OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Structural Frame Worksheet

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

There are annual reviews going on within my organization. For context, I am in the
United States Air Force and these reviews are called Enlisted Performance Boards
(EPBs). This process can be tense since your results can determine whether or not you get
a “promotion statement”. These statements allow members a certain number of points,
extra, for when they go to test for promotion.

The EPB is a new system since the previous rating forms we used last year. However,
there has been some disconnect as to what is the most important information to capture
from the previous year. Certain people, such as my superintendent, feels as though it
should be direct work related to the mission. For example, how many jobs you
completed. Whereas “Big Air Force” feels we should be still capturing the
extracurriculars to include volunteer activities and education. This has left people at the
shop level, such as myself, in an odd position since we are at the mercy of the
superintendent’s corrections to our EPBs even if this will render them non-competitive at
the squadron level.

This has left me and two fellow NCOs in a weird place where I wasn’t considered due to
a preexisting reputation regardless of my strong paperwork, another member was told to
leave off his extras and became non-viable, and the third was competitive and was mainly
extra stuff.

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

The structure of my organization, unsurprisingly, is a simple hierarchy. We have the

commander and his team, then the flight commanders and fligh chiefs, then the
suprintendents, then the shop foremen and NCOICs (Noncommissioned Officers in
Charge). I fall under the NCOIC and the reverse order is what my EPB must travel
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 through. Due to the fact that it is stacked in such a fashion, we are unable to “jump” the
chain of command. Therefore information is taken from the people in your direct
supervision. This leaves the commander (who has the final say) in the dark as to the
goings on in the lower tiers. “Although this type of hierarchy further limits access to the
top, it can be more efficient than a dual‐manager arrangement. At the same time, friction
between operational and top‐level managers is commonplace, and number two may be
tempted to usurp number one's authority” (Boleman & Deal, 2021).

As you can see, whoever the paperwork travels through has unregulated power to change
it to reflect what they feel is most important. This is extremely detrimental since within
the military we must trust our subordinate. Therefore, these unethical changes are left to
pass through the channels as each person trusts the judgement of tose who came before.
Unless there is a certain person that has been agreed upon as the most competitive, any
changes moving up are merely grammatical and administrative.

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

Unfortunately, in my circumstance, there would be no concrete way to restructure the

organization. However, I could change the processes and properly engage certain
members to take more concrete actions. This would include verification and fact
checking as paperwork made its way up the chain of command. This would bypass any
issues before these leaders come together to deliberate on who deserves the promotion
statement the most. It would minly be focused just above my level and should clear up
any issues as they arose.

I would start by having the Flight Chief verify with the NCOIC if the information given
to him by the superintendent was correct. Since the superintendent gets to tell the Flight
Chief who they are pushing for, this will alleviate any unexpected surprises to see if they
are on the same page. This would allow the perspectives of the Flight Chief, who is much
closer to the command team, to reflect in the EPBs. That way, if for example, the
commander does care about extra curriculars, they will make it onto the form. This could
have prevented my fellow NCO from having a weaker “package” due to the viewpoint of
our superintendent (a civilian) changing what was reported.

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

“If a team fails to establish specific performance goals or if those goals do not relate
directly to the team's overall purpose, team members become confused, pull apart, and
revert to mediocre performance” (Boleman & Deal, 2021). To this end, there is only so
much I can do at my current position within the organization. Yet, there are some things

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 I certainly can do. One objective I will do, knowing about the structural frame, is ask
more questions that will be answered by people above me. I will ask to clarify what is
seen as valuable leading up to the end of the year.

As I stated previously, I cannot restructure, but I can maneuver in such a way as to gather
information from other levels. I can even take this information and spread it to my peers.
This will force the hand of those above me to flatten the structure more to provide more
transparency. “Attention to lines of authority, communication, responsibilities, and
relationships can make a huge difference” (Boleman & Deal, 2021). Therefore, I can
manage to open lines of communication to eliminate the frustrations amongst
“competing” NCOs as we will clearly know what will garner us the coveted statements.

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 Reference

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