OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Human Resource Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the human resource frame
2. Apply the human resource 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 I described in module 1 had to do with a new hardware product that I was
inheriting from a peer on my team who was working on a contract. The new product itself
was replacing a 30yr+ piece of technology with something significantly different and more
modern (androidOS + touch screen computer). As soon as I started my immersion into the
product and project, I quickly found out there were lots of questions around roles and
responsibilities and there was no clear “owner” that would be the decision maker. As a result,
issues plagued the project through its entirety (which included a six week break to re-group).

2) Describe how the human resources of the organization influenced the situation.

In my organization, there is a heavy emphasis on treating each other with respect and dignity,
which is part of our values of the company. This is not a terrible thing, I am a big believer in
them, as are many in the company and it is a big reason why tenure is as high as it is, on
average, most partners (employees) have been with the company for 10+ years. Another
value that is often touted by leadership, but is not necessarily utilized or encouraged often, is
the freedom to make decision on our own. With those in mind, one aspect of both our values
and tenure in the company is the way that groups and teams interact with each other. As with
any organization, a lot of the work that takes place is cross functional. There is no
consistency between teams and departments in the ways of working, teams decide on the
ways they want to work and this can create tension when working together on a projects with
members from different teams.

The way that human resources influenced my situation occurred in a couple different ways.
First and foremost, there was talent from different teams that were some of their senior talent
and were typically put on the more “high profile” projects, projects that required a significant
amount of effort and thinking outside of the box. I would liken these people to
“Contributors” from our reading. Those who require structure, are task oriented, and want to

1
 set the tone by developing the plan and giving orders on what the path forward will be
(Bolman, 2021). The rest of the group I would say were spread out between collaborators,
communicators, and challengers. While we had a decent mix among all of the different
informal roles, everyone was too passive to actually make any decisions and speak up against
or for the decisions that were trying to be made. Again, a portion of the organizations values
are about respect and dignity. No one wanted to openly oppose suggestions/views/decisions
because they felt like it was rude and would create conflict amongst the group. While the
values themselves are great, the way in which they are applied is another matter. Lastly, as
mentioned above, we are “encouraged” to make decisions amongst the working teams, but
often this will not happen because too often before have decisions been made, just for the
decision to reversed because a leader did not agree with what the group agreed on in
consensus because it was not what the direct report of the leader wanted.

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

What I would recommend using the human resources frame would be creating “informal
group norms”. From our reading, groups develop informat rules to live by – norms that
govern how the group functions and how members conduct themelves (Bolman, 2021).
As I had mentioned before, I was taking on the product from a peer and was not on the
project from its inception. What I should have done after joining the project and
immersing with project team members and learning of some of the dissatifcation on how
things were going at that time, was taken the time to bring our group together to
determine the group norms. Group norms being non-existent was one of consistent items
I heard from team members.

Even though I was joining the project late, it felt like the team was stuck in the
“storming” phase of Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development. Tuckman’s model of
forming, storming, norming, and performing, explains that as a team develops maturity
and ability, relationships establish and leadership style changes to be more collaborative
(West Chester University, 2022). Had we stopped to take the time to figure out the best
way to collaborate, communicate, and make decisions together (or elect a person or
persons), I feel like we could have moved through the stages of group development much
quicker than we did. The project lasted for a total of 3 years, which was about 8 months
longer than intended.

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

As I mentioned above, the one thing I wish would have done differently was to take the
time to bring the team together and figure out how best to work with each other/establish
working norms. I thought I was doing my best by trying to create bridges between the

2
 people I knew and had good relationships with, with those who may not have had
relations established. I tried creating relationships with those who I did not know well.
Instead of trying to make adjustments one on one or two on one, it should have been with
everyone so that we were all on the same page. I feel like I potentially may have been
doing too much, trying to act as “the one who saves the team”, instead of being someone
trying to contribute and do right by everyone.

Ways I could have gone above bringing the team together after learning more about the
human resources frame from our readings, would have been experimenting, searching for
common interests, and potentially expressing conflict productively. By experimenting,
we could have taken two opposing views and tested each of them in order to fail fast and
forward, determing which worked and which did not, and potentially the fact that both
did not work. By searching for common interests amongst the group, our reading
suggests, looking at the disagreement at hand and then finding the areas that the group is
in agreement and working from there (Bolman, 2021). I also feel like expressing conflict
productively could be a great route, but could be depedent on the personalities within the
group. We are all adults and we should be able to be direct with each other and express
our views in a constructive way, being respectfuly and with dignity.

3
 References

Bolman, L.G., & Deal, T.E. (2021). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and
Leadership (7th ed.). San Franciso, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Tuckmans’ Stages of Group Development. (2022, September 28). West Chester

University, collaborative on-line research and learning. Retrieved April 1, 2024 from
https://www.wcupa.edu/coral/tuckmanStagesGroupDelvelopment.aspx#:~:text=These
%20stages%20are%20commonly%20known,more%20collaborative%20or%20shared
%20leadership.