of our company on

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 top. The meaning behind this road is that we as a dealership will be with our customers in

their journey with their vehicles. This symbol portrays our value and how much we value

our customers. However, I believe that the dealership is not doing a great job of

explaining this logo or using stories to offer moral instruction to our advisors.

“Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive, (Bolman & Deal, 2021).

Organizations tell stories about themselves and individuals. These stories anchor identity

and hope. I believe that the lack of these stories are affecting the advisor’s performance.

They do not feel motivated or encouraged. This then leads to the lack of creativity which

could be a reason why they are not having proper communication with our customers.

I believe that the lack of everyday rituals of our organization is affecting the

situation as well. Rituals give structure and meaning to everyday. There is a possibility

that there is a lack of meaning in our service department. Also, something that I believe

may have affected the situation is the humour and play in our service department. The

general manager is being very strict and harsh on the service department. This is now

happening a lot more because of the negative feedback we have been receiving from our

customers and the lack of communication. However, I believe that there should be a

balance for the General manager to be able to connect with our advisors. I think that if he

is this harsh an unapproachable the service advisors will continue to give negative results.

On the contrary, if the general manager allows more humor and play into the situation the

advisors might even want to come and talk to him with solutions to their situation.

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

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 I would use organizational symbols for an alternate course of action regarding my

dealership’s service department by having more everyday rituals that add magic to

everyday. I believe the lack of meaning in the day’s of the advisors is something that is

majorly affecting their performance. For example, one recommendation would be to

email the advisors a daily affirmation or a positive thought to begin their day on a

positive note every single day. Rituals give structure and meaning to each day, (Bolman

& Deal, 2021). I recommend to have more ceremonies as well for special occasions for

our employees. For instance, we only have ceremonies for the holidays in our dealership.

Ceremonies are for grand occasions. I recommend making promotions a grand occasion

and celebrate our employees with a grand ceremony for accomplishments like these.

More than anything rituals and ceremonies have a much deeper meaning which is

what the advisors need. A recommendation would also be to focus on the team’s spirit.

“Team building at its heart is a spiritual undertaking,” (Bolman & Deal, 2021). If our

managers and service advisors are able to understand this, I believe they will be able to

work to improve their spirit and become a more successful service department. They will

be united by a shared culture and beliefs. If this occurs I believe it will pass on to our

customers and their experiences with our service department. All of these symbols would

enhance the service advisors as a team.

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

Reflecting on what I would do differently given what I have learned about this

frame is allow more humor and play. I believe that there needs to be a balance between

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 seriousness with play and humor. Our general manager is very serious. He is a good

person at heart but I believe he is scared to be play and humerous because he thinks he

will not be professional. However, I think this is where he is very wrong. Allowing some

humor and play between advisors and allowing himself to be this way as well will help

them have more of a connection with each other. This way they will have each others’

back and help and motivate each other. Showing others a bit of his heart would be

beneficial to the advisors and employees.

This can happen in our company meetings as well. Usually the meetings held

from our managers are very serious and it almost seems as they are just scolding the

advisors. According to Bolman and Deal, meetings, “Serve as expressive occasions to

clear the air and promote collective bonding,” (Bolman & Deal, 2021). If our general

manager lets these meeting work this way and allow them to speak their minds as well,

they could find a solution to their communication issue. Overall, I would like for our

organizations to have more rituals and ceremonies to add meaning to everyone’s work. I

would allow more humor and play to connect with each other and feel motivated and

happy to work. It would also create a less tense environment. I would focus on working

on the organization’s soul and culture because it is what we portray to the world and our

customers. The advisors also need to share more stories of everyday heroes, they could

also be the heroes themselves motivating each other by sharing positive stories of 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.