Module 3 Intercultural Communication Ethics and Competence

People’s talk indicates or displays their cultural membership. Culture  When you are anxious because of not knowing
is written not only in the language they speak but also the thoughts what you are expected to do, it is only natural to
the express and the assumptions they make. This explains why people focus on that feeling and nor be totally present in
have different communication behaviours, because they have the communication transaction.
different cultural backgrounds. This module will introduce you to the  Feeing conscious of being new and out of place,
different ethics and guidelines in intercultural communication. fear of making common mistakes and appearing
awkward to others.

2. Assuming Similarities instead of Differences

INTERCULTURAL communication
 When you have no idea about the new culture, the tendency
 pertains to communication among people with
is to assume that there are no differences and you behave as
different nationalities (Gudykunst, 2003) or
you would in your home culture.
people with different cultural backgrounds
 This can cause miscommunication. It is always best to ask
(Ting-Toomey,
rather than assume.
 is communication that is influenced by different
ethnicities, religions, and sexual orientations. 3. Ethnocentrism
ETHICS ACROSS CULTURE (KALE, 1997)  It refers to negatively judging aspects of another culture by
the standards of one’s own culture and believing in the
1. Ethical communicators address people of other cultures
superiority on one’s culture.
with the same respect that they would like to receive for
themselves. 4. Stereotypes
 Intercultural communicators should not be mean
or belittle the cultural identity of others through  Stereotype is the broader term commonly used to refer to
verbal or nonverbal communication. negative or positive judgements made about individuals
2. Ethical communicators seek to describe the world as they based on group membership or based on the behaviours of
perceive i as accurately as possible. What perceived to be some members of the group.
the truth may vary from one culture to another.
5. Prejudice
 This principle means that ethical communicators
do not mislead or deceive.  Prejudice refers to irrational/unjustified suspicion or hatred
3. Ethical communicators encourage people to express of a particular group, race, religion or sexual orientation.
themselves in their uniqueness.
 This principle respects the right of people to 6. Nonverbal as Barrier
express regardless of how popular or unpopular
the idea may be.  Just like language, nonverbal cues also differ from one
4. Ethical communicators strive for identification with people culture to another. The gestures may be the same, but the
of other cultures. meanings are different.
 They should emphasize the commonalities of  This difference usually leads to misinterpretations.
cultural beliefs and values rather than the  For example, Indians tilt their heads from side to side to
differences. express agreement or saying “yes”. This gesture, however,
shows disagreement or “no” among Filipinos.
5. Ethical communicators avoid hate speech and othering.
7. Language as Barrier
• Hate speech – includes threats or verbal slurs (insults) directed
against specific groups. This  When people speak different languages there is a great
possibility for miscommunication or failure of
may also include physical acts such as burning of cultural symbols or communication. Aside from problems in the differences in
vandalizing negative vocabulary items, there can also be problems caused by
inaccurate translations, idiomatic expressions, difference in
remarks about other cultures.
construct or structure of utterances and sentences, and even
• Othering – refers to the labelling and degrading of cultures outside experiential equivalence (if a concept/object does not exist
of one’s own, treating them as “others” or emphasizing that they are in one culture).
different.

APPROACH TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

BARRIERS TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION BY

1. Personality Strength –
BARNA (1997)
 this are personality traits that affect intercultural
1. ANXIETY communication such as selfconcept, self-disclosure, self-
monitoring, and social relaxation that will help individuals
 to express a friendly personality to make them competent in  are technological devices such as cell phones, ipods,
intercultural communication. laptops and other devices that are used to establish
and maintain relations
Self- Concept – refers to the way in which a person views the self.  The use of relational technologies develops unique
Self-disclosure – refers to the willingness to openly and meaning for particular social groups. Some groups
appropriately reveal information about themselves. view the cell phone less as a device to contact others
and more as a means of displaying social status and
Social relaxation – is the ability to reveal little anxiety in membership (Katz, 2006).
communication
The advent of computer-mediated communication has given man
2. Communication Skills greater freedom and heavier responsibility to survive in an online
 Individuals must be competent in verbal and nonverbal environment. While communication is easy, online environment has
behaviours which include message skills, (behavioural also posted issues on security, trust, and privacy.
flexibility and interaction management) and social skills
(empathy and identity maintenance).

Message Skills – refer to the ability to understand and use the ONLINE ACTIVITY:
language and feedback. Screen Names
 Behavioural flexibility – is the ability to select an  This is the term used to refer to the name a person uses
appropriate behaviour in diverse contexts. on screen or used in participating in chat
 Interaction management – emphasizes the person’s
ability to interact, such as attentiveness and responsiveness. rooms, playing games, uploading videos, leaving online comments,
and selling items online.
Social skills
 Screen names may or may not provide accurate
 Empathy – is the ability to think the same thoughts and representation of the person behind the screen. A
feel the dame emotions as the other person. person may select screen names based on how they
 Identity maintenance – is the ability to maintain a genuinely perceived themselves (e.g. shyguy21,
counterpart’s identity by accurately understanding that toughgirl, etc.) or may choose a screen name that
person’s identity. It also refers to ability to maintain one’s describes the traits they wish to establish and the
identity while dealing with others having different cultural personality they want to portray online. Freedom to
background. choose or create screen names expands opportunities
for online users to hide under different and fraudulent
3. Psychological Adjustment
identities and posts a threat for possible cyber crime.
 Effective communicators must be able to acclimate/
E-mail Address
adapt to new environments. They must be able to
handle the feeling of “culture shock, ” such as  the e-mail address may create a desired or undesired
frustration, stress, and alienation in ambiguous impression.
situations caused by new environments.  The e-mail address also reveals information whether it
is created for individual, organization, private or
Approach to Intercultural Communication
public use.
4. Cultural Awareness  It consists of the username, the domain name after the
@ symbol (google, yahoo, gmail, etc.), and the top-
 To be competent in intercultural communication, level domain after the dot (.) (.edu for educational
individuals must understand the social customs and the institutions, .com for company , .gov for government
social system of the host culture. Understanding how offices, and so on).
people think and behave is essential for effective
communication with them.

Technology and Communication Personal Web Pages and Blog

 Technology has made the world smaller, people  allow the creator to disclose only the information he or she
proximately closer, education more advanced and wishes.
communication a lot easier.  These sites may be devoted to specific aspects of the self,
 Technological devices play a vital role in the way such as interests, relationships, or any interesting activities
people communicate. In this module, you will be involving people. Content of these pages include pictures,
exposed to the various guidelines to be followed in videos, mash-ups, and posts about their thoughts, talents,
using technology to aid a good and effective and interests.
communication.
Social Networking Sites (SNS)
Relational Technologies
 sites allow people to connect with friends, families, and
others in an existing social network while establishing new
 connections and forming relationships with people from 4. Relationship and personal drama are best kept private.
around the world.
 Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and MySpace. 5. Uncomfortable information, such as one’s psychological issues or
a relative’s or friend’s fading health should be shared sparingly.
 used in making connections and building online community
such as group chat rooms and even group conferencing 6. Never share intimate personal details including birthdates, phone
applications. numbers, addresses, ID numbers, and

personal codes, to minimize the risk of becoming a victim of identity

theft.
Challenges in Mediated Communication
7. Avoid posting detailed information about your whereabouts, your
1. Leaner Messages
plans, and your current activities for they may become a magnet for
 Social scientists use the term richness to describe the possible crimes and dangers.
abundance of nonverbal cues that add clarity to a verbal
8. Always maintain professionalism.
message.
 Face-to-face communication is considered rich because it is  If you wouldn’t say it in a social or public setting, don’t say
aided by nonverbal cues that help communicators express it online.
and interpret the message better.
 Nonverbal cues can give a hint of the sincerity, seriousness, 9. Always be considerate of others, and treat them the way you’d
and feelings of the communicators. However, these are not wish to be treated.
present in text-based messages; that is why, it is considered
leaner. 10. Avoid bad-mouthing others online as it will also negatively
impact your image and others may judge you based on these actions.
2. Disinhibition
11. Maintain a positive attitude.
 In mediated communication, there is a tendency to transmit
uncensored messages where the communicator does not  Negativity, complaints, and condescending messages often
personally see the target of his/her remarks. reflect poorly on your character.

12. Bragging and self-aggrandizing statements should be avoided;

 It is easier to blurt out remarks that embarrass ourselves
and offend others in mediated communication than in face-  making them may cause you to lose your ‘real friends.
to-face one. People tend to be more direct-often in critical
way- when using mediated communication. 13. Avoid using vulgar language and derogatory remarks.

14. It is inappropriate to demand that others share your posts.

 Some even take disihibition to the extreme, blasting off 15. Reserve confidential discussions for private message threads.
angry e-mails, text messages, and postings. This act is
16. Poor spelling, punctuations, grammar and choice of words can
called flaming.
reflect poorly on you.
3. Permanence
 So, proofread all communications before sending or
One of the risks of mediated communication is permanence, posting.
especially for hostile or inappropriate messages. A regrettable text
message, e-mail, or web posting can be archived virtually forever. Guidelines in Becoming a Responsible SNS User
Even worse, it can be retrieved and forwarded. The book Netiquette 1. Understand that each social network has its own rules of conduct,
Essentials: New Rules for Minding your Manners in a Digital World, social norms and methods of
discusses the following guidelines:
interaction. Before utilizing one, take a moment to study how
1. Sharing extremely-opinionated viewpoints (on controversial topics, interactions are done, so you can discern
political issues, etc.) can make you
the appropriate ways of using your desired SNS.
an easy target for criticism.
2. Always assume that everything you post online can be seen by
 Think twice before posting or liking posts which can incite others, even privacy settings can suffer
and aggravate
breaches. It may also live on the internet permanently.
others. If you do not have anything nice to say, perhaps it is best to
say nothing at all. 3. Never share information that someone has shared with you in
confidence.
3. Posting embarrassing, revealing or negative photos of
yourself should be avoided at all costs. 4. Always log out of all your accounts after using, especially when
 Remember that the images you share may be taken as you are using somebody else’s phone or computer.
representative of your character.
5. You reserve the exclusive right to decline requests from strangers.
3. Never post photos of others without their permission Do not feel compelled to reply to messages or follow challenges or
requests from strangers. Also, respect others’ right to privacy. In case
you want to befriend a person you know but who doesn’t know you,
send a short message first explaining who you are and where you’ve
met.

6. Always consider how your actions will be perceived or how would

others react and feel before you post on their profiles or walls.

7. Use privacy settings to limit who can access your account and
view your posts and other information about you.