Ethics and Culture Specialist Flashcards
(26 cards)
- Summarise the key factors that may cause misunderstanding in intercultural communication? Use Zhu (2013) in your answer.
What is misunderstanding?
When a listener fails to make sense of what is going on
What types of misunderstanding are there in intercultural communication?
Inadequate linguistic proficiency
Pragmatic mismatch
Clash of styles
Mismatch in schemas and cultural stereotypes
Mismatch in contextualisation and framing
Explain inadequate linguistic proficiency
Participants use a shared language but with different skill levels. This can cause problems like:
Lexical problems → Some words are too difficult or uncommon
Mishearing → People hear the wrong word because of accents or pronunciation
Syntactic complexity → Long or complex sentences can be hard to follow
Explain pragmatic mismatch
People don’t understand the intended meaning of what is said
Pragmalinguistic failure → happens when the meaning sounds wrong or too direct/indirect to native speakers.
Sociopragmatic failure → happens when cultural rules (like politeness, formality, or status) are misunderstood.
Zhu also notes that people from different cultures express emotions (like anger or love) differently depending on which language they use. This can also cause misunderstandings
Explain clash of styles
Misunderstanding can also happen due to clashes in communication styles. Unlike language or grammar problems, these clashes are not always visible — they often happen over a longer conversation without any clear breakdown.
In the article they talk about an example with an Korean shopkeeper and an African-American customer who had very different speaking styles which caused tension even though no one said anything wrong
Explain mismatch in schemas and cultural stereotypes
Mismatch in schemas → lack of knowledge about the system and procedures
Cultural stereotypes → when we judge or misunderstand people based on generalizations about their culture. If we have negative stereotypes, we tend to look for evidence to confirm them
Explain mismatch in contextualisation and framing
Contextualisation → people use verbal and non-verbal cues to interpret meaning based on past experience.
There are different types of contextualisation cues for example
Prospody → how something is said (tone of voice)
Paralinguistic signs → pauses, hesitations, speed of speaking
Misunderstanding can happen when these cues are misinterpreted
- UNDP Paragon Regional Governance Programme (2004) examines several anti- corruption practices at the project level. Discuss their effectiveness in PM.
UNDP (2004) presents different ways to fight corruption in projects. These tools help make sure that projects are managed fairly and openly
Motivation
When staff are motivated and understand what is expected, they are more likely to act honestly.
Amnesties and plea bargains
Letting people avoid punishment if they tell the truth can help uncover serious corruption.
Social marketing
Campaigns and messages can change attitudes and make people less likely to accept corruption.
Laws, rules, and codes
Clear rules help people know what is right and wrong.
Management systems
Good systems and routines make it harder to cheat or misuse resources.
Monitoring and compliance
Regular checks and reviews help find problems early and stop them.
Increasing the risks
If people know they can get caught, they are less likely to take the risk.
Stings
Fake situations to test if someone will act corruptly can be useful, but must be done fairly.
Integrity tests
Test if staff act honestly in practice. Helps create a culture of trust.
Checklists
Help make sure everyone follows the same rules and nothing is forgotten
Discuss the several anti- corruption practices effectiveness in PM
These tools are effective in project management because they improve control, reduce risk, and help build an honest and reliable project environment
- PMI’s Ethical Decision-Making Framework (nd) is the best tool to use when dealing with an ethical dilemma. Evaluate providing examples from your project or beyond.
The framework describes steps that can be used when confronted with an ethical dilemma.
Way of deciding how to navigate the ethical dilemma that you have.
Divided into five parts.
Broad enough that it will apply to most situations.
Example from our project
In our project, we only included male students with an ethnic minority background, as this group has a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. This raised an ethical dilemma: Is it fair to exclude ethnic Danish students who may also be at risk?
PMI (our project) - assessment
We reviewed laws, values, and stakeholder expectations. It did not break any rules, but fairness to the other students was a concern.
PMI (our project) - alternatives
We considered including all students.
PMI (our project) - analysis
We found our decision would have the greatest positive impact without harming others. Would bring greater health benefits and raise awareness where it’s most needed.
