Crossing Borders: In Research and Business Communication

Authors: E. Podhovnik

Abstract:

Cultures play a role in business communication and in research. At the example of language in international business, this paper addresses the issue of how the research cultures of management research and linguistics as well as cultures as such can be linked. After looking at existing research on language in international business, this paper approaches communication in international business from a linguistic angle and attempts to explain communication issues in businesses based on linguistic research. Thus the paper makes a step into cross-disciplinary research combining management research with linguistics.

Keywords: Language in international business, sociolinguistics, ethnopragmatics, cultural scripts.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1099944

References:

[1] A. Harzing, “Language in International Business”, 2012, www.harzing.com (http://www.harzing.com/program5.htm) (28 November 2014).
[2] R. Marschan, D. Welch, and L. Welch, “Language: The Forgotten Factor in Multinational Management”, The European Management Journal, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 591-598, 1997.
[3] A. Feely and A. Harzing, “Language management in multinational companies”, Cross-cultural Management: An International Journal, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 37-52, 2003.
[4] D. Welch, L. Welch and R. Piekkari, “Speaking in Tongues. The Importance of Language in International Management Processes”, International Journal of Management and Organisation, vol. 35, no. 1, 2005.
[5] H. Tenzer, M. Pudelko and A. Harzing, “The Impact of Language Barriers on Trust Formation in Multinational Teams”, accepted for Journal of International Business Studies, October 2013.
[6] R. Fredriksson, W. Barner-Rasmussen and R. Piekkari, “The multinational corporation as a multilingual organization”, Cross-cultural Management: An International Journal, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 406-423, 2006.
[7] D. Maclean, “Beyond English: Transnational corporations and the strategic management of language in a complex multinational business environment”, Management Decision, vol. 44, no. 10, pp. 1377-1390, 2006.
[8] A. Harzing and A. Feely, “The language barrier and its implications for HQ-subsidiary relationships”, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 49-61, 2008.
[9] A. Harzing, K. Köster and U. Magner, “Babel in business: The language barrier and its solution in the HQ-subsidiary relationship”, Journal of World Business, vol. 46, pp. 279-287, 2011.
[10] H. Tange and J. Lauring, “Language management and social interaction within the multilingual workplace”, Journal of Communication Management, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 218-232, 2009.
[11] L. Zander, “Communication and Country Clusters”, International Studies of Management and Organisation, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 83-103, 2005.
[12] J. Henderson, “Language Diversity in International Management Teams”, International Studies of Management and Organisation, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 66-82, 2005.
[13] H. Tenzer and M. Pudelko, “The Impact of Language Barriers on Shared Mental Models in Multinational Teams”, Best Paper Proceedings. Academy of Management Annual Meeting, 2012.
[14] J. House, “Zum Erwerb interkultureller Kompetenz im Unterricht des Deutschen als Fremdsprache”, Zeitschrift für Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht, vol 1, no. 3, http://zif.spz.tu-darmstadt.de/jg- 01-3/beitrag/house.htm, (20/09/2012).
[15] C. E. Davies, “Developing of awareness of crosscultural pragmatics: The case of American/German interaction”, Multilingua, vol. 23, pp. 207- 231, 2004.
[16] A. Terraschke, “On Being Polite in a Second Language: An Analysis of Non-native Use of English Pragmatic Devices in English-German Interactions”, abstract, http://webhost.ua.ac.be/ tisp.viewabstract.php?id=290, 2004, (09/12/2005).
[17] A. Grieve, “”Aberganzehrlich”: Differences in episodic structure, apologies and truth-orientation in German and Australian workplace telephone discourse”, Journal of Pragmatics, vol. 42, pp. 190-219, 2010.
[18] T. Larina, “Directness, imposition and politeness in English and Russian”, Research Notes, vol. 33, pp. 33-38, 2008.
[19] I. Przykarpatska, “Why are you so late? Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Study of Complaints in American English and Ukrainian”, RevistaAlicantina de EstudiosIngleses, vol. 21, pp. 87-102, 2008.
