T.9 Force field analysis questions for IB Business Management

Arquitectura Quimbaya is an architecture practice in Bogotá, Colombia, with 46 employees. The managing partner, Camila Restrepo, proposes a four-day working week (32 hours, same pay). She asked the five partners to list the forces for and against the change and to score each from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong).

Table 1: Forces affecting the proposed four-day week, with scores

Chang Pa Sanctuary (CPS)

Read the resources and answer the questions that follow.

Chang Pa Sanctuary (CPS) is a social enterprise in Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, set up in 2012 by Ploy Wongsa. It cares for 14 elephants rescued from illegal logging and from begging on city streets. CPS employs 48 people, including 16 mahouts* from a local Karen community, whose families have worked with elephants for generations. Visitors pay for a package that includes a short elephant ride, feeding and bathing the elephants in the river. CPS reinvests its surplus in elephant care and in a school scholarship fund for mahouts’ children.

* mahout: a person who looks after, trains and works with one elephant.

Image: a young elephant spraying water in a shallow river while three visitors in CPS T-shirts laugh beside it. A banner on the bank reads “Chang Pa – where elephants come home”.

Resource 1 – Newspaper article from the *Northern Thailand Tourism Review*

Thailand’s elephant camps face a reckoning

Thailand has about 3 800 elephants in captivity, most of them in tourist camps. Animal welfare groups say that riding, bathing with tourists and performances cause stress and injury. International visitors are listening.

Table 1: Survey of international visitors to northern Thailand

Resource 2 – Social media posts from a visitor

Just left “Chang Pa Sanctuary”. Lovely staff, but a SANCTUARY that still sells rides?? A 40 kg seat on an elephant’s back is not rescue. Video below. [1/2]

To be fair, the elephants looked well fed and the mahouts clearly love them. But sanctuaries should lead, not follow. Please share before booking. (Shared 2 300 times) [2/2]

Resource 3 – Internal email from Ploy Wongsa to CPS’s managers

From: Ploy Wongsa, Founder

To: All managers

Subject: Our future model

We cannot ignore what is happening. Our main booking platform, which brings us 55 % of our visitors, will stop selling tickets for venues that offer riding or bathing from January 2027 (see the attached notice).

The consultant’s forecasts for an observation-only model are attached. We would need to build larger enclosures, walking trails and a viewing platform costing about THB 14 million. We have THB 6 million in reserves. Our bank would lend up to THB 10 million at 7 % a year.

The board is divided. Some want to stop rides now; some want to keep rides for one more season and stop bathing only; others want a phased change. I also need to know how our mahouts feel – without them there is no CPS.

CONFIDENTIAL: this email and any attachments are intended only for the named recipients.

Resource 4 – Interview with Saw Kwa Htoo, CPS’s head mahout

“My grandfather was a mahout and so was my father. Our elephants know only our voices. If there are no rides, will the company still need 16 mahouts? Many of us earn THB 3 000 a month in tips from riders – that is a lot for our families. I agree the seats are bad for the old elephants. But if the elephants walk freely in the forest with no rider, we must walk with them all day and keep visitors safe. That is harder work, and we would need to learn English to explain the elephants to guests.”

Resource 5 – Notice from CPS’s main booking platform to partner venues

From 1 January 2027 we will no longer list or sell tickets for attractions that offer elephant riding, bathing with elephants or elephant performances. Venues that move to observation-only experiences and pass an independent welfare audit will be shown with a “Responsible Wildlife” badge, which raises bookings by an average of 20 %.

Resource 6 – Extract from the consultant’s financial report

Table 2: CPS income and costs (THB million)

Total costs in 2025: elephant care 7.3; wages 9.6; platform commission 3.6; land lease and maintenance 5.1; marketing and other 4.4. The forecasts exclude the THB 14 million investment.

Waikato Valley Dairy (WVD) processes milk into milk powder for export, in a rural town in New Zealand. It runs its plant 16 hours a day. Demand from Asian markets is rising, so the managers are considering moving to 24-hour production with 12-hour rotating shifts. They scored the forces for and against the change from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong).

Table 1: Force field analysis of 24-hour production at WVD

Selge Data OÜ (SD)

Read the resources and answer the questions that follow.

Selge Data OÜ (SD) is a social enterprise in Tartu, Estonia, founded in 2019 by Merle Saar, whose son is autistic. It employs 70 autistic and other neurodivergent adults, many of whom had never had a job, to prepare data for artificial intelligence (AI) systems: labelling objects in images, cleaning databases and checking the quality of data. Many of its staff are exceptionally accurate at detailed, repetitive tasks. SD offers quiet workspaces, flexible hours and clear written instructions. Selge means “clear” in Estonian.

Image: a calm, softly lit office with sound-absorbing panels; a young man wearing noise-cancelling headphones draws precise boxes around cyclists and pedestrians in a street image on his screen. Wall sign: “Selge Data – different minds, precise data”.

Resource 1 – News article from *Baltic Tech Review*

AI is learning to label its own data – what happens to the labellers?

New AI tools can now pre-label most images automatically, leaving humans to check and correct them. Prices for data labelling are falling fast. At the same time, social media companies are hiring thousands of people to review harmful content, work that research has linked to anxiety and trauma. Some clients now require labelling firms to install software that records each worker’s screen and keystrokes.

Table 1: SD revenue, 2025 (EUR 000)

SD’s accuracy in independent tests: 99.2 %. Industry average: 96 %.

Resource 2 – Social media posts from Mihkel, an SD data specialist

Before SD, I had 40 job interviews and no offers. Interviews are hard for me. Here nobody cares about eye contact – they care that my labels are right. I have been employee of the month three times. [1/2]

Rumour that a client wants cameras and keystroke tracking on our computers. Being watched all the time makes my anxiety much worse. I hope SD says no. [2/2]

Resource 3 – Internal email from Merle Saar to SD’s management team

From: Merle Saar, Founder and CEO

To: Management team

Subject: Three decisions for next year

1. AI pre-labelling: our largest client, a self-driving-car developer, will pre-label images with AI from next year and pay us only to check and correct them – €0.08 per image instead of €0.20. Each image would take about 9 seconds instead of 30.

2. Content moderation: a social media company offers a contract worth €1.1 million a year to review reported posts and images, some of them violent or disturbing. It would need 40 extra staff.

3. Monitoring software: another client will only renew its contract (about €300 000 a year) if we install software that records screens and keystrokes and reports each worker’s speed.

Each worker can work about 1 400 hours a year.

CONFIDENTIAL: this email and any attachments are intended only for the named recipients.

Resource 4 – Survey of SD employees (64 replies)

Resource 5 – Interview with Dr Liis Kask, an occupational psychologist who advises SD

“Neurodivergent staff often excel at detail and consistency, but many are highly sensitive to stress, noise and sudden change. Constant monitoring and reviewing violent material are among the worst conditions for them. Checking AI output, finding the errors machines make, could suit them very well – it needs exactly the accuracy SD is known for.”

Resource 6 – Extract from a market report on AI data services

Hotel Ribeira Alta

[1] Hotel Ribeira Alta (HRA) is a privately held, four-star, 160-room hotel overlooking the river in Porto, Portugal. Its online reviews often praise the warm welcome from front-desk staff, many of whom have worked at the hotel for more than ten years.

[2] Operations manager Inês Carvalho proposes installing self-check-in kiosks in the lobby and offering mobile room keys through the hotel’s app. The number of front-desk staff would fall from 18 to 10, with the other 8 offered jobs in housekeeping or the restaurant. The system would cost €260 000 and save about €190 000 a year in labour costs.

[3] Inês has listed the forces for and against the change and given each a weighting from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong) after discussions with the senior management team (Table 1).

Table 1: Forces affecting the introduction of self-check-in kiosks and mobile keys

Moto Nziza Ltd (MN)

Read the resources and answer the questions that follow.

Moto Nziza Ltd (MN) is a social enterprise in Kigali, Rwanda, founded in 2021 by Grace Uwase, an electrical engineer, and Eric Habimana, a former moto-taxi driver. Motorbike taxis (“motos”) are the most common form of transport in Kigali, and most drivers rent their petrol motorbikes by the day from owners, leaving them little income. MN leases electric motorbikes to drivers on a lease-to-own basis: after 36 months of daily payments the driver owns the bike. Drivers swap empty batteries for charged ones at MN’s swap stations. Nziza means “good” or “beautiful” in Kinyarwanda.

Image: a moto-taxi driver in a green MN helmet and vest pulls into a battery-swap station on a busy Kigali street; an attendant slides a charged battery into the bike. Sign: “Moto Nziza – ride clean, own your future”.

Resource 1 – News article from *The Kigali Business Times*

Kigali plans the switch to electric motos

Kigali has about 30 000 moto-taxis, which are a major source of air pollution and noise. The city plans to stop registering new petrol moto-taxis from 2027 and has removed import taxes on electric motorbikes. Drivers’ associations support cleaner air but warn that many drivers fear the new technology. MN has 1 200 drivers and 18 swap stations.

Resource 2 – Social media posts from two drivers

Jean-Paul, MN driver: Eight months with my MN bike. No more queuing for petrol, no more oil changes, and I take home more money every day. In 28 months the bike is mine! My children see me as a businessman now. [1/2]

Innocent, petrol driver: I tried an electric moto for one day. The battery ran low in Kicukiro and the nearest swap station had a queue of eight drivers – I lost two hours of customers. And who will buy my old bike if petrol is banned? [2/2]

Resource 3 – Internal email from Grace Uwase to MN’s board

From: Grace Uwase, CEO

To: Board of directors

Subject: Getting drivers to switch

We want 6 000 drivers on MN bikes within three years. Many drivers like the idea but do not switch. To make the change happen we need to tackle what holds them back:

• add 42 swap stations (to 60) at about RWF 25 million each – a development bank has offered a green loan;

• a free one-week trial for interested drivers;

• a trade-in scheme that buys drivers’ petrol bikes (where they own them) to reduce the first payments;

• training “MN champions” – experienced MN drivers who explain the bikes to others at moto stands.

CONFIDENTIAL: this email and any attachments are intended only for the named recipients.

Resource 4 – Daily costs and income of a typical moto-taxi driver (RWF)

RWF = Rwandan francs. Drivers work about 26 days a month.

Resource 5 – Survey of petrol moto-taxi drivers in Kigali (400 replies)

Resource 6 – Interview with the chair of a moto-taxi drivers’ co-operative

“Drivers are not against change – they are afraid of losing a day’s income. Most live day to day. If one driver at a stand switches and does well, the others follow. But one bad story spreads faster than ten good ones. MN must make sure there is always a charged battery within two kilometres.”