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.

The organization is Starbucks and my role in this organization is a Store Manager.

Specifically, I’m a new store manager being introduced to a store (Wilmington Pike) so

I’m able to assist the current Store Manager. Since this store is struggling in many areas,

deemed by the District Manager, I was instructed to move to this store and help alongside

the team.

This situation takes place over the span of three months (February 2023-April

2023). Once I arrived at Wilmington Pike in February, I was able to meet the current

Store Manager in the role. We discussed what the opportunities were in his store. He

identified to me that there was “not much” that needed fixing. Later after our

conversation, he mentions that he needs to go on a leave of absence, meaning I’m left

behind to manage Wilmington Pike by myself. It’s my first official week in my new store

and the previous store manager is now gone. As I got to work a few shifts there and

introduce myself to the partners, I started to unveil what’s been happening to the partners

at Wilmington Pike. One of the opportunities of this store was to get rid of the bug

problem. Ants were crawling all over the café. The previous manager had been notified

1
 of this problem and nothing had been done. Secondly, there was a lot of broken

equipment in the store. Partners were forced to use broken pitchers, utensils, etc. Lastly, I

needed to hire more partners. The store was extremely understaffed. Partners were being

scheduled out of their availabilities due to poor staffing practices.

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

One of the symbols of the organization is that store managers cannot do anything that

will potentially affect daily operations and/or business hours. Understandably so, we want our

stores to be operating at 100% and during full business hours. From a business perspective, I

totally understand this. But as a store manager, you also understand that maintaining your store

to be clean, safe, and ready to serve customers at our very best isn’t always a black-and-white

situation. Starbucks always claims that store managers have the power to do what's best for our

stores, but in reality, it's very looked down upon if it has anything to do with altering operations.

For example, to deep clean our café, it would be necessary to close our café down for 1-2 hours.

That’s required because the floors would need a full scrub, the ceiling rafters would need to be

dusted, etc. Previously a store manager asked once to close the café down for the last hour of

normal business operations and they were told no. “The values that count are those an

organization lives, regardless of what it articulates in mission statements or formal documents”

(Bolman & Deal, 2021). Starbucks very frequently goes against what they “claim” as their

values.

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

I would stop reinforcing the culture of “it's okay if we have dirty stores as long as you

stay open”. I have gone to neighboring stores that are genuinely very dirty, so why are they

2
 allowed to stay open? I have seen stores that should clearly not be open because they would

not pass a health inspection yet it is required for them to stay open and serve customers. This

is all symbolism to store managers that Starbucks values profits over cleanliness. Instead of

doing this, I would use symbols that encourage cleanliness over profits. I would also create a

culture that encourages doing what is best for your store.

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

Something I would do differently now is I would have offered my support to the store

manager at Wilmington Pike before I was asked. I would have done this not after reflecting

because I understand now that store managers are really left on their own to figure everything

out. Another part of our culture in my district is that everyone is on their own island and we

never reach out to each other for help. Sometimes it is very obvious that another store needs

help, but we don’t act like a real team. We do team-building activities every year but do we

actually work together and help each other out? Sadly, no. This is just the culture at least in

my district. Looking back on the situation and my role in it, I know that I should have offered

my help sooner.

3
Reference

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

(7th ed).

4
 Reference or References
(Choose appropriate Title if Applicable and Delete the Rest)