[20] E. Ogiermann, “Politeness and in-directness across cultures: A comparison of English, German, Polish and Russian requests”, Journal of Politeness Research, vol. 5, pp. 189-216, 2009.
[21] S. Ehrenreich, “English as a Business Lingua Franca in a German Multinational Corporation: Meeting the Challenge”, Journal of Business Communication, vol. 47, pp. 408-431, 2010.
[22] J. Grzega, “Reflections on Concepts of English for Europe. British English, American English, Euro-English, Global English”, Journal for EuroLinguistiX, vol. 2, pp. 44-64, 2005, http://www1.ku-eichstaett.de/ SLF/EngluVglSW/ELiX/grzega-053.pdf (20/09/2012).
[23] B. Seidlhofer, Understanding English as a Lingua Franca, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
[24] F. Bargiela-Chiappini and S. Harris, Managing Language: The discourse of corporate meetings. Amsterdam: Benjamin Publishing, 1997.
[25] G. Bilbow, “Commissive speech act use in intercultural business meetings”, International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, vol. 40, no.4, pp. 287-303, 2002.
[26] M. Charles, “Business Negotiations: interdependence between discourse and the business relationship”, English for Specific Purposes, vol. 19, pp. 19-36, 1996.
[27] C. Nickerson, “English as lingua franca in international business contexts”, English for Specific Purposes, vol. 24, pp. 367-380, 2005.
[28] P. Rogerson-Revell, “Using English for international business. A European case study”, English for Specific Purposes, vol. 26, pp. 103- 120, 2007.
[29] G. Poncini, “Multicultural Business Meetings and the Role of Languages Other than English”, Journal of Intercultural Studies, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 17-32, 2003.
[30] S. Tietze, “Spreading the Management Gospel – in English”, Language and Intercultural Communication, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 175-189, 2004.
[31] N. Holden, “Viewpoint: international marketing studies – time to break the English-language strangle-hold?”, International Marketing Review, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 86-100, 1998.
[32] J. Macnamara, “The crucial role of research in multicultural and crosscultural communication”, Journal of Communication Management, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 322-334, 2004.
[33] D. Crystal, Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Malden, Oxford, Victoria: Blackwell, 2011.
[34] L. Boroditsky, “Does Language Shape Thought? Mandarin and English Speakers’ Conception of Time’, Cognitive Psychology, vol. 43, pp. 1-22.
[35] T. McArthur (ed.), The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[36] D. Akkermans, A. Harzing and A. van Witteloostujn, “Cultural Accomodation and Language Priming: Competitive versus Cooperative Behavior in a Prisoner’s Dilemma Game”, Management International Review, vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 559-584, 2010.
[37] A. Wierzbicka, Cross-cultural Pragmatics: The Semantics of Human Interaction. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2003.
[38] C. Goddard, “The ethnopragmatics and semantics of “active” methaphors”, Journal of Pragmatics, vol. 36, no. 7, pp. 1211-1230, 2004.
[39] C. Goddard, “Ethnopragmatics: a new paradigm.” in: C. Goddard (Ed.), Ethnopragmatics: Understanding Discourse in Cultural Contexts, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1-31, 2006.
[40] C. Goddard, “’Cultural Scripts’, in G. Senft, J. Östman and J Verschueren (Eds.), Culture and Language Use, Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 68-80, 2009.
[41] C. Goddard and A. Wierzbicka (Eds.), Semantic and Lexical Universals – Theory and Empirical Findings. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1994.
[42] C. Goddard and A. Wierzbicka (Eds.), Meaning and Universal Grammar – Theory and Empirical Findings. Vol. I and II, Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2002.
[43] E. Podhovnik, “English as International Business Language. An Ethnopragmatic Approach”, in Proceedings of the Advances in Businessrelated Scientific Research Conference 2012. Venice, Italy, 2012.
[44] Council of Europe, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR), http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Cadre1_en.asp, 2012 (21/09/2012).
[45] B. Peeters, “Language and cultural values: The ethnolinguistics pathways model”, FULGOR, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 59-73, 2009.
[46] B. Peeters, “Language and Cultural Values: Towards an Applied Ethnolinguistics for the Foreign Language Classroom”, in B. Peeters, K. Mullan and C. Béal (Eds.), Cross-culturally Speaking, Speaking Crossculturally, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 231-259, 2013.