This thesis paper examines the challenges and opportunities that are present for nonprofit organizations seeking to engage in social media marketing. By analyzing the rise of social media as a prevalent tool for business-consumer outreach the paper proposes a dialogic approach to social media for nonprofits to effectively engage with their audiences, develop relationships with them, and mobilize them towards a common mission.

At the beginning of 2020, a global pandemic had left leadership at the large, aerospace conglomerate Raytheon Technologies with a drastic reduction in sales, creating conflicting desires between dissatisfied employees and investors. Unique challenges, such as a pandemic, have been shown to be effectively addressed by leaders using the “reframing” technique. This thesis demonstrates the process of reframing and its ability to reveal additional solutions that Raytheon Technologies leadership should have implemented when there was a drastic drop in company profit. The process of reframing is changing the perspective of a situation, using four different frames: structural, symbolic, human resource, and political. The reframing method uncovers how Raytheon Technologies could have most effectively addressed the needs of the employee, as well as the company, in the context of the COVID pandemic. The well-being of the employees would have been better supported financially and emotionally if Raytheon had used the four framing techniques to approach the company's financial health and better communicated to improve the emotional welfare of the employees. This thesis analyzes the situation of leadership fighting for a company’s survival, while thousands of employees were scared for their job security through each frame to reveal the additional solutions. After analyzing the situation through each frame, the human resource and political frames would be the most impactful for improving employee morale, while reducing overhead. From the human resource frame, increasing the content and frequency of communication between leadership and employees would reduce anxiety caused by uncertainty. The political frame offers ideas for reallocation of resources while avoiding layoffs. The reframing technique is an adaptable model that can be applied by leadership to assess any problem. Each frame has its assumptions and limitations, and leadership’s success is dependent on their ability to choose the proper frames.

This thesis utilizes Bolman and Deal’s Four Frames to analyze the confusion and miscommunication within the coffee company, Starbucks. This is a direct translation into the practice of a barista. Emphasizing the importance of explaining policies and communication between baristas. Revising training manuals and educating baristas through a more extensive training program would result in a better work environment and create a more consistent Starbucks experience between each retail store. An explanation of how the Starbucks retail store works and the dynamics of the bar position and steam wand are given. Ultimately, the Symbolic and Human Resource frames highlight Starbucks, however, the Structural frame does fall short. The political frame highlights a specific conflict that happens at the retails level. The analysis is based on all four of these existing frames presented in the text by Bolman and Deal as well as Starbucks-oriented literature evidence. Recommendations for the future of the Starbucks company include adjusting the training to incorporate a module based on understanding the reason specific tasks are done, making a chart to remind baristas of why certain tasks like sanitizing the steam wand are crucial to the success of the company. Overall, analyzing through the frames presented by Bolman and Deal it could potentially allow successful solutions to be established to encourage the advancement of the Starbucks company.

Workers in sales roles are often faced with a large number of time management decisions on a daily basis. Sales people must choose where they should be spending their time in order to create revenue while also maintaining a healthy work-life balance. In this thesis project, a sales process is analyzed to see if there is an opportunity to increase both revenue and work-life balance. This paper investigates a wholesale insurance brokerage company, Risk Placement Services, and their sales force of brokers. A significant portion of these brokers’ workday consists of the backend task of marketing accounts to insurance carriers to find coverage. This is necessary for the completion of the sales cycle but either limits the amount of time brokers can be out on the road or on calls trying to bring in new business or makes them work longer off the clock hours to get these accounts out to insurance carriers. The more business a broker is bringing in, the more time they have to spend marketing these new accounts to carriers, which puts them into a constant snowball of increasing tasks and goals. The main model for the analysis of this problem will be Reframing Organizations by Bolman & Deal which focuses on using their four-frame model to analyze and gain more insight into organizations. Being able to understand this problem from multiple perspectives will allow a more holistic solution to be reached. Following this analysis multiple potential solutions are discussed towards the end of this thesis project.

Over the course of 2020, individuals and organizations were thrown various unprecedented obstacles that necessitated flexibility, empathy, and understanding. Many organizations were forced to reevaluate their financial status, their purpose, and how they could provide for their employees. The COVID-19 pandemic meant that most companies had to introduce a ‘work from home’ policy, drastically decreasing the face-to-face contact that employees had with each other and leadership. The virus, coupled with the social and political unrest in the U.S. in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and the 2020 presidential election, inspired many companies to reframe their organization and redefine their goals.<br/> The B2B (business-to-business) Marketing Agency, The Mx Group, is preparing for a change in leadership, with the current Chief Executive Officer and Founder stepping down, being replaced by the President of the company. The company plans to execute the transition in the spring of 2022, allowing them the rest of 2021 to plan for the change, catering to employees’ individual and the company’s collective needs. It was also prompted by factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic to reevaluate the values that it upholds as an organization, coinciding with the change in leadership. Leaders of the company are actively encouraging employees to engage with these values by recognizing when a colleague performs in alignment with a value.<br/> In reframing their organization, The Mx Group has a significant opportunity to uniquely position itself in the industry. Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal (2017) introduced four frames: human resources, symbolic, structural, and political, as a way to guide a transformative application of leadership and management in business. Analyzed from these perspectives, The Mx Group can utilize contemporary ideas to efficiently and effectively seize its opportunity of embedding new values and a change in leadership.

The thesis focuses on the opportunity of receiving the Rock Chapter Award as a chapter of Sigma Nu Nationals and analyzes it using Bolman and Deal’s Four Frames. An introduction to Sigma Nu, its programs, the Zeta Upsilon chapter, and guidelines brings into perspective how members and a chapter can earn a Rock Chapter Award. The introduction highlights the structural emphasis on the award and its achievement, however an analysis offers insights on how to further tighten the bolts within the structure and offer support by aligning members needs and skills with Rock Chapter criteria. A multi-frame approach is further supported by discussing the symbolism behind Rock Chapter and how it can be used as cohesion between the rigidity of the structure and the softness of the people. The frame analysis provided some solutions, which include adding a form of officer hours, increasing the effectiveness of the treasurer, and improving the culture of the weekly meetings. The four frames offer various insights into what is missing and how leadership can utilize assets, such as the resources of Sigma Nu and even Zeta Upsilon, to inspire the pursuit of excellence. Further, the four frames opens the door for leadership to better prepare for future Pursuit of Excellence Self-Assessments or operations by not being confined to one frame, which is useful to Zeta Upsilon as the chapter has been conditioned to rely on a structural approach during its short time back on Arizona State’s campus.