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5 Symbolic Frame Worksheet

This document summarizes a student's analysis of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) through the symbolic frame. The student describes their experience with delayed and inadequate services from the VA. They analyze how the VA's symbols of caring for veterans who sacrificed for their country influenced the situation but did not result in efficient service delivery. The student recommends capitalizing on public gratitude for veterans by improving the VA's reputation through efficiency gains and publicity, similar to organizations like the Salvation Army. They reflect on how the symbolic frame focuses on organizational representation rather than just functions, and how changing the VA's symbolic reputation could better serve veterans.

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59 views

5 Symbolic Frame Worksheet

This document summarizes a student's analysis of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) through the symbolic frame. The student describes their experience with delayed and inadequate services from the VA. They analyze how the VA's symbols of caring for veterans who sacrificed for their country influenced the situation but did not result in efficient service delivery. The student recommends capitalizing on public gratitude for veterans by improving the VA's reputation through efficiency gains and publicity, similar to organizations like the Salvation Army. They reflect on how the symbolic frame focuses on organizational representation rather than just functions, and how changing the VA's symbolic reputation could better serve veterans.

Uploaded by

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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Symbolic Frame Worksheet


Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the symbolic frame
2. Apply the symbolic 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 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a department of our government that


helps provide needed services to Veterans. These services include health, education, and
housing services to name a few. Due to the bureaucratic nature of our government
offices. It is no surprise to people that may not have any interaction with the VA that
these services are needlessly complex to utilize and often delayed due to no fault of the
veteran. I have used the VA for many services and often do not receive a timely or
adequate response for the service I am trying to utilize. Sometimes I am informed they
have lost my paperwork completely and I will need to start over. Unfortunately, I am not
alone, and the VA has built a reputation of bad service. I hope to explore why this is
happening through viewing the VA through the different frames as discussed in this class.

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

The VA was created in 1930 to better serve the veterans of World War I. The
country was going through the great depression at the time and the President created the
VA because the country needed it. “Following World War II more than 15 million
Veterans were demobilized – and 671,817 returned injured” (Matos, 2023). This created
a great need for services to ensure that these veterans could live somewhat normal lives
following the injuries they faced.

The Symbolism of an agency that takes care of the people that sacrificed for the
country they love is immense. This shows that people that sacrifice for the country’s
greater good will be taken care of. The country will not turn its back on the ones that
protect its values. This symbolism will help people feel more comfortable to sign up and
fight for the country because they know an organization is there to take care of them if
they are hurt in the name of freedom. This pride of Americas veterans is shared in most
Americans. When people find out you are a Veteran, they often say something like thank

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you for your service. This symbolizes gratitude due to the culture of America feeling like
they owe veterans thanks for their sacrifices.

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

Unfortunately, the pride of veterans and the gratitude of America can only go so
far when it comes to readjusting to life outside of the military. Veterans need physical
help to re-establish their lives in the world. This means a functioning organization that
offers services in a timely manner to meet the needs of veterans. Bolman, L. G., & Deal,
T.E. (2021) say that the symbolic frame focuses more on what the meaning of something
is more than what it does. The VA as it stands now is functioning, however it is
notoriously a very inefficient organization.

I would capitalize on this public gratitude and bring the VA into a status of the
Salvation Army or Wounded Warrior Foundation (before the fraud scandal). An
organization that prides itself in helping Veterans. An organization that receives
accolades for their work and the employees feel like they are making a difference. This
symbolism can be done with proper propaganda and internal efficiency boosting. If we
make changes that lead to results and publicize the drastic changes that have measurable
increases in efficiency the VA will start to stand out as a successful and proud
organization that assists veterans.

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

The symbolic frame is a remarkably interesting viewpoint of organizations. I like


how it focuses not on what the organization does or how it functions, it represents who it
is viewed. This can be just as important as how an organization functions, because
although we are told not to judge a book by its cover, we often find that covers give us a
lot of information about what the book is about and is in the end the point of a cover. This
rationale can be applied to anything really. We have eyes to increase our awareness about
things and are preprogramed as humans to use those visions to make determinations
about things, i.e., red embers mean hot, brown water means don’t drink.

The VA has built a reputation for being itself in a knot of bureaucracy and lack of
customer service that has given it the symbolism of a defunct government organization
that cannot get out of its own way. With a focus on the symbolic frame and some major
changes the VA can go from a pain to use to an organization that treats its countries
veterans the way they deserve. The gratitude of a nation can be shown in acts of service
instead of a hollow thank you when people find out you served. I will leave you with this
meme that I believe has much more symbolism than the words entail.

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Reference or References
(Choose appropriate Title if Applicable and Delete the Rest)
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T.E. (2021). Reframing Organizations Artistry, Choice, and Leadership (7 th
ed.) Wiley.

Matos, B. (2023, September 4). July 21, 1930: Veterans Administration created. VA History.
https://department.va.gov/history/featured-stories/va-created/

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