Reframing Organizations, 3rd ed.
Chapter 15
Integrating Frames for Effective
Practice
Integrating Frames for Effective
Practice
 Life as Managers Know It
 Across the Frames: Organizations as Multiple
Realities
 Matching Frames to Situations
 Effective Managers and Organizations
 Manager’s Frame Preferences
Life as Managers Know It
 Myth:
 Managers are rational, spent time planning,
deciding and controlling
 Organized, in control, unruffled
 Reality
 Management life is hectic, frantic, constantly
shifting
 Too busy to read or even think
 Rely on intuition and hunches for many of the
most important decisions
 Hassled priests, modern muddlers, wheelerdealers
Across the Frames: Organizations
as Multiple Realities
 Four Interpretations of Organizational
Processes
 Doctor Fights to Quit Maine Island
Organizations as Multiple Realities
Process
Structural Human
Political
Resource
Symbolic
Strategic
planning
Create
strategic
direction
Meeting to
promote
participation
Ritual to
reassure
audiences
Decisionmaking
Rational
process to
get right
answer
Open
Chance to
process to
gain or use
build commit- power
ment
Ritual to
build values,
bonding
Reorganizing
Improve
structure/
environment
fit
Balance
needs and
tasks
Image of
accountability, responsiveness
Arena to air
conflict
Reallocate
power, form
new
coalitions
Organizations as Multiple Realities
Process
Structural Human
Political
Resource
Symbolic
Evaluating
Allocate
rewards,
control
performance
Help people
grow and
develop
Chance to
exercise
power
Occasion to
play roles in
organizational drama
Approaching
conflict
Authorities
resolve
conflict
Individuals
confront
conflict
Bargaining,
forcing,
manipulating
Develop
shared
values,
meaning
Goal setting
Keep
organization
headed in
right
direction
Keep people
involved and
informed
Let people
make their
interests
known
Develop
symbols,
shared
values
Organizations as Multiple Realities
Process
Structural Human
Political
Resource
Symbolic
Communication
Transmit
facts,
information
Exchange
information,
needs,
feelings
Influence or
manipulate
others
Tell stories
Meetings
Formal
occasions to
make
decisions
Informal
occasions to
involve,
share
feelings
Competitive
occasions to
score points
Sacred
occasions to
celebrate,
transform
culture
Motivation
Economic
incentives
Growth, selfactualization
Coercion,
Symbols,
manipulation, celebrations
seduction
Matching Frames to Situations
 Choosing a Frame





Commitment and motivation
Technical quality
Ambiguity and uncertainty
Conflict and scarce resources
Working from bottom up
Table 15.2
Choosing a Frame
Question
If yes:
If no:
Are individual commitment and
motivation essential?
Human resource,
symbolic
Structural, political
Is technical quality of decision
important?
Structural
Human resource,
political, symbolic
Is there high level of ambiguity,
uncertainty?
Political, symbolic
Structural, human
resource
Are conflict and scarce resource a
significant factor?
Political, symbolic
Structural, human
resource
Are you working from the bottom
up?
Political, symbolic
Structural, human
resource
Effective Managers and Organizations
 Characteristics of Excellent/Visionary Companies
 Embrace paradox
 Clear core identity
 Effective Senior Managers
 Highly complex jobs requiring diverse skills
 Political dimension is critical
 Effective middle managers
 Structural and human resource skills help
performance, but political skills help you get ahead
Table 15.3
Effective Organizations
Frame
Peters &
Waterman
Collins &
Porras
Collins
Structural
Autonomy, entrepreneurship, bias
for action; simple
form, lean staff
Clock building,
not time telling;
try a lot, keep
what works
Confront brutal
facts; best in
world; economic
engine;
technology
accelerators;
“flywheel”, not
doom loop
Human
Resource
Close to
customer;
productivity
through people
Home-grown
management
“Level 5
leadership”; first
who, then what
Table 15.3 (continued)
Effective Organizations
Frame
Peters &
Waterman
Collins &
Porras
Collins
Political
********
*******
*******
Symbolic
Hands on, valuedriven, loosetight; stick to the
knitting
BHAGs; cultlike
cultures; good
enough never is;
preserve the
core, stimulate
progress; more
than profits
Never lose faith;
deeply
passionate;
culture of
discipline
Table 15.4
Challenges in Managers’Jobs
Frame
Kotter (1982)
Lynn (1987)
Structural
Keep on top of
Attain intellectual
large, complex set grasp of policy
of activities; set
issues
goals and policies
under conditions
of uncertainty
Communication
(paperwork, etc.);
traditional
management
(planning, goalsetting, controlling)
Human
resource
Motivate,
coordinate and
control large,
diverse group of
subordinates
Human resource
management
(motivating,
managing conflict,
staffing, etc.)
Use personality to
best advantage
Luthans, Yodgetts,
& Rosenkrantz
(1988)
Table 15.4
Challenges in Managers’Jobs
Frame
Kotter (1982)
Lynn (1987)
Luthans,
Yodgetts, &
Rosenkrantz
(1988)
Political
Allocate scarce
resources; get
support from
bosses and other
constituents
Exploit
opportunities to
achieve strategic
gains
Networking
(politics,
interacting with
outsiders)
Symbolic
Develop credible
strategic
premises;
identify and
focus on
activities that
give meaning to
employees
Manager’s Frame Preferences
 Research shows ability to use multiple frames
is consistently associated with effectiveness.
 Effectiveness as manager – structural frame
is key
 Effectiveness as leader – political and
symbolic frames are central
Conclusion
 Managers’ daily reality is messier, less
rational, more conflict-filled than is often
realized
 Choice of frame depends on circumstances
 Managers need multiple frames to survive