RWS 390W Project 2: Analysis of an Organizational Frame Purpose of the Assignment: To allow you to examine the rhetorical situation(s) underlying an organization’s attempt to establish its brand. To do this, you will analyze the website of an organization to determine its organizational frame. Step 1: Select the web site of an organization of your choosing. Step 2: Answer the following questions about that site in terms of its organizational frame. Note use the handout on Blackboard called Organizational Frame Matrix to assist you with this assignment. • • • • • What is the organizational paradigm (frame) used to represent the organization? Analyze and explain how the metaphor is represented on the web site. Provide specific examples to support your analysis. Analyze and explain how the central concept is represented on the web site. Provide specific examples to support your analysis. Analyze and explain how the image of leadership is represented on the web site. Provide specific examples to support your analysis. Analyze and explain how the organization has responded to its leadership challenge. Provide specific examples to support your analysis. Step 3: Use the formatting guidelines for a short report, including the title page, headings, line spacing, and the integration of charts and graphs into your report. The paper will be approximately three to five pages long, single-spaced. Report Components: These components must be included in your report: • • • Title page Answers to the five questions above, each designated with a heading and discussed in paragraph form. At least two figures that display pertinent examples that support your analysis. Step 4: Include the URL for the website you have chosen to analyze Key 390W Outcomes Met with This Assignment Students will: • Identify individual discourse communities and find and analyze their characteristic texts, evaluate their credibility and principles, and apply relevant aspects of their information to other contexts and arguments 1 • Analyze the details of a wide variety of writing situations (textual elements such as tone, evidence, organizational patterns, diction, even visuals) according to the author’s purpose as well as the audience’s needs and tastes • Identify how a writer uses rhetorical strategies in various genres of writing • Interpret, analyze, and evaluate demanding texts • Reflect on their own progress as a working writer in relation to critical thinking and reading strategies • Develop flexible strategies for creating, revising, and editing texts • Write with an awareness of audience and purpose • Identify how discourse communities employ particular strategies for conveying, researching, evaluating, and presenting information • Analyze and choose the appropriate conventions for a range of audience expectations • Integrate a variety of appropriate sources into their writing in a way that accurately reflects the writer’s meaning and purpose • Document sources appropriately • Sustain reasonable correctness in grammar and mechanics to perform well in a variety of writing contexts and professional settings 2 Last Name 1 Organizational Framework Make-A-Wish Foundation Student’s Name RWS 390-W Professor Fielden October 30, 2017 Last Name 2 Symbolic Organizational Frame The Make-A-Wish Foundation is an organization that helps children in life-threatening situations by making one of their wishes come true. It is built on the idea of giving hope to children and making their difficult lives more enjoyable. This foundation relies heavily on a beautiful culture of helping others that are sick and in need. Given this, the Make-A-Wish Foundation is best represented by the symbolic organizational frame. The symbolic frame can be described as something that is more meaningful and helpful by building relationships and spreading positivity. Its culture is the core of the organization in a symbolic frame. The Make-A-Wish Foundation has such a strong culture of bringing happiness to children and spreading love to them. The symbolic frame states that “What is most important is not what happens but what it means” (Make-A-Wish America, “About Us”). The Make-A-Wish Foundation stands by this quote since it is not what they bring to the child in need, but what it means to the child. For example, a child who is in need may wish for a trip to Disneyland. By making this wish come true, they are bringing happiness to the child and family that is suffering, and putting them at ease during their hard time. It is not the fact that the Make-A-Wish Foundation has given a trip to Disneyland to the child, but the positivity that happens because of it. The symbolic frame also states that, “In the face of widespread uncertainty and ambiguity, people create symbols to resolve conflict, increase predictability, find direction, and anchor hope and faith” (Bolman and Deal). The Make-A-Wish Foundation helps children that are in health-related trouble, and although they cannot fully resolve their uncertainty, they help children and their family’s by filling their rough experience with positivity and hope. Lastly, the symbolic frame states that, “Culture is the glue that holds an organization together and unites people around shared values and beliefs” (Bolman and Deal). The Make-A-Wish Foundation certainly unites people that are suffering together by giving them a positive experience and create positive beliefs. Symbolic Frame Metaphor The metaphor for the symbolic paradigm is theater or drama. The Make-A-Wish Foundation shows these metaphors through their website by creating something that gives children a place of freedom and play. With their kind act of granting a wish for a child in need, they are able to literally make a child’s wish come true. This allows the child to dream as big as they can and allow their mind to open and have fun, similar to a theatrical metaphor. The foundation omits from the discussion of any serious matter, and turn all the focus onto creating life-changing moments. They take