Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible
- Jack is American
- Kids are in charge of handing out gifts
- The staff have not acknowledged the problem, they think it’s a “trivial” matter
- The 4 kids who received hats are angry at Jack
- Jack wants the kids to like/trust him
- Jack works at a youth center working on a social venture
- The kids think the gifts were from Jack because he was assigned to give them out
- There weren’t enough gifts for all of the kids
- The staff members want Jack to solve the “problem”
- All the gifts were labeled and assigned to the kids
- Jack will be in Kenya for 5 months
Step 2: Define the Stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome
- The kids
- Jack
- The youth center staff
Step 3: Determine and distinguish between the personal and professional motivations of the stakeholders.
- The kids (that did not get gifts)
- Personal-
- They want gifts that were given ceremoniously
- Personal-
- The kids (that got gifts)
- Personal-
- They got great gifts and probably want to show it off
- Personal-
- Jack
- Professional-
- Jack wants to have a good relationship with the kids because he will be working with them for five months
- Jack wants a good relationship with the staff, doesn’t want things to escalate unnecessarily
- Personal-
- Wants to be seen as a good person
- Professional-
- The youth center staff
- Professional-
- They want to keep their reputation
- Don’t want Jack to disrupt the way things currently work
- Professional-
Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions
Approach 1: Utilitarian
- Potential solution: Jack should not take any additional action as what was previously done was enough. The other children still were given a black hat so no extra action is required.
- How does it solve the problem: This solution means that there really was not a problem. It is not worth the time and effort to address the mistake, rather, the kids will soon forget that day. Using time and resources on this side-project takes away from the end goal as a whole.
- Pros:
- No additional time or money cost, in agreement with the staff of the center
- The Staff does not have to “deal” with jack
- Cons:
- Kids could hold a grudge, and could emotionally weigh on Jack
- Jack would be upset
- Pros:
- How does it save face for those involved: It saves Jack’s face to the youth center staff as he is now in agreeance with them, its doesn’t save his face to the 4 kids that only got hats.
- Implications:
- Short Term: The children who were forgotten are still upset. The staff is content with the situation. No resources used up for the children.
- Long Term: Hopefully the children will forget. Kids could hurt the project, but money and time are saved
Approach 2: Deontology
- Potential solution: Go out on your own and purchase gifts and give them to the kids who got left out and hold a ceremony.
- How does it solve the problem: The kids who were left out now get gifts presented to them in a special way. They not don’t feel as left out and now have more trust in Jack.
- Pros:
- the kids who were left out are now happy and think of Jack in a positive way
- Cons:
- Money (to purchase more gifts), time (you have to hold an additional ceremony), effort (to find those four kids and plan when you will give them the gift)
- Pros:
- How does it save face for those involved: Jack makes it up to the left out kids and makes them feel equally as important as the other kids did. Jack emotionally feels less guilty and awkward.
- Implications:
- Short term: Kids trust Jack. Awkward with youth center staff because they didn’t see it as a problem
- Long term: The problem will happen again, there’s no system in place or no guarantee that this won’t happen again and it will be up to Jack to make the situation “right” to himself
Approach 3: Absolutism
- Potential solution: Organize another gift ceremony for the four kids who did not receive the main gift before.
- How does it solve the problem: The kids would feel as though they were given the same emotional and material satisfaction as the others.
- Pros:
- Everyone is on the same level again; equality
- No one is left out
- Cons:
- Is a large undertaking requiring more time and money from Jack
- Staff might get upset he is making a big deal out of it
- Pros:
- How does it save face for those involved:
- All the kids are now on the same level and no one feels left out in the long run. The staff might be initially upset he went to such lengths to fix a relatively small issue.
- Implications:
- Short term: Kids are satisfied. Staff might be a little upset.
- Long term: Will not fix the underlying problem and would set a precedent for Jack so he has to keep fixing the mistakes.
Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate
- The group reached out to Khanjan, our leader in these projects, and he informed us that he would go with option 1 in this scenario. Khanjan feels that setting up another ceremony would set a dangerous precedent.
Step 6: Select the best course of action
The best choice is option 1. This action is the most focused on the work that Jack is trying to accomplish, and keeps a strong relationship with the staff that he works with. While the children being upset could make some problems; Jack upsetting the staff is a much larger problem.
Step 7: List the sequence of actions you will take to implement your solution
The beautiful part of this solution is that there are no future action points.