Insights of Engineering Technology and Organizational Leadership on Human Trafficking

Running Head: Insights of Engineering Technology and Organizational Leadership

INsights of engineering technology and organizATIONAL LEADERSHIP ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Pablo Villa-MartinezINTS 3300 – Sec 001

Dr. Gail BentleyTexas Tech University

DECEMBER 2, 2015

1Human Trafficking

Abstract

In the beginning of this semester we were given a question that made all the students in this

perspectives class start to think differently about a unique and dangerous problem that exists

in the world now and in the past as well, this question was daunting and disturbing,

highlighting the worst that humanity is capable of. The question was how we can address this

serious problem of human trafficking? With all the students in the class and each one having

their own concentrations ranging from Engineering, Math, Financial Planning, Advertising,

Military History, Computer Science, Organizational Leadership, and much more. This serious

and devastating problem plaguing the world historically and currently, can be looked at in a

variety of ways and could be broken down into unique perspectives that may be able to be

quantified and hopefully addressing or even solving this disturbing problem. My approach

dealing with atrocious problem lies with my own concentrations which are: Electrical

Engineering, Mathematics, and Organizational Leadership. Using my concentration I will

find out which are potentially relevant and which are most relevant. Since technology is very

versatile and broad, I will be focusing on how Engineering technology can address the issue

of human trafficking.

2Insights of Engineering Technology and Organizational Leadership

Of the many serious crimes, illegal acts, and inhumane violations of human rights,

human trafficking is of the most grievous and atrocious. Every year, thousands of men,

women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad.

Almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin,

transit or destination for victims. In order to be able to research the methods of how to better

combat human trafficking, a definition must be developed to gain insight on what human

trafficking consists of. This definition will enable us to figure out a means of what relevant

disciplines can be used to gain insights on different perspectives of human trafficking and

how they can be used to assess the problem. Human trafficking can be defined as the illegal

movement of people, typically for the purposes of forced labor or commercial sexual

exploitation. On the basis of giving a definition to human trafficking, it can be found that

trafficking persons has three constituent elements;

• The Act (What is done) - Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons

• The Means (How it is done) - Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim

• The Purpose (Why it is done) - For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.

Understanding the definition and its constituent elements allow us to begin this case

study by applying Repko’ s 10 STEP interdisciplinary research process to identity which

disciplines might allow for possible options to better combat human trafficking. This research

process offers the most effective way to consider each contributing discipline’s perspective,

find common ground between conflicting insights, integrate these insights, and apply the

resulting understanding to form a new insight from the disciplines discussed in the case

3Human Trafficking

study. Two interesting disciplines that may be able to assist to address this broad problem are

provided in the table below.

Discipline, Interdisciplinary, or Applied Field

Perspective stated in terms of an overarching question about human trafficking

Engineering Technology What role will Engineering technology play to decrease the amount of people that are targeted or affected by human trafficking?

Organizational Leadership What is the role of world leaders to ensure the needs and safety of all citizens, from various Acts, Means, and Purpose of human trafficking?

Once we have defined the problem and picked out which disciplines can be used to

address the interdisciplinary problem by researching peer reviewed qualitative articles that

bring out the insights of the respective disciplines, once begin the research we can develop

and state the focus question: In considering the design, construction, and application of

engineering technology, how can we morally and ethically provide a reliable and inexpensive

solution to combat human traffickers?

STEP 1: State the Focus of Your Paper

The impact human trafficking has on the world is breathtakingly overwhelming. As

stated in the introductory paragraph, every country is impacted by human trafficking not only

as an origin of trafficking but also the destination. Everyone from men, woman, and even

children are affected by the impact of human trafficking. An overall question that can be

asked of human trafficking is how can such a thing be affecting millions of lives around the

world? Part of the answer is the role of technology, as Latonero stated “Technology, while

clearly facilitating trafficking, also can be used as an effective tool to combat it” (Latonero,

2012). Although technology can be assisting traffickers thanks to the awareness and openness

of social media such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and various others trafficking can

happen as fast as taking your child to school. The other part of the answer falls in part to our


world leaders, since technology never sleeps and only advances to progresses our society it is

very important that our world leaders pay close attention to the ever changing infrastructure

of technology and its role in facilitating traffickers in what they do. The role of technology

and the unwitting knowledge technology within world leaders makes this issue a vast and

complex problem. Due to this complex problem the best approach to better combat human

trafficking lies in the research and insights of the disciplines know as engineering technology

and organizational leadership. That being said, the topic may be stated as a focus question: In

considering the design, construction, and application of engineering technology, how can

world leaders morally and ethically provide a reliable and inexpensive solution to combat

human traffickers?

