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 situation at the social media giant (Twitter) is that the company has been sold
to a new owner that proves to be controversial. A large portion of the current staff have
been fired by the new owner in effort to facilitate the restructuring of the company. My
role within the company is the Human Resources Manager, and I am responsible for
assisting the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with the restructure and hiring of key
positions. I must work together with the board of directors and a team of executives to
ensure that we put the right people in the right places to support the vision of Twitter. The
dilemma is that Twitter must develop a plan that prevent users from leaving Twitter
because of technical issues and the potential for offensive content being allowed on the
platform.

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

Since Twitter is a company who uses top-down leadership with the CEO being
the driving catalyst for the organization, having a new CEO who happens to be Elon
Musk have proven to be a controversial issue. Musk’s new vision has caused employees
to be disgruntled when faced with the dilemma of working long hours or taking a 3
months’ pay severance package to quit. Twitter previously have been unofficially known
as being “the happiest place to work in silicon valley”. Traditionally, the CEO was not as
abrasive and direct as Elon Musk currently presents and it is suspected as one of the
reasons Twitter has been experiencing numerous issues such as spam bot accounts and
relaxed operational security practices. The current structure is the exact reason why Elon
Musk chose to purchase the company to make it a more proficient revenue generating
company.(Fallon 2022)

Elon Musk’s new vision is to completely overhaul the current functional structure
by reconstructing at the departmental level into teams who will be decision makers vice a

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 single manager. While this strategy does not sound like a bad idea, it is something
completely different than what the employees are used to. As with any type of change,
people will be resistant and it will take some convincing to make things work. Elon Musk
also fired key engineers, previous CEO and other executives within the company. Key
positions now missing and a new plan in the works for restructuring has caused chaos in
Twitter. As the Human Resources Manager, this is a tall task to assist with hiring and
restructuring. On one hand I must support the vision of the new CEO and on the other I
must do what is in the best interest of the company. (Fallon 2022)

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

My recommendation for an alternate course would be to first have a meeting with

all key executives and board of directors to determine where the short comings are within
the company. I feel that it is imperative to do a thorough assessment of an organization
before any changes are conducted. The current employees should have a sense of what
work and does not work within the company. I would not have fired people day one of
taking over the organization. If firings were necessary, I would have waited until I found
solid replacements to ensure a seamless transition. This would take some of the pressure
off the human resources department and the public’s scrutiny.
Even though the Human Resources Manager is not the final decision maker on the
restructure, I would recommend that a climate survey be issued to all employees to see
where they feel changes could be made better to include what works and what does not
operationally. This will help gauge what moral levels are and gives the employes a sense
of belonging for the upcoming changes. Employees tend to accept ownership better when
they feel their voices are heard for input on changes. I believe the company can benefit
greatly by using the team based organizational structure. This type of setup will increase
productivity and transparency across the board which could resolve a large number of
problems that have plagued Twitter.

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

After closely analyzing this structural issue, I would assemble a team of consultants who
could help assess what would be a viable path ahead to make the company better with
less controversy. I think the big issue is that the public has formed their own opinions
about the direction of the company without seeing any changes. In this case public
opinion means everything. Structural frame has multiple aspects that can be viewed or
tried which offers flexibility in what changes can be made to reach the end goal. Since
options are available, I feel that “war gaming” multiple different scenarios with the
consulting team will prove to be beneficial.

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 Being the Human Resources Manager, I would make it a point to speak to the
incoming CEO as soon as possible to discuss future plans for the company before any
major changes are made. I would offer my expertise of recommendations to prevent the
staffing issue from occurring before it starts. Much of the miscommunication could have
been avoided if there was transparency across departments. I feel as if trust was loss
between high level staff members which led to excessive mismanagement of the
company.

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 Reference

1. Fallon. P (November 2022) A timeline of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/twitter-elon-musk-timeline-what-
happened-so-far-rcna57532