Jack’s Hats

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

  • Kids (3-16) live at the center
  • Jack lives at the center (for 5 months)
  • Staff lives at the center
  • One kid without toys directly blamed Jack. Kids with toys love Jack.
  • Staff members are not concerned about the children’s feelings towards materialistic objects
  • The way the ceremony was staged convinced the kids that Jack gave them the toys
  • Staff were convinced Jack was making a big deal out of the situation and might become a “children’s right activist” and create unnecessary problems 
  • Potentially bigger underlying reason for why the staff members didn’t give gifts out to the 4 kids
  • Staff felt blamed by Jack’s concern
  • Jack wants to make a good impression on the kids at the center to establish good relationships
  • Black hat has a negative stigma to it

 

Step 2 and 3: Define the problem and the stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome and Determine and distinguish between the personal and professional motivations of the stakeholders. 

 

Dilemma: Jack wants to do the right thing without putting blame on anyone or apologizing too much. Also, this action will create expectations for future actions. Jack doesn’t want to jeopardize current relationships.

 

Stakeholders:

  • Children without toys: 
    • Personal interest: 
      • want toys
      •  want the ceremony too (a matter of respect)
    • Professional: 
      • can use this in the future to take advantage of Jack
  • Children with toys:
    • Personal
      • New toys! They like jack because he gave them the toys
      • Feeling special and valued
      • Might tease kids who did not get gifts
  • Staff members: 
    • Professionally: 
      • They don’t want Jack to question how good they are at their job (rude)
      • Jack’s action will change the work dynamic between them and the kids
      • Cannot control how many gifts are sent 
      • Smooth operations
    • Personal: 
      • Feel defensive of Jack’s concerns (he just got here, how should he know better)
      • Didn’t want to set the precedent of gifts being a reward
  • Jack:
    • Personal: 
      • Wants to be liked and welcomed, make everyone happy
      • Feels personally blamed by the kids and at the same time the kids gave him all the credit for the gifts
    • Professional:
      • Good relationship with all the kids will be better in the long run
      • Wants to have a good rep because he is living there for five months
  • Donor Org (secondary): 
    • Professional: 
      • Good press, maybe a tax write off
    • Personal: 
      • Feeling of gratitude and giving back to another community

 

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] • Potential Solution • How does it solve the problem? o Pros o Cons • How does it save face of those involved? • Implications on relationships o Short-term o Long-term • Implications on the venture o Short-term o Long-term 

 

  • If economically feasible, buy the children gifts and make a special occasion of it

 

      1. How does it solve the problem?
        1. It allows the kids that were forgotten to feel included and that they are just as special as all the other kids
      2. Pros: 
        1. The children will be happy.
        2. Kids will gain a sense of inclusion and importance 
        3. All of the children will have received gifts of equal value.
      3. Cons: 
        1. The staff might not agree with the decision. This might create some division between Jack and the staff.
        2. Creates a financial burden that Jack hadn’t planned for.
        3. May create a situation where children start approaching Jack asking him to buy them other things.
      4. How does it save face of those involved?
        1. Jack: Feels less bad after a look of shame from a kid with a hat.
        2. Staff members: makes them look like they didn’t forget anyone
        3. Children without toys: it makes them not look left out and appear included versus being excluded with just a black hat
      5. Implications on relationships
        1. Short-term
          1. Makes the kids feel included and the 4 kids trust Jack again
        2. Long-term
          1. The kids might take advantage of Jack because he was nice to them and got them special gifts
          2. It might hurt his relationship with other children because they think he is favoring the 4 kids that didn’t get gifts
          3. The staff might start to dislike Jack because he could be causing more problems and going against what they said. They could blame him for any issues related to this in the future. Also, they could see it as using money to win the children over.
      6. Implications on the venture (venture is the working relationship between youth center and americans)
        1. Short-term
          1. Will improve immediate relationships with kids 
          2. sour relationship with coworkers
          3. Will fix this dilemma and keep the relationship between center and Jack (the american)
        2. Long-term
          1. Youth center members might see American workers as a charity 
          2. Might hurt other American’s opportunities to work at that center

 

  • Add more value to the hats (make the hat a special role to those select children)

 

