LED599 MOD3(Masters)

Modular Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, the student will be able to satisfy the following outcomes:

 

Case

Using the five assumptions underlying Bolman and Deal’s Political Frame, assess the complex political forces (e.g., coalitions, networks, and sources of power) at work in a specific organizational situation.

SLP

Using the Political Frame, identify key political activities or behaviors in your organization, and discuss their relative impact on the organization.

Discussion

Discuss the ways in which the Political Frame can be used as a lens for assessment of the session-long Discussion case study.

 

Module 3 – Background

THE POLITICAL FRAME

Let’s begin here with an excerpt from Bolman, L. G. & Deal, T. E. (2003). Reframing organizations: artistry, choice, and leadership (3rd ed.). San Francisco: John Wiley. Note the assumptions of the Political Frame, as you will use these to guide the writing of your Case:

Assumptions of the Political Frame

The political frame views organizations as living, screaming political arenas that host a complex web of individual and group interests. Five propositions summarize the perspective:

 

Organizations are coalitions of diverse individuals and interest groups.

  • There are enduring differences among coalition members in values, beliefs, information, interests, and perceptions of reality.
  • Most important decisions involve allocating scarce resources—who gets what.
  • Scarce resources and enduring differences make conflict central to organizational dynamics and underline power as the most important asset.
  • Goals and decisions emerge from bargaining, negotiation, and jockeying for position among competing stakeholders.
  • All five propositions of the political frame came to the fore in the Challenger incident:

 

  • Organizations are coalitions. NASA did not run the space shuttle program in isolation. The agency was part of a complex coalition including contractors, Congress, the White House, the military, the media—even the American public. Consider, for example, why Christa McAuliffe–was aboard. Her expertise as a social science teacher was not critical to the mission. But the American public was bored with white male pilots in space. Human interest was good for both NASA and Congress; it built public support for the space program. McAuliffe’s participation was a magnet for the media because it made for a great human interest story. Three years earlier, Sally Ride generated excitement as the first female astronaut. Now the idea of putting an ordinary citizen in space—especially a teacher—caught the public’s imagination. Symbolically, Christa McAuliffe represented all Americans. Everyone flew with her.

 

  • There are enduring differences among coalition members. NASA’s hunger for funding competed with the public’s interest in lower taxes. Astronauts’ concerns about safety were at odds with pressures on NASA and its contractors to maintain an ambitious flight schedule.

 

  • Important decisions involve allocating scarce resources. On the eve of the Challenger launch, key parties struggled to balance conflicting pressures. Everyone from Pres. Ronald Reagan to the average citizen was waiting for the first teacher to fly in space. Higher safety carried a high price—not just money, but further erosion of support from key constituents for both Morton Thiokol and NASA. Survivor, a pioneer of “reality” television, guaranteed political infighting because the rules allowed for only one winner.

 

  • Scarce resources and enduring differences make conflict central and power the most important asset. The teleconference on the eve of the launch began as a debate between the contractor and NASA. As a sole customer, NASA was in the driver’s seat. When managers at Morton Thiokol sensed NASA’s level of disappointment and frustration, they asked for time to caucus. The scene shifted to a tense standoff between engineers and managers. Engineers were unable leverage their expertise, their primary source of power, into a sufficiently persuasive case. Managers used their authority to recommend the launch despite the opposition.

 

  • Goals and decisions emerge from bargaining, negotiation, and jockeying for position among competing stakeholders. Political bargaining with the help of powerful allies got Morton Thiokol into the rocket motor business. Thiokol’s engineers had been attempting to increase management’s attention to the booster joint problem for many months. But acknowledging a problem, in addition to costing substantial time and money, risked eroding Morton Thiokol’s credibility. A large and profitable contract was hanging in the balance.

 

  • The assumptions of the political frame outline sources of power dynamics. A coalition forms because of interdependence among its members; they need one another, even though their interests may only partly overlap. The assumption of enduring difference implies that political activity is more visible and dominant under conditions of diversity than of homogeneity. Agreement and harmony are easier to achieve when everyone shares similar values, beliefs, and culture.

 

  • The concept of scarce resources suggests that politics will be more salient and intense in difficult times. Schools and colleges, for example, have lived through alternating times of feast and famine in response to peaks and valleys in economic and demographic trends. When money and students are plentiful (as they were in the 1960s and again in the 1990s), administrators spend time determining which buildings to erect and programs to initiate. Conversely, when resources dry up, conflict mushrooms and administrators often succumb to political forces they neither understand nor control.

 

  • Another key political issue is power—its distribution and exercise. Power in organizations is basically the capacity to get things done. Pfeffer (1992, p. 30) defines power as “the potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance, and to get people to do things they would not otherwise do.” Russ (1994, p. 38) puts it more strongly as the ability to “make one’s will prevail and to attain one’s goal.” Social scientists have often emphasized tight linkage between power and dependency: if A has something B wants, A has leverage. In much of organizational life, individuals and groups are interdependent; they need things from one another, and power relationships are multidirectional. From the view of the political frame, power is a “daily mechanism of our social existence” (Crozier and Friedberg, 1977, p. 32).