pride in all the wishes they have granted and exemplify their work to be read about on their website. The Make-A-Wish Foundation has created something that children can look forward too, as well as taking care of the whole family. In the following picture, you may see how the company takes a theatrical and drama-type of approach to exemplify their work: Last Name 3 Figure 1: Young Boy Gets Wish Granted to Become A Superhero Source: Make-A-Wish Foundation, 2017 This figure shows a child who suffers with an illness, and his wish was to become a super hero. The Foundation made his wish come true and shows this on their site. The Make-A-Wish Foundation does an excellent job in representing the theatrical metaphor, although they even took it to a more literal sense! On their site, they step away from discussing any health-related or serious matter, and bring the focus to positivity and a fun experience for the children. Symbolic Frame Central Concept The central concept for the symbolic paradigm is culture and meaning. These two concepts are seen in the entirety of the Make-A-Wish Foundation web site. The culture aspect shows itself in many different examples. The web site tells us in bold and larger font at the top of the page how, “We believe a wish experience can be a game-changer. This one belief guides us and inspires us to grant wishes that change the lives of the kids we serve” (Make-A-Wish America, “About Us”). This statement is the basis of the culture behind this foundation. They come together to grant children’s wishes which brings people and happiness together. The web site also shows us many positive pictures of children and people coming together to make a difference. The following picture is a perfect example of people coming together in their positive culture: The other concept behind the symbolic frame is meaning. The website states in bold, “Wishes make life better for kids with life-threatening medical conditions. This simple, but powerful belief drives Make-A-Wish” (Make-A-Wish America, “About Us”). The way that the children feel and the happiness that occurs when their wishes come true is the meaning behind the foundation. The Make-A-Wish Foundation makes it very easy to understand their meaning and that this what drives them as a company. This non-profit company is based heavily on the meaning behind it all which is to help children. It is not about the material matter that they provide for the child, but the experience that the child will get. Symbolic Frame Leadership Image Inspiration is the image of leadership behind the symbolic frame. The Make-A-Wish Foundation makes it known to the web site viewer how they are constantly inspired by suffering children and the happiness they can bring for them. As stated on the website, " Wishes make life better for kids with life-threatening medical conditions. This simple, but powerful belief drives Make-AWish” (Make-A-Wish America, “About Us”). The Make-A-Wish Foundation makes it easy to Last Name 4 follow what their inspiration is by stating how they are inspired by not only making lives better, but by making lives better for kids with life-threatening medical conditions. We can also read on the site how, “Wishes are only made possible through the hard work of many dedicated staff, volunteers, donors and other supporters” (Make-A-Wish America, “About Us”). The foundation does a great job at showing us what inspires them, and also how the inspiration works well in that all their crew members are so dedicated to what they are doing. Here we can see how well their staff are dedicated and proud to be working with the Foundation: Figure 2: Prideful Make-A-Wish Interns Source: Make-A-Wish Foundation, 2017 Symbolic Frame Response to Leadership Challenge Creating faith, beauty, and meaning is the leadership challenge found in the symbolic frame, and the Make-A-Wish does a good job at responding to this. They show how they have created beauty where there lies little hope. They have faith in children that they are trying to help, and they create a sense of meaning for the children and their families. They have a positive response in their leadership and this site is a great example of being a good leader. Talking about what the foundation does is pure beauty in itself. They are spreading love all around the world for families who need it most. The foundation does not lack in creating beauty, and also does a great job in keeping people’s faith high by doing such generous acts. This picture of a young boy and his radiant smile shows that they bring beauty through his struggle: Figure 3: Make-A-Wish Child Enjoying His Wish Source: Make-A-Wish Foundation, 2017 With this type of response in leadership, the Make-A-Wish Foundation proves that they adequately represent themselves as a symbolic organizational frame. Last Name 5 Works Cited “About Us.” Make-A-Wish America, Make-A-Wish Foundation, 30 Oct. 2017, wish.org/about-us. Bolman, L. G., & Deal (As Cited in RWS 390-W), T. E. (2003). Reframing organizations (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Last Name 1 Analysis of an Organizational Frame Kaiser Permanente Student’s Name RWS 390W Professor Fielden October 30, 2017 Last Name 2 Analysis of an Organizational Frame Paradigm Frame: The organizational paradigm used to describe Kaiser Permanente is a Human Resources frame. An example would be that the company values the success of the organization and its employees equally. Kaiser knows that the success of their business relies on their employees. The website use pathos to informs the reader that the mission of the organization is to recruit employees that are aligned with the values of the company (Kaiser Permanente). Kaiser Permanente is an organization that cares about the wellbeing of others, and serves to provide medical services to individuals. The company strives to deliver quality care. Figure1: Kaiser Permanente 2015 Annual Report Source: Kaiser Permanente Annual Report 2015, https://share.kaiserpermanente.org/static/kp_annualreport_2015/#people Figure 1, shown above is an example of how Kaiser Permanente uses logos to promote itself to be a business that excels in healthcare. The company strives to make a profit, while maintaining the value of care in mind. The KP report shows the statistical numbers for 2015. The organization made $60.7 billion in revenue, while ranking number 30 in the NCQA: National Committee for Quality Assurance (Kaiser). The figure uses analogy to show comparison between two factors that are important in any business. Business profits and acquisition, are important for the success of any business, but so is the reputation of the organization. Kaiser demonstrates to be a quality healthcare business for the community. This report helps the reader solidify their decision regarding employment within the organization. Metaphor: Kaiser uses pathos in their website by stating “At Kaiser Permanente, we operate as one team and one family” (Kaiser). Kaiser Permanente uses the metaphor of family to portray the image of Last Name 3 the importance of personal relationships. This message lets the reader know that this company works as a team and that everyone is valued. The reader understands that the organization promotes a family oriented atmosphere. The organization wants to build relationships with their employees and with their patients. This message uses pathos to appeal to an employee who wants to feel like family in their place of work. Many employees leave companies in which they’re seen as just a number. Kaiser promotes that employees will not feel that way and that teamwork is what makes the company run effectively. Central Concept: Kaiser Permanente follows a Human Resources structure. Two examples would be the need for qualified applicants and the need for diversity. The central concept of Kaiser is the recruitment of qualified and talented personnel (Kaiser). The company caters to employees by offering different career options in areas such as: administrative, patient care, and technology. Kaiser seeks to hire employees who have experience in the medical field and who want to make a change in the healthcare industry. The company wants to promote growth and wants applicants to feel that their contribution matters. Figure 2: Kaiser Permanente Diversity & Inclusion Source: Kaiser Permanente, https://www.kaiserpermanentejobs.org/diversity-and-inclusion/ In figure 2, we can see how KP uses ethos to appeal to the reader by including a quote from Bernard J. Tyson, Kaiser’s Chairman and CEO. Tyson states “that the company seeks to create a diverse and inclusive environment that encourages our employees to reach their full potential” (Kaiser). The company promotes diversity which will bring candidates who have different backgrounds and experiences that can help contribute positively to their workforce. Employees want to feel that their cultural backgrounds and experiences won’t hinder their work performance, but rather help them contribute positively in their careers. Having a company that values diversity, whether that be in sexual orientation, religion, or cultural makes for a globally well-rounded diversity of employees. Having diverse employees helps the company be successful because patients can connect to someone like them. Last Name 4 Image of leadership: Kaiser Permanente’s image of leadership is one of empowerment. As stated earlier by the CEO, Kaiser “wants their employees to be successful and to reach their full potential” (Kaiser). This statement uses pathos to instill confidence and motivation in the reader. First, Kaiser’s message encourages people to want to work in an organization where growth is possible. Employees want to work for companies that provide the possibility of future growth. This statement can build confidence in a prospective applicant to apply and let the organization help them grow. Kaiser is a perfect example of a business that takes pride and motivates their employees to excel and achieve their future goals. Secondly, having the CEO make such statements serves as a motivator for any prospective employee. As an employee, I want to know that my employer wants me to succeed as much as the business. That can serve as a motivator to contribute the most I can to the growth of the company and lets me know that I will be taken care of in return. Kaiser offers several benefits to its employees. Some examples are: tuition reimbursement, leadership training and flexible schedules. Leadership Challenge: Kaiser Permanente has responded to its leadership challenge by proving to be successful in the business world while providing quality care. The organization might face challenges such as keeping its reputation as one of the “top healthcare leaders” (Kaiser). The company might also face challenges in staying up to date and being competitive with other businesses. Kaiser is a business that promotes itself as having a balance between being profitable while considering the importance and value of their employees. The company offers their employees a variety of benefits that are appealing to keep them happy. I believe one of the biggest challenges for any healthcare business in the need to prove to their patients the importance of staying ethical at all times. Another challenge would be the need to stay up to date with innovations and equipment to make healthcare cost more effective. The biggest challenge that comes to mind for anything involving healthcare is the protection of personal health information. Data breach incidents have increased in the past years and this can ruin the reputation of any business. Last Name 5 Works Cited Template: Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente. www.kaiserpermanentejobs.org/. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017. Kaiser Permanente 2015 Annual Report. share.kaiserpermanente.org/static/kp_annualreport_2015/ #people. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017.
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