Rapport management and communication at work : interacting in Hong Kong intercultural workplace settings

Abstract

The present study examines how people from different cultural backgrounds and with different first languages interact and communicate with each other in workplace meetings with reference to the expanded framework of rapport management (Spencer-Oatey 2000). These questions are investigated with reference to the concepts of face needs, sociality rights and obligations, domains and other related concepts suggested by Spencer-Oatey (2000). This research focuses on the aspect of meeting management. The research accounts that the expanded framework of rapport management is adequate in analyzing intercultural communication in the Hong Kong workplace contexts. The analysis is based on authentic linguistic data in the meeting discourse from three different intercultural workplaces.

The present study presents a brief overview on the structure of meeting with reference to three different phases including the introductory phase, the development/elaborating phase and the closing phase. With reference to the flow and relations of discussion topic/issues, two general patterns are identified including the ‘linear’ pattern and the ‘embedded/scattered’ pattern. The researcher also examines different meeting management strategies in intercultural workplace settings. Other than these, the study also explores different strategies to get things done in intercultural workplace contexts including using intensifying and mitigating directives, making a request and hinting etc.

The study also explores the inter-relationships between rapport management, cultural differences and specific negotiated norms among members of CofPs. The present study suggests that 1) general cultural differences may not always revealed in instances of rapport management, 2) general cultural differences may also contribute to specific norms negotiated among members of CofPs, and 3) instances of rapport management may also contribute to the norm negotiating process in particular CofPs.

The study argues for the dynamic nature of interlocutors’ identities. Instead of taking individuals’ cultural identity as a preexisting source affecting participants’ sociolinguistic practices, the present study adopts the emergence approach and justifies the dynamic nature of identity by examining how interlocutors construct their identity through linguistic practices and other sociolinguistic behavior in intercultural workplace settings.