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.

My situation included lack of communication, lack of resources and lack of

proper training all while undergoing major changes in processes during the pandemic. I
was a young staff sergeant at the time and barely out of Airman leadership school when I
was appointed as the Non-Comissioned Officer of Infection Control and the Dental
Instrument Processing Center (NCOIC). My duties as the NCOIC consisted of ensuring
that all four of our clinic’s infection control compliance was rated satisfactory on federal,
state and local levels while also following the guidelines and protocols of the Center’s of
Disease Control and The Joint Commission. My job as the NCOIC is essential to keep the
clinics running and ensuring that Infection Control and safety is the number one priority
for our staff and our patients. My day to day assignments included being tasked to
conduct inspections and to also work in the sterilization unit to ensure that dental
instruments and materials were properly cleaned and that bacterial spores were properly
killed on reusable instruments. By accomplishing my daily tasks our Group and Squadron
are able to keep our clinics running and our accreditations in order to run our clinical
practices.

I started my journey by way of forfeiture and ineptitude of another It took about

two months to train me after my leadership had already assigned the prior NCOIC with
an administrative spot leaving me clueless of the prior process, because she could not
take on the stress of the job anymore. "Dilbert principle": "the most ineffective workers
are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least dmamage-
management" (1996, p.14) The job started off rough not only because I did not have
proper turnover, but because when I transitioned our department was undergoing major
rennovations and I learned lots of things via read and write as opposed to hands on and
visuals which is most of what the job entails, aside from the occasional rsearch when
needed. I struggled to adapt, because there was not many people who I could ask for
guidance, being that very few people within our Dental Group were ever offered the
opportunity of this postion. I had to start from scratch, reading almost every policy I
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 could find from what was left after the renovation; leaving things misplaced. I could not
imagine a more horrid time to be in a place so high visible, until the pandemic hit.

When the pandemic hit, I was the go to person for new protocols and clinical
guidelines and practices. I had barely sat in the seat until major taskers were placed in my
hand to come up with contingency plans due to manpower shortages. I did not have all
the tools to succeed or the leadership experience to accomplish a task so big. When I
reached out to my superiors my requests for more trainined staff in the sterilization unit
were left unanswered and our clinic went into half staff leaving my section staff to pick
up a lot of work for other clinics. Ultimately this lead to an issue and shortage of
processed and sterile instruments causing a shortfall in our appointments and patients
seen. Numbers and shortfalls, lead to my leadership finally taking me seriously about the
manning request and ultimately lead to a reevaluation of individuals who are properly
trained in sterilization processing and infection control. I felt like I was not able to get my
point across until the numbers were not adding up.

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

Traditionally, my clinic’s organizational structure relied heavily on hiearchal

structure or in a sense much like the Mitzberg model with a few middle managers like
myself and one direct source to talk to. When the pandemic hit we were split into two
separate shifts causing another individual to be placed in the same role as our most senior
leader that we would report to. Our structure and team Organization changed from a
simple hierarchy to one with dual authority. Because of this new change there was a lack
of communication getting passed throughout the chain. Although we were
communicating vertically we were not communicating horizontally and passing off
proper or enough information to eachother than we should have. A lot of times questions
or concerns would go unanswered due to slow communication. "But adding a new layer
limits access from the lower levels to the boss. Communication becomes slower and more
cumbersome, and may eventually erode morale and performance." (Boleman & Deal,
2017) Because of this lack of communication my staff was overworked and then a failure
in the process occurred.

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

I would recommend re-establishing the Mintzberg model structure. Although we

were in a weird situation where we had two teams established, we could have supported
all of our patients and departments if we utilized this method while also cooperating and
having a clear way of communicating. I belive our team organization was not correct in
the matter of not equallying splitting the teams up based on knowledge and efficiency. It
is very important to kno eyour teams and understand how each person works, learn what
motivates them as well as understand their weaknesses or where they may fallshort in

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 knowledge. This is especially important when you are working in such a high reliability
organization and lives can be at risk. Before splitting up the teams on my own, I would
have consulted with middle managers who work with the operating core to understand
what we needed to successfully complete our everyday workload.
Because there was such a lack of communication it ultimately cause our numbers to
deplete in services rendered due to our limited productivity. It is always important to
consult with individuals before making such drastic changes. If there is not proper flow
within the structure, then events like this may occur.

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

I believe that the biggest takeaway from this situation here was the lack of proper
coordination and communication. I felt like I could have done other things as well myself
to raise concern, but after a few tries and pushback it didn’t seem like I was getting my
point across. I would have definetly tried harder on my end to make a point to leadership
that the schedule they came up with was not working for my department to keep up with
the patient workload. If there is one thing I wish I did, it would have been to stop my staff
from working to create a work stoppage sooner. I felt bad failing my personnel as a new
leader, but it is so hard to get communication up a chain that does not hear you.
Ultimately if I was in the leadership position as my superiors, again I would have
consulte with middle managers to get their input before rolling out the changes. It is
important to brief your individuals and to ensure that you leave ambiguity out of each
situation, but seemingly enough ambiguity seems to find itself wondering about when
goals are not properly communicated and support is not properly in place. My leadership
style is people first, mission second. In the world of healthcare our people are our
mission, so why not ensure they are always number one. That includes our staff too.

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 Reference

Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (2017). Reframing Organizations, 7th Edition. San
Francisco, California