Jack is an American student who lived at a youth center in Kenya while working on a social venture. In this role, he lived and interacted with the children at the center and worked closely with the staff. One Saturday evening, kids under the age of 14 years were to receive presents that were sent by an international donor organization. A staff member at the youth center had picked up all the gifts the previous weekend and they were finally going to be distributed this Saturday. When it came time to give the gifts out after dinner, the staff members called Jack up to the front – as he was a guest – to assist in the gift-giving ceremony. The staff members had allocated the gifts for the children and labelled them – Jack’s job was to hand out the gifts to the kids. The only problem was that four children did not receive gifts and the staff members did not appear to be concerned about the four forgotten children. As kids began leaving the hall, they thanked Jack for the gifts. The kids were convinced that Jack had gotten the gifts for them. Jack felt a little awkward but at the same time reflected that a good relationship with the kids would help him in several ways during his five-month stay at the center.

At the bottom of the boxes containing the gifts, there were a few black hats. The kids that did not get a present were brought over to the box and given a hat. However, they were upset about the fact that they were not given the hat as ceremoniously as the other kids. The staff gave them their hat and shooed them on their way as if they had some fault in this situation. As one of the little boys who did not receive a gift left the hall, he walked past Jack holding his black hat, and gave him a stare that clearly indicated that he blamed Jack for not receiving a gift. Jack met with the staff and discussed how the four kids were very upset and felt ‘left out’ after the incident. The staff did not acknowledge the problem and were a little piqued that they were being blamed for such a trivial matter. They were convinced that Jack was making a big deal out of the situation and were concerned that Jack would become a ‘children’s rights activist’ and create unnecessary problems for them. The only response they gave Jack was – “If you think there is a problem, then you go ahead and solve it”. If you were Jack, how would you proceed?

Using Grassroots Diplomacy Methodology:

Step 1: Determine the facts

• Jack is an American student who lived at a youth center in Kenya, he is a guest that was helping in giving out gifts during the ceremony
• Kids in the youth center are expecting gifts – once they see that every other child got a present, they felt deserving of one as well
• Four children were forgotten – as children they are not mature enough to realize that this might have been a mistake
• The hats are not as special as some of the other gifts the other children got – this is unfair to them and why they do not approve of just the black hats
• The staff shooed the kids away after giving them the hats, acting as if the kids were the ones at fault
• The kids blamed Jack for not getting gifts, even though it was the staff’s fault
• Jack discussed with the staff the kids felt upset and left out, but they didn’t acknowledge the problem at all and just got annoyed at Jack 
• Jack may not understand the culture – it may be commonplace in youth centers for children to not get gifts. Jack’s instinct is to accommodate the kids that are left out, but in Kenya they might not think much of this
• Jack wants to save face
• They all live at the youth center
• Only one student gave Jack a glare – the other three may not think it was Jack’s fault  
• Assumption: the black hat is not a good present
• Assumption: all four of the children are upset by not getting presents
• Ethical Issues: Jack took some credit for getting the gifts, even though they were from the donors, so the four kids that did not receive a present also blamed him for that. When Jack brought up the children’s disappointment so the staff, they did not seem to care at all. Now, Jack has to figure out how to solve the problem.

Steps 2 & 3: Define the stakeholders and assess their motivations

• Jack:
  • Personal: sees the issue at hand as a real concern compared to his coworkers, wants to have good relationships with the kids and workers and for everyone to be happy, wants to be well-liked
  • Professional: wants to continue his job at the youth center, does not want to upset the workers
• The children who received presents:
  • Personal: happy to receive their presents, see Jack in good standing, might tease the kids that just got black hats
  • Professional: N/A
• The children who did not receive presents:
  • Personal: very unhappy with their presents, associate their anger with Jack
  • Professional: N/A
• The youth center workers:
  • Personal: pride – trying to save face by not acknowledging the problem, many of them grew up in the center themselves so they have personal reasons for working there, want thinks to be smooth without disturbances or unnecessary turn of event
  • Professional: wanting their next paycheck, getting their job done every day

Step 4: Formulate alternative solutions

1. Jack can purchase four presents on his own for the four children who were left out

• • Pros:
    • The children will receive real presents
    • The children will be more positive with jack
  • Cons: 
    • The children will not receive the same public treatment as the other kids which was part of why they became upset
    • Jack has to pay out of his own pocket for the toys
    • The other kids might see this as special treatment
    • Have to be careful of precedents you set because the kids/staff may start expecting this from you regularly
    • The staff might feel uncomfortable if Jack does not tell them, almost going behind their backs
  • How does it save face of those involved?: 
    • Jack helps the youth center staff save face by fixing the problem they made, and also saves his own face since the kids won’t blame him anymore for not getting gifts, since he initially took credit for getting them
    • Jack also saves face for the kids who didn’t get presents as they will not be seen as different from the other kids anymore
  • Implications on relationships:
    1. Short Term: Kids will be happy they got gifts
    2. Long Term: Youth staff might appreciate Jack more for helping solve the problem, Jack saves his own face and the kids end up liking him more
  • Implications on the venture:
    • Short Term: Jack will restore his standing in the eyes of the kids and have an easier time as a worker and maintain his job in the venture
    • Long Term: This is a very miniscule problem as it is overlooked by the workers and only affects a small portion of the kids. It will most likely have no effect in the long term of Jack’s stay.

