The Role of English as an Organisational Language in International Workplaces

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The Role of English as an Organisational Language in International Workplaces

Vulchanov, Ivan Olav

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2022

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Vulchanov, I. O. (2022). The Role of English as an Organisational Language in International Workplaces.

Copenhagen Business School [Phd]. PhD Series No. 11.2022

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THE ROLE OF ENGLISH AS AN ORGANISATIONAL

LANGUAGE IN INTERNATIONAL WORKPLACES

Ivan Olav Vulchanov

CBS PhD School PhD Series 11.2022

PhD Series 11.2022THE ROLE OF ENGLISH AS AN ORGANISATIONAL LANGUAGE IN INTERNATIONAL WORKPLACES COPENHAGEN BUSINESS SCHOOL

SOLBJERG PLADS 3 DK-2000 FREDERIKSBERG DANMARK

WWW.CBS.DK

ISSN 0906-6934

Print ISBN: 978-87-7568-075-7 Online ISBN: 978-87-7568-076-4

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The role of English as an organisational language in international workplaces

Ivan Olav Vulchanov

Supervisors:

Professor Mette Zølner Aarhus University

Department of German and Romance Languages Copenhagen Business School

Department of Management, Society and Communication

Associate Professor Dorte Lønsmann University of Copenhagen

Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies

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Ivan Olav Vulchanov

The role of English as an organisational language in international workplaces

1st edition 2022 PhD Series 11.2022

ISSN 0906-6934

Print ISBN: 978-87-7568-075-7 Online ISBN: 978-87-7568-076-4

The CBS PhD School is an active and international research environment at Copenhagen Business School for PhD students working on theoretical and

empirical research projects, including interdisciplinary ones, related to economics and the organisation and management of private businesses, as well as public and voluntary institutions, at business, industry and country level.

No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informationstorage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Foreword

Finalising this thesis on a snowy afternoon in Copenhagen feels like ages since starting the Ph.D. journey on a sunny morning in September, 2018. Even though it has only been three and a half years, the doctoral training has been a long learning experience with its ups and downs – mostly ups. After all, it is a luxury to manage my own work schedule and delve into a topic I am passionate about. Like in all parts of life, there have been challenges as well - lockdowns, delays, frustration and stress.

But these obstacles have been manageable thanks to a devoted support network around me.

First and foremost, I am grateful to my family. Ditte, you have seen and experienced the rough times of a PhD journey first-hand, but also seen the joys of success. Without you and your unwavering support, I would not be here today. To my parents, Mila and Valentin – your experienced and guiding hand has helped me stay on track and reminded me to believe in my ideas.

Thank you, Mette Zølner, for giving me the chance to prove myself as a PhD candidate at CBS and in GLOMO and for your devotion to the first supervisor role.

Your academic feedback and professional guidance have helped me make key decisions, which have been crucial in getting me to this advanced stage. You have encouraged me to pursue my own solutions, something which has helped me grow as a scholar and a colleague. When distractions and smaller hindrances have appeared, you reminded me of the end goal.

Thank you Dorte Lønsmann, for accepting the supervisor role and contributing with your crucial sociolinguistic expertise. Without your input, my case study analysis would not be where it is today. Your critical reading of my writing and impeccable attention to detail have made me refine my argumentation and strengthen my claims. You have always offered to listen when I have been unsure.

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A scholar is nothing without his peers and community. To all the Ph.D.

fellows at MSC, thank you for constant inspiration, encouragement and companionship. I would also like to thank my colleagues in the research environment at MSC. It is a truly wonderful place to work. To my colleagues in the COG cluster, thank you for bringing many valuable perspectives together in a stimulating and friendly research cluster. To all my colleagues in the GLOMO project – despite the fact that half of our project has run under the pandemic, I remember the good times in the beginning, when we travelled across Europe and engaged in scholarly discussion and social activities. I would like to thank my co- authors as well, for engaging in an academic collaboration with me and showing me the engine room of article writing.

Gratitude is also due to the all the helpful employees from my case study organisation, and especially my main organisational contact. Without your help and welcoming spirit, I would not have had the conditions for carrying out the in-depth case research for my thesis.

Finally, I gratefully acknowledge funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska- Curie Actions grant agreement No. 765355, which has financed this research and my doctoral position.

