ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a story passed on at various meetings associated with intercultural trainers. It focuses on the idea of ethics in intercultural settings, including the types of issues. First, a general discussion of ethics and six general approaches to making ethical decisions will be considered. Second, it considers the nature of the connection between communication and ethics. The chapter then reviews the relationship between ethics and culture as it is revealed in the universalism/relativism debate. Ethics refers to the means or moral standards by which actions may be judged good or bad, right or wrong. Trainers' detailed six different golden approaches to ethical decision-making: the golden purse, golden mean, golden public, golden law, golden consequence, and golden rule. Each of these provides a rationale that people may use in evaluating their interactions with others. Finally, trainers suggest three ethical principles that they believe helps in developing intercultural relationships that can improve the quality of life for everyone involved.
