Part 1: 

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible. Clearly state the ethical issue. 

• There is a complex crime issue in the youth population (poor education, systemic racism, school-to-prison pipeline, cycle of poverty).
• Ugochi launched a social venture to give vulnerable youth a voice and build their confidence to become employable and responsible adults.
• The social venture provided leadership workshops, career pathway exploration, and strengthening communication and teamwork skills.
• Ugochi initially received funding from supporters/donors and help from local businesses/organizations.
• During the 5 years that Spike’s donation went from 2 million to 6 million, the entities providing Ugochi with in-kind support started dropping out
  • Grossly raising overall cost of event, all costs covered by Spikey 
• Spikey’s contractors employ children under the age of 12 in Cambodia.
• Contractor 1 – limits the work hours (for 20 hrs) and provides education for the children
• Contractor 2 and 3 – employ kids for 60 hours a week without educational benefits 
• All contractors are legal under Cambodian law.
• If Ugochi keeps Spikey as supporters of her social venture, they might increase the level of sponsorship with some strings attached.

Ethical Issue: Should she continue to be sponsored by Spikey knowing that they contract children in Cambodia to work in their factories without educational benefits which might perpetuate the lack of voice and space of youths?

Step 2: Define the Stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome 

• Ugochi
• Spikey
• Other donors/supporters
• Kids and families benefiting from the program 
• Local businesses/organizations 

Step 3: Assess the motivations of the Stakeholders 

• Ugochi wants to uplift the youth in cities by teaching them soft skills and getting them jobs. However, she wants to reach more youth with her program, which would require a lot more funding.
• Spikey is trying to market themselves as a socially-progressive brand. The company also wants to increase their profits, particularly in participating cities of Ugochi’s venture.
• Other donors and supporters wanted to support the program and support the youth by providing things such as money, health services, photography, etc. 
• Kids and their families are hoping for a better future and to be employed. However, they may turn to crime in order to provide for themselves and their families.
• Local businesses and organizations are hoping to gain good employees that can help their companies. They also want to support the local community and market themselves as a socially-progressive brand.

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, using basic ethical core values as guide Approaches [1/2/3: repeat for every action] 

1. Potential solution: Terminate her partnership with Spikey and expose the Spikey situation to the public 

• Ethical Principle or code: Bring more awareness of the current situation in Cambodia with Spikey; however, exposing the situation seems like a breach of honesty and integrity in the eyes of Spikey.
• Pros: Ugochi’s venture would seem very social-progressive and “good” to the general public. Spreads awareness of the current situation in Cambodia with Spikey.
• Cons: Can potentially get sued by Spikey. Loss of funding from Spikey, which would prevent thousands of young people in other cities from participating.

2. Potential solution: Continue her partnership with Spikey but continue to seek more information about the situation in Cambodia. 

• Ethical Principle or code: This leaves Ugochi in an uncomfortable situation. She is unsure whether Spikey is lying about being loyal to Cambodian law. This also goes against the original purpose of her social venture (of helping the youth).
• Pros: Funding continues and Ugochi can continue to help vulnerable kids and fight against the school-to-prison pipeline. 
• Cons: Goes against Ugochi’s morals and also allows Spikey to continue supporting child labor and long hours. 

3. Potential solution:  She could threaten to go to one of Spikey’s competitors. Ask Spikey to send more of their business to a different contractor(s).

• Ethical Principle or code: Ugochi is against child labor and supports youth development. 
• Pros: She uses her leverage to promote change in these big shoe companies. Spikey would not work with contractors that use child labor.
• Cons: The different contractor(s) might not have ethically sourced labor. Risks not having a large sponsor at all. The kids working with contractors 1, 2, and 3 might lose their jobs.

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

• Reach out to previous or potential donors to try and step away from Spikey 
• Research more about the situation in Cambodia 
• Reach out to similar social ventures to see their opinion or ideas

Step 6: Select the best course of action – that which satisfies the highest core ethical values. Explain reasoning and justify. Discuss your stance vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in the class. 

• Option 2: Continue her partnership with Spikey but continue to seek more information about the situation in Cambodia. This way, she can continue to receive funding, reaching many more young people in different cities. In addition, she can also look for ways to include the local community. 
• This is better than Option 1 since it allows Ugochi to continue to receive funding. With this funding Ugochi can continue to help thousands of families and kids. If she were to terminate her funding from Spikey she would have to restart all she has built, forcing the youth to go back to their previous situation.
• This is better than Option 3 because she does not have to take the risk of losing her largest sponsor. The jobs created in Cambodia are most likely benefiting the children more than harming their well being (a job is a job, and the children need them to support their families). 

Step 7: (If applicable) What are the implications of your solution on the venture. Explain the impact of your proposed solution on the venture’s technology, economic, social and environmental aspects.

• Ugochi is supporting something that, partially, goes against the ethics of her own social venture. 
• “Some strings attached” may lead to key parts of her program being altered and may make the program much worse.
• This may all backfire if people are to find out that Ugochi knows about the labor in Cambodia, which would render her relationship with Spikey unstable and decrease further support .

Part 2

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

• There is a complex crime issue in the youth population (poor education, systemic racism, school-to-prison pipeline, cycle of poverty).
• Ugochi launched a social venture to give vulnerable youth a voice and build their confidence to become employable and responsible adults 
• The social venture provided leadership workshops, career pathway exploration, and strengthening communication and teamwork skills.
• Ugochi initially received funding from supporters/donors and help from local businesses/organizations.
• During the 5 years that Spike’s donation went from 2 million to 6 million, the entities providing Ugochi with in-kind support started dropping out
  • Grossly raising overall cost of event, all costs covered by Spikey 
• Last year, some of the young people were caught smoking marijuana.
• Mr. Mikey wants to change the program from helping vulnerable youth to only consisting of men over 18
• Mr. Mikey does not want women in the program, and suggests they could be cheerleaders 
• 80% of Ugochi’s funding comes from Spikey, while 20% are from previous donors and supporters.

Ethical issue: Should Ugochi continue to be sponsored by Spikey even though Spikey no longer wants to focus on vulnerable youth but instead on men over 18? Spikey also does not want to include women unless they are cheerleaders. This essentially changes Ugochi’s original idea of the program completely.

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

• Ugochi
• Spikey
• Mr. Mikey 
• Other donors/supporters
• Kids and families benefiting from the program
• Local businesses and organizations 

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

• Ugochi 
  • Personal: She wants to uplift the youth in cities by teaching them soft skills and getting them jobs.
  • Professional: She wants to receive a lot more funding, which would enable her to reach more youth with her program
• Spikey
  • Personal: The company is trying to market themselves as a socially-progressive brand. 
  • Professional: The company wants to increase their profits, particularly in participating cities of Ugochi’s venture. In order to increase profits, the company wants to emphasize the soccer tournament rather than helping the youth community.
• Mr. Mikey 
  • Personal: He wants to look valuable to the company, potentially getting a raise and a promotion from the company.
  • Professional: He wants to profit more and convert this program from a social venture to more of an athletic league. He also wants to make it a more exclusive group, with only men over 18 being allowed to participate. 
• Other donors and supporters 
  • Personal: They wanted to support the program and support the youth by providing things such as money, health services, photography, etc. 
  • Professional: They want to appear as “good” to society.
• Kids and their families 
  • Personal: They are hoping for a better future and learn soft skills essential for working with others.
  • Professional: They want to be employed and provide for themselves and their families.
• Local businesses and organizations
  • Personal: They want to support the local community and market themselves as a socially-progressive brand.
  • Professional: They are hoping to gain good employees that can help their companies. 

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, to have a win-win situation for your relationship and your venture. Approaches [1/2/3: repeat for every action] 

1. Potential Solution: Follow Spikey’s proposition to the T and allow the foundations of the organization to change 

• How does it solve the problem? This continues funding which allows the outreach of the program to be much more widespread. 
  • Pros: Spikey continues funding.
  • Cons: The whole social venture is essentially dead, since the focus is not on the vulnerable youth.
  • How does it save face of those involved? This saves face for Spikey since they are not being exposed and still are benefiting from Ugochi’s program.
  •  Implications on relationships 
    • Short-term: The relationship with Spikey is preserved. Many of the relationships between Ugochi and the families/kids would be terminated, since the program now only focuses on men over 18. 
    • Long-term: The relationship between Ugochi and Spikey would most likely only go downhill, since Spikey is now taking Ugochi’s program and making it their own. They also seem to not listen to Ugochi, which will lead to a strained relationship.
  • Implications on the venture 
    • Short-term: Many changes will lead to a period of many disagreements and anger from different parties.  
    • Long-term: Spikey will most likely have a successful athletic league that does not resemble the original idea of the social venture. 

2. Potential Solution: Terminate the partnership with Spikey and only have 20% of her previous funding. 

• How does it solve the problem? This preserves the ethics and goals of Ugochi’s original social venture. 
  • Pros: Ugochi continues to fight for what she believes in, preserving the inclusive community she first advocated for.
  • Cons: Ugochi loses 80% of her funding, which leads to many kids and families being cut from the program. This also leads to Ugochi needing to find many new sponsors. 
  • How does it save face of those involved? It would save Spikey’s face because Ugochi would not expose Spikey’s ideas for the venture to the general public. It would also save Ugochi’s face because decision demonstrates that Ugochi is the leader of the venter (not the organization) and it sticks with the original purpose of the social venture
  • Implications on relationships 
    • Short-term: The relationship between Ugochi and Spikey is terminated.
    • Long-term: Increase likelihood of acquiring partners who are more aligned with the mission since now they know that Ugochi is in charge of their venture.
  • Implications on the venture 
    • Short-term: The venture will go through many changes with a huge cut in how many families and kids can be supported.
    • Long-term: If Ugochi is able to gather funding and donors, then the social venture will be able to continue to support vulnerable kids. If Ugochi is not able to gather funding, the social venture will most likely have to shut down. 

3. Potential Solution: Threaten to expose Spikey’s ideas for her social venture to the general public and find another revenue stream.

• How does it solve the problem? This exposes the misogynistic views of Mr. Mikey and the lack of respect Mr. Mikey and Spikey had for Ugochi and her social venture.
  • Pros – Conserve the organization’s identity and allow Ugochi’s organization to become more independent 
  • Cons – Loses a great amount of low hanging funding that would allow her to expand the operations of the organization 
  • How does it save face of those involved? Ugochi save face for herself by showing that she is the leader in her organization.
  •  Implications on relationships 
    • Short-term
      • Risks losing funding for the upcoming tournament and events.
      • Many kids would likely be removed from the venture for now.
    • Long-term – 
      • Completely destroys the relationship with Spikey and potential corporations in the future. 
      • Supports her relationship with the other supporters because she proves she really cares about her original values.
      • Could risk future jobs for people in the program and lose even more local support.
  • Implications on the venture 
    • Short-term – Limits the amount of free equipments that can be given to youths in her organizations 
    • Long-term – Limits the expansion of the organization 

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

• Talk to their board of advisors and trustees 
• Wait for 2 weeks before making the decisions to do an inner reflection 
• Reach out to non-profits being funded by Spikey for advice on long-term impacts of the decision based on how well they understand their relationship with Spikey 

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.

• Option 3 – Threaten to expose Spikey’s ideas for her social venture to the general public and find another revenue stream. She uses her leverage/political capital to maintain the organization’s purpose and integrity. She continues to help all youth in the cities. While there are many risks involved, Ugochi will hopefully find another source of funding.
• This is better than option 1 because it allows Ugochi to take a stand against Spikey. This shows that it is not Spikey’s venture, but Ugochi’s.
• This is better than option 2 because in this situation Ugochi could possibly receive other funding and attention due to the exposure of such a large company like Spikey. Without the exposure, it might be difficult to find another source of funding.

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

• Gather enough information and actual facts about the unethical activities of Spikey 
• Make a case 
• Get a lot of lawyers to help you out because it will be tough 
• Release the information publicly 
• Hope that the public will be on Ugochi’s side
• Hope that another organization(s) will act as a revenue stream for the venture

Larger lessons 

1. Stay true to your own values and don’t lose sight of your initial goals (money is not always the most important factor).
2. Always have diverse sources of funding in order to prevent power struggles.
3. Big companies often only care about profits.