STEP 2: Justify Using an Interdisciplinary Approach

When beginning the research to this case study, we have to justify using an

Interdisciplinary approach. Using Klein and Newell’s classic definition of interdisciplinary

studies: “Interdisciplinary studies may be defined as a process of answering a question,

solving a problem or addressing a topic that is too broad or complex to be dealt with

adequately by a single discipline or profession. . . . IDS draws on disciplinary perspectives

and integrates their insights through construction of a more comprehensive perspective”.

(Newell, 1998, p. 245)

This definition highlights the two parts of the interdisciplinary process: disciplinary

insights and integration. To be truly interdisciplinary, research “is not just pasting two

disciplines together to create one product but rather is an integration and a synthesis of ideas

and methods” (National Academy of Sciences, 2005, p. 27).

Another justification comes from the understanding and addressing the three

constituent elements in the form of 3 questions: what is done, how it’s done, and why it’s

5Human Trafficking

done. The broadness of these questions give rise to the assumption of multiple disciplines.

For example, when considering the first constituent element of what is done? We can develop

a few potentially relevant disciplines such as applied science, engineering, human science,

political science and much more. Adding on further to justify an interdisciplinary approach

comes from the implications how human trafficking impacts government public policies of

safety and the many roles that technology can play a role by transporting persons on land, air,

or by sea. All of which cannot be looked at by one discipline, rather by many.

STEP 3: Identify Relevant Disciplines

Human trafficking reaches into various disciplines ranging from Philosophy,

medicine, social sciences, psychology, law enforcement, applied sciences, and many others

each of which has its own perspective of combating the problem yet not one can take on the

problem on its own. Each of these disciplines have the potential to be used in the case. For

example, to elaborate more on the discipline of philosophy and its perspective on human

trafficking, we would conduct a literature search to delve into the subfield of ethics which can

be stated as a focus question: Can one country intervene in another by creating and

implementing laws that would negatively impact human trafficking without the permission of

the country? This question can be simplified by thinking in terms of sandboxes. Is it right to

play in someone’s sandbox and use their toys without their permission? Not only does this

question pertain to the philosophy of ethics but also to cultural, economic, and legal studies

due to some countries relying on child labour and profit that can be provided by human

trafficking. This perspective is only expressed through one discipline.

“While it is possible to further subcategorize each of these disciplines, many articles

and reports did not mention the exact disciplinary approach, thus necessitating the usage of

broader categories. Where evident, we noted the specific discipline of the study. In some

instances, the articles were inter-disciplinary and thus required dual categorization”


(ELŻBIETA M. GOŹDZIAK, 2008). Through a literature search some of the discipline fields

were eliminated thus revealing the essential disciplines with respect to this case study, one of

which is a broad discipline and other is broad interdiscipline. The broad sub discipline from

the applied science discipline is called engineering technology and the other interdiscipline is

called organizational leadership. These two essential disciplines have the potential to be the

most useful of the disciplines initially thought of due to the information and application of

technology and the leadership controlling the technology.

STEP 4: Conduct a Literature Search

Technology is the way of the world. Everything needs technology and technology

needs to be everywhere for the world to move forward. Every problem no matter what field

or discipline has had and will have a problem that engineering technology has had a part in

solving. Without the understanding of how technology works and why it needs to work there

would be no advancement in Human civilization. Applying our current understanding of

technology to the problem of human trafficking we can figure out new and unique ways of

applying technology to combat human trafficking, such as creating a technology, such as a

smart city, by placing in a sensors that measure a change in the area such as increasing carbon

dioxide levels, pollutants in the atmosphere, public movements to create patterns that local

companies can use to see what areas are popular and which are not as stated Gregory Mone

stated (Mone, 2015).

The need for the theory is greatly needed because without the theories in place such as

theories for electricity Technology would not be applicable. Something can be said about

theories dealing with circuit design. If circuits are not designed properly they will not work in

places that they are intended to work. Even the theories needed for wireless communication

or optical fiber communication are extremely vital, without those new technologies that can

be developed circuits in any technology would not be able to communicate with each other to

7Human Trafficking

provide information that can be relevant to finding a solution for human trafficking. An

example that can be said is if the new technology is developed the area within the area of the

city holding the sensors will be used for public information, once again as stated by Gregory

Mone (Mone, 2015).