2. Jack can designate children to partner up and/or share their toys since they live there; promote it as a community donation of gifts everyone can use

• • Pros:    
    • Promotes sharing and socialization among the kids
    • They live there so it will be easy for them to share
    • The kids can play with multiple toys; maybe they weren’t particularly interested in the individual gift they were given at first and wanted to play with someone else’s
  • Cons: 
    • The initial four kids left out will probably still be upset they didn’t have a gift given directly to them
    • It could seem that the children are having their toys taken away from them after they were gifted
    • Could lead to more fighting over toys than was anticipated with the original issue
  • How does it save face of those involved?: 
    • All of the kids will be able to play with all of the various toys; no kid gets left out 
    • No one has to pay extra money for more gifts
    • The kids won’t think Jack forgot to buy gifts, and the donors won’t have to worry about not getting enough in the first place
  • Implications on relationships:
    • Short Term: The students will be happy with Jack since they can all play with every gift
    • Long Term: The workers may feel like Jack is too controlling in the moment unless he asks for help 
  • Implications on the venture
    • Short Term: Jack will have a good experience with the kids since he was able to find a solution that made them happy.
    • Long Term: The workers might be wary of Jack because he made a big decision without consulting them, but there is also the possibility they would forget about it. This is a very circumstantial implication, since we don’t really know how the workers will react.

3. Reach out to donor organization and see if they can accommodate these four students

• • Pros: 
    • Jack would not have to pay for the gifts 
    • The kids will hopefully receive gifts 
    • The integrity of the youth center can be upheld bc Jack saves face
  • Cons: 
    • The kids will not receive the recognition
    • It might take times before the kids can receive the gifts
    • The organization might feel attacked and will not want this information getting out to the public
  • How does it save face of those involved?: 
    • All the kids will get toys
    • The kids that do not have toys will feel happier
  • Implications on relationships:
    • Short Term: Puts stress on Jack’s relationships with his coworkers as they might feel he is taking things to extremes and they might discourage his efforts. Also, this creates a lot of unanticipated work for the donor organization who would think their job is done already.
    • Long Term: If all goes smoothly the workers and organization will most likely forget about Jack as it is a small problem that was hopefully handled well.
  • Implications on the venture
    • Short Term: Jack’s co-workers might be upset with his extreme efforts and be less kind to him as a result. The organization might give Jack a hard time, adding to the work and stress on his stay.
    • Long Term: Jack’s coworkers will forget the incident with time and go back to their original impressions. The organization will be more wary about their donation if they choose to work with Jack and his youth center again.

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

• Ethics
  • Injustice – it is unfair to the kids left out
• Previous cases
  • In the times of coronavirus, health care professionals faced the ethical dilemma of who to save due to the limited supply of ventilators. Doctors and nurses needed to accurately assess and prioritize those with the best chance of survival and use their resources accordingly. While this case is more of a life or death situation, it emphasizes that predicaments such as these can occur on any scale. 
• Inner reflection:
  • I personally feel really bad for the kids that got left out, because I know I hate feeling left out of things myself, so as a young child that’s even worse.

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. Mention also its possible negative implications.

• Personally, I think alternative 2 is the best option: have the kids all share their toys.
• This will promote sharing within the children, which is something that is good to know how to do. Maybe they will even create new friendships because they’re playing with other kids. By sharing, the kids also all have a bigger selection of toys to choose from.
• The downsides to this are that the initial four kids that were left out will still be left out of the gift-giving ceremony. Arguing could also happen between the kids if more than one kid wants to play with the same toy. This is true especially among the younger children.
• The reason I chose this alternative in comparison to alternative 1 is because I don’t think Jack should have to pay for the toys, considering he’s already an employee. Being as he’s a student, I have no idea of his financial situation so I don’t think it’s fair to assume he can buy the toys, especially since I don’t know how much the other toys cost.
• The reason I chose this alternative in comparison to alternative 3 is because there’s no guarantee the donor organization will accommodate the four students that were left out, and it would take time for them to respond and get the gifts to the four students. The four kids might feel uneasy and impatient without their toys. Alternative 1 gives an instant solution and requires no patience, which is something kids don’t have much of anyways.

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

1. Talk to staff about my idea to have the kids share the toys, just so I don’t blindside them when I announce it to the kids. Make sure everyone understands why I think this is a good idea. 

2. Get all the kids together for an announcement.

3. Tell them that we have decided to let them all share the toys so they can have more options. Encourage sharing and playing amongst each other.

4. Watch their reactions to see how they feel about this, and if there are any negative reactions and concerns, let them ask questions and answer them in a way that will make them excited to share!