Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible 

Facts: 

1. Jack is an American student who lives at a youth center in Kenya working on a social venture
2. An international donor organization sent presents for children under 14 years old
3. Jack is chosen to hand out gifts to the kids at the youth center which makes the kids think Jack got the gifts himself
4. Four kids did not receive gifts and were given hats that were at the bottom of the gift boxes but were upset since they did not receive a gift originally 
5. Jack met with the staff to discuss the situation that the kids who did not receive gifts originally were upset and felt left out
6. The staff did not care about the problem and told Jack to solve it himself 

Step 2: Define the problem and the stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome 

Problem: Four kids are upset that they did not receive ceremonial gifts like the other children, and Jack is blamed for the incident. The youth center staff say that Jack is making a big deal out of a trivial matter and do not help him resolve the misunderstanding.

Stakeholders:

1. Jack
2. Youth center staff
3. Kids who live at the youth center
4. International donor organization 

Step 3: Determine and distinguish between the personal and professional motivations of the stakeholders.

Motivation of Stakeholders:

1. Jack: 
   1. Wants to build good relationships with the kids that live in the youth center
   2. Wants to maintain a good relationship with the staff at the youth center
   3. Wants to be able to work on his social venture
2. Youth center staff: 
   1. Want to maintain a good image for the kids who live in the youth center and ensure everything runs smoothly
   2. Want to maintain a good relationship with their international donor 
3. Kids who live at the youth center: 
   1. Want to be treated equally and fairly 
4. International donor organization: 
   1. Want to provide underprivileged children with donations 

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on the information available, to have a win-win situation for your relationship and your venture. 

Approaches [1/2/3: repeat for every action] 

Potential Solution 1: Next time, communicate with the international donor organization to let them know how many children are expecting gifts

• How does it solve the problem? 
  • Pros: This allows for all the kids to get a gift.
  • Cons: May seem rude to the donor organization or seem like the youth center is not grateful for the gifts that they have received. Donor organizations may not have the capacity to gift gifts to all of the children. 

• How does it save face of those involved? 
  • The children feel acknowledged as they received a gift that was not the hat 
• Implications on relationships 
  • Short-term: The relationship between Jack and the children is improved
  • Long-term: The donor may not want to provide gifts in the future

• Implications on the venture 
  • Short-term: The children are content and all receive gifts
  • Long-term: The relationship between the center and the international donor is strained, because the donor feels that the center is not grateful for the donations that they have received. In the future, the international donor decides to halt relations with the center

Potential Solution 2: Jack communicates with the children that the incident was not his doing

• How does it solve the problem? 
  • Pros: This clears up the misunderstanding and the children will not be upset with Jack
  • Cons: The youth center staff would be upset that the blame is now on them

• How does it save face of those involved? 
  • Jack clears up his reputation with the children, and the children feel acknowledged 
• Implications on relationships 
  • Short-term: Relationship with the children at the center strengthens
  • Long-term: Jack’s relationship with the staff at the center becomes strained, and they may not treat him the best going forward

• Implications on the venture 
  • Short-term: Will make the children happy 
  • Long-term: Jack’s relationship with the staff at the center is strained. The staff no longer trust him and believe he is causing unnecessary problems at the center

Potential Solution 3: Jack buys more gifts and speaks to the staff about how they labeled the gifts so they could count if there were enough gifts for all of the kids 

• How does it solve the problem? 
  • Pros: There would be a sufficient amount of gifts for all of the kids, so none of them feel left out
  • Cons: Jack would have to spend his own money and time to go out and buy more gifts

• How does it save face of those involved? 
  • The children would be happy because they all have a gift, and Jack’s relationship with them would be restored. Jack saves face to the children because he no longer looks like the bad guy but is instead seen as a hero to them because he gets them gifts
  • The staff at the center are not exposed for being the ones responsible for not giving gifts to the children
• Implications on relationships 
  • Short-term: The relationship between Jack and the children at the center is strengthened. The relationship between Jack and the center staff may still be tense because he went against their suggestion to let the situation go
  • Long-term: Jack can build strong relationships with the children, but the staff believe he is a “children’s rights activist” and are not fond of him

• Implications on the venture 
  • Short-term: The children are happy
  • Long-term: Jack cannot continue to buy gifts for the children who do not receive gifts from donors, or when Jack leaves, no one else is able to buy gifts for the children and the original issue persists. 

Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection 

• Young children often forget things quickly, so they may move on from the situation without intervention
• Is Jack’s relationship with the children more valuable, or is his relationship with the staff at the center more valuable?
  • The relationship with the staff is probably more valuable because they have more power than the children at the center
  • Jack is there to work on his social venture, so building a strong relationship with influential people will be beneficial to him

Step 6: Select the best course of action – that solves the problem, saves face, and has the best short-term and long-term implications for your relationship and venture. Explain reasoning and discuss your solution vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in class. 

Propose the distribution of the hats in the same ceremonial fashion as the other gifts to the staff. This would make the children happy, while eliminating the issue of Jack feeling like the blame was thrown on him, and is clear communication between Jack and the staff at the youth center. This is a course of action that only requires a behavioral change, rather than a materialistic one, so it is fairly easy to execute and does not require the purchasing of more gifts, which may be costly. In the short-term, the kids will be happy with the gifts that they receive, even those that received hats because the ceremony would have made them feel special regardless of the actual gift. In the long term, Jack’s relationship with the children is maintained. Regarding the relationship between Jack and the youth center staff, there may be some disagreement because they would believe that Jack is making a big deal out of an issue that shouldn’t exist. However, this solution only requires a small behavior change and avoids blame being placed on anyone involved, so they may be receptive to the solution. Because of this, we hope that the relationship between the staff and Jack also remains stable in the long term. 

Step 7: List the sequence of actions you will take to implement your solution.

1. Confront the staff and let them know that you observed some kids were upset they did not receive a ceremony for their gift
2. Propose the solution of mixing in a ceremony for all kids, regardless of what gift they are going to receive
3. Hear out what the staff have to say, if they are receptive to the solution then implement it. If not, do nothing and stick with the original plan, having Jack take the blame
4. If Jack takes the blame, his relationship with the children becomes strained in the short term but is quickly resolved once the kids move on from the situation
5. The children forget about the whole gift situation, the donor-youth center relationship is maintained, and Jack lives with no issues in the youth center