Understanding Intercultural Communication Second Edition

1. Understanding Intercultural Communication Second Edition Chapter 12 How Can We Become Ethical Intercultural Communicators? Stella Ting-Toomey & Leeva C. Chung OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS PowerPoint Slides Designed by Alex Flecky and Noorie Baig

2. TODAY’S MENU I. Intercultural Communication Ethics: Contemporary Issues II. Multiple Ethical Positions: Assessing Pros and Cons III. Becoming Ethical and Flexible Intercultural Communicators

3. I. Intercultural Communication Ethics: Contemporary Issues Ethics: set of principles of conduct that governs behavior of individuals and groups; a set of standards that uphold the community’s expectations concerning “right” and “wrong” conduct.

4. I. Intercultural Communication Ethics: Contemporary Issues Discussion Questions: • From where did you learn your ethical position? • Does it differ from that of the larger culture to which you belong? How?

5. I. Intercultural Communication Ethics: Contemporary Issues Global Standard Procedure and Local Justice Issues: Five-phase ethical decision-making model: • Problem recognition • Information search • Construction of alternatives • Decision making choice • Implementation

6. I. Intercultural Communication Ethics: Contemporary Issues Media Activity: Click here to view the Kenyan tradition of ‘beading’ Discussion Questions: • Can you apply the five-phase ethical decision-making model to this ethical dilemma? • Can you brainstorm some creative alternative solutions for this dilemma? • How would you go about approaching traditional Kenyans to explain your views of their practice?

7. I. Intercultural Communication Ethics: Contemporary Issues B. Corporate Responsibility and Local Customary Practice Ethical algorithm formula for local cultural hiring practices. • Two conflict types: moral reasoning (a) related to and (b) not related to economic development in country. • Two questions: • (1) Is it possible to conduct business successfully without undertaking the practice? and • (2) Is practice a violation of fundamental international human rights?

8. I. Intercultural Communication Ethics: Contemporary Issues C. Cultural Value Clash & Communication Preference • “Universalistic” or “impartial” value orientation: believe a set of consistent rules should apply to all individuals, regardless of relationship types or circumstances. • “Particularistic” value orientation: nature of relationship or situation guides decision.

9. II. Multiple Ethical Positions: Assessing Pros and Cons Three ethical positions used to assess ethical violations in diverse cultures: A. Ethical Absolutism Position B. Ethical Relativism Position C. Ethical Universalism Position

10. II. Multiple Ethical Positions: Assessing Pros and Cons A. Ethical Absolutism Position • Emphasizes principles of right and wrong (good and bad behavior) in accordance with a set of assumed universally fixed standards regardless of cultural differences. • Universality: one set of consistent standards guides behavior on a global level, and cultural context is minimized. The standards, however, are often reflective of dominant or power-holder cultural group lens.

11. II. Multiple Ethical Positions: Assessing Pros and Cons B. Ethical RelativismPosition • Emphasizes the importance of understanding cultural context and its underlying traditions, beliefs, and value patterns in judging conduct. • Relativists emphasize that ethical/unethical practices should be understood from cultural insiders’ viewpoint.

12. II. Multiple Ethical Positions: Assessing Pros and Cons C. Ethical Universalism Position • Emphasizes importance of deriving inclusiveuniversal ethical standards and then placing ethical judgments against these derived, all-encompassing standards. • Judgments require knowledge about underlying similarities across cultures and about the unique features of a culture and involve collaborative dialog, open attitudes, and hard work from all cultural/ethnic and marginalized groups and voices.

13. II. Multiple Ethical Positions: Assessing Pros and Cons

14. II. Multiple Ethical Positions: Assessing Pros and Cons D. Meta-Ethics Contextualism Position: An Alternative 4th Position: Meta-ethics: ethical way of thinking that transcends particular ideologies; the application of ethics is understood only through systematic analysis of the multiple layers of the ethical dilemma • Strength: emphasizes fact-finding and layered interpretations, takes into serious consideration importance of culture, context, persons, etc. • Problem: time-consuming approach

15. III. Becoming Ethical and Flexible Intercultural Communicators A meta-ethical decisionis a discovery process—into our own values, inconsistencies—and prompts us to gather multiple-level information. • Can you think of creative solutions other than the ones investigated? • Is there a way to prevent similar ethical dilemmas or pressures from arising in the future in this culture?

16. III. Becoming Ethical and Flexible Intercultural Communicators B. Becoming Flexible: Final Passport Do-Ables • Practice parallel thinking. • Responsibility for peace lies with each of us—starts with inner peace. • Dynamic flexibility: integrating knowledge, open-minded attitude, culture-sensitive skills, and communicating ethically with culturally dissimilar others.

17. Final Parting Thoughts… An intercultural life is a creative life that demands both playfulness and mindfulness in transforming one’s intercultural journey into a discovery process. ~ Stella Ting-Toomey & Leeva Chung