Language Management

Natalie Victoria Wilmot

Description

Seeks to understand how British organisations make decisions about language diversity in their professional communications

This book draws on case studies of language management within British organisations to examine the decisions they make about language diversity in their professional communications in order to be successful in a multilingual world. It explores the practices that the organisations use to manage language diversity in interorganisational relationships, and why certain practices occur in some situations and not others. The book highlights how organisations rely on individual employees to perform a variety of language tasks and the implications of this; the effect of English as a global lingua franca; and the translation challenges which organisations face. The book demonstrates that practices to manage language diversity are often a result of the resources organisations have at given moments in time, rather than being part of a deliberate language management strategy.

Figures and Tables

Chapter 1. Introduction 

Chapter 2. Organisational Language Management Practices 

Chapter 3. Managing Language Diversity as an SME

Chapter 4. Overcoming Language Barriers through the Use of Boundary Spanners

Chapter 5. Translation and the Challenge of Meaning

Chapter 6. BELF and its Malcontents

Chapter 7. Conclusion

Appendix

References

Index

Sujets

• Business Communication
• Marketing et communication
• Idioma inglés
• Linguistics
• International business
• Multilingualism
• Professional
• Postgraduate education
• General officer
• Sociolinguistics
• English
• Economics
• Business
• General
• Research
• Postgraduate
• International
• Anglais

Informations

• Publié par: Channel View Publications
• Date de parution: 12 août 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781800415942
• Langue: English

