Ethics and culture in coaching – moving beyond a universal Western ethical code

Ethics is often presented from the perspective of a limited range of ethical precepts derived from classical philosophy and medical codes of conduct. Developing a code of conduct although not the first action taken by emerging professional bodies in coaching was certainly an early consideration. However, all the bodies in the field adopted the same approach of defining ethics in terms of an external code to which members were subject. In this chapter we will explore different approaches to the external code as a guide to practice and ideas emerging from different cultures to consider what an approach to ethics might include if founded in more diverse cultural contexts.