Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation:

Explicit facts:

• 230 kids between the ages of 3 – 16 live at the center and so do the rest of the staff
• Only one child said they blamed Jack
• The children (4 of them) did not receive the same treatment as the rest of the kids. 
  • Received black hats instead of toys
  • No ceremony provided for hats 
• The staff doesn’t identify with the children or Jack; separates their role and presence in the organization.
  • The staff cares about saving face
• Jack is not there for the long term, he is there for 5 months
  • His temporary role makes him especially important for developing and maintaining a positive relationship with the children due to their vulnerability
    • Jack’s authority being undermined by being a “Children’s rights activist” versus the authority of the staff responsible for gift giving / running the venture

Implicit facts:

• Jack’s identity as an American makes him “special”
• Black hat has a negative stigma attached to it (might invalidate solution 2)
• Jack does not belong to the organization, he is an outsider who is criticizing the organization who doesn’t understand what’s going on
• The organization gave Jack face in having him present gifts in the ceremony

Assumption:

• The staff are nice people according to Khanjan, assume that people have good intentions
• Open criticism doesn’t save the face of the locals and organization staff
• Different cultural point of view from the staff members because they have had different experiences than Jack with resources, if they don’t get a gift this time, they’ll get a gift next time
• Kids are between the ages of 3-15, generally assume people are happy to receive gifts
• Donor organization has no planned process of inventory of gift donations, it is very casual
  • Assumed kids would feel good receiving the gifts from Jack being the American 

Delicate issue: Jack is an outsider who feels awkward that he is being somewhat blamed for not having gifts for all the kids and he wants to have gifts for the 4 kids who were left out. The organization staff feel that they are losing face because Jack is criticizing them for the problem. 

Step 2 & 3: Define the Stakeholders and Motivations 

1. Kids who got gifts: 
   1. Want to be included and acknowledged
   2. More indifferent to the issue because they don’t see a problem as it doesn’t affect them
   3. They might tease the kids who did not get the gifts
2. Kids who did not get gifts:
   1. Want to receive a gift like everyone else
   2. Be treated the same as the rest, not feel like they did something wrong to not receive a gift
   3. Be acknowledged so even if they’re receiving black hats, they receive the hats ceremoniously
3. Jack: 
   1. Doesn’t want to be the face of disappointment for the children or resented
   2. Wants everyone to be happy because it will impact the quality of his stay & professional work
   3. Wants to build a good relationship with the organization staff
4. Staff:
   1. They are both trying to save face
   2. Have a smooth-running organization 
   3.  They might not have had the means of providing Jack with the gifts to give to the children. Another reason might be that they are not comfortable with Jack since he is a newcomer and outsider.
   4. Maintain their status in the eyes of the kids and continue running operations smoothly
5. The donor organization(s) (secondary stakeholder):
   1. They are the ones who sent the gifts with the hopes to bring joy but have little say in what happens once the gifts are there

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions:

1. Potential Solution 1: Jack could pay out of his pocket to get gifts for the children & give the staff/organization credit for it too.
   1. Ethical Principle or code- 
      1. Duty Based Thinking: Jack thinks that the right thing to do here is to get gifts for the four kids since they did not receive the same gifts.
      2. Ethics of Care: Jack is trying to foster a good relationship with both the kids and the staff members. 
   2. Pros: 
      1. Solves the problem himself; saves face for the staff/organization
      2. Allows him to fix his relationship with the staff and children
   3. Cons: 
      1. Set precedent for having Jack solve problems personally, be viewed as someone who can be easily pushed around
      2. The kids already experienced not having the ceremony, can’t undo the damage in a way
      3. Paying out of pocket can escalate the situation by invalidating the effort of the donor organization
2. Potential Solution 2: Reframing the use/purpose of the black hats by engaging with the 4 kids in an activity. Jack could meet with the 4 children with the hats and convince them they were chosen to perform in a skit/dance performance for their center. 
   1. Ethical Principle or code-
      1. Ethics of Care- Jack is trying to foster a good relationship with both the kids and the staff members. 
      2. Consequence based thinking: if the kids buy this, then the problem can be easily resolved without too many issues.
      3. Moral imagination- Jack could reframe the way that hats are viewed by making up some sort of an activity involving the four kids and the hats so that they feel valued. This would also make Jack interact with the kids that he will make his stay more pleasant.
   2. Pros:
      1. Fixes relationship with the kids so they don’t feel like they were not acknowledged equally with the other kids
      2. Provides a sense of ceremony to their gifts so it doesn’t just feel like a shoo away
      3. Jack can lower tension with organization staff by giving them credit for the idea, it will boost his image with the staff because he is giving them face and the staff will gain face from the kids
      4. Giving the hats a sense of value so that the kids don’t feel like they’re being looked down upon
   3. Cons
      1. Children still do not have toys like everyone else
      2. Jack changing the value of the hats could prompt the other children to feel left out, create possible tension over not having these hats
      3. If this is an explicit activity that the staff found out about, they might feel concerned that Jack is going out of his way to solve these types of problems when there is no need to (he’s making the situation a bigger deal than it is)
3. Potential Solution 3: Pay more attention to the 4 specific kids next time/ give them more care over time and acknowledge the situation with the organization staff that he acted in the heat of the moment. Reduce the feeling of blaming the staff and give them an out.
   1. Potential solution: 
   2. Ethical Principle or code-
      1. Ethics of Care: Jack is trying to foster a good relationship with both the kids and the staff members
   3. Pros: 
      1. Saves face for the staff/organization because Jack is not openly criticizing them
      2. Makes the kids feel important, reconciles them to the fact that they seemed to have received the shorter end of the stick with the gifts
   4. Cons:
      1. Might not completely ease the relationship with Jack and the kids
      2. Staff may not see Jack’s actions the way he sees it as giving them an out
      3. Organization staff may see that Jack is a pushover if he apologizes

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

Gift giving is quite a sensitive issue in low and middle-income countries. When I visited Ecuador for a service trip a couple of years ago, we were strictly told by our sponsors to not bring any gifts for the locals. Almost all of us adhered to this except one of our team members who bought bracelets for the little kids in the town we stayed in. He was distributing them out to all the little kids and at a certain point he ran out of bracelets but there were about 10 kids who had not received them. Our sponsors got to learn about this through the word of mouth and were very upset at my teammate because his action sort of compromised the positive relationship that they had built with the community. Later, the sponsors were kind enough to buy bracelets for the kids who had not received one. What I learned that day was giving someone a gift is not always the best way to make someone happy.

(Robert): From my experience tutoring and teaching in Uganda, I have had to act as a mediator between the children I work for and the staff I represent. It can be difficult satisfying all children when there are limited options available; I have found success in reframing the situation to make sure the children are acknowledged and empowered. For example, if a student doesn’t receive a snack that they approve of or supply is limited, telling them that they can pass out snacks the next day, ensuring they get the first choice on snacks the next day, or giving them extra attention during recess helps to remediate the situation to get them to focus on an incoming positive over a negative. Children can be prone to hold short term grudges but this can be remediated by making it known to them that they are acknowledged and you care for their well-being, especially when they may not have many individuals like yourself in their life. For staff, it is even more satisfying to know they hired someone who is capable of conflict resolution and is creative enough to make something out of nothing.

(Junior): Being proactive is sometimes not effective or efficient.

(Nathaly): I babysit kids often and from experience, they’re not likely to hold grudges for long. That is unless you’ve done something terrible. In the case of Jack, I doubt that the children would hold it against him especially if he gives them something better to focus on.

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. 

• A mixture of solutions 2 and 3: reframing the black hats and giving them a sense of ceremony & speaking with the staff to give them an out by taking the blame would be the best way of going about solving the problem. Perhaps Jack could set up some sort of a play that would incorporate the hats so that the 4 kids could feel special and valued. Another way to solve the problem would be by Jack wearing the black hat himself so that it would give the hats sort of a “cool” factor. This could easily reframe the way the hats are perceived and therefore the 4 kids would feel cool since they would feel like an “American.” With this solution, Jack might be able to preserve the relationships with the staff and the kids. 
• Another possible way to solve the problem would be to not do anything about the situation immediately but pay special attention to the four kids in the long run. 
• This approach is better than the first one since, in the first solution, he is essentially solving the problem with his own money which is not an effective way to solve the issue. The first problem with this is that it seems as though he is solving the problem of the organization by himself. This paints the picture that the organization and its staff aren’t capable of handling their problems. Moreover, an outsider who just came in could be viewed in a negative light if he tried to solve an issue with the organization. It might also invalidate the efforts of the donor organization. The aforementioned approach also helps the organization/staff save face while also allowing Jack to maintain a good relationship with the kids and the staff

• Long term implication: The long term implication of this solution might be that Jack would have a better relationship with the kids who received the hats than the ones who did not.

• Short term implication: The short term implication might be that the other kids might feel left out because they would not have the black hats. They would think they would not fit in or are not “cool” enough because they do not have the hats. 

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

1. Reframing the way that hats are perceived amongst them by coming up with innovative and engaging activity.
   1. Plan out maybe a cool story associated with the hats?
   2. Organize a little activity or game that makes the black hats important (like maybe they’re secret agents or something?)
2. Introduce this idea behind the hats or activity involving it to the kids involved the next day. Make sure to present it nicely so it doesn’t feel like you’re just accommodating them. 
3. Speak to the organization and make sure they understand you didn’t mean to criticize them. 
4. Speak to the staff and make sure they understand you didn’t mean to criticize them or take over their responsibility.