Extrait

Language Management
LANGUAGE AT WORK
Series Editors : Jo Angouri, University of Warwick, UK and Rebecca Piekkari, Aalto University Business School, Finland
Language at Work is a new series designed to bring together scholars interested in workplace research. The modern workplace has changed significantly in recent years. The international nature of business activities and the increasing rate of mobility around the world create a new, challenging environment for individuals and organisations alike. The advancements in technology have reshaped the ways employees collaborate at the interface of linguistic, national and professional borders. The complex linguistic landscape also results in new challenges for health care systems and legal settings. This and other phenomena around the world of work have attracted significant interest; it is still common, however, for relevant research to remain within clear disciplinary and methodological boundaries.
The series aims to create space for exchange of ideas and dialogue and seeks to explore issues related to power, leadership, politics, teamwork, culture, ideology, identity, decision making and motivation across a diverse range of contexts, including corporate, health care and institutional settings. Language at Work welcomes mixed-methods research and will be of interest to researchers in linguistics, international management, organisation studies, sociology, medical sociology and decision sciences.
All books in this series are externally peer-reviewed.
Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be found on http://www.multilingual-matters.com , or by writing to Multilingual Matters, St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK.
LANGUAGE AT WORK: 6
Language Management
From Bricolage to Strategy in British Companies
Natalie Victoria Wilmot
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS
Bristol • Jackson
DOI https://doi.org/10.21832/WILMOT5928
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Names: Wilmot, Natalie Victoria, author.
Title: Language Management: From Bricolage to Strategy in British Companies /Natalie Victoria Wilmot.
Description: Bristol; Jackson: Multilingual Matters, [2022] | Series: Language at Work: 6 | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: “This book draws on case studies of language management within Britishorganisations to examine the decisions they make about language diversity in their professional communications in order to be successful in a multilingual world”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022019707 (print) | LCCN 2022019708 (ebook) | ISBN 9781800415928 (hardback) | ISBN 9781800415942 (epub) | ISBN 9781800415935 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Language in the workplace—Great Britain. | Communication in organizations—Great Britain. | English language—Business English. | Multilingual communication—Great Britain. | Organizational behavior—Great Britain.
Classification: LCC HF5549.5.L3 W56 2022 (print) | LCC HF5549.5.L3 (ebook) | DDC 658.4/50941—dc23/eng/20220622
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022019707
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022019708
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-80041-592-8 (hbk)
Multilingual Matters
UK: St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK.
USA: Ingram, Jackson, TN, USA.
Website: www.multilingual-matters.com
Twitter: Multi_Ling_Mat
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/multilingualmatters
Blog: www.channelviewpublications.wordpress.com
Copyright © 2022 Natalie Victoria Wilmot.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.
The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable forests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy, preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification. The FSC and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certification has been granted to the printer concerned.
Typeset by Nova Techset Private Limited, Bengaluru and Chennai, India.
Printed and bound in the UK by the CPI Books Group Ltd.
For my nana, Doris Hunt,
who helped me to take the first steps
on the journey to this book many years ago
when she taught me how to read.
Contents
Figures and Tables
1 Introduction
Introduction
The Nature of Language
Language and Interorganisational Relationships
The Contribution of Translation Studies
Structure of the Book
2 Organisational Language Management Practices
Introduction
Language Management Practices
Translation
Language Skills in the UK
The Linguistic Environment for SMEs in the UK
Conclusion
3 Managing Language Diversity as an SME
Introduction
AirCo
MagneticCo
AgriCo
ToolCo
Conclusion
4 Overcoming Language Barriers through the Use of Boundary Spanners
Introduction
Recruiting for Language Skills
Individuals Acting as Boundary Spanners in SMEs
How Boundary Spanners Feel about Language Work
How Boundary Spanners Perform Language Work
Boundary Spanners and Social Relationships
External Boundary Spanners
Conclusion
5 Translation and the Challenge of Meaning
Introduction
Boundary Spanners and Translation Activities
Google Translate
External Non-Professional Translators
Professional Language Services
Intersemiotic Translation
Translation Quality
Conclusion
6 BELF and its Malcontents
Introduction
Hierarchies of English
Subjectification and Resistance
Perceptions on BELF by English Native Speakers
Linguistic Perspective Taking
The Bright Side of English
Conclusion
7 Conclusion
Introduction
Strategy or Bricolage?
Translation and Translators
Opportunity Recognition and Relationship Maintenance
Power
Managerial Implications
Conclusion
Appendix
Sampling
Semi-Structured Interviews
Observation
Document Analysis
Analytical Procedure
Individual and Cross-Case Analysis
Research Ethics
References
Index
Figures and Tables
Figures 1
Figure 3.1 Supply chain relationships among the case organisations
Figure 3.2 Language management practices at AirCo
Figure 3.3 Language management practices at MagneticCo
Figure 3.4 Language management practices at AgriCo
Figure 3.5 Language management practices at ToolCo
Figure 6.1 BELF and the circles of English
Figure 6.2 Pyramid of Englishes
Tables
Table 2.1 Summary of language management practices
Table A.1 Summary of data collection
Note
( 1 ) Figures reproduced from Wilmot, N.V. (2017) Management of language diversity in international supply chain relationship of UK SMEs. Unpublished PhD thesis, Sheffield Hallam University.
1 Introduction
Introduction
Companies deal with language differences every day. They cope, the world continues to turn. How they do so, however, remains largely absent from the literature. (Maclean, 2006: 1377)
In the decade and a half since Maclean wrote these words, the landscape of scholarly work dealing with language management in international business (IB) has changed dramatically. It can no longer be considered as ‘the forgotten factor’ (Marschan et al. , 1997) or the ‘orphan of the management literature’ (Feely & Harzing, 2002). It has emerged from the shadows of culture, and become established as a legitimate, distinct field of study in its own right (Brannen et al. , 2014).
There is now a rapidly growing field that is broadly defined as ‘language-sensitive international business research’, which has mainly been concerned with ‘how linguistic diversity permeates internal communication and management processes and affects the ability of multinational corporations (MNCs) to operate as single entities in pursuit of their overall strategy’ (Karhunen et al. , 2018: 980). Accordingly, there is a now a significant corpus of empirical studies which variously consider issues such as language effects in: HQ-subsidiary relationships (Barner-Rasmussen & Bjorkman, 2007; Feely & Harzing, 2003); mergers and acquisitions (Cuypers et al. , 2015; Kroon et al. , 2015; Vaara et al. , 2005); multinational and multilingual teams (Kassis-Henderson, 2005; Hinds et al. , 2014; Steyaert et al. , 2011; Tenzer & Pudelko, 2017); leadership (Tenzer & Pudelko, 2015); and the impact of language skills on career progression (Itani et al. , 2015; Yamao & Sekiguchi, 2015).
However, there is a gap in the literature with regard to the question of foreign language diversity when it occurs in inter- rather than intra-organisational relationships (Cuypers et al. , 2015). This is largely due to the emphasis of the field on MNCs, and thus the linguistic diversity that exists in various forms of intra-organisational relationships within them. The lack of empirical work on interorganisational relationships has correspondingly meant that there has been relatively little attention paid to the language management practices of smaller organisations, the majority of whose international relationships tend to be interorganisational, and involve working with customers or suppliers in international locations.
Although there have been a small number of studies concerned with the management of linguistic diversity in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and thus in the practices that can be used to manage linguistic diversity in interorganisational relationships (e.g. Asasongtham & Wichadee, 2014; Chiocchetti, 2018; Crick, 1999; Incelli, 2008; Knowles et al. , 2006), the operations of any type of organisation other than MNCs have largely been overlooked in terms of the academic literature (Angouri & Piekkari, 2018). This is despite the fact that organisations that face lan