BUS10012

INNOVATIVE BUSINESS PRACTICE

SOCIAL PROBLEM PROJECT

Submitted by: Xinrong Huang

Date: 05/04/2020
Executive Summary
The following report helps to identify a problem that arises in a society. The report also helps
to highlight the importance of design thinking process and that it may help to tackle the
various social problems that may arise in the society. The report helps to identify the social
problems created by environment and climate change. The social problems are even
connected with the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) and further discussed below.
The social problems are connected to every one of us in the society as in the society there
contains various types of people such as women, children, farmers etc. The journey map as
well as customer map is prepared in order to analyse the effect of social problems in the
person. The personas are also being created for the ones that have been affected with the
problems. The report also helps to create a proper problem statement in order to brainstorm in
the future.
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4

Problem Recognition..................................................................................................................5

UN SDGs comparison............................................................................................................5

Personal Strengths and Skills.................................................................................................5

Users of Problem........................................................................................................................6

Problem Research...................................................................................................................6

Journey Map...........................................................................................................................6

Customer Profile Map............................................................................................................7

User Personas.........................................................................................................................7

Problem Statement.....................................................................................................................7

Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8

References..................................................................................................................................8

Appendices.................................................................................................................................9
Introduction

Any problem needs some proper planning, designing and execution in order to properly
analyse it and minimise it accordingly. Design thinking basically helps to assess every
problem that arises in a proper society. Social problems may arise from any sector such as
Environment and climate change can be the sector that we are going to focus on this report.
Design Thinking is an iterative process in which we seek to understand the user, challenges,
assumptions and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and
solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. At the
same time, Design Thinking provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It is a
way of thinking and working as well as a collection of hands-on methods. [ CITATION Int20 \l
1033 ]
Social problems are such problems which arises from any sectors and will affect the society
as a whole. Design thinking helps to analyse the smallest aspects of any problems and deals
with it in proper steps like a certain process. The social problems are an impact to the entire
society and solving it without analysing it properly would be a tough thing. The design
thinking is made in such a way that it can tackle and helps to solve any kind of problems that
may arise in the society.
Design thinking is a process and it has five steps for that. The steps are Empathise, Define,
Ideate, Prototype and Test. For the problems to be tackled, proper strategies has to be made
and these five steps will help to do that. The design thinking in the first stage and second step
is to empathise i.e. to consult with experts, empathise about the social problems that is arising
and define is to collect valuable information about the problems that is being referred to.
These are the first initial steps which initiates the design thinking for any problems that erupts
in any society. [ CITATION Rik20 \l 1033 ]For example, if the society is facing a problem about
water pollution, then the first step of design thinking helps to know about the water pollution,
how it arises, what are the causes of it with the help of certain professionals and experts and
in the second step, we need to assess all the information about the water pollution and what is
causing the pollution in the society i.e if its from the chemical wastage from a nearby
industry or the improper water supply. Social problems, therefore, must be tackled with the
various strategies verified by design thinking.
Problem Recognition

Every society has problems. The problems that a society faces is automatically connected to
every individuals included in the society. Personally, for me, the climate change and
environmental problems has affected a lot. Women and children are affected very much as
per various researches made they are more prone to vulnerability. Similarly, farmers in the
society are affected very much, as they survive solely from the income from their farming
and if the farming is affected by any kind of environmental changes, then the farmers would
have no income and this would not only affect them but also their family. The needs of the
family won’t be fulfilled. For the current example, due to Covid-19, many of them have lost
their jobs, and they have no source of income which have affected their lifestyle a lot.

UN SDGs comparison
There are various Sustainable Development Goals presented by the UN. And the problems
that we are discussing can be compared with the sustainable goals presented by the UN. The
social problems can be connected with the Goal 1: No poverty as well as Goal 8: Decent
work and Economic Growth. As we are discussing about the farmers entering into poverty
because of the climate change, they can be compared with these goals put forward by the UN.
[ CITATION Uni20 \l 1033 ]

Personal Strengths and Skills

Here, the environmental and climate change can arise with our involvement in the nature. The
nature is affected adversely, and the following aspects brings forward social problems in the
society. As we have discussed about the climate change affecting the soil quality and
destroying the crops, the personal skills, strengths that I have to assist with the problem are as
follows:
 Look for ways to use water from other sources and putting towards fertilisers to build
the quality of land
 Look for secondary income source
 Patience is a virtue, climate change is a result of our improper destruction of the
environment in many ways, so if we give up our old habits, we can be assured to be
free of our problems
  Have to analyse what can be done to make the land fertile again
 In case of a drought, lead the society for alternative water resources.

