Ethical Engineering: Definitions, Theories and Techniques - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 39

Known to you Unknown to you

Known to
others

2. Unseen

1. Open

Self-disclosure Insight

Unknown to
others

3. Hidden 4. Unknown

Fig. 2.3 The Johari window

Quadrant 1: The open quadrant: behaviour and issues are known to the self and
others. This is the quadrant that each of us opens to the world and is the basis of
most interactions that we willingly display.
Quadrant 2: The unseen quadrant: issues and behaviours which others see but which
I do not. Actions here will be seen in the public gaze - I will be aware of some
actions (in quadrant 1) and unaware that I am displaying other things (quadrant
2). For example, an engineer may not realise that they have inadvertently used a
racist or disablist expression to another colleague. How the colleague points this
out and how the engineer reacts will infl uence how the engineer learns about that
part of their behaviour of which they were previously unaware.
Quadrant 3: The 'hidden' quadrant: things I know about myself but which I am
unwilling to convey to others. If I disclose issues in this quadrant, then they move
from here to quadrant 1, reducing the quadrant's 'size'.
Quadrant 4: The unknown quadrant is something we may get insights into through
dreams, psychological counselling and in other ways. This window does contrib-
ute to our behaviour, but no-one, including ourselves, is aware of the deep issues
involved.

The Johari window can be used in a work group to raise important ethical issues,
maintaining them within their local, intersubjective, context.

3.1.4 Johari Window in Localised Ethical Discourse

A group of engineers and/or other professionals who wish to explore their own
ethical positions can participate in a workshop with an experienced facilitator and
use the Johari window to gain potentially deep insights into their own and others'
viewpoints. The workshop will be most effective when major stakeholders and/or a
variety of perspectives are brought into the discourse.
As far as possible, a 'safe space' should be created for all participants to enable
them to talk about personal viewpoints and experiences. Practical barriers to doing
this, including the power imbalances between participants, should be recognised. A
number of organisations have what are often called safer spaces policies (Whitzman