      1. How does it solve the problem?
        1. It gives the kids a sense of importance and value, which they didn’t get with not getting as special of a gift
        2. Makes them feel more included in the group, like they’re as important as all the other kids
      2. Pros: 
        1. The kids would feel honored despite not partaking in the gift ceremony
        2. The kids would not blame Jack for being left out
        3. The workers won’t feel that Jack is upstaging their own job performance
      3. Cons: 
        1. Unsure of how this would affect the social dynamic of kids (might give them a power trip over the kids with toys)
        2. Unsure if the kids will be accepting of this “added value” and could still be upset
        3. Workers might see this as Jack interfering with the current way of things and think he is meddling too much
      4. How does it save face of those involved?
        1. Jack: It gives Jack a way to still be on good terms with the kids and without stepping on the staff members toes
        2. Staff members: It makes them look like they didn’t forget any of the kids and that they still value everyone in the center equally
        3. Kids without toys: It makes them feel special even though they didn’t get the same gifts as everyone else and can feel included with the other kids that got gits, not embarrassed
        4. Kids with toys: They might feel threatened by the new role children were given
      5. Implications on relationships
        1. Short-term
          1. Staff can trust that Jack has the best intent for the children
          2. Children might think Jack plays favorites (can create distrust with Jack)
        2. Long-term
          1. Jack and the staff would continue to be strong and stable 
          2. Jack can develop a strong relationship with all the children
      6. Implications on the venture
        1. Short-term
          1. Venture partnership will grow tighter as staff realizes the american worker is quick to improvise and satisfy the needs of the children without upstaging current workers 
        2. Long-term
          1. Venture continues stable partnership and keep open ties with American involvement at the youth center 

 

  • Do nothing to ensure the relationship between Jack and the staff remains stable and healthy 

 

    1. How does it solve the problem?
      1. The children all got a gift technically…
      2. It allows Jack to stay on good terms with the staff members and shifts his level of importance for relationships to the staff over the kids
    2. Pros: 
      1. The relationship will continue to be strong and stable (assuming it was already stable)
      2. Children are pretty resilient and will likely bounce back from not receiving the gift. Jack should be able to build his relationship with the 4 kids back up pretty quickly.
      3. Staff members will see that Jack is respecting their advice and not a “children’s rights activist” 
    3. Cons: 
      1. Relationship between Jack and children will suffer. Kids could be mean.
      2. The kids could have an influence on the staff members and make them have a negative outlook on Jack because he can’t get along with the kids
      3. Staff members might see Jack as complaining and not an action taker
    4. How does it save face of those involved? 
      1. Staff: Don’t feel like Jack is taking over and going over their heads to fix a problem. 
      2. Jack: Absorbs the blame but preserves relationship with staff
      3. Kids with no toys: They are still bitter (hopefully resilient)
      4. Kids with toys: Might feel more important than kids with no toys

 

    1. Implications on relationships
      1. Short-term
        1. Children will have a tainted view on Jack 
        2. Staff will see Jack as an obedient worker 
      2. Long-term
        1. Neutrality between children will remain the same (staff or jack isn’t playing favorites)
    2. Implications on the venture
      1. Short-term
        1. Relations between children and american worker might struggle 
      2. Long-term
        1. Establish could relationships between the staff members and American workers so there will continue to be opportunities for new volunteers to come visit

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

In this case, I relied on my own personal experience with children. I have been a nanny, a camp counselor, and a tutor. I have worked with kids of all ages from all backgrounds. One thing I have learned from these experiences is kids move on really fast from upsetting situations as long as they are not deeply traumatizing situations. In the case of Jack, I think not getting toys is not the end of the world for the kids and they will quickly bounce back.

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. 

I think the best option is to do nothing. Jack is new to this group and he still has a long time there – that means he can work at improving the relationship with the four kids who feel left out and he should not make any waves with the workers. It is important to prioritize Jack’s relationship with the workers since they are his peers and this working relationship will help him learn more as well as improve diplomatic relations between the org and Jack’s transfer program. In comparison – giving gifts to the left out kids can rock the boat with he workers (they look like they don’t care as much as jack) and establish expectations for how Jack should act with the kids (creating a dependent relationship). The other option of giving the hats a special meaning could not be accepted by the kids and in fact, could ripple the social fabric. In order to maintain harmony and work at building a better relationship with the kids, it is best to do nothing now and keep in mind the potential relationship with the kids. In the short term, this option respects the opinions of the workers and prioritizes that working relationship over the feelings of the four kids. In the long term, it shows that Jack listens to what is done around there and can improve the relationship between Americans and the organization.

Step 7: List the sequence of actions you will take to implement your solution. Derived from an abridged version (6-step) of the 9-Step Process from “Applied Ethics Case of the Month Club”; adapted from methodology developed by Andy Lau @ Penn State.

  1. The day after, Jack will go to the workers and tell them that he agrees with what they said and will do nothing (this smoothes over the child activist thing)
  2. Jack will then play with the four kids during playtime and give them more attention so they can connect
  3. Jack will encourage kids to share their toys with each other
  4. Jack will work as usual and follow the routine
  5. Jack will talk with workers about monitoring the behavior of the kids to see if anything has changed (the toyless kids are isolating themselves or kids with toys are being bullied) and act accordingly

 

 

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