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English abstract

The English language has spread as a lingua franca to professional contexts where employees and organisations do not share the same native language. This role has been questioned, since English often automatically assumes the common language function in cases where alternative language solutions exist, and the social assumptions behind the taken for granted function remain downplayed and underexplored. The present thesis contributes to this discussion by examining which ideas lie behind the role of English in international organisational settings and how this role is legitimated. Furthermore, the current work investigates the inter- employee implications of English as an organisational language in an international workforce.

By focusing on English as an organisational language in international workplace settings, the present thesis studies language in multilingual settings, where the roles of languages may vary across the domain and the status of language may be contested. A critical realist ontological stance motivates three papers, each with a central role in the theorisation and contributions of the thesis. The papers are based on: a thematic literature review of 181 publications within language-sensitive international business and management studies; a qualitative singe-case study of English as an organisational language in the Germanic context of a recently merged multinational corporation; and finally, questionnaire data from 171 pairs of expatriate academics and their local peers based in predominantly Nordic universities. The thesis finds that: language as a factor transcends and connects the actors, processes and structures of global work; that the interrelated relationship between the legitimation of English and language ideologies produces and reproduces the role of English as an organisational language; and that, in a sector and geographic context where English holds the position as a key common professional language, peer perceptions of English language proficiency facilitate

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positive evaluations of performance in collaboration activities. Thus, in the empirical contexts studied here, English is established structurally, both formally and informally, as an organisational language supported by, but also affecting, employee agency.

The findings of the current thesis contribute to the language-sensitive literature in international business and management studies by demonstrating the explanatory power of a critical realist approach and the theoretical relevance of concepts, such as legitimation from organisational studies, language ideology from sociolinguistics and Bourdieu’s linguistic capital from the sociological tradition.

The qualitative case study theorises the format and content of micro-discursive practices which legitimate English in a post-merger context, while the quantitative study theorises the mechanism and enabling factors of linguistic capital and its positive role in performance evaluations. Thus, the critical realist ontological framework aids the conceptualisation of the social and interpersonal role of language. On the one hand, language – in this case English – is a structural element which, through ideological bodies of thought, motivate individual action. On the other hand, the use and legitimation of English is an individual and collective form of agency which maintains this role. Organisational members enact the role through expectations towards the language practices and abilities of their peers.

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Norsk sammendrag (Norwegian abstract)

Det engelske språket har spredt seg som fellesspråk i en global skala til arbeidsplasser hvor de ansatte ikke har et felles førstespråk. Denne rollen er omdiskutert ettersom engelsk ofte inntar den automatisk i tilfeller hvor det finnes andre alternativ for fellesspråk og de sosiale antagelsene bak språkets funksjon forblir underdrevet og uutforsket. Denne avhandlingen bidrar til diskusjonen ved å studere hvilke ideer står bak engelsks rolle i internasjonale organisasjoner og hvordan rollen blir legitimert. I tillegg, utforsker avhandlingen betydningen av Engelsk som organisasjonsspråk for mellomkollegiale forhold, som evalueringen av profesjonelle ferdigheter.

Avhandlingen fokuserer på engelsk som organisasjonsspråk på internasjonale arbeidsplasser. Dermed forskes det på språk i flerspråklige omgivelser hvor forskjellige språks roller varierer og kan være omstridt. En kritisk realistisk ontologi underbygger tre artikler, som hver har en egenartet rolle i avhandlingens teoretisering og vitenskapelige bidrag. Artiklene bygger på: en tematisk litteraturanalyse av 181 publikasjoner innenfor internasjonal business og ledelse med fokus på språk; en kvalitativ case studie av engelsk som organisasjonsspråk i den germanske delen av en nylig fusjonert internasjonal virksomhet; og til sist, data fra en spørreundersøkelse med 171 par med utenlandske akademikere og deres lokale samarbeidspartnere i en hovedsakelig nordisk akademisk kontekst.

Resultatene viser at språk som faktor overskrider og forbinder aktørene, prosessene og strukturene i globalt arbeid, at det gjensidig avhengige forhold mellom legitimeringen av engelsk og språkideologier produserer og reproduserer rollen til engelsk som organisasjonsspråk, og at i en sektor og geografisk kontekst hvor engelsk opptrer som et felles faglig språk, fasiliterer og modererer kollegiale inntrykk av engelsk språkferdighet evalueringen av prestasjoner i samarbeid.

Engelsk er dermed et både formelt og uformelt etablert strukturelt

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organisasjonsspråk som er understøttet av og samtidig påvirker de ansattes handlinger.