Users of Problem
The various users are affected in the society as per the problems that arises in the society. The
problems that has been discussed about are poverty due to the quality of land depleted for the
farmers. The farmers are affected adversely with the climate change affecting their crops and
pushing their lifestyle to poverty.
Similarly, due to climate change and the various problems that may arise in the society, many
people fail to adapt with the problems and give up right away. The poverty has been a major
factor and people fail to adapt to the situation. According to the research, the women and
children are more vulnerable to these situations.

Problem Research
There are various articles that suggests that climate change has affected the people in terms of
poverty and adaptation. Some of them are as follows:
The findings suggest that worldwide and synchronistic war–peace, population, and price
cycles in recent centuries have been driven mainly by long-term climate change. The findings
also imply that social mechanisms that might mitigate the impact of climate change were not
significantly effective during the study period. Climate change may thus have played a more
important role and imposed a wider ranging effect on human civilisation than has so far been
suggested.[ CITATION Abe03 \l 1033 ] Climate change is a serious risk to poverty reduction and
threatens to undo decades of development efforts. It also focuses on the impacts of climate
change on poverty reduction efforts in the context of sustaining progress towards the
Millennium Development Goals and beyond. It discusses ways of mainstreaming and
integrating adaptation to climate change into poverty reduction and sustainable development
efforts.[ CITATION Dav07 \l 1033 ]

Journey Map
The journey map is for the customer describing about the various activities he/she used to do
before the changes, during the changes and after the changes; the journey map also helps to
portray the emotions of the customers in case of various changes happening in their lives.
In case of farmers, before the poverty, the farmers get engaged in farming, as farming is their
daily income. They support their family with their income. During the changes, a drought
destroys the crops. They lose their income source, and the family. After the poverty, they
suffer a lot may even die of hunger.
In case of adaptation, before the changes, the people are living normally, they are not poor,
they can live well. During the changes, they are well affected by the various social problems.
After the changes, they can’t adapt to the various situations and they suffer a lot.

Customer Profile Map

A customer profile map studies about the customer characteristics, their behaviour and their
various patterns. The customer profile map helps to analyse the customer on the basis of their
various emotional behaviours.
In case of farming jobs, the farmer can work and cultivate their own crops. They can feed on
them wont have to buy things from the market. Another pros would be they can be their own
boss and can fulfil their family needs.
The cons are they solely depend on agriculture and if anything happens to their land quality
and crops, then they are heavily affected.

User Personas
The personas can be created on the basis of people, their profile and their behaviour and it has
been added in the appendices below. The profile of a farmer, a lady in the society and a child
is created on the basis of the assignment.

Problem Statement
Based on the various things discussed above about the social problems, the climate change
has been an essential factor in creating the social problems in the society. The climate change
is a ruthless factor that affect each and everyone in the society and has an effect for then in
the long run rather than the short run. The climate change and the farmers with the poverty is
one condition and the women with the adaptation is another problem. The climate change is
ethically contributed by us humans and it can be minimised with our help too. So in this
condition, the main problem statement would be “How might we contribute to control climate
change to save the livelihood of the farmers?” and “How can we ensure adaptability in
women and children in case of any climate changes?” The problem statement can be
brainstormed with proper design thinking.
The first stage of design thinking i.e. empathise as it sorts us out by contacting the farmers
and the people presented in the society to know about their problems. The second stage of the
design thinking is defined where we need to gather information about the farming and the
problems that may arise in farming and adaptability of the people incase of climate change
and job loss.

Conclusion
The report has thus discussed about the various design thinking principles for the social
problems arise due to the climate change and environmental degradation. The report has
discussed about how farmers are affected and pushed to poverty as well as the women and
children are prone to adaptability in case of climate change. The journey map and personas
has helped to build a profile of people presented in the society. To reiterate, the problems are
to be tackled with the design thinking steps.

References
Abeygunawardena, P. et al., 2003. Poverty and Climate Change. Part 1. Reducing the
Vulnerability of the Poor through Adaptation. Reducing the Vulnerability of the Poor
through Adaptation.
Dam, R. F. & Teo, Y. S., 2020. 5 Steps of Design Thinking. [Online]
Available at: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/5-stages-in-the-design-
thinking-process
[Accessed 05 April 2020].
Interaction Design Development, 2020. Design Thining. [Online]
Available at: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-thinking
[Accessed 05 April 2020].
United Nations, 2020. About the Sustainable Development Goals. [Online]
Available at: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
[Accessed 05 April 2020].
Zhang, D. D. et al., 2007. Global climate change, war, and population decline in recent
human history. Proceedings of National Academy of Science of United States of America,
104(49), pp. 19214-19219.
Appendices