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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.
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Human Trafficking
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 study.
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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
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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 done.
The broadness of these questions give rise to the assumption of multiple disciplines. For
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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
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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
provide information that can be relevant to finding a solution for human trafficking. An
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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,
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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
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
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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.
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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
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
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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.
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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
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.
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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.
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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
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.
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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.
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References
ELŻBIETA 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.
