Grassroots Diplomacy Case 2: Sept 10

 

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

• Jack is american 
• Kids is 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 will be in Kenya for 5 months
• 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 

 

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
    • They want the attention from the ceremony 
• The kids (who got gifts)
  • Personal-
    • They got great gifts and probably want to show it off
    • They want to feel special
• Jack
  • Professional-
    • Jack wants to have a good relationship with the kids because he will be working at the youth center 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
    • Doesn’t want to feel guilty, wants to be able to sleep at night knowing kids don’t hate him

 

• The youth center staff
  • Professional-
    • They want to keep their reputation 
    • Want Jack to not create unnecessary problems

 

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions

 

Approach 1: Utilitarian 

• Potential solution: By doing the ceremony for most of the kids you have already satisfied the majority of them while still providing a substitute for the kids who were not able to receive the main gifts. Jack should not take any additional action as what was previously done was enough.
• How does it solve the problem: Essentially using this solution means that there really wasn’t a problem. Sometimes things are unfortunate, but it’s not worth the time and effort to address the mistake, rather just go about your daily tasks, 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 
• 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, saved for the project
  • 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 little 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)
    • Makes the staff look bad 
• 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 

• Everyone either must get a gift or everyone does not get a gift 
• Potential solution: Because it would be worse for Jack to go and take the gifts back from all the other children his only option to make all experiences equal again would be to take it upon himself to organize another gift ceremony for the four kids who did not receive the main gift before. 
• How does it solve the problem: In doing this and taking the black hats back, 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 ands money from Jack 
    • Staff might get upset he is making a big deal out of it 
    • Other kids could get upset that they are not getting gifts this time around 
• 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 kids who were given this other ceremony would likely trust Jack a lot more because he went out of their way for them. However, 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  to keep fixing the mistakes. Staff would likely distrust Jack going forward. Kids would probably see him better.

 

Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate 

• We all agreed and felt that approach 1 was the most appropriate. We have all done fieldwork in Sierra Leone and know that there’s no system in place or no guarantee that this won’t happen again.  

 

Step 6: Select the best course of action

• Approach 1:
  1. Jack does nothing 
  2. Kids will forget
  3. Staff doesn’t see it as a problem, don’t want to make relationship more awkward

 

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

• Nothing, let it go, move on