Test your knowledge.
#2. How does cultural context affect communication?
Cultural context affects communication greatly because cultures in one country differ from cultures in another country. There are two kinds of cultural context; high-context culture and low-context culture. “In a high-context culture people rely less on the explicit content of the message and more on the context of the nonverbal actions and environmental setting to convey meaning” (Bov`ee pg 11). In a simpler way this means that high-context cultures focus on nonverbal cues and are very affectionate versus low-context cultures focus on verbal cues. “In a low-context culture people rely more on the explicit content of the message and less on circumstances and cues to convey meaning” (Bov`ee pg 11).
#3. Define ethics and explain what ethical communication encompasses.
Ethics is not just doing what is right and wrong but it is doing what is right and wrong morally. If a teacher decides to give a student an undeserved grade in the class in exchange for money, that is not ethical but it is ethical for a ...
Ethics is the study of values and how right and wrong action is defined (Cooper, 1998).
According to the textbook a high context culture is, “Culture in which people derive much information from nonverbal and environmental.” In high context culture the nonverbal and the environment are vital when it comes to communication with other people in that culture. Low context culture is, “Culture in which people derive much information from the words of a message and less information from nonverbal and environment.” Low context culture, words are more essential than the nonverbal
When this class first began, I questioned my understanding of ethics. Was it simply breaking the law? Was it an action or inaction against a written policy? Did it only involve hurting others or could you perform an unethical act against yourself. These thoughts led me to the dictionary where I sought the definition of ethics. Dictionary.com defines ethics as “that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.” This definition directed me to consider my ethical behavior. Had I acted unethically in the past? I will answer that question later.
Ethics is a doing and learning experience which causes us as humans to keep an open mind to change. Generally, ethics ask us to live mindfully, to think how we act and even how we feel or do things, which can change the outcome. Sometimes we go down certain roads, which may be harder or make things more complicated or complex instead of making an easier option we just take the easier way out, usually the way that calls for
Ethics are the set beliefs and values of an individual which they apply to circumstances relating to morality. To act in an ‘ethical’ manner, an individual must display integrity by doing what they believe to be right.
When you hear the word "ethics," what is the first thing that comes to mind? Having to make the decision of doing what is right versus doing what is wrong. Some idealists say that decisions of ethics should not be conditional. However, that is not as simple as it may sound. What constitutes "right" to one person may be "wrong" to anther; what clearly distinguishes the line between right and wrong? What some may look at as being unethical does not necessarily make it illegal.
[1] Ethics is defined as “the code of moral principles and values that governs the behaviour of a person or a group with respect to what is right or wrong” (Samson and Daft, 2005, p.158)
Culture has always been a driving force in understanding nonverbal communication as nonverbal communication is highly influenced by the cultural differences as the context of the culture defines how the communication/message is interpreted in certain cultures. “Communication occurs within a context but the context is particularly important in relation to non-verbal communication” (Tyler, Kossen & Ryan, 2005, p.185). Culture defines the messages perceived by the non-verbal communication. For instance, proxemics. “Proxemics refers to the spatial relationship or how we use space.” (Tyler, Kossen & Ryan, 2005, p.190) Culture plays an important role in defining the use of one’s personal space in the nonverbal communication process. For example, in North America people usually remain at a distance from one another when talking while Latin American people stay very close when talking. (Wood, 2009). This defines the use of the privacy or personal space in two different cultures. H...
According to the Interplay textbook, one of the characteristics of low context culture is that “the majority of information is carried in explicit verbal messages,” in contrast to high context cultures in which “important information is carried in contextual cues such as time, place, relationship, situation.” This difference can cause clashes while communicating. For instance, Sarah as a low context culture individual was asking for directions to get to Ceccé 's place and the Corsican men as high context culture individual was giving her a cue by pointed to the road that she had to drive in order to get to Ceccé’s place. Although Sarah understood what he means, she was initially afraid that she was in the wrong
“Ethics are defined as a set of principles of right conducts; the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession” ( Dictionary of the Human Language, 2000). Teachers are often put in situations that require more than just knowing the basic school rules. It is within these situations, that the ethical dilemmas occur. There is not always a right way to deal with many daily problems that face educators, but there are ways to handle situations that are better then others.
When asked what is the definition of ethics, many responded that being moral meant doing the right thing. But how can we justify what is a good action and what is a bad action? All humans were created equal, but our principles, and ways of thinking can be extremely different. Some may say doing the right thing means following your heart, your inner feelings and intuition. But emotions can be misleading. Others say in order to do what is the morally right thing means to follow the law and do what is right by society, to be accepted. But today’s society is judgmental and can be corrupted with numerous opinions due to the diversity of cultures. So what does it mean to be ethical? Being ethical means doing what is right in terms of virtues, fairness, duties, responsibilities, obligations, and moral believes all which derived from cultures and family backgrounds.
Therefore, it is essential to study nonverbal and verbal communication Nonverbal communication is all forms of communication other than words themselves, which includes “body motions; vocal qualities; and the use of time, space, and even smell” (Neuliep, 2011, p. 269). On the other hand verbal communication or language “consists of symbols in the form of spoken or written words (Wood, 2014, p. 67). Thus cultures have different representations of symbols and what one culture interprets another may define or view differently. Communication is closely related to culture because communication expresses and alters culture. In a culture you learn behaviors and acceptable ideologies. This can be seen in verbal and nonverbal communication. For example, the tone of your voice is based on culture. Without communication you are unable to establish cultural differences. Your own culture directly shapes how one communicates, such as when it is appropriate to make eye contact. We are not born knowing when and how we should speak; this is a learned behavior that is taught by interaction with others. This is not an easy task because nonverbal signals differ from culture to culture. Charles Braithwaite stated, “One of the fundamental components of cultural and linguistic competence is knowing how and when to use silence as a communication tactic” (Neuliep, 2011, p. 64). Before one can communicate effectively one must understand the context in which the culture exchanges information. One must have a working awareness of how each society conveys meaning, hence high vs. low context cultures. According to the Central Michigan University text, organizational dynamics and human behavior (2009), to become a successful international manager one must develop “cross-cultural skills”. One part of the skill set involves the comprehension of the difference between high-context and low-context
Ethics is simply doing the right thing. In the business situation ethics are the moral concept of a firm getting through it organizational duties ethically.
When I think of ethics, I think of the angel on my left shoulder telling me to do the “right” thing, and the devil on my right, tempting me to join the dark side. This scenario deals with what is “right” or what is “wrong” and where my morals will lie in the end. But who is to say what is right and wrong? Ethics is such a trivial word because every person, company, and culture has a different idea of what is considered ethical or what is considered unethical. Throughout this paper, I will address my personal view on ethics, and how I believe it effects the workplace and today’s society.
Ethics is all about the right or wrong behavior in appropriate circumstances. It depends on certain assumption, such the right behavior of self-rule and the right behavior to life. Ethics are divided into two: