Dealing with linguistic diversity : a case study on team communication within a multinational corporation in Asia

Abstract

This paper researches the phenomenon of team communication in a globalized environment; in so called Multinational Teams (MNTs). With the increasing pace of globalization, the demand for these teams and their effective collaboration is omnipresent and their number ever growing - however the key to their fruitful collaboration is effective communication. While many business and cultural studies have been conducted to investigate the forces at play within MNTs, current linguistic research almost completely omits the question of MNT communication. In an Asian setting, linguistic MNT research is currently inexistent. The underlying case study strives to narrow this gap by posing the question how effective communication in MNTs is achieved in the face of linguistic diversity. To answer this question, ethnographic research was conducted in the form on semi-structured interviews within four multinational teams in one multinational company operating in Asia. The collected data is comprised of eleven interviews with team members from five different nationalities, all non-native English speakers. Through an indicative approach, the main themes are isolated and findings are presented and discussed before propositions are made. The three main themes isolated are: the use of translation, the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) and the use of spoken versus written communication. All three are discussed in terms of use and effectiveness in the team setting. Relevance Theory according to Wilson and Sperber provides the main theoretical backdrop for this case study.