Along with technology shaping the way of the world and its progress there is also

leadership. Organizational leadership to be more exact which concerns the effectiveness of

leaders in an organization and if the leaders are placed in the correct areas within the

organization, this includes leaders to be trained in and have knowledge in their respective

areas. This is due in part by the unique terminology that every discipline has, when everyone

can speak the same language in an organization communication could be at its best with

everyone working on the same goal, such as developing a smart city. The right leadership

will be required for the smart city to be developed considering the communication and team

work that will require many different leaders to work together, ranging from academic

leaders, civic leaders, business leaders, and more such as Gregory Mone stated (Mone, 2015).

However this can be further discussed by allowing the proper leadership to take on the ethical

and moral issues that need to be led an in particular and sensitive manner for the smart city to

develop properly.

STEP 5: Develop Adequacy in Each Relevant Discipline

A discipline is defined as a branch of knowledge with its own unique theories,

practices, and perspective which is characterized by its worldview. This characterizations is

also expanded into interdiscipline which build upon and directly from a discipline. The

overall perspective of the most relevant essential disciplines for human trafficking are stated

below

Engineering technologists use the principles and theories of science, engineering, and

mathematics to solve technical problems in research and development,


manufacturing, sales, construction, inspection, and maintenance. Their work is more

limited in scope and more practically oriented than that of scientists and engineers.

Engineering technology views the world through data, raw data. It keeps track of

what is on/off, looks for pattern recognition, and detects changes in a specified area.

The perspective that engineering technology provides is very rational and logical,

unbiased in what caused the problem whether it is ethical or moral, it’s only

concerned with providing a solution.

The perspective of organizational leadership relies on the relationship between

leaders and the organization they are leading and the effectiveness of their decisions

as well as the placement of leaders in an organization. This also implies how leaders

view the world also in terms of efficiency, least cost, human relations, and ethically

moral.

Overall the disciplinary perspectives most relevant to an analysis of the factors in human

trafficking are equally useful with respect to this case study. There is an emphasis on

qualitative research methods for both perspectives. Because the disciplinary perspectives

most relevant to this study are not as theory-laden as is typical in the social sciences, it will

be important to analyse the phenomena, concepts, and assumptions as well as relevant

theories of the disciplines in order to evaluate disciplinary insights.

STEP 6: Analyse the Problem and Evaluate Each Insight or Theory

History has proven that the world is conflicted and full of challenges, burdens,

problems and a vast multitude of questions ranging in time from our exploration years to our

industrial revolution and even our recent era. However, despite the plethora of questions for

each challenge or problem we face, a common solution that is shared to many dilemmas are

technology that engineers imagine, design, and produce; or in other words Engineering

9Human Trafficking

technology. Nikola Tesla once said “The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result.

He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of

the planter - for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and

point the way”. Engineering technology has solved many problems that humanity has faced

from producing a motor engine that is faster than any horse can be, or finding a more efficient

means of traveling from one coast to another such as a train and even from one continent to

another by designing a plane. More importantly they help us solve other issues close to home,

such as planting a chip in your pets so if they run away or get lost, you might have a chance

of reclaiming them. Even then, some challenging problems we face are disturbing and

sometimes unimaginable. Take for instance human trafficking, in considering the design,

construction, and application of engineering technology, how can world leaders morally and

ethically provide a reliable and inexpensive solution to combat human traffickers? According

to Repko “analyse the problem from the perspective of each relevant discipline, and evaluate

each relevant insight into the problem . . . identifying strengths and weaknesses” (Repko,

2008). Which is one of the strengths of engineering.

In considering the design, construction, and application of engineering technology,

how can we morally and ethically provide a reliable and inexpensive solution to combat

human traffickers and end human trafficking? Engineering is all about using your resources

more efficiently. However, in this particular case how can engineering technology contribute

to putting an end to human trafficking? The answer can be given to us thanks to IEEE

(Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) in the form of “smart cities”- cities that will

have boxes equipped with sensors equipped with radio communication that will enable

different circuits to talk to each other. For example, “a runner equipped with a smartphone or

a wearable fitness device can easily track her route, mileage, average heart rate, and total

steps; now, imagine that gadget talking to the city itself. The box units could exchange data


each time a wearable device communicating via a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi signal comes within

range” (Mone, 2015). This approach can be safe, inexpensive, moral, and somewhat ethical to

combat human traffickers by providing raw data on the traffickers themselves such as

location, length of stay, heartbeat, or other vital information that we can use to develop a

profile to capture these traffickers.

This technology will allow us the insight through the perspective of engineering

Technology. The main concern will be an ethical due to the need of tapping into and

communicating with people devices to obtain the raw data. This method begs the question, is

it acceptable to volunteer your privacy for freedom or would people rather sacrifice their

freedom for their privacy. If so, how do we deal with the ethical issues involved with this

technology. This is where organizational leadership perspective comes in handy.

Organizational leadership will deal with ethical and moral issues by making sure that the

proper person is leading the cause with regard to human safety and concern. A leader that

will take human relations into considerations. Mark Lantonero states that “Adapting these

technologies and methods requires careful consideration of potential implications for civil

liberties, such as privacy and freedom of expression” (Lantonero, 2011).

Below is an additional literature review that may bring out additional information for

this case study:

Sarkara, S. (2015). Use of technology in human trafficking networks and sexual exploitation:

A cross-sectional multi-country study. Transnational Social Review: A Social Work

Journal. 5(1), 55-68.

Summary:

Dr Siddartha Sarkar is An economist and scientific researcher in Gender, Environment and

Sustainable Development; Post-doctoral Professorial Fellow in Several European and Asian

11Human Trafficking

Universities and Research Institutes; an Associate Professor in University Grants

Commission of India approved Government Aided College under University of North Bengal

and Founder Director of Asian School of Management and Technology (A Clearinghouse of

Knowledge and Information). This quantitative study attempted to address a gap in

knowledge through field surveys that took place in India, Nepal, Thailand, Hungary, and the

United Kingdom between 2010 and 2013. This research comprised face-to-face interviews

with a total number of 246 individuals in 5 countries, consisting of 97 female victims, 64

traffickers, and 85 clients. The interviews were designed to help understand the role of

technology such as the Internet, online social networking, and mobile phones in human

trafficking.

The phenomena that was related to the surveys was carried out using semi-structured

questionnaires to find out how victims used technological devices under pre- and post-

trafficking circumstances, how they advertised themselves, how diverse services and

technologies were used to trade in sexually exploited trafficked people, and how clients

explored, communicated, and paid for their sex transactions. The results showed that

traffickers and their networks made good use of sophisticated software in order to safeguard

their anonymity, make use of online storage and hosting services, and use advanced

encryption techniques to counteract digital forensic investigations by the police

STEP 7: Identify Conflict between Insights and Their Sources

First, one major problem that engineering technology could not approach relatively

easy are the ethical issues that may surface once allowing all the open data to go public not

only to other residents within the city but to state and federal governments as well. “A

planner has an ethical challenge to make sure all data is used in the best interest of a free

community. Maintaining the public trust also requires a planner to ensure that all community

members have equitable access to the information and benefits of their Smart City” (Mone,


2015) . Adding to that would be an issue with broadband. With so much information

generated by the technology in the smart cities the network might crash. “News headlines

routinely describe how health care, education, public safety, and government institutions are

being transformed by new information technologies that rely on high-speed communication

networks” (Kerns, 2015). If the networks end up crashing due to vast amounts of information

then it could also place a hold on the development of the city.

Secondly, not only will there be ethical issues but citizen interaction would also be cut

short. What need would a citizen have if the Smart city tells them everything they need to

know about where to go or when to go somewhere? And finally, without the ability to

interpret data and understand how and why it is collected, there is a serious risk that it will be

misinterpreted or ignored by city government employees as well any residents looking at the

data. Adding on to the conflict is a lack of understanding of the technology being deployed

by the city, lack of training could cause massive loss of data, time, and public interest in

developing the smart city.

Thirdly, since engineering technology and organizational leader do not share much in

common there is going to be a language gap that would cause problem across leaders of the

respective disciplines. Phenomena in each discipline is also handled very differently since the

phenomena would not be the same for the disciplines. For example, you wouldn’t expect

civic leader in the community fix a circuit that was designed to measure the moisture content

in the air and vice versa, you wouldn’t expect an engineering technologist to respond to an

ethical issue such as people feeling violated because they have their data and information out

in the public.

STEP 8: Create Common Ground

13Human Trafficking

One of the conflicts mentioned from step 7 is the ethical and moral issues that

engineering technology cannot take on its own. Luckily, organizational leadership steps in to

correct missing piece that engineering technology is missing to confront the problem.

Increasing training for leaders in order to be able to understand the technology and read the

data and see its useful such as being able to see the patterns that may come about from seeing

people movement in certain areas of the city. This training could be held by the engineers

who design and construct the technology that is used for the smart city.

These training classes will also help in terms of the language barrier that separates

engineering technology and organizational leadership. Engineering technology and

organizational leadership work well together because ones weakness is the others strength.

Imagine it like a quilt being put together, the strengths and weaknesses intertwine and weave

together to form something new, something warm, something that can take on the issue of

human trafficking from its newly found insight.

STEP 9: Construct a More Comprehensive Understanding

In considering the design, construction, and application of engineering technology,

how can we morally and ethically provide a reliable and inexpensive solution to combat

human traffickers and end human trafficking? The smart city approach can create a major

impact on the society with open data and endless possibilities of data collection, “It’s an

opportunity to stimulate innovation within the city” (Mone, 2015). In other words as stated

earlier, the city can utilize all open available data within framework and come up with

patterns from the receiving data which then can start to look for discrepancies such as looking

at the volume of people’s movement in different areas of the city or movement in a part of the

city that generally shows little to no movement and come to a conclusion of what the area is

more or less used or flag a irregularity to the authorities. For example, “…by working closely

with urban informatics groups at local universities, encouraging businesses to use the data on


pedestrian density to determine where to establish new shops…” However, although this

smart city initiative is compelling as it is innovative there are some phenomena that

engineering technology could not account for our look at from its own perspective. Here is

where Organizational Leadership comes into play with it broad perspective and unique view

based on group teamwork and leadership within the group. It constitutes the balance that it

can bring where engineering technology does not meet requirements.

First, one major problem that engineering technology could not approach relatively

easy are the ethical issues that may surface once allowing all the open data to go public not

only to other residents within the city but to state and federal governments as well. “A

planner has an ethical challenge to make sure all data is used in the best interest of a free

community. Maintaining the public trust also requires a planner to ensure that all community

members have equitable access to the information and benefits of their Smart City” (Mone,

2015) . Secondly, not only will there be ethical issues but citizen interaction would also be

cut short. What need would a citizen have if the Smart city tells them everything they need to

know about where to go or when to go somewhere? And finally, without the ability to

interpret data and understand how and why it is collected, there is a serious risk that it will be

misinterpreted or ignored by city government employees as well any residents looking at the

data. Some of the resolutions would be to make the data more user friendly and easier to read.

While the other resolution could call for training done on a mandatory timeframe to keep

those who read the data up on the latest advancements or progress of the smart city.

STEP 10: Communicating the Results

The integrative process provides a paradigm for producing an interdisciplinary

understanding of human trafficking, reflected in the twisted nature of the human condition

that thrives off of false power and financial benefits. The problem is very complex and cannot

be comprehended without taking into account the perspectives and insights of different

15Human Trafficking

disciplines. The unique contribution of the interdisciplinary approach is found in the second

part of the process, through the achievement of integration. Here, conflicts were found

between engineering technology based insights and organizational leadership based insights.

Because engineering technology does not account for ethical and moral issues, the situation is

complex. Creating common ground bridges the perspectives of engineering technology and

organizational leadership to achieve an understanding that no one discipline could produce.

The new insight could be a new degree with a combination of the technical work that

engineering technology brings combined with the human relations knowledge needed to

understand the value of group work and the communication within the group. The strengths

and weaknesses of this case study varied. However the main weakness that one insight lacked

the other had. Such as engineering technology lacking the problem solving skills of ethical

problems that organizational leadership has as well as organizational leadership lacking the

technical knowledge needed to fully understand the technology used. Future research can be

applied to looking into creating some new and fair ethical laws that protect a person’s right of

privacy as well as creating a stronger network that can handle the amount of data generated

by technology in the smart city.


ReferencesELŻBIETA M. GOŹDZIAK, P. (2008). Data and Research on Human Trafficking:

Bibliography of Research-Based Literature. INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 12-47.

Kerns, R. M. (2015). SMART CITIES AND SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE. American

Planning Association, 4-30.

Lantonero, M. (2011). Human Trafficking Online The Role of Social Networking Sites and

Online Classifieds. Center on Communication Leadership & Policy, 8-40.

Latonero, M. (2012). The Rise of Mobile and the Diffusion. Research Series on Technology

and Human Trafficking, 8-38.

Mone, G. (2015, July). The New Smart Cities. How urban information systems are slowly,

58(7), 20-21. doi:10.1145/2771297

Repko, A. (2008). Interdisciplinary research: Process and theory. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage,

217.

National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of

Medicine of the National Academies. (2005). Facilitating interdisciplinary

research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Newell, W. (Ed.). (1998). Interdisciplinarity: Essays from the literature. New York:

College Entrance Examination Board.

Sarkara, S. (2015). Use of technology in human trafficking networks and sexual exploitation:

A cross-sectional multi-country study. Transnational Social Review: A Social Work

Journal. 5(1), 55-68.

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Insights of Engineering Technology and Organizational Leadership on Human Trafficking