Question 1: I think Caleb’s communication is both ethical and unethical. I think it is ethical in that he himself perceived it as ethical because he did not know the proper term nor was he referring to all Hispanics in a derogatory manner. Growing up in West Virginia, a predominantly Caucasian state, Caleb was not exposed to such cultural diversity and thus had no one to tell him that his language would be offensive in the workplace. Caleb simply used the language his peers used in a non-racist or hateful manner; he just did not know he would be offensive to some people. With this, Caleb expressed a low level of cultural competence, “the level of knowledge a person has about others who differ in some way in comparison with himself or herself”
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Individuals can be subject to more diversity training, enrollment in ethics courses or, in the most extreme cases, if it persists, termination of his / her job. In Caleb’s situation, his employer(s) should take him through diversity and ethics training in order to widen his cultural diversity awareness, cultural competence, and perception checking. As stated in Brenda Allen’s writing, “[m]any [workplaces] are providing diversity training programs or workshops to help their members understand and address diversity issues to build stronger organizational communities” (Allen, p. 5). Because this was Caleb’s first blunder with ethical communication, he should not receive strict punishment, instead, he should be subject to diversity training programs, in order to better his professional communication and cultural …show more content…
Our textbook defines this process as requiring “you to monitor your own verbal and nonverbal cues, in addition to the cues from the audience with each communication interaction” (Quintanilla, Wahl, p. 22). Caleb could have used this part of KEYS by understanding that he is in a more diverse environment and thus subject to different rules of communication and appropriate language. If Caleb understood this, he should have been proactive in asking whether his language would be perceived as hateful and asked what a more acceptable term would when referring to those of Hispanic descent. As Dr. Allen stated, “we learn communication styles and rules based on our membership in certain groups, and we communicate with other people based on how we have been socialized about ourselves and about them” (Allen, p. 16). Because Caleb grew up using the term Mexican to refer to all Hispanics, he was socialized that this was not offensive language. Because of this social construct, Caleb was unaware that thus language would be perceived as negative when communicating and interacting with
Individuals can be subject to more diversity training, enrollment in ethics courses or, in the most extreme cases, if it persists, termination of his / her job. In Caleb’s situation, his employer(s) should take him through diversity and ethics training in order to widen his cultural diversity awareness, cultural competence, and perception checking. As stated in Brenda Allen’s writing, “[m]any [workplaces] are providing diversity training programs or workshops to help their members understand and address diversity issues to build stronger organizational communities” (Allen, p. 5). Because this was Caleb’s first blunder with ethical communication, he should not receive strict punishment, instead, he should be subject to diversity training programs, in order to better his professional communication and cultural …show more content…
Our textbook defines this process as requiring “you to monitor your own verbal and nonverbal cues, in addition to the cues from the audience with each communication interaction” (Quintanilla, Wahl, p. 22). Caleb could have used this part of KEYS by understanding that he is in a more diverse environment and thus subject to different rules of communication and appropriate language. If Caleb understood this, he should have been proactive in asking whether his language would be perceived as hateful and asked what a more acceptable term would when referring to those of Hispanic descent. As Dr. Allen stated, “we learn communication styles and rules based on our membership in certain groups, and we communicate with other people based on how we have been socialized about ourselves and about them” (Allen, p. 16). Because Caleb grew up using the term Mexican to refer to all Hispanics, he was socialized that this was not offensive language. Because of this social construct, Caleb was unaware that thus language would be perceived as negative when communicating and interacting with