OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Ethical Communities Worksheet

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.

I worked at a women’s clothing boutique named Lila’s where over the course of a year I
was able to work my way up from a regular Sales Associate to Assistant Manager. As the
Assistant Manager, I supported my Store Manager Jessica in running the store as well as
doing my training to eventually become a Store Manager myself. While I was in training,
I was met with much adversity due to the fact that my store manager had a very difficult
time allowing me to help her with the responsibility of managing the store, as well as
practicing the things that I had learned in my training with her. This made my training
experience very rocky and also created a barrier between me and my manager where I
felt I was not someone she could rely on and trust. When I eventually went on to being
promoted and got my own store, I had a bit of a harder time settling in due to my lack of
experience and proper training. I heavily relied on other managers who supported me and
my growth, and also used other resources to “train” myself. Although this less-than-ideal
start occurred, I was able to land on my feet and get the hang of everything fairly quickly,
even though I should have been better prepared ahead of time.

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

From what we have learned about the other frames (Structural, Human Resources,
Political, and Symbolic), we have seen that there are certain ethical communities that are
generated from each one. The Structural frame fosters a community of excellence and
authorship. The Human Resources frame brings about a community of caring and love.
The Political frame motivates a community of justice and power, and the Symbolic frame
influences a community of faith and significance. All of these frames harbor a kind of
“soul” that an organization has that keeps them steadfast in their own culture and values
(Bolman & Deal, 2021).

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 The ethics at Lila’s promoted a community that was all about excellence to meet goals
but also mixed with varying degrees of power to establish control. This was seen in my
situation with my training. My manager was very controlling in how she operated her
store. She hoarded power and was very weary of letting others make decisions or practice
any autonomy. She expected others to follow blindly without offering any opinions,
advice, or additional help. This created a culture where workers like myself were feeling
less confident in their roles and left wanting to do more. While we were hitting all of our
goals and metrics, morale was lowering, leaving many of us feeling powerless. Because
of this, I did not feel as if I had the power to change my circumstances and improve the
quality of my training.

3) Recommend how you would apply one of the ethical communities for an alternative
course of action regarding your case.

For an alternative course of action in my situation I would apply two different ethical
communities. The first being “The Factory” from the Structural frame. My manager
already operates within part of this community by demanding excellence, but the piece
that is missing is allowing for there to be space for authorship. Employees must be given
the authority to make decisions and take ownership of certain aspects of the business.
This will help instill a more harmonious teamwork culture and help everyone feel as if
their work is positively contributing to the success of the store and that their work is
meaningful (Bolman & Deal, 2021).

The second ethical community I would recommend for an alternative course of action is
“The Family” from the Human Resources frame. By us creating a workplace
environment where there is more compassion and care for one another, we would help
create a place where everyone feels seen and heard. This kind of atmosphere would have
specifically helped me feel like I could be more vulnerable with my manger and sharing
what I needed with my training and where I think we could improve in terms of how my
training was being conducted. By creating more psychological safety, we can foster a
culture of openness, wanting to help each other, and of personal/professional growth.
This would put the “soul” back into our business and bring us closer together as a team
and allow us to form mutually beneficial relationships (Bolman & Deal, 2021).

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

Given what I have learned about ethics, I have been able to see numerous gaps in the
workplace that could have been closed to not only make my personal situation better, but
for everyone else that I worked with as well. “Values and identity are crucial for long-

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 term success” (Bolman & Deal, 2021 p. 412). At Lila’s we were lacking what our identity
was due to not being able to call anything our own there. You were told what to do and
you didn’t argue, ask questions, or offer suggestions. Lila’s was lacking the soul that
could have brought us all together and now I have seen how this soul and the ethics of it
all are greatly enmeshed with one another.

To influence change in my store, I would have started off by being vulnerable with my
leaders about the opportunities that I saw. I also would have encouraged others to share
their concerns and ideas as well. There is power in numbers and with everyone linking
arms and showing how much they cared about their jobs and their need to grow, I think it
would have sparked something within my manager and other leaders that a change was
needed. There is something special about having a community of hard-working people
who really do care about what they do, but also want to do it at the highest level possible.
I think that this would have made us stronger as a store and even more successful in the
long run.

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 Reference

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