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.

In 2017, venture capital firm Cleveland Avenue acquired PizzaRev from Buffalo Wild
Wings, leading to significant challenges for PizzaRev in corporate culture and
management structures. Underlying turbulence in these areas had already led to the
closure of several underperforming stores before Cleveland Avenue's acquisition,
underscoring the company's difficulties adapting to structural changes. The
unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these issues when government
regulations forced the temporary closure of all PizzaRev restaurants. The company's pre-
existing difficulty adapting to structural and organizational change became overwhelming
when faced with the added pressure of the pandemic's ever-changing bureaucratic
regulations, culminating in a shift in organizational structure that catalyzed PizzaRev's
ultimate downfall.

I held various roles within the organization for seven years, working my way up from an
entry-level associate to Shift Manager, Assistant Manager, General Manager, and,
eventually, District Manager. My responsibilities in that final role included overseeing
five store locations, communicating corporate policies, hiring and training General
Managers, ensuring compliance with regulations and corporate policies, and managing
promotional events. Having worked in all roles within the company, I acquired a unique
perspective on the organization's structure and weaknesses.

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

Our text summarizes the political organizational frame as dynamic arenas where the
diverse interests of individuals and groups lead to continuous competition (Bolman &
Deal, 2021, p. 190). There are five main propositions within the political framework,
beginning with the view that organizations are coalitions and that the members of those

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 coalitions can be expected to possess disparities in values, beliefs, information, interests,
resources, and perceptions. Additionally, the assumption exists that critical organizational
decisions revolve around allocating limited resources and that the combination of
differing perspectives and the scarcity of resources generates a vital need for power.
Lastly, bargaining and negotiation among stakeholders competing for individual interests
results in goals and decision-making (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p. 191). These factors create
a dynamic and complex environment where negotiation, power dynamics, and conflict
management are critical to organizational effectiveness.

PizzaRev's political landscape failed to utilize these aspects constructively, contributing

to its inability to adapt to the harsh COVID-19 environment. First, PizzaRev neglected to
recognize and accept the natural diversity among its coalition and did not take advantage
of its members' vast array of unique beliefs, values, and perceptions. Subsequently, the
power dynamic was critically miscalculated when only the scarcity of resources was
considered an aspect. This seemingly simple oversight led to misunderstood negotiations
and bargaining among employees. These interactions could have facilitated decision-
making and constructive goal formulation if appropriately harnessed. However, this
missed opportunity led to a hostile, toxic organizational environment with unstable power
dynamics and ineffective conflict management procedures. The breakdown of the healthy
political framework fostered a culture of ambiguity and frustration, diminishing efficacy
to a level where even minor changes resulted in irreparable failures, setting the stage for
complete organizational collapse during a significant and unexpected environmental shift.

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

The first method I would take advantage of to restructure PizzaRev's political

environment would be communication. Our text discusses management's role in
organizational politics and emphasizes the power of transparent communication when it
discusses the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by New Zealand's prime minister,
Jacinda Ardern. The author emphasizes the impact Ardern's authentic and honest
communication had on the people of her nation (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p. 210).
Communication failures have been an underlying component in all frames thus far and
appear interconnected with structure, human resources, and politics. The organization's
failure at the political level was rooted in the misinterpretation of its employee's diverse
characteristics and the effect that diversity had on the underlying power dynamics. The
solution to this misunderstanding would have been simple: improved communication
channels that utilized effective information sharing with openness and authenticity.
Additionally, the organization's upper-level management team was overly concerned with
maintaining their individual power, which led to oversights in the power dynamics at the
store level.

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 Our text describes four essential political skills leaders should possess and utilize:
agenda-setting, mapping the political terrain, networking and building coalitions, and
bargaining and negotiating (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p. 213). All four skills would need to
be taught, practiced, and implemented throughout all levels of the organization to create a
functional alternative course of action. Corporate employees would develop training
programs for area and district leaders, who would then teach the skillsets to general
managers, who could then pass the knowledge to their store-level teams. Disseminating
this critical knowledge would facilitate effective communication within each level of the
organization, fostering a healthy culture and constructive power dynamics. This structural
reform would strengthen the political framework so that it remained steady, even in times
of uncertainty. Perhaps more important than the sharing of knowledge is the underlying
transparent communication regarding the purpose of this new training. New skills are
most valuable when the individuals who possess them understand how and when to
utilize their newfound education.

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

Introspective reflection on my influence on this situation revealed blame-shifting and

conflict avoidance behaviors. When I found myself in situations where store-level
employees were frustrated with corporate politics or power dynamics, I would most often
shift blame outside my scope of responsibility to remove myself from the equation and
negate potential conflict. I had significant people-pleasing tendencies, further motivating
my desire to avoid personal blame and internal conflict. I lacked the knowledge to
recognize the potential benefits of the negotiating behaviors I was witnessing at the store
level, and I was complicit in the destructive power dynamics at the corporate level. While
I practiced skill sets such as agenda-setting and networking, I did not seek to improve my
expertise in these areas, and I failed to utilize the knowledge I had to train others how to
practice those behaviors. Most importantly, I could not communicate the reasoning
behind political decisions made at the corporate level, primarily due to my limited
knowledge of the political framework. I was never offered explanations and failed to ask
for clarification.

My behaviors and failures directly contributed to the political instability at PizzaRev.

Given my knowledge and newfound understanding of the organizational political
landscape, I would make different choices. I would take accountability for upper-level
decisions in which I had a role and use conflict management and communication
techniques to resolve any disputes regarding those decisions from store-level team
members. I would not wait for or expect company-provided training on the political skills
that all leaders should exhibit. Instead, I would take the initiative and strive to learn about
these skill sets independently, then share that knowledge with my general managers, who

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could share it with their teams. I would make conscious efforts to improve my internal
relationship with power and understand better where my morals and values lie within that
area. By better understanding my priorities regarding power dynamics, I would be better
equipped to navigate the complex power dynamics within the organization and help
others do the same. I would also practice becoming comfortable with assertiveness,
speaking up when I saw something wasn't right, and asking questions when an
explanation was unclear.

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 Reference

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

(7th ed.) [E-book]. Jossey-Bass. https://app.perusall.com/