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.

The organization that I have chose to do a Personal Case Analysis (PCA) on is the Indian
Health Service better know as the IHS. The IHS was established in 1955 with the intent to
provide health care services to the American/Alaskan Native populations (Gold Book – The First
50 Years of the Indian Health Service-Caring & Curing, n.d.). A slew of health care services are
provided and they include the following: “ambulatory, audiology, behavioral health, dental,
diabetes management, elder care, health education, immunizations, impatient care, laboratory,
optometry, outpatient care, pediatrics, pharmacy, physical rehabilitation, prenatal care, radiology,
and rehabilitation” (For Patients, n.d., para. 1).

The Indian Health Service has a mission statement that states the following: “The mission
of the Indian Health Service (IHS) is to raise the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of
American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) to the highest level” (About IHS, n.d., para. 1).
Being of Native American descent these services are free to me and I have used the services
provided but the care provided unfortunately has its discrepancies in providing the highest level
of healthcare services.

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

Politics play a pivotal role within the Indian Health Services. The textbook talks about
how Power in organizational settings influences how decisions are made and that those in power
have the influence over others (Bolman & Deal, 2021). In the case of the IHS system, decisions
are made at the top and then it cascades downward. There is a chain of command that is followed
in order for certain care to be provided to the patients/stakeholders. Accessibility to care is a
struggle due to the resource allocation of funds from the top. Staff shortages, the hiring of
physcians, and providing the right care to the patients are situations that the IHS find
challenging. Patients have to advocate for ongoing care for themselves when they are presented
with ailments. Due to the shortage of funds, physicians base the care on the most severe cases,

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 which then is referred out to specialists in bigger cities. When this happens, the care is not as
great due to the patients not having their own healthcare insurance. Patients are seen, but are
given the minimum care with their ailments, which in actuality just masks the problem and
further exacerbates the condition down the road.

The politics within the organizational structure affects the situation as there seems to be
no resolution in sight about providing adequate healthcare to Native Communities. As
aforementioned above, this is all due the allocation of resources from the top hierachry which is
the Federal Government/Congress. Hurdles are placed in front of physcians and leadership teams
when making decisions about patient healthcare. The organizational politics play a factor in how
care is influenced within IHS facilities.

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

In navigating the complex intracacies of organizational politics within the IHS system, I
would look at their strategic approaches. The conflicts, power, and the resource scarcity within
the IHS system are the problems because of the hierarcy system currently in place. I would begin
first by looking at the patients/stakeholders and analyzing whether or not their healthcare needs
are being meant. In the case of the situation, the patients/stakeholders are not receiving the
proper care in treatment because of the lack of funds coming in from the Federal Government.
There is a low amount of funding for a high demand of patients needing care. The IHS is not
withholding its mission statement of: “The mission of the Indian Health Service (IHS) is to raise
the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska Natives
(AI/AN) to the highest level” (About IHS, n.d., para. 1).

Furthermore, understanding who the key decision-makers are and who holds the
influence and what motivates the individuals within the organization are important to involve in
organizational politics. The key decision makers, they hold the power to make the decisions and
how it affects the organization overall. The Federal Government/Congress are the powerful
individuals who make the decisions behind closed doors and they always get the last say and
they use their distribution of power in organization politics. One recommendation I would do
would be to establish an agenda that would address the concerns of the patients/stakeholders not
receiving proper healthcare treatment. This agenda would involve an in-depth analysis of the
lack of patient care and it would be an opportunity for the Federal Government/Congress to
understand the concerns at hand of more funding to the IHS facilities. The textbook elaborates
the importance of agenda setting that it is to make a statement of interests in getting the goods
(Bolman & Deal, 2021). As I have stated, this agenda would give direction while addressing the
concerns of the stakeholder at hand, the patients of IHS not receiving proper care. With the
situation at hand, having an agenda would outline the conflicts, power, and the resource scarcity

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 of the organization and it could further influence the decision makers to allocate more funding.
This type of approach would address the grievances within the facilities. The key influencers
within the Federal Government would hopefully be swayed and influenced to allocate more
funds to the Indian Health Care System.

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

If I had a seat at the table within the IHS leadership team, I would help implement what I
presented in question 3, of establishing an agenda. Having a clear agenda outlining the conflicts,
power dynamics, and the resource scarcity within the organization could potentially sway the key
decision makers to allocate additional funding in lieu of the grievances within the IHS facilities.
Additionally, an agenda would also help the IHS have both a vision and strategic direction to
help navigate and implement a plan to help the Native Communites that the IHS serve. In this
agenda, I would also address and hold the Fedeal Government responsible of their negligence of
low funding. The low funding is further exacerbating the morbidies of Native patients relying on
the IHS system. The Federal Governments negligence is having a negative trickle-down effect on
the physicians and leadership team due to how they are allocating funds. This type of approach
in establishing an agenda, has the intention to influence all key figures within the Federal
Government to increase funds for the Indian Health Care System.

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 References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership
(7 th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass (ASU Bookstore Automatic Purchase-Perusall
Version Only)

Indian Health Service (n.d.). About IHS. https://www.ihs.gov/aboutihs/

Indian Health Service. (n.d.). For Patients. https://www.ihs.gov/forpatients/healthcare/

Gold Book – The First 50 Years of the Indian Health Service-Caring & Curing. (n.d.). Retrieved
March 16, 2024, from
https://www.ihs.gov/sites/newsroom/themes/responsive2017/display_objects/documents/
GOLD_BOOK_part1.pdf