 

  • The final proposition of the political frame emphasizes that goals are set not by fiat at the top but through an ongoing process of negotiation and interaction among key players. To illustrate, consider another example: a commitment China made in December 2001 to promote its accession to the World Trade Organization. The Chinese government promised to get serious about protecting intellectual property, ensuring that products carrying labels such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Sony, and Rolex were authentic. The central government passed laws, threw the book at the occasional unlucky offender, blustered in the media, and put pressure on local governments. Yet six months later, name-brand knockoffs and pirated software were still on sale all over China, even a few blocks from Tiananmen Square” (Bolman & Deal, 2003, pp. 186-9).

 

Let’s continue our discussion with this interesting presentation on the Political Frame:

 

 

 

 

Optional resources

Holson, L.M. (2005, September 26). A quiet departure for Eisner at Disney. The New York Times. Retrieved on June 10, 2014 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/26/business/media/26eisner.html

 

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Module 3 – Case ASSIGNMENT

THE POLITICAL FRAME

Assignment Overview

In the Module 3 Case, you will write Chapter 3 of your thesis-style paper – relating to the Political Frame. Using specific examples of “politics” (i.e., the “jungle”) as defined by Bolman and Deal, you will use the Political Frame as a lens through which you will analyze the downfall of Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Eisner.

 

  • Begin the Module 3 Case by visiting the Walt Disney Company website:

 

  • The Walt Disney Company. (2014). Retrieved on May 8, 2014 from http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/

 

  • The following articles provide a good starting point concerning former CEO Eisner’s tenure with the Walt Disney Company:

 

  • White, D. (2005, Oct 01). When Mickey finally turned on his master. Michael Eisner’s reign at Disney is over. Dominic White reports. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved from Proquest.

 

  • Consider Michael Karpeles’ article relating to politics in the Disney boardroom:

 

Karpeles, M. D. (2005). Boardroom lessons from the Disney/Ovitz case. Corporate Board, 26(155), 6-10. Retrieved on June 10, 2014 from EBSCO – Business Source Complete.

 

  • Finally, read the following case study:

 

 

LED599, MOD 3, Case Assignment

After you have reviewed the contents of the Walt Disney Company website, completed the above readings and those provided at the Background page of Module 3, and performed additional research from the library and the internet, write a 6- to 7-page paper in which you do the following:

 

  • Using the following five assumptions of the Political Frame, complete an in-depth assessment of the Walt Disney Company:

 

  • Organizations are coalitions of diverse individuals and interest groups.

 

  • There are enduring differences among coalition members in values, beliefs, information, interests, and perceptions of reality.

 

  • Most important decisions involve allocating scarce resources—who gets what.

 

  • Scarce resources and enduring differences make conflict central to organizational dynamics and underline power as the most important asset.

 

  • Goals and decisions emerge from bargaining, negotiation, and jockeying for position among competing stakeholders.

Keys to the Assignment

The key aspects of this assignment that are to be covered in your 6- to 7-page paper include the following:

 

  • Using Bolman and Deal’s Political Frame, analyze the political behaviors surrounding the departure of Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Specifically, address the following:
  • Briefly identify and discuss the key political forces that led to Eisner’s downfall.

How does the “Jungle” metaphor apply to the Eisner case?

  • Describe the coalitions that formed at Disney. Then, identify those salient interests that caused the division between coalitions, and how these differences were ultimately resolved.
  • Discuss the Eisner case study in the context of two or three of Bolman and Deal’s Political Frame assumptions included above. How do the assumptions you’ve chosen inform what happened in the Michael Eisner case?
  • Briefly comment on the significance of the “Toxic Triangle” (see Figure 1 of Forbes & Watson’s case study about Eisner’s departure), and discuss how this model informs the Eisner case study.
  • The background readings will not give you all the answers to the Case. Therefore, you are required to perform some research in the library, and use a minimum of 3-4 scholarly sources from the library to support and justify your understanding of the case.

Your paper must demonstrate evidence of critical thinking (if you need tips on critical thinking, http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/college-and-university-students/799 is an excellent resource). Don’t simply restate facts – instead, be sure to interpret the facts you have accumulated from your research.

Remember that the Module 4 Case will also serve as Chapter 4 of your session-long thesis-style paper.

Assignment Expectations

Your paper will be evaluated using the following five (5) criteria:

 

  1. Assignment-Driven Criteria: Does the paper fully address all Keys to the Assignment? Are the concepts behind the Keys to the Assignment addressed accurately and precisely using sound logic? Does the paper meet minimum length requirements?
  2. Critical thinking: Does the paper demonstrate graduate-level analysis, in which information derived from multiple sources, expert opinions, and assumptions has been critically evaluated and synthesized in the formulation of a logical set of conclusions?  Does the paper address the topic with sufficient depth of discussion and analysis?
  3. Business Writing: Is the paper well-written (clear, developed logically, and well-organized)? Are the grammar, spelling, and vocabulary appropriate for graduate-level work? Are section headings included in all papers? Are paraphrasing and synthesis of concepts the primary means of responding to the Keys to the Assignment, or is justification/support instead conveyed through excessive use of direct quotations?
  4. Effective Use of Information (Information Literacy): Does the paper demonstrate effective research, as evidenced by student’s use of relevant and quality sources? Do additional sources used in paper provide strong support for conclusions drawn, and do they help in shaping the overall paper?
  5. Citing Sources: Does the student demonstrate understanding of APA Style of referencing, by inclusion of proper end references and in-text citations (for paraphrased text and direct quotations) as appropriate? Have all sources (e.g., references used from the Background page, the assignment readings, and outside research) been included, and are these properly cited? Have all end references been included within the body of the paper as in-text citations?

 

Module 3 – SLP

THE POLITICAL FRAME

SLP Overview

In the Module 3 SLP, you will write a 3- to 4-page paper in which you will apply the Political Frame to the organization in which you are currently employed (or in which you have worked previously).

 

LED599, MOD 3, SLP ASSIGNMENT

The Module 3 SLP requires that you write a 3- to 4-page paper, in which you address the following:

 

  • After giving a brief description of the organization in which you presently work (or in which you have previously worked), apply the Political Frame to 2-3 examples of political behaviors that are presently occurring – or have occurred – within your organization.

 

  • Keys to the Assignment

The key aspects of this assignment that should be covered in your paper include the following:

 

  • Briefly describe your organization – name, what it does, size (number of employees, annual revenue, relative market share, etc.);
  • Choose 2 or 3 examples of political activities within your organization. These might include, e.g., networking and coalition building, informal communications, bargaining and negotiation (for power or for resources), etc. etc.
  • Using Bolman and Deal’s Political Frame as a lens, discuss the relative impact of the political characteristics or events you have identified (do the political behaviors you have cited have negligible impact on the organization as a whole, or are do they have more significant impact instead?).
  • What are the consequences and outcomes of the political behaviors you have identified? Are they positive or negative, good or bad for the company for the short-term? For the longer run (decisions that benefit the short-term are often in conflict with longer-term outcomes, and vice-versa)? Explain.

SLP Assignment Expectations

Your paper will be evaluated using the following five (5) criteria:

 

Assignment-Driven Criteria: Does the paper fully address all Keys to the Assignment? Are the concepts behind the Keys to the Assignment addressed accurately and precisely using sound logic? Does the paper meet minimum length requirements?

Critical thinking:  Does the paper demonstrate graduate-level analysis, in which information derived from multiple sources, expert opinions, and assumptions has been critically evaluated and synthesized in the formulation of a logical set of conclusions?  Does the paper address the topic with sufficient depth of discussion and analysis?

Business Writing: Is the paper well-written (clear, developed logically, and well-organized)? Are the grammar, spelling, and vocabulary appropriate for graduate-level work? Are section headings included in all papers?  Are paraphrasing and synthesis of concepts the primary means of responding to the Keys to the Assignment, or is justification/support instead conveyed through excessive use of direct quotations?

Effective Use of Information (Information Literacy): Does the paper demonstrate effective research, as evidenced by student’s use of relevant and quality sources? Do additional sources used in paper provide strong support for conclusions drawn, and do they help in shaping the overall paper?

Citing Sources: Does the student demonstrate understanding of APA Style of referencing, by inclusion of proper end references and in-text citations (for paraphrased text and direct quotations) as appropriate? Have all sources (e.g., references used from the Background page, the assignment readings, and outside research) been included, and are these properly cited? Have all end references been included within the body of the paper as in-text citations?

Module 3 – Outcomes

THE POLITICAL FRAME

Module

Using the five assumptions underlying Bolman and Deal’s Political Frame, assess the complex political forces (e.g., coalitions, networks, and sources of power) at work in a specific organizational situation.

Using the Political Frame, identify key political activities or behaviors in your organization, and discuss their relative impact on the organization.

Case

Using the five assumptions underlying Bolman and Deal’s Political Frame, assess the complex political forces (e.g., coalitions, networks, and sources of power) at work in a specific organizational situation.

SLP

Using the Political Frame, identify key political activities or behaviors in your organization, and discuss their relative impact on the organization.

Discussion

Discuss the ways in which the Political Frame can be used as a lens for assessment of the session-long Discussion case study.

Discussion: University of Missouri (A) – Political Frame

 

  • Using the Political Frame, choose a specific political issue raised in this case (politics seems to dominate here, does it not?) – and explain in-depth how the Political Frame informs the circumstances of the University of Missouri case.

 

  • Bearing in mind Bolman and Deal’s definition of “politics” as one that is not necessarily negative – but is one that is intended to vie for scarce resources instead – is there anything you would have done differently from a political perspective (be sure to incorporate a minimum of 1 or 2 assumptions of the Political Frame in your response)? Explain.

 

  • Remember to perform some outside research, to properly cite your sources, and to demonstrate evidence of critical thinking in your response.

 

REMEMBER THE DISCUSSION  equateS to a full 20% of your final grade; consequently, they require a minimum of 20% of the total effort you put forth into the overall course. In this context, the Discussions require additional research on your part, critical thinking, and graduate-level presentation (grammar, spelling, proper citation, etc.).