Structural Frame

Prompt #1: What did you learn about organizations, and/or the behavior of individuals
within an organization? How do the ideas presented in Part Two (the Structural Frame)
of the B&D textbook enrich your understanding of the ways in which organizations and
the people working in them function?
The Structural frame is the frame I relate to most and therefore find very interesting.
What I learned about this frame is that it is based on efficiency through rational
planning. According to Bolman and Deal a suitable array of formal roles and
responsibilities will minimize distracting personal static and maximize peoples
performance on the job (Bolamn, 2013, pg. 45).
To illustrate this point, Bolman and Deal provided a detail of the inner workings of
Amazon as an example. Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon has employed almost a purely
structural approach to his company and it has been exceedingly effective in terms of
efficiency. He has the company so fine tuned that they have determined that a webpage
that takes one hundredth of a second longer to load can result in a decline of one
percent in customer activity (Bolman, 2013, pg. 43).
While this approach is great for organizational efficiency, it can have a negative impact
on the employees and the work environment. Amazon recently came under fire in a
New York Times article for having a poor work environment for its employees. This is a
direct result of the incredibly structured environment in which the employees are not
happy. This work environment was reported to be one where employees were often
held to unreasonable standards, occasionally reduced to tears and essentially rewarded
for undermining their peers (McGraw, 2015, par.2).
The ideas presented have enriched my understanding of the ways in which
organizations and the people working in them function in that organizations who employ
a heavy dose of the structural frame will more than likely be incredibly efficient but the
working conditions may suffer. This is not always true, as there are many employees
within highly structured organizations who appreciate the structure because it enables
them to be productive in their jobs.

Prompt #2: How can you apply the concepts that you have learned about in the
readings to your personal or organizational life? Be specific.
I can apply the concepts presented this week in my personal and organizational lives by
realizing that as valuable as the structural frame is, it must be used along with the other
frames in order to be beneficial over the long term. I scored the highest in the structural
frame in the Frames Self-Assessment and I will admit that I always default to this frame
when I need to tackle a project. The knowledge I gained this week has encouraged me
to begin implementing the other frames into my repertoire as this will ensure that I am

efficient but also paying attention to the needs of others and the manner in which I am
communicating my goals.

Prompt #3: What are the structural imperatives identified by Bolman and Deal? In
other words, what is the universal set of internal and external parameters that
organizations need to respond to when choosing its structure? How does structure
influence what happens in the workplace?
Structural imperatives are parameters that define the structure of an organization and
are unique to each organization. According the Bolman and Deal, the structural
imperatives include the organizations size, age, core process, environment, strategy
and goals, information technology, and workforce characteristics (Bolman, 2013, pg.
60). The structure of an organization will influence all manners in which they do
business. Each of the parameter can play a key role in both the day to day operations
and long term goals of an organization. If any of these parameters are out of tune, the
efficiency of the organization can greatly suffer.

Prompt #4: In Chapter Four, Bolman and Deal describe eight basic structural tensions
that organizations face when searching for an appropriate structure. Consider an
organization in your life (perhaps your family, or any other organization with which you
are familiar). Make some connections / discuss this organization in light of at least a
few of these structural tensions.
The organization I work for would be considered medium in size for our industry. We
face many of the structural tensions mentioned by Bolman and Deal, but a few stand
out to me the most.
In coordinating our various survey crews, gap versus overlap comes into play. When we
have multiple crews on one jobsite we typically lay out each crews task that should be
completed. If we are too vague with the crew chiefs one of two things always happens,
either there are items left unfinished or the crews overlapped on the tasks they
completed.
We are typically very busy in the office with all the coordination and production that
needs to be completed. This scenario lends itself to fall victim to the underuse versus
overload dilemma for certain individuals. Most of the managers spend much of their
time coordinating details of the projects, but have a lot of downtime as well. On the
contrary the production team is almost always backlogged with work and can miss
deadlines as a result. Allocating some of the production work to the managers in their
down time would raise their productivity, decrease the stress of the production team,
and enable the company to achieve more of their deadlines.

The too loose versus too tight dilemma is one most organizations face and ours is no
exception. The management of my organization has a very loose structure and in most
instances this works very well for us. This is due to the fact that the majority of the team
members take an ownership of their projects, are self starters, and do not take
advantage of the loose structure. There are however some employees who dont work
as well with the lack of structure and this becomes evident in their efficiency and
attendance.

Prompt #5: Throughout your progression in the Organizational Leadership program,

you have had a number of courses that include content that could be viewed through
the structural frame. Please highlight what you would consider to be two of the most
important things (ideas, concepts, theories, models, processes, skills, etc.) that you
have learned in previous coursework that you can relate to the structural frame. Briefly
discuss each key learning, the course where you learned it, and its connection with the
structural frame.
The concept of interdisciplinary teams was an important concept that I learned about in
BIS 343: Social Processes in Organizations. An interdisciplinary team is one in which
the all members of the team are well versed in various aspects of the tasks the team
must complete. This type of team can be much more effective in that each team
member can work on various tasks to assist other team members. I see the concept of
interdisciplinary teams connecting with the structural frame in that it relates to the
structural dilemma of differentiation versus integration. When there are multiple people
carrying out multiple roles, a more complex coordination strategy such as that of a
lateral strategy needs to be implemented (Bolman, 2013, pg.71).
Another important concept that I learned in OGL 240: Introduction to Project
Management was that of the triple constraint (scope, schedule, and budget). This
connects with the structural frame in that in order to be able to be effective in all areas
of the triple constraint, the organization must be highly efficient. Efficiency is the name
of the game for the structural frame, as the structure itself provides for a well planned
project and one in which every detail is accounted for.

Frame or Reframe an Organization from a Structural Perspective

Prompt #6: How has structure impacted the culture and outcomes (for customers,
employees, stockholders, surrounding community and/or any other stake-holders) in an
organization with which you are affiliated? Describe enough of the situation concretely
to provide context and use concepts from the readings in your response. If you dont

think structure has any influence, think again more carefully and perhaps revisit the
readings / Learning Module content to broaden your definition and understanding.
Structure has impacted the culture of the organization I currently work for in many ways.
Probably the most significant way structure has impacted our organization is through
the efficiency in which we are able to complete our projects. There has been established
a process for each type of project we work on and each employee is well versed in this
process and the role(s) they play within that process. One of the keys to the success of
the structure within this organization is the use of both vertical and lateral coordination.
According to Bolman and Deal, vertical coordination is whenhigher levels coordinate
and control the work of subordinates through authority, rules and policies, and planning
and control systems whereas lateral coordination includes formal and informal
meetings, task forces, coordinating roles, matrix structures, and networks (Bolman,
2013, pgs. 51&54).
An example of this would be a boundary survey for a piece of property. Once we have
been awarded the project, the deadline is established and the field work is scheduled.
The project manager will prepare the field package which provides the survey crew the
direction and scope of their tasks to complete. Once the field work has been completed,
the project manager will then coordinate with the production team in order to prepare
the deliverable. Each of these steps has many moving parts, but the process which has
been established has created a culture of cross trained individuals who are very skilled
and knowledgeable in all areas of our line of work. The result is typically a very efficient
project which is delivered to the client by the deadline specified. As we all know, a
happy client means they will reward the organization with future projects.

References
Bolman, Lee G., Deal, Terrence E. (2013). Reframing Organizations, Artistry,
Choice, and Leadership. (Fifth ed.). San Francisco, CA.: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley
Brand.
McGraw, Mark. (2015) Amazon Really, Really Wants Employee Input. Retrieved
from http://blog.hreonline.com/2015/10/14/amazon-really-really-wants-employeeinput/