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

Confidential

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.

Several years ago, a peer of mine and I started a new division focused on strategy
management for our organization. She focused on project and program management,
while I focused on strategic planning. As we added new employees to the team, the
people we hired reported to her.

Several months after hiring 2 employees, she inherited some new functions of the
business and was preparing to go on maternity leave, at which time I would lead her team
temporarily and determine which of the people on the team would transition to my team
in the long run.

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

There were several ways the politics of the organization affected this situation. First,
there were politics at play regarding the long-term reporting structure of the area. The
two people that my peer hired, let’s call them Jen and Ben, were almost assuredly going
to report to me permanently, even when my peer returned from maternity leave. We had
some discussions about making that change permanent prior to her leaving, but nobody
wanted the perception to be there that she was losing people because she was going on
maternity leave, especially our shared leader. Because of this, we made a decision that
left Ben and Jen in limbo, not knowing who their final leader would be, for several
months.

Secondly, to help alleviate potential capacity impacts for me, we took one of the people
who reported to my peer (let’s call her Ann) and gave her pseudo-management
responsibility during her manager’s maternity leave. She was tasked with leading the
team but didn’t have the official power or authority to do so. This led to her struggling

1
 with leading the team, especially with one individual who didn’t respect her authority.
That one person also undermined her which caused issues with the remainder of the team.

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

Bolman and Deal speak of several different kinds of sources of power, including
authority, control of rewards, coercive power, information and expertise, reputation,
alliances, and access and control of the agenda (2021, p. 200). Several of these could
have been effectively used to chart an alternative course. First, I have a very strong
relationship and alliance with my leader, who happened to be the leader of my peer.
What I say carries more sway than what my peer says. If I had gone to my leader and
tried to influence her to have Ben and Jen begin to report to me, I have no doubt I could
have convinced her to do that, over the objections of my peer.

In addition, Ann had no authority or control of rewards over the team she was asked to
temporarily lead. In addition, she didn’t have a reputation as a strong leader (since she
hadn’t done it yet) nor did she have the expertise in the area in which she was leading.
We could have given her some more formal authority over the team, increasing her power
and helping others to fall in line.

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

When looking back, I don’t think that I would have or should have gone to my leader to
convince her that Ben and Jen should have reported to me. While it did cause confusion
and make leading them a little bit more difficult, I think that knowing it was not what my
peer wanted in that situation, I could have really damaged the relationship. When
thinking about negotiation, one of the important things to consider is if you’re going to
need to work with the person again (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p. 222) In this case, the
potential damage to the relationship wasn’t worth what I would have gained.

I would, however, have given Ann some more official authority and power. There was
discussion about whether to make her the formal leader of the team before my peer went
on maternity leave. We decided not to because we wanted to see how she did as a
pseudo-leader before we gave her the position permanently. Looking back, her lack of
official authority made it extremely difficult for her to succeed in this role. She did
admirably, but given the bad behavior on the team, I think her having more power over
their rewards and the agenda would have made it easier for everybody.

2
 Reference or References
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and
Leadership (7th ed.). Wiley.