OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Political Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the political frame
2. Apply the political 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.

I work for XYZ Credit Union as a loan processor in the lending department. About 4
years ago, top leaders began making some changes and started eliminating some
departments and positions. No one in the organization knew what was transpiring until
we began hearing rumors throughout the office about people being laid off. The credit
union had never had any layoffs in the past, not even during the recession of 2008, so this
took everyone by surprise. Everyone became confused and fearful of losing their job. The
lack of communication and transparency made everyone angry at how the organization
handled the situation.

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

XYZ Credit Union operates in a top-down structure with the CEO, COO, and CFO
making all the major decisions for the credit union. The top leaders and board of directors
have the power to make decisions without getting input from subordinates. There is a big
gap between the leaders in power and the subordinates. The power and strategic order is
very centralized in XYZ Credit Union. Decision making occurs in board rooms where top
leaders meet with board members to discuss issues they’re facing, strategic planning, or
changes that need to be implemented.

The role of power in organizations is essentially the capacity to affect outcomes and
make things happen (Bolman & Deal, 2021). Scarce resources allow power to become a
key resource within the organization (Bolman & Deal, 2021). In this situation, the credit
union was facing financial struggles and top leaders had to utilize their power to make
changes within the organization by eliminating departments and laying people off. When
there are scarce resources, politics in organizations become more obvious and intense
(Bolman & Deal, 2021). Subordinates began to discover that there were layoffs occurring
and became very upset and confused. Employees felt that top leaders were using their

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 power to change the culture within the credit union, since they had never laid people off
before. This situation brought light to politics within the credit union.

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

Using the political frame, I think an alternative course of action would have been to use
the top leader’s power and influence to speak to subordinates about the organization’s
challenges and explain the strategic plan. The CEO should have taken the role of a
politician by setting an agenda and building working relations with allies and opponents.
Coalitions form within organizations, and in this case, subordinates were allied together
to disagree with the new changes. The top leaders automatically lost the support of
employees by the way they handled the situation and not being transparent about it.

Leaders can begin to spread ideas by planting seeds and letting them set and grow
through the system (Bolman & Deal, 2021). The leaders of XYZ Credit Union could have
begun talking about changes needed for the organization to grow and continue being
financially successful. This could have been floated around for subordinates to grasp the
idea and when it was time for the change, they would not have felt blindsided by the
decision. The layoffs would have been expected because the leaders had already
emphasized the idea of changes needed for growth and financial recovery. As the top
leaders, they should have built relationships and networks with lower-level managers so
that they could have their support and pass the message down to subordinates. Speaking
the truth by being straightforward and empathetic would have been a better course of
action based on the politics frame.

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

Based on what I have learned about the politics frame, I understand that politics and
power are inevitable within organizations, and they will always co-exist (Bolman & Deal,
2021). Change and effectiveness within an organization depend on the leader’s political
skills (Bolman, & Deal, 2021). As a leader in this situation, I would have used political
skills to positively influence the situation. Within XYZ Credit Union there were
coalitions of people who shared the same goals but did not agree on the direction the
credit union was heading. This is where I would have used networking skills to build
strong relationships with lower-level managers and directors to help carry out the vision
to subordinates.

Politics and power can be used to have a positive influence on the organization and does
not necessarily have to be negative (Bolman & Deal, 2021). I would have been
transparent about the situation from the beginning and identified who the resistors and

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 opposers were, and worked with them together to help them understand why the
organization is moving in a new direction. If there were scarce resources and the credit
union had to downsize due to financial struggles, I would have had open communication
with everyone in the organization since downsizing is a decision that will affect
everyone.

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 Reference or References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership

(7th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass