This document summarizes Bolman and Deal's four frames for organizational analysis: structural frame, human resource frame, political frame, and symbolic frame. The structural frame focuses on goals, roles, tasks, and coordination. The human resource frame examines individual/group needs, skills, relationships, and motivation. The political frame looks at power, influence, coalitions, and competition. The symbolic frame analyzes culture, rituals, heroes, myths, and meanings within an organization. Each frame provides a different lens for understanding and analyzing organizational change.

1. Bolman & Deal’s Four Frames for Organisational Analysis
(Lecture 2 – Module 3)
James Hunt
Trimester 3 2012
GSBS6120: Managing Organisational Change

2. Lecture Outline
Module 1: Background – Globalisation and its Impact on Organisational Change
Module 2: Forces for Change - Hyper-competitiveness and Organisational Change
Module 3: Four Frames for Understanding Change in Organisations
.

3. Bolman & Deal’s Four Frame Analysis of
Organisational Change
Four Perspectives on Organisations:
A Diagnostic Framework

4. The Structural Frame
• Rules
• Roles
• Goals
• Policies
• Division of labour
• Coordination of activities
• Hierarchies

5. The Structural Frame
• What are the task assignments
within this organisation?
• How are tasks/roles assigned and
filled?
• What are the overt/explicit goals
and strategies of the organisation?
• How does technology influence the
organisation’s structure?
• How specialised are tasks, roles,
jobs, positions?

6. The Structural Frame
Co-ordination and control:
How are these two objectives
balanced?
Where does the final authority lie? Is
this clear or unclear?
Are rules and policies rigidly or
loosely adhered to?
Does the organisation have standard
operating procedures?
Does the organisation’s structure
create, compound or facilitate
problems?

7. The Human Resources Frame
• Individual needs
• Skills
• Competency profiles
• Relationships
• Motivation levels
• Enthusiasm
• Harmony
• Cooperation

8. The Human Resources Frame
Is there a congruence between what
individual employees need and what
the organisation needs?
Does two-way communication exist
between various hierarchical levels?
Does the organisation have leaders
who believe in their people? Do they
act on this belief?

9. The Human Resources Frame
To what degree is there:
- participation in decision-making?
- support for idea-generation?
- shared information?
Does the organisation use rigid controls to monitor employee attendance
and performance?
What are management’s assumptions about employees? (resistant to
change, lazy, unmotivated)

10. The Political Frame
• Power
• Influence
• Coalitions
• Alliances
• Competition
• Persuasion
• Negotiation
• Networks

11. The Political Frame
• What coalitions can be identified in this organisation?
(A coalition is a set of individuals who band together to pursue a particular
goal or set of goals).
• What boundaries does a particular coalition span? (eg: hierarchical levels,
departments, professional groups, gender and ethnic sub-groups).
• What enduring differences can be identified among individuals and groups
in their value-preferences, beliefs, and perceptions of reality?

12. The Political Frame
• What scarce resources may be identified, and how
are they allocated?
• Over what issues does conflict exist?
• What power-bases exist? Who has them?
Power bases include:
1. positional power (formal authority)
2. information and expertise
3. control of rewards
4. coercive power
• Alliances, networks, control of agendas, control of
meaning, personal power

13. The Symbolic Frame
• Culture
• Ritual
• Ceremony
• Stories
• Heroes & heroines
• Myths & legends
• Symbols
• Charisma

14. The Symbolic Frame
Underlying meanings are important.
What differences are there between the meanings attached to a
particular event by different interest groups?
Ambiguity and uncertainty:
What examples are there of events, actions, or behaviour being
ambiguous in meaning to people in the organisation?

15. The Symbolic Frame
Difficulty in using rational approaches to problem-solving?
What examples are there of problems being more easily solved by
symbolic action than by logical action?
Heroes and heroines:
Who are the organisational heroes and heroines?
What are the myths, legends and stories that surround them?

16. The Symbolic Frame
Rituals and ceremonies are important.
What examples are there of these?
What ideologies do they reinforce?

17. Some Further Reading:
• Hunt, J. (2003) Chapter 1: The Anatomy of Organisational Change in the
Twenty-first Century. In Wiesner, R. & Millett, B. (Eds.), Human Resource
Management: Challenges and Future Directions, John Wiley, Queensland.
• Semler, R. (1989) ‘Managing Without Managers’, Harvard Business Review,
Vol. 67, Iss. 5 (September-October): 76-84.
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