Resultatene i avhandlingen bidrar til forskning innenfor språk i internasjonal business og ledelse. Avhandlingen viser styrken av en kritisk realistisk tilgang og den teoretiske relevansen i konsept, som legitimering fra organisasjonsstudier, språkideologi fra sosiolingvistikk, og Bourdieu’s språkkapital innenfor sosiologi.

Den kvalitative casestudie teoretiserer formatet og innholdet i mikrodiskursive ytringer som legitimerer engelsk i en virksomhet som nylig har gjennomgått en fusjon. Den kvantitative studie teoretiserer mekanismen bak og de aktiverende forholdene for engelsk som språkkapital og dens positive rolle i evalueringer av profesjonelle prestasjoner i samarbeid. Språkets sosiale rolle blir konseptualisert med et kritisk realistisk ontologisk rammeverk. På den ene siden er språk – i dette tilfellet engelsk – et strukturelt element som motiverer individers handlinger gjennom språkideologi. På den andre siden, er bruken og legitimeringen av engelsk en individuell og kollektiv handling som opprettholder denne rollen. Medlemmer av organisasjonen etterlever dermed språkets rolle gjennom forventninger til språkbruk og deres medarbeideres språkferdigheter.

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1. Introduction

Language is the prime method of human communication, and we hold interpretations of which languages and varieties of languages are legitimate and how we should use them (Bourdieu, 1977; Kroskrity, 2004, Woolard and Shieffelin, 1994). English has become the language of many international fora, including organisations and workplaces (Morán Panero, 2017; Tietze, 2004). It is pertinent to research the foundations and implications of this role, as it is often taken for granted in these contexts (Lønsmann, 2015; Phillipson, 2017). The present thesis analyses how English functions as an organisational language and which implications this role has for international workforces in different contexts. Both research and organisational practices demonstrate that English is frequently used in organisations which transcend national and linguistic boundaries. Multilingual organisations of various forms and sizes commonly implement English through ‘language standardisation’, while aiming to streamline internal communication or to integrate their communication in a global market (Fredriksson, Barner-Rasmussen and Piekkari, 2006; Luo and Shenkar, 2006; Marschan-Piekkari, Welch and Welch, 1999a). However, this practice materialises in a broad variety of forms, whereby the automatic introduction of English may have unexpected implications for the functioning of the organisation (Marschan-Piekkari, Welch and Welch, 1999b;

Neeley, 2013). Over the past two decades, scholars have called for more research and awareness of language in organisations and management, in order to establish language-sensitive management research as a field in its own right, but also to understand the contingent role of language in such contexts (Karhunen, Kankaanranta, Louhiala-Salminen and Piekkari, 2018; Tenzer, Terjesen and Harzing, 2017).

Why should international business (IB), management, organisation and sociolinguistic scholars take interest in English as an organisational language?

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While some have focused on language as a vehicle for thought, a packaging for communication or a symbolic system with its own internal structure (e.g.

Sausseurian perspectives (de Saussure and Baskin, 2011)), language is far more than a system of grammar and vocabulary which we learn and use (Blommaert, 2010). It is also an ideally real entity with generative potential in organisational mechanisms (Fleetwood, 2005). Certain languages have roles as legitimate modes of communication in our societies and the organisations we are members of (Bourdieu, 1991). Without ignoring the formal and communicative functions of language, in the current thesis, I aim to explicate the importance of studying the social perception and the role of language in organisations in its own right.

Multilingual organisations are also stakeholders in research of English as an organisational language due to considerations related to the well-being of employees (Aichhorn and Puck, 2017), as well as economic incentives (Dhir, 2005).

Firstly, organisations are concerned with the implications and consequences of applying English as an organisational language, in order to anticipate and even avoid potential negative ramifications. Awareness of the relationship between the use of English as an organisational language and inter-employee dynamics is key.

For instance, research has shown that the underestimated introduction of English in an organisation which is not fully Anglophone may lead to power asymmetry and language-induced fault lines (Hinds, Neeley and Cramton, 2014; Neeley, 2013).

Increasing organisational awareness of these implications improves the readiness and willingness to invest in a conscious approach to language. Secondly, organisations need insight into different formats of English language management in different contexts, in order to develop a suitable approach to language (Tietze, Piekkari, and Brannen, 2014). Given the contextual nature of language use, research, including this thesis, may suggest which factors a language strategy needs to consider when aiming for compatibility with the context. Furthermore, an in- depth understanding of how employees perceive the common language may

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contribute to improved formats of language management, which are adapted to the dynamic nature of micro-level linguistic interaction (Sanden and Lønsmann, 2018).

Why am I fascinated by English as an organisational language? Having grown up as a multilingual individual with daily parallel language use, I have myself experienced language legitimation on an everyday basis. However, during my upbringing and early adulthood, I have not systematically questioned my own or others’ assumptions about language legitimacy, nor reflected upon the expectations I have towards the language use of others. I have rather viewed these as inherently natural acts in accordance with established norms. Viewing back on these experiences, in line with perspectives from sociolinguistics (Kroskrity, 2004), sociology (Bourdieu, 1977; 1991) and organisation studies (Dowling and Pfeffer, 1975; Kostova and Zaheer, 1999), I find that dominating assumptions about

‘correct’ and ‘appropriate’ language use indicate what kind of socio-cultural conditions frame the interaction and the relationship between speakers. Since my multilingual experiences had often occurred within a social setting, such as family or schools, the organisational context for language use is equally relevant. Upon later discerning some of the underlying assumptions concerning language in my own interactions, I am convinced that further research on the way in which we legitimate language use and the impact this may have for individuals in workplace settings is necessary.

Although language-sensitive research only gained momentum in the international management and business fields in the late 1990s (Marschan, Welch and Welch, 1997, Feely and Harzing, 2002), the phenomenon itself is not equally recent. English as a lingua franca has been found in organisations based outside Anglophone countries since this language surpassed the popularity of other major European languages after World War II (Crystal, 2003). While the spread of English as a ‘default’ business language has been questioned and problematised (Phillipson, 2017; Tietze, 2004), in certain parts of the world, it is currently often perceived as

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a common denominator in workplaces where employees have different first languages (Morán Panero, 2017). In internal communications, organisations have often viewed multilingualism as a barrier, rather than resource, where the uncontrolled use of several languages in parallel creates bottlenecks in communication, ambiguous translation and misunderstandings (Harzing and Feely, 2008). English language introduction has thus been formulated, by some, as a universal solution (Neeley, 2012). In terms of external communication, organisations and their stakeholders may also associate English use with positive organisational qualities, such as competence, professionalism and international mindedness (Lønsmann, 2015). These are merely a few practical examples of how the English language has come to feature prominently in international management and business.

While the growth of language-sensitive research in business and management studies is still underway, the present thesis aims to contribute to its further development by theorising the relatively unexplored concept of ‘organisational language’ and how it connects the structures and actors (Fleetwood, 2005; Sayer, 2000) of international workplaces. Management research from as early as the 1970s and 80s (San Antonio, 1987; Tung, 1982; Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul, 1975) has identified language in general as an important factor in the management of international workforces, identifying the role of language proficiency in recruitment or the formation of language-based clustering among employees. During the past two decades, scholars have conducted in-depth studies of different organisational phenomena related to language, as well as the effects of various forms of language management. In the early stages of language-sensitive research, language was highlighted as a topic which should be a strategic concern within top management, with an aim to emphasise the organisational relevance of language selection and language policy (e.g., Luo and Shenkar, 2006). Subsequently, more attention has been devoted to the effects of language management and the role of language skills

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in group level interaction on the employee level (e.g., Barner-Rasmussen, Ehrnrooth, Koveshnikov and Mäkelä, 2014; Sliwa and Johansson, 2014). More recently, some language-sensitive scholars have advocated a re-conceptualisation of language altogether, to focus on the practice-dependent and fluid nature of language in organisations, as well as the implications of interlingual translation (e.g., Gaibrois, 2018; Janssens and Steyaert, 2014; Karhunen et al., 2018).

The present thesis aims to elucidate two key lines of inquiry pertaining to the organisational language role of English. On the one hand, we know that ideology and perceptions of legitimacy may substantiate our beliefs about the organisational roles of languages (Lønsmann, 2015; Woolard and Shieffelin, 1994). However, less is known about the specific strategies in individual and organisational discourse used to legitimate language, and how this legitimation maintains the organisational role of English in an evolving environment. Why do we take certain language use norms at work for granted, and how do we express these beliefs? While English holds a global business lingua franca role (Tietze, 2004), how is it perpetuated in a dynamic organisational context where English is not the native language of the workforce majority?

On the other hand, studies have shown that the organisational role of English, and individuals’ abilities to fulfil the terms of this role have consequences for the status position of employees (Sliwa and Johansson, 2014; 2015). However, research is yet to fully map out how language proficiency, as a means of respecting the terms of the legitimate language, may moderate the effect of other personal qualities on how employees perceive and evaluate peer competence. What is the interaction between language and personal organisational status? Especially in internationalised workplace contexts with multilingual workforces, where there is emphasis on precise communication according to standardised and mutually accepted forms of communication, the agenda outlined above is particularly pertinent.

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The thesis has five main contributions. Firstly, I theoretically and empirically outline ‘organisational language’ as a concept through the critical realist paradigm, where language performs distinct roles on the structural and agency levels of organisations. The application of critical realism as an overarching ontological framework for the thesis (Ackroyd, 2010; Fairclough, 2005; Fleetwood, 2005;

Sayer, 2000) facilitates a detailed examination of organisational language as a concept and its relationship to the social reality of the organisational context. Here, I contribute to research of organisational and corporate language management (e.g.

Fredriksson et al., 2006; Sanden and Kankaanranta, 2018; Sanden and Lønsmann, 2018), by proposing the explanatory power of ‘organisational language’ and outlining its conceptual properties. Secondly, the critical realist methodology of the two empirical papers demonstrates the strengths of using qualitative and quantitative methods to study contextual mechanisms and patterns involving organisational languages (e.g. Bryman, 1988; Hurrell, 2014). Thirdly, I empirically examine the micro-discursive processes (Vaara, Tienari and Laurila, 2006) of English language legitimation and how they interact with structural language ideology in Paper 2. In addition to proposing language as a relevant theme in research of discursive legitimation, this contribution explains the micro-level details and the organisational contingency of legitimation strategies. Fourthly, the quantitative empirical study in Paper 3 demonstrates that the organisational role of English has implications for the perception and evaluation of individual qualities in international academic workplaces. Finally, by focusing on an international workplace context in Paper 2 and expatriate academics in Paper 3, I demonstrate how English functions as a key language in labour mobility. This contributes to expatriate research as a sub-field (McNulty and Selmer, 2017), and aims to further integrate language-sensitive expatriate research (e.g. Selmer and Lauring, 2015) in the wider international business and management language fields.

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The thesis examines the underlying factors and implications of English as an organisational language through three distinct, but complementary approaches.

From a theoretical perspective, the thematic literature review article (Paper 1) applies Reiche, Lee and Allen’s (2019) global work framework to outline how language transcends three dimensions of global work. Empirically, the underlying factors and implications are first explored through the analysis of discursive practices (Vaara et al., 2006) displayed in official corporate language policy documents and employee perspectives and attitudes towards the organisational role of English. Such discourse is here understood as situated and contextual references to both discursive and extra-discursive practices, processes and underlying structures. In the single-case study of the thesis (Paper 2), I examine how English language ideology (Kroskrity, 2004; Lønsmann, 2015; Woolard and Shieffelin, 1994), as reflected in employee attitudes and corporate language policy documents, provide the foundation for, and is reproduced by, the legitimation of English as an organisational language.

In the second empirical project (Paper 3), we quantitatively outline the role of English language proficiency as linguistic capital (Bourdieu, 1977; 1991) in employee collaboration performance in academic institutions. Here, employee survey responses are understood as situated indicators of perceptions of individual qualities. Language-sensitive scholars have called for more integrated approaches to the study of language in organisations, both in terms of theory and methodology (Horn, Lecomte and Tietze, 2020; Karhunen et al., 2018; Tenzer et al., 2017). The current thesis aims to answer these calls by offering research which sheds light on different aspects of the relationship between employees and English as an organisational language. The methodological and ontological implications of this integrated approach are also discussed in this cover chapter.

The cover chapter is structured in eight sections. In the second section, the current thesis is positioned in the literature. In section three, the concept of English

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as an organisational language is contextualised in the predominantly Nordic and Northern-European context of the empirical material used in the thesis. Section four outlines the research questions and their theoretical basis. Section five presents the overarching ontological framing of the thesis as well as the individual theoretical approaches in the two empirical projects. The section also includes an ontological discussion of how a critical realist approach connects the theories applied in the overarching framework. Section six bridges ontology to epistemology in a discussion of the methodology. Case study design, as well as the various methods – semi-structured interviews, document analysis and quantitative questionnaire design – are each presented individually, followed by a discussion of their compatibility and strengths in shedding light on the underlying factors and implications of English as an organisational language. Finally, section seven includes summaries of the three papers, while section eight summarises the cover chapter with an overview of the main findings, empirical, theoretical and methodological contributions, limitations, practitioner implications and avenues for future research. Section nine contains brief concluding remarks.

2. Thesis positioning in the literature

The present thesis draws on a broad set of theoretical concepts from several streams of research. Such eclecticism is suitable, and even necessary, to theoretically frame a topic which is multidisciplinary by nature (Brannen, Piekkari and Tietze, 2014).

However, straddling multiple sets of literature also often entails crossing different theoretical backgrounds, ontologies and paradigms (Blaikie and Priest, 2017).

Therefore, an outline of the theoretical contribution of the present thesis ought to differentiate the various traditions it draws on.

The majority of the literature considered in this thesis lies in the broad category of language-sensitive international business and management literature, as reviewed by Karhunen et al. (2018). Although this literature does not have clear

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boundaries, and is itself rather multidisciplinary, the research domain gravitates around the research of language-related factors in organisations and international professional settings. Key special issues on language in management and business journals¹ provide an indicative outline of the field and illustrate the diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches this broad literature covers. With Marschan et al. (1997) and Feely and Harzing (2002) drawing attention to language as a neglected topic in IB studies at the turn of the century, they also gave impulse to a stream which has now grown to a field in its own right. Publications from the early period mainly concentrate on proving the importance of language through traditional IB perspectives focusing on MNC structure and strategy. However, progress over the last 20 years has entailed the specialisation of several sub-domains and initiatives to cross-fertilise theoretical perspectives with other relevant traditions, such as sociolinguistics (Angouri and Piekkari, 2018) and organisation studies (Piekkari and Westney, 2017).

The present thesis contributes to three current topics in the language-sensitive international business and management literature. Firstly, the fundamental question of ‘what is language’ has been raised in empirical workplace contexts (Janssens and Steyaert, 2014). Karhunen et al.’s (2018) recent literature review provides an overview over past conceptualisations of language in the management and IB literature while advocating viewing language as a social practice, for the purposes of studying the topic in IB, over static conceptualisations of language as a personal trait or MNC policy area. The present thesis demonstrates that, according to the purpose of the research and the methodology, each of Karhunen et al.’s categories may bring valuable insight, rather than pitting the categories against each other.

Paper 2 shows that one single research project may treat language as an entity on

1 International Studies of Management and Organization (2005), Journal of World Business (2011), Journal of

International Business Studies (2014), International Journal of Cross Cultural Management (2017) and European Journal of International Management (2017).

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the ideal mode of reality which individuals draw on in legitimation, but also as an element of language policy. Paper 3 conceptualises language proficiency as a personal skill/characteristic which employees evaluate on the empirical level, yet theoretically, language proficiency is conceptualised as linguistic capital. These operationalisations of the multifaceted nature of language add to the language- sensitive IB and management literature by demonstrating what kind of empirical and theoretical insight the different conceptualisations yield.

The current thesis also contributes to methodological discussions of language in IB and management (Tietze, 2020), by explicating the value of a critical realist approach for combining a qualitative single-case study with a quantitative questionnaire in the study of English as an organisational language. Scholars have discussed the strengths of different research designs and methods in examining the various facets of language. For instance, experiments have been proposed to scrutinise natural language use in collaboration (Fan and Harzing, 2020), while ethnographic case studies (Koskinen, 2020) are argued to capture the contextuality of translation in workplaces (Chidlow, Plakoyiannaki and Welch, 2014; Xian, 2020). Paradigmatic differences between scholars appear to outline a rough divide between qualitative and quantitative approaches, where one side appreciates contextualised explanation of phenomena and processes, while the other values large scale samples, statistic correlations and generalisation across contexts.

However, with a critical realist perspective, the present thesis aims at using data on the empirical layer of reality to theorise the actual and the real. This implies that different methodologies are not ruled out, but are suitable for different purposes. I aim to demonstrate this in the context of language-sensitive research.

Thirdly, I position my work in the ongoing initiatives to cross-fertilise language-sensitive IB and management research with relevant disciplines. More specifically, I aim to exemplify and reaffirm the relevance of sociolinguistics (Angouri and Piekkari, 2018), organisation studies (Piekkari and Westney, 2017)

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and sociology (Sliwa and Johansson, 2014) in the study of the role of language in organisations. Paper 2 exemplifies the theoretical power of organisational discourse and legitimacy in theorising the attitudes to English as an organisational language.

Furthermore, the qualitative case study draws on sociolinguistic theory of language ideology, in order to set a structural frame for legitimating agency. This approach has yielded a comprehensive analysis of how micro-discursive practