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. 1. 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. 1. 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. 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. 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 

• From what was talked about in class it was interesting to hear Khanjan thought that giving the children the black hat and trying to make it seem more meaningful was the best solution.  His explanation made sense and really brought to light the significance of trying to save both Jack’s relationship with the children and the staff workers.  I also really liked what one of my peers said in class about making the black hats a special gift/ meaningful symbol among Jack and the children.  It was more specific than just saying that Jack should try and make the hats more meaningful.  It made the hat representative of more than just a gift for the children to feel included with all the other children in the center.

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 that the best course of action is to add more value to the hats for the kids who didn’t get toys so the hat will play a special role to them.
  • For Jack:
    • This solves his problem of keeping a good relationship with all the children at the center because it will stop the kids who didn’t get toys from blaming him that they didn’t receive toys at the ceremony.  Jack wants to be on good terms with both the children and the staff and this solution also allows Jack to not overstep the staff’s decision to not do anything about the children who didn’t get toys.
    • This saves face for Jack because again he is mending his relationship with the kids who didn’t get toys while also keeping a good relationship with the staff members.
    • The short term implications of this for Jack are that he has a pleasant time continuing to work at the center with the children and with the staff members.  This will also strengthen the relationship between the center and the venture organization since Jack did such a good job to make the kids happy without disrupting the way the center run things by buy new gifts for example.
    • The long term implications are that Jack will have the staff members to fall back on for good recommendations and potentially finding another volunteer job nearby.  Without keeping the staff relationship Jack wouldn’t have as much career opportunity to move forward.  For the venture it will bring more opportunity for other volunteers from America to come work at the clinic since Jack built such strong relationships.
  • For the Staff:
    • This solves the problem because now the kids are no longer upset, however the staff didn’t really pay much attention to that so to them it doesn’t make much of a difference if the children were upset or not.
    • This saves face for the staff because it allows the kids to feel the same amount of value for being at the center and the staff members won’t have to deal with future backlash or misbehavior from the kids still being upset about not getting toys if they didn’t get anything.
    • On the short term the staff will be satisfied that the kids are no longer complaining about not getting a toy and that Jack hasn’t done anything to make him untrustworthy to follow protocols.
    • The long term implications for the staff are that they have a positive impression on Jack and the venture so they will want to continue getting volunteers.
  • For the kids with and without toys:
    • This solves the problem for the kids without toys because they will no longer feel left out without them receiving new gifts that would’ve cost Jack money and without them developing a sense of favoritism from Jack if he would’ve went to buy them new toys.  This solution also helps keep the kids that did receive toys to not feel like Jack is favoriting the kids who did get toys.
    • It saves face for the kids because now all the kids feel like they received something special and valuable.
    • The short term implications for the kids are the best because they kids will all have a good relationship with Jack and enjoy the rest of their time with him and can trust him.  Unlike if Jack did nothing, then they wouldn’t have a positive outlook on Jack.
    • The long term implications for the kids are the best because they will think that volunteers are fun and will be more welcoming to the next volunteers that come around.
• Overall this solution makes the most sense because it gets all the benefits of different solutions.  If Jack decided to do nothing, then he would ruin his relationship with the children.  Making the black hat seem more special will protect his relationship with the children and make his time at the center more enjoyable.  If Jack decided to go out and buy gifts for the kids without toys, yes he would still have a good relationship with the kids, but there are a lot more down sides to this solution.  Not only would Jack be risking his relationship with the center staff, he would be using his money to pay for new toys and run the risk of the kids taking advantage of him in the future since he showed that he was willing to do what it takes to get on their good side.  It can also leave out all the other children and make them think Jack is favoriting the kids that didn’t get toys and then the kids who did get toys won’t like Jack as much.  The black hat solution lets Jack stabalize all his relationships in the clinic and saves him money.

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

1. Later that night pull the children individually out of bed without the other kids waking up
2. Ask them to bring their black hats
3. Bring all the children back to the room that the gift ceremony took place
4. Have the 4 kids sit in a line
5. Ask for the black hats back
6. Tell an adventurous tale that involves the black hats and how they helped the characters in the story ultimately become successful and achieve their goals
7. Tell the children that with the black hat they will be able to accomplish anything they put their mind to
8. Individually call each child up to receive their hat back and say a few words about the characteristics of that kid that Jack finds the most admirable
9. At the end Jack tells the kids that the hats are special in that they are each individually meant for them, that only they can harness the power of the magic hats and that the secret needs to be just between the 5 of them
10. Bring all the kids back up to bed

Ethical or not?

If we are more transparent and give them more of an education (e.g. pathogens in water, boil water) on what we are doing, then yes.

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation

• I am an academic researcher expecting several publications out of the research study in Lesotho
• There are clear signs that Lesotho water has disease causing pathogens 
• Their methods for storing water are different and uncommon compared to previous knowledge of the research team 
• Driving the community members up the lake in exchange for information is considered good enough payment – do not expect actual pay
• We need to rely heavily on indigenous knowledge to move towards a clear problem statement or solution 
• The research team and I are experts in pathogen/ disease research (health medicine and society)
• Research funded by an outside source, university/lab/government that expects a clear outcome
• We are hoping that the chemical additives will make the water safer to drink, but there will be costs involved that we are unsure they can afford 
• assume all IRB’s have been obtained 
• Assume we would get assistance from the local community
• There may be implications of not being able to complete the study (funding, brand, relationships may be affected) – to avoid this, ahead of time, do research on stakeholders
• Ethical Issue: Whether or not it is ethical to use the local to advance our research without proper compensation and if our work will lead to more dramatic issues in the future that the locals will be unaware of.

Step 2 and 3: Stakeholders and Motivations

• Local water company
  • Get out product/earn revenue
  • Help those patients involved
• University/lab/government (Funding agency)
  • Treat spread of disease
  • Reputation of gaining academic knowledge on pathogen
  • Funding agency will have their name attached to the possible solution
  • More advertising – want to be a world leader in the field – want to build up their brand
  • More partners

• Research team
  • Help patients involved
  • Further their career and potentially making money 
  • Earn more money to continue doing research and get continuous funding
• Local people
  • Create healthier living environment 
  • Have safer water to drink
  • Lessen the risk of contracting a disease-causing pathogen
  • Excitement to learn and socialize – but their vulnerability may result in wanting you to hear what you want to hear – they do not want to come off as ignorant – they may reinforce your ideas because they think you’re smart and want to agree. On the other hand, some may be weary to trust an outsider so make sure you talk to the right people 
  • Negotiating entry
  • Cleaner water may lead to more tourism/more business connections 
• Tertiary Stakeholder Hospital/ health care workers (third party to the solution in its direct implications)
  • Treat people with the illness
  • Make sure hospital isn’t always at capacity – prevent future cases
  • can devote their resources to something else 
• Academic Journal
  • Getting new and credible information that will better their reputation and add to their plethora of knowledge
• Yourself (Researcher)
  • Help local communities involved
  • (Hopefully) Actual interest/passion for social impact 
  • Understand the lifecycle and characteristics of the pathogen and the chemical
  • Boost credentials
  • Maintain your job and further career

Alternative Solutions

• Send prepaid sampling supplies and provide incentives to the people to gather water samples/take surveys seeing where people get water from
  • Pros:
    • Save travelling expenses 
  • Cons:
    • Samples could be taken incorrectly
  • Principle:  It’s better to pay the locals to do the work for the research team and help send the samples to us then debating what locals should be paid or compensated that would’ve helped us if we were collecting samples 
• To find water sources on our own without any local assistance 
  • Pros:
    • Removes ethical dilemma regarding the community
    • Allows for more room to not worry about how the research can affect the community
  • Cons:
    • could be gathering water where they do not drink from and it could take much longer than if you asked the community
    • the water samples might not be sufficient and the pathogen could not be in the ones that are found
  • Principle: This will allow us to not worry about the locals in the community and focus on the task at hand that we were given.  There would be no need for compensation and the implications of our research in the future can be unrelated to the locals since they didn’t contribute to the research.
• Have community health workers travel with you during your field work so that there is a trusted person with you to help prevent push back
  • Pros:
    • would lessen the chance of push back 
    • easily define a person to give compensation too
    • easily conduct research in the short time period allotted
  • cons:
    • would have to spend more money on bringing that health care worker along 
    • would have to be able to identify that health worker and get in contact with them
    • also have to make sure they have the time and patience to help with the research being conducted
    • they could ask for more compensation than the research team has to offer them, still undefined about how much to compensate the person
  • Principle: There is a clearly defined person that can be compensated for helping the research team find the water sources

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

• During our class discussion there were many good points that were brought up according to how to compensate people and what truly matters in terms of the ethical dilemma in the study.  Khanjan helped clarify so ethical principles to consider and what was truly important in the case study.  As a researcher it is important to focus on the ethical dilemmas that are correlated to the act of doing the research, not necessarily what others might use the research for in the future.

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.

• I think that selecting the community health worker to help lead the team to the different water sources in the area is the most ethical option.
  • For me and my research team it helps reduce the confusion about who to compensate for helping with our research and will give us a trusted person in the community to help us.
  • For the university/organization that is funding the research, they will benefit from knowing that we have a reliable person helping direct what water to test and makes the results of the research that much better.  However, the university/organization that is funding the project might have to pay extra money if the community health worker needs to be compensated for more than what was anticipated to be spending
  • For the community, they will benefit from having their water sources properly tested and getting information on what is going on in the water.  However, since the community health worker is the one being compensated there won’t be any other benefits to the overall community.
  • Hospitals will benefit because they will have less people hopefully getting sick once it is determined if the pathogen is in the water that the locals drink.  Hospitals also benefit from having the community health worker on the forefront of the research so they can report back to let the hospitals know what kinds of tests are being done.
• Other solutions aren’t as beneficial because they won’t get the overall best results for the study.  If there is no assistance from the locals then the samples could be not as great as they should be and reduce the quality of research.  This looks bad on the university funding the project , the academic journal and the research teams credibility.  If the locals are put in charge of collecting samples and shipping them to the research team, there is also the risk of losing credibility and won’t leave a good reputation if the samples are taken wrong and the research later is proven to be inaccurate.

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.

• The implications of conducting this research can greatly influence the locals living situation and cause many benefits/ issues
  • Technology: The research is meant to better understand the pathogen living in the area and the research can lead to new technologies that can clean the water.  This would be helpful not only to clean the water where the study was done, but could also lead to other water cleaning methods for other areas if there is a profound discovery.  The water cleaning technology could then be implemented in Lesotho and allow for the people to have clean drinking water and clean water for other uses.
  • Economic:  If a new water cleaning technology is discovered and implemented in Lesotho it will create an economic impact on whatever company decides to sell this technology to the country,  The university that funded the original research will most likely also make money off this technology.  However, the locals will suffer economically if the government has to pay for the water to be cleaned and can take money away from the people or make it more expensive to get water.
  • Social: The social implications are what if the locals don’t want chemicals in their drinking water once a new technology is created?  Maybe they don’t want any outside help or anything to change the way they live.  Socially for the research team it is extremely beneficial because their reputation will go up and make it easier to accumulate more grants and funding for more projects.  It also gives the university that funded the project and the journal that published the papers a better reputation.
  • Environmentally:  The environment could greatly suffer from a discovery of new water cleaning technology.  The water in Lesotho could have a lot of wildlife in it and the ecosystem could be severely damaged with the addition of added chemicals.  With the development of these chemicals there could also be environmental externalities like byproducts of the chemicals that would need to be disposed of and enter the overall environment.

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

• Hospitals and clinics can only afford the syringe if it is at a low enough cost
• The auto-disable feature helps prevent disease
• The cost for the safety feature is expensive relative to the costumer
• The syringe is meant to be for the developing world (specific customer)
• Ethical Issue: Whether or not the design of the syringe should incorporate the safety feature because if it does then there is the risk that not every hospital can help treat its patients and if it doesn’t then even though people are being treated for one things they can potentially get infected from another disease.

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

• Hospitals and Clinics
• Manufacturing companies making the syringe
• Patients at the clinics
• Investors
• Government in developing countries

Step 3: Assess the motivations of the Stakeholders

• Hospitals and Clinics: They want to be able to make money by having syringes to vaccinate people and to also insure that their patients are healthy and getting the medical care they need
• Manufacturing companies making the syringe: To make money
• Patients at the clinics: To make sure they stay healthy so they can continue to live a healthy life by getting whatever vaccine or medicine that the syringe is meant to dispense
• Investors:  To make sure they get a return on their money from selling the product
• Government in developing countries: To ensure the health of it’s citizens so that they can live longer and healthier

Step 4: Formulate (atleast three) alternative solutions – based on information available, using basic ethical core values as guide Approaches [1/2/3: repeat for every action] • Potential solution • Ethical Principle or code • Pros • Cons

• Make the syringe without the safety feature:
  • Ethical Principle: Having a syringe that is affordable and can save many lives, but with the risk of getting another disease
  • Pros:
    • It will help solve medical issues that are currently not treatable and will help get to more people since it is low cost.
  • Cons:
    • The risk that giving someone an injection will give them another disease
    • The unclean syringes could give a disease to people that is more deadly than what the syringe was meant to be used to treat
• Make the syringe with the safety feature
  • Ethical Principle: Now people will be able to be safely treated, but not everyone can get treated since the syringe isn’t affordable to all hospitals and clinics.
  • Pros:
    • The syringe is safe to use and will help prevent patients from getting any other types of diseases
  • Cons:
    • Not all hospitals can afford it so they can’t treat all their patients and there will be people that die because they can’t get treated
• Make the syringe with a cheaper material that will allow the cost of the safety feature to be within the limits of all hospitals and clinics
  • Ethical Principle: Trying to make sure all hospitals are able to use the syringe while sacrificing quality of the product as a whole
  • Pros:
    • All hospitals will be able to not only use the syringe, but make sure their patients are safe from getting another infection with the addition of the safety feature
  • Cons:
    • The quality of the syringe might not be as good so it might not work as affectively as intended
    • there might be more defects with it so the hospitals need to buy larger quantities to ensure that patients can get treated
    • The material needs to be thoroughly tested and could add additional expenses to the project
    • There is a lot more uncertainty with how the new material would react to certain medical treatments

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

• The members of my group were very helpful to give ideas on how to solve this potential solution and what outside information to take into consideration

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.

I think that making the syringe from a cheaper material would be the best overall solution because it avoids sacrificing moral issues and will allow every hospital to be able to afford the syringe still.  It is better than making the syringe without the safety feature because it doesn’t run the risk of infecting patients with other types of diseases so it will ensure that they can get back to good health without any other problems.  It is also better than making the syringe with the safety feature because some hospitals in developing countries wouldn’t be able to afford the syringe which will leave patients untreated.  The point of the syringe is to help treat people in developing countries so it is better for the hospitals if they can afford the syringe and be able to use them.  Hospitals are looking to treat as many people as possible and having a cheaper material for the syringe without getting patients sick with another disease is most beneficial to them. If patients get sick because the safety feature wasn’t included then there are questions of whether or not it was worth giving them the shot in the first place.  Hospitals don’t want to be liable for causing other infections from using an unclean syringe.  Using a cheaper material might sacrifice the quality and performance of the syringe, however overall the syringe still should be able to do its job and do it safely so that people can be treated effectively.  This solution benefits investors the most since they will get the highest return on their money with having the most hospitals being able to purchase the syringe.  Investors would more likely lose money if the syringe was more expensive and not as many hospitals could afford to purchase it.  For the governments in these developing countries, they will benefit most from being able to treat all their citizens safely instead of having to select which hospitals get syringes and which don’t if the cost was too high.  They also benefit from keeping the syringes safe from infecting their citizens with other diseases so they can have an overall better reputation.

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.

• The implications of the solution would be to find a new manufacturer that would make the syringe with the material needed.  There might be some technology research that needs to go into it to figure out exactly what cheaper material can be used.  There might need to be a switch in manufacturing companies if the original one can’t make the syringe with the new material, so it could potentially be bad for the original manufacturing company and it would lose revenue.
• The impact economically would be that money is being circulated between manufacturing companies, hospitals, my investors and myself.  Investors will benefit because they will get the highest return on their money since they will have the largest range of customers. Economically it will also be helping patients live longer so they can in turn spend more money.  Hospitals will also be buying more syringes since they can all afford the low cost syringe, this could lead to other hospitals that weren’t originally in consideration to buying syringes from this project.
• The social implications are that people will be living longer and healthier which is better for a society to be productive.  Hopefully this will lead to a lower death rate and can improve overall quality of life for individuals.  Hospitals will also get better reputations from being able to treat more people.  Governments will also benefit socially since they are helping contribute to the overall health of their citizens.
• Environmentally it might be damaging because the syringe new material might be worse for the environment and manufacturing it will also use a lot of energy and materials.  This can reflect badly on the manufacturing company and investors because now they are associated with contributing to environmental issues.  This can also cause more pollution and waste in the areas that are using the syringe and can potentially affect the communities near the hospitals if there are large amounts of waste being created around them.

Business Model: 

1. 1. Offer 
      1. Expert System that gives people the tools to make informed decisions and change lifestyle habits to reduce their exposure to air pollution 
   2. Customer Relationships: 
      1. Automated service 
         1. Having an online platform 
            1. an app or website 
            2. Interactive with the customer to get to know aspects of their life and understanding their individual needs to reduces air pollution exposure
      2. User community
         1. Survey will help approximate exposure to pollution with factors such as district, the volume of traffic in the area, and algorithms of precise air quality. This input of data of users will make better adjustments to what risks the community is in.
   3. Distribution Channels
      1. Expert system
         1. Database of information that links air quality protection information to the individual needs of the user
         2. An algorithm will help provides tips and insights to users based on their needs
      2. Appstore (Online App)
         1. Users will download our application through their phone’s AppStore to access our expert system/data
      3. Hospitals: 
         1. Will advertise our app and prescribe it to patients that need it
      4. Businesses: 
         1. Will distribute our app to their workers to use
   4. Customer Segments
      1. Hospitals and Insurance Companies: 
         1. Hospitals and Insurance companies will be able to medically prescribed our app to their patiences 
      2. Big Businesses/ (Ex: Powerplant, mining industries, etc..)
         1. Businesses will buy this app for their workers to use so they will be able to protect themselves during jobs that expose them more to air pollution.  Helps reduce liability for the company
      3. Individual Users (Including athletes, elderly, children, pregnant women etc..)
         1. Everyday users that download our app because they want to reduce their air pollution exposure
         2. Pregnant Women: 
            1. A highly susceptible group that requires a different marketing strategy.  Will help mother’s reduce vulnerability.
   5. Revenue Streams 
      1. Individual Users
         1. Members either pay for monthly or yearly membership to use all aspects of the app
      2. Digital Medicine: 
         1. People will get prescribed our app and the money for their membership will come from insurance companies
      3. Direct Charge:
         1. Charging businesses to use our app for their workers
   6. Key Activities 
      1. Platform/network
         1. Managing our online platforms
   7. Key Resources 
      1. Experts in web/app development
         1. In order to get our ideas developed into something tangible, we need to have web developers that can build and maintain our platform
      2. Data from IQAir
         1. This allows to validate all the information on our platform
      3. App and website platform
         1. The way we will be communicating our desired outcomes and ideas to create change
   8. Partner Network
      1. IQAir
      2. Hospitals and the Almaty health care system
      3. Web developers for development and maintenance 
      4. NGOs
      5. Power plants
   9. Cost Structure 
      1. App/web development
      2. Advertisement (Social Media ads, Radio, Video)
      3. Webmaster

3. Develop an M&E plan for your venture.

• Clearly list all assumptions.
  • There will be no hospital users during the first quarter (6 months of launching venture) 
  • Business users will not start using our app until the second year.
  • We’re assuming that we will meet the criteria that hospitals have. 
  • We’re assuming that the hospitals will recommend this to their patients. 
  • Businesses will be interested in investing in our venture for their workers’ sake. 
  • Workers will actually use the app if provided by the employer. 
  • Workers will understand that their information is protected. 
    • Workers will not be skeptical 
  • Employers will communicate the service to workers. 
• Identify short-term and long-term success metrics.
  • Short-term success metrics for our venture is the number of mobile app downloads. The increasing rate of downloads would show how effectively our venture entered the market. Also, it demonstrates the efficiency of our marketing strategy. 
  • Long-term success metrics would be a decrease in morbidity and mortality rate from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Also, we are planning to implement a built-in demographic feature in the app that would get information from the user regarding their health condition and build statistics for all the app users. That way we could track if the guidelines we provide are working for them. 
• Identify specific methods to measure the metrics.
  • Health statistics of Almaty
    • Analyzing a decrease in the number of respiratory, cardiovascular diseases
    • Analysing the rates of morbidity in the city to see if there is a decrease
  • Specific Workers
    • Businesses can encourage workers to use our app to monitor their health based on working conditions. The data provided by the worker will be CONFIDENTIAL and PRIVATE to us. We will use working conditions provided by present workers to better evaluate health risks.
  • User Profiles
    • Name, district/city/state, age, occupation (Public Information)
    • Questionnaire will include, but is not limited to, 
      • Health history related to cardiovascular and respiratory issues
      • Family health history
      • Daily habits (Exercise, diet, work/school, commuter)
    • We can record user’s health data within the app (Private Information)
    • With given health data, risks of potential or developing health issues can be advised
      • Track the number of hospital visits due to air quality-related visits
        • Ask how many times they have been to the hospital in the past year
      • Ask them to log their visits
        • Then compare data with their previous year
  • Hospital relationship
    • We can ask hospitals to ask patients if they use our app
    • Then we can track if people who use the app are going to the hospital
      • Compare data with people who do not use the app

Question 1: Income Statement (We are just starting out so our income statement is for the next two years since we won’t be making money for a while)

Revenue: +

• Subscription income from individuals: for individuals who take it upon themselves to download our app
• Digital medicine “prescription insurance”: for either hospitals or health insurance companies that want to offer our app as an addition to their medical care
• Premium profile income: for potentially added special features of our app that more specific groups for people such as athletes to use
• Direct charge towards a company for app use among workers: for companies that want to reduce liability for their workers by providing our app

Cost of Revenue: –

• Functional Services (domain fee + fees for features in the app)
• Administrative Services
• IT Support Services (App updates/maintenance)
• Marketing cost 

Gross Profit: Revenue – Cost of Revenue

Operating Expenses (Overhead): –

• Web Developers (Those that create website/app)
• Webmaster (Person that updates and overviews the website/app in the long run) 
• Domain
• Pay for air quality data usage (License)

Net Profit: (Gross Profit) – (Overhead)

Question 2: Funding Sources

1. 1. Design Phase
      1. Angel Investors
         1. These would be very good for our project because they typically fund the early-stages of projects, which we are in right now.  They could also add a lot of value to our project besides money.  Since we are still in the early stages it would be great to have someone that is also able to help us with which directions to go in order to make our project successful.  This funding source could help us with funding for web development and app design.  

• Federal Government

1. 1. 1. 1. This source of funding aligns well with our venture because we are serving as a way to spread public health awareness, therefore; aiding the federal government. This funding could specifically help strengthen or solidify our information maybe through accreditation or certification. If there was a way to get our information certified it could easily foster trust with customers in the next phase.
   2. Dissemination Phase
      1. Strategic Partners
         1. Our strategic partners that we pick would be a great funding source for the later phases of our project.  Especially if we have web development  companies as partners.  They could help fund the maintenance and continuing development of our app as well as paying for domain fees and functional services that have costs

• Federal Government

1. 1. 1. Having the Almaty government as a funding source for our project would be a huge benefit in terms of getting the government to start taking action and helping the city combat air quality.  They could also help us get into the healthcare system and fund 
   2. Let the business pay for itself?
      1. As a software/ online-based venture our cost of revenue is not a lot. So technically after getting past the design phase, we could rely on the venture to cover some cost in the dissemination phase. Especially the aspects of spreading awareness of our application. 

Question 3: Partnerships 

1. IQAir
   1. IQAir is an air quality data collection website that tracks different pollutants all over the world.  We need them to be able to advance our project because we need to have access to real time air quality data that we can feed into our app.  It will help us achieve scale since it will be able to justify our warnings and notifications that we want to distribute to people so that our app is more trustworthy and reliable.  IQAir already has data that we can use, but by partnering with us it could help them sell more of their air quality devices and be able to access even more data in Almaty
2. Hospitals and the Almaty health care system
   1. Partnering with hospitals and the health care system will help us reach a lot more people that are suffering from air pollution-related health issues like respiratory diseases, asthma, and cardiovascular diseases.  If we take a telemedicine approach and have doctors prescribing our app to their patients to help them reduce their air pollution intake, we would be able to reach a lot more people that need our app the most.  They might be willing to work with us because we are giving the doctors a way to help their patients stay aware of the air pollution they are bringing into their lungs.  Doctors will also be able to monitor exactly how much exposure their patients are receiving and can help adjust their medications better.  
3. Web developers for development and maintenance 
   1. Partnering with a web development company could be very beneficial for us to keep our app running quickly and efficiently.  We’re going to need someone that is good with not only app maintenance, but also updates and adding new features.  THis will help us scale our product because as we get more users we are going to need a bigger and bigger team to be able to manage all the information that the app is taking in and distributing.  A company that does web development would be willing to partner with us because we are creating something that has never been done before and could, if successful, be implemented in a lot of other countries and areas for helping track air pollution.
4. NGOs
   1. Partnering with NGOs will help give our venture credibility and allow us to reach more individuals through their connections.  It’s really important that we gain their support so they can help promote our app.  They would be willing to work with us because we are trying to provide help with the impact of pollution on individuals and that is something NGOs are constantly combatting along with environmental injustice.  
5. Power plant
   1. Partnering with the power plants in Almaty would be a really great way for us to help individuals that are more at risk from suffering from air pollution health issues.  All the workers in the power plant are being heavily exposed to air pollution and it would be great if we could reach all those individuals.  The power plants would be willing to work with us because a lot of their workers are being put at risk of health issues and our app can reduce the liability that the power plant has for causing those health issues.  

Business Model (Sorry it’s blurry, I couldn’t get it to save any better.  Here is what it says)

1. 1. Offer 
      1. Expert System that gives people the tools to make informed decisions and change lifestyle habits to reduce their exposure to air pollution 
   2. Customer Relationships: 
      1. Automated service 
         1. Having an online platform 
            1. a app or website 
         2. Interactive with the customer to get to know aspects of their life and understanding their individual needs to reduces air pollution exposure
      2. User community
         1. Users can share their profiles and information with each other to better interact
   3. Distribution Channels
      1. Expert system
         1. Database of information that links air quality protection information to individual needs of the user
         2. An algorithm will help provides tips and insights to users based off their needs
   4. Customer Segments
      1. City residents of Almaty
         1. People susceptible to air pollution effects
            1. Elderly, infinats, young children
            2. Individuals suffering air pollution induced health problems (respiratory and cardiac diseases)
            3. Individuals living in pollution dense areas
            4. Pregnant women
   5. Revenue Streams 
      1. Subscription Based
         1. Members either pay for monthly or yer;y membership to use all aspects of the app
      2. Licensing 
   6. Key Activities 
      1. Platform/network
         1. Managing our online platforms
   7. Key Resources 
      1. Experts in web/app development
         1. In order to get our ideas developed into something tangible, we need to have web developers that can build and maintain our platform
      2. Data from IQAir
         1. This allows to validate all the information on our platform
      3. App and website platform
         1. The way we will be communicating our desired outcomes and ideas to create change
   8. Partner Network
      1. Almaty Management University
      2. Company partner that collects air quality data and shares it with us (IQAir)
      3. Sponsors (Not determined yet)
   9. Cost Structure 
      1. App/web development
      2. Advertisement (Social Media ads, Radio, Video, 
      3. Webmaster

Ten Practical Lessons

1. Creating a venture that has more than one purpose or impact
   1. Greystone Bakery- makes brownies but also helps incarcerated people, their social impact helps the image of the company and distinguishes them. People go buy their products because of the difference they are making.
2. Make sure your venture or product is easy to use. Provides an incentive to use it
   1. Reel Garden simplifies the gardening process
3. Attempting to sculpt our venture to fit the needs of different demographics
   1. Envirofit creates a similar oven to the one their demographic uses but creates less smoke and fuel
4. Do not be afraid of doing or attempting something radical. 
   1. Everyone thought the creator of Barefoot college was crazy for wanting to work in rural communities with his college degree
5. Having a good way of presenting venture, make it exciting
   1. Even though Envirofit is only selling a stove their advertisement makes it look step above and interesting
6. Creating a subscription-based revenue stream
   1. Spotify, Netflix use this 
7. Accept all different types of workers
   1. Greystone bases their revenue model off having happy workers
8. Making the product personalizable 
   1. StichFix is a company that personalizes clothes for their consumers through data
9. Reel Garden is environmentally conscious/sustainable 
   1. This serves the goal of attracting customers who are willing to make a bigger impact by doing a regular activity like gardening
10. Investing in the health improvements of consumers
    1. Weight Watchers creates revenue from people who are willing to buy their products to improve their health

1. Develop a Business Model for your venture using the Osterwalder Business Model Canvas
   1. Offer 
      1. Expert System that gives people the tools to make informed decisions and change lifestyle habits to reduce their exposure to air quality
   2. Customer Relationships: 
      1. Automated service 
      2. User community
   3. Distribution Channels
      1. Expert system
   4. Customer Segments
      1. City residents of Almaty
         1. People susceptible to air pollution effects
   5. Revenue Streams 
      1. Subscription Based
      2. Licensing 
   6. Key Activities 
      1. Platform/network
   7. Key Resources 
      1. Experts in web/app development
      2. Data from IQAir
   8. Partner Network
      1. University in Almaty
      2. Company partner that collect air quality data
      3. Users 
   9. Cost Structure 
      1. App/web development
      2. Advertisement
2. Ten lessons learned from the eye-care video:
   1. Developing a system that will make the provided services accessible all around the world to all types of people 
      1. Break the access barriers 
   2. Equitable system that does not exclude any people (class, finances,etc)
   3. Having reliable and skilled staff is crucial to making sure that the system flows and productivity is high 
   4. Navigating how to be efficient both financially and productivity
      1. Aravind had a very effective amount of productivity but at much lower costs compared to the UK
         1. <1% of what it cost in the UK to provide the eye care services 
   5. Not everything has to be centered in India, they had information going from patients to expert doctors in other areas to observe the patient’s eye screens and then send results back
   6. Even with producing a product at low cost or no cost to some patients, they still made a profit
      1. Taking individual’s financial background to account
   7. Establishing a culture of compassion and problem ownership is paramount in a need based service delivery
   8. Efficiency in providing the eye care to people, created an efficient supply chain to get care to people quickly and effectively
      1. Having people get checked, going right to the buses, having an efficient surgical room, and going back to the buses to go home
   9. “…there is no exploitation/ It is ourselves we are helping/ It is ourselves we are healing.” 
      1. Don’t measure a venture’s success solely on profit. The amount of people who were able to receive the eye care services are an indicator of success as well. 
   10. A venture takes time to expand.
       1. Networking and collaboration to make the system flow more efficiently 

1. Summarize and report out on the results of the SKS exercise.  (start, keep, stop)

2 things we want to start doing as a team:

1. Delegating tasks effectively according to each team member’s strengths and weaknesses. Having a record of what tasks are completed, in progress, and upcoming. 
2. Generating fresh ideas and not being reluctant to share them with each other even if they seem minor. Have SMART tasks and goals.

2 things we want to keep doing as a team 

1. Keep committing time outside of the classroom to be able to collaborate 
2. Keep being open-minded with constructive criticism on ideas and not being afraid of changing the direction of the project 

2 things we want to stop doing as a team 

1. Stop assuming everyone knows what you are doing and communicate to the team what is being done and what needs to be done. Also not being afraid to ask for help
2. Stop setting goals and then not upholding them.

1. Develop a detailed Collaboration Plan for your team clearly articulating your Goals (Small and Big), Roles, Procedures, and Relationships. 

• Goals: 
  • Have a rough draft completed of the paper we are submitting to the IEE CHTC Conference in Seattle by mid-April
    • Send to Prof. Mehta so that he can review before submitting 
  • Touching base with our connections in Kazakhstan
    • Formulating a plan with them
  • Have a model laid out for the website by the end of April 
• Roles: 
  • Alondra
    • Implementer, Monitor-evaluator, 
  • Hugo
    • Specialist
  • Josue 
    • Team worker, resource investigator 
  • Nathaly 
    • Monitor-evaluator: critically analyze information before coming to conclusions 
    • Completer/finisher: detects errors and omissions; ensures adherence to deadlines

• • Rebecca 
    • Implementer: actually gets things done; turns ideas into actual plans 
    • Resource investigator: develop external contacts; negotiate for the team’s resources
  • Ulan 
    • Shaper: maintains a positive mental attitude; finds the best ways to overcome challenges facing the team 
    • Specialist: expert knowledge in a particular area 

• • Professor Duvanova 
    • Team worker, coordinator, specialist 
• Procedures
  • Decision Making: 
    • Majority Rule
    • If we are split down the middle, we will use our advisor as a mediator to help come to a consensus. 
  • Effective Meetings: 
    • Setting up goals for each meeting 
    • Checking in with each other→ Where people are with their designated tasks, etc. 
    • Splitting up work so that we are being proactive and productive with the time we work on tasks
    • Creating documents that have everyone’s assigned tasks for the week so we know how to check up on eachother 
  • Communication:
    • Best time to work: In the mornings, any day of the week, preferably the end of the week
    • Frequency: Meet at least once a week besides our weekly advisor meetings
    • Location: Online
    • Type of Technology: Google Docs and Zoom
  • Relationships 
    • Make sure to consider everyone’s perspective 
    • Do not get frustrated with each other

3. If we can’t go in the summer what will we do?

• Trying to finalize the design/function of our website
• Creating online surveys that we can send out to people in Almaty 
• Formulating algorithms to help organize survey data and determining the best forms of advice
• Learning more about the country through partners in Kazakhstan
• Good communication with the Kazakhstan students 

• Does your work require IRB approval?

Our plan to address the air quality issue in Kazakhstan is being developed. We have many different ideas floating around regarding our plan, so we are still working out the specifics. However, based on the rough draft of our plan, we will need IRB approval. One component of our plan is to interview locals regarding the air quality problem in their city. The interviews will allow us to strengthen our approach to the issue by learning about the first-hand experience of living in Almaty with the challenges of dangerous air quality. 

We are aware that people are extremely concerned just by scrolling through Facebook pages. For example, there is a Facebook page named, “SMOG ALMATY” which is used as a platform for Almaty locals and allies to discuss their concerns and opinions on the way people in power are handling the air quality issue. 

Although we will be receiving a lot of constructed criticism regarding our plan and presentations before abroad fieldwork, the most impactful criticism will come directly from the people of Almaty. 

We might also set up a survey that provides feedback for our project. As a result, in order to interview, we need IRB approval. According to the certification that my group completed, we learned that any research that will consist of surveying requires IRB approval to make sure that we protect any revealing information of the participants. 

Another idea that we are working towards finalizing are nasal filters. In order for my group to review whether or not our filters are effective and used amongst the Almaty population, it will involve having locals test them out. We might not be the exact group of undergraduate students that will have this filter finalized because of it being a long process of lab work and engineering. However, we recognize that this type of research needs to be reviewed by IRB in order for any of it to be implemented and continued. 

If yes, articulate your detailed IRB strategy.

If not, explain why you don’t need IRB approval and identify situations when you might need IRB approval.

• Develop an outline for your mid-semester presentations. What supporting evidence will you provide for each point? How will you boost your credibility every step of the way?

1. Introduction slide: 
   1. Picture of Almaty’s mountains and introduce team members
2. 1st Slide: (problem/ solution)
   1. Jumps right into the problem with a statistic or two about the severity of the air quality problem in Almaty
   2. Picture of Almaty on a day with bad air quality 
   3. State our proposed solution: 
      1. Increasing data collection points
      2. Mappings of specific areas that are suffering more due to air pollution (include image)
      3. Creating an easily accessible server for the population to access data
      4. Giving strategies to minimize exposure to air quality
3. 2nd Slide: 
   1. List causes of the problem in Almaty
      1. Traffic
      2. Power plant 
      3. Coal-burning furnaces 
      4. Bad air circulation, cold weather
   2.  Sighting health risks from being exposed to air pollution
      1. Cardiovascular disease death rates
4. 3rd Slide: Potential Solutions
   1. Addressing possible solutions (our ideas of what we came up with or ones other cities have tried implementing)
      1. Public services announcements 
      2. Government policy 
      3. Increasing greenery 
      4. Creating new power plant filters (nasal strips, other)
5. 4th Slide: Details on our solution
   1. Showing app we found that isn’t reliable
      1. Providing images of what it looks like
      2. Data and statistics is provides
      3. Including single data points 
   2. Improving the quality of data (Account for more air pollutants)
      1. Getting more air quality detecting devices to distribute throughout the city
      2. Including public areas like parks, walkways, schools, neighborhoods… 
6. 5th Slide: Existing Kazakhstan Proposed solutions
   1. Government Regulation
   2. Improve Transportation with efficiency and reliability
   3. Reliable Bike Lanes (Promoting bike riding)
   4. Greenway
   5. Investigate Airflow in city 
   6. All long term solutions, no short term
   7. Public announcements on when pollution is high and low
7. 6th Slide: Prototype
   1. What kinds of air quality testers are we going to use? 
      1. Still pending, but have a meeting with an expert on 3/3
      2. Sustainable, maintainable, cheapish
   2. Pollutants we are trying to target
      1. PM 2.5
      2. CO, SO2, NO2
8. 7th Slide: Our overall plan 
   1. What are we planning to do with the data
      1. Create understandable models and analyzing the impacts of specific polluted areas
      2. Connecting info to health advice and actable things to do to minimize exposure
      3. Detecting -> Transmission -> Public Awareness/ Public Safety