OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Symbolic Frame Worksheet

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

The organization I chose to analyze is my old high school soccer team. This issue
here was the coach, who is relatively new to the team, and his poor leadership. My role
was a player on the team from 2019 to 2022. Starting at the beginning of this year's
season, I began helping out with the team and attending tryouts, practices, and games.
The coach and I have a good relationship, but I still deem his leadership as weak and the
team continues to struggle because of it.

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

Of all the issues covered throughout this case analysis, the symbol of the
organization has been the second biggest issue, only behind the poor leadership. The high
school is very new at nearly 15 years of enrollment. The school started with a unique
structure with four separate buildings, each with a specialization. Because of this
educational focus, we didn’t have our own sports programs for three years. The school
shortly abandoned the four-school structure and now functions as any high school would.
However, the lasting effects of this continue to harm our athletic success. With two high
schools in the district, many athletes (particularly the dedicated and skilled) would elect
to attend the other high school, or even switch schools after already spending time at
mine.

The notion that the other school was the “sports school” was apparent for years
and only recently has the level evened out, thanks to stricter border rules and transfer
regulations. As stated in Chapter 12 of Reframing Organizations, the myths of a symbol
become truer than truth itself (Bolman and Deal). When the entire school feels inferior,
that becomes the reality. With soccer in particular, continuously finishing bottom-bracket
and the other school succeeding, it resonated especially with the program. Over the last
six years, the other school had won in the cross-town rivalry all six times. As of last
Friday, however, we claimed our first win over them in years, thrashing them 4-1.
Victories like this are what can crumble an entire belief. As the team begins winning
more and more games, becoming a “winning school” doesn’t seem so far away, we just
need to believe it.

3) Recommend how you would use organizational symbols for an alternative

course of action regarding your case.
 As an outsider of the team now, I have more power than previously because of my
age and relationship with the coach. If I could recommend a change geared towards the
symbol of the program, I would attack any previous beliefs within the team. You could
do this by reflecting on past wins, telling stories of how we found success in the past, and
explaining to the players what it felt like to be a part of a brotherhood. Implanting these
concepts of old success will remind the players of something to be proud of and want to
continue honoring. Since the team changes every year with new freshmen coming in and
graduates leaving, it becomes a perpetual responsibility of the coach to facilitate this
symbolism.

The purpose of all this effort is to use our symbol as a tool, rather than a crutch
like we have in the past. The same way a school can beat down a team for being losers is
the same way they can uplift them for being winners. To use the metaphor of theatre,
what happens behind closed curtains is more important than the performance itself. Once
you solve all the interpersonal problems during practice, the only decider in games will
be skill and tactics, not mentality. One thing that I am doing now to create change is just
showing up and being involved with the team. Along with four other individuals who are
former players as well, some of whom are assistant coaches, our presence should display
our affection for the program and that it means something to play for the school. It’s
important to represent your school with pride, but unfortunately, nobody wants to do that
for a team that can’t win.

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

Back when I was a player, I’m not ashamed to admit I also fell victim to the trap
of a bad symbol. I told myself that we just sucked and there wasn’t much to do other than
play as best as I could. I now know there were steps I could’ve taken to change this
among my peers at the time. I could’ve told myself and my teammates that anything that
happened in the past can’t be changed and all we can do is prove it wrong now. This also
includes feeling proud after tough losses instead of hanging my head, feeling like we
were so close and could never catch a break.

In terms of the coach, I would talk to him about erasing any assumptions we had
about the program. I’d ask him to communicate with the team that we are our own team,
a new team - The team that lost four years ago is a completely different team as well as
the opponent. A coach is supposed to inspire their players. If it was established that we
were a winning school already, there are certainly games that would’ve tipped the other
way just from that belief alone. Regardless of what happened when I was a player, I must
give some grace to my coach for the tough expectations. Making a group of teenage boys
completely change how they think is extremely difficult for any topic, let alone a soccer
team with a historic struggle. The reality is that the belief can only be shifted one year at
a time. Slowly the symbol of the school will drift away from such a bad reputation and all
we can do now is lead and support each team with confidence.

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