Notes from 53rd International STC Conference
Las Vegas, Nevada, May 7-10, 2006

Ethical and Intercultural Challenges for Technical Communicators and Managers in a Shrinking Global Marketplace
Round-Table Presentation within Progression, "Winning Management: Managing People and Careers"

Dan Voss, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control
Dr. Madelyn Flammia, University of Central Florida

Presented by Dan Voss, based on an article to appear in Technical Communication co-authored by Voss and Flammia.

Session Description: The presenter discussed five ethical tenets that pertain to intercultural and multinational communication: legality, privacy, teamwork, social responsibility, and cultural sensitivity. The presentation included examples of how to avoid the pitfalls of ethnocentrism, stereotyping, and tokenism in verbal and non-verbal communication products that are designed to reach diverse audiences.

Note: Since I was the presenter, I did not record notes at this session. However, you may explore the subject by accessing the paper published in the Proceedings, the tabletop presentation from the progression, and other resource materials at the links listed below.

• Paper in Proceedings, "Ethical and Intercultural Challenges for Technical Communicators and Managers in a Shrinking Global Marketplace"
• Tabletop presentation, "Ethical and Intercultural Challenges for Technical Communicators and Managers in a Shrinking Global Marketplace"
• "Guidelines in Intercultural Communication for Technical Communicators" (handout)
• "Guidelines in Intercultural Communication for Documentation Managers" (handout)
• Watch for an in-depth research article with the same title in the May 2007 edition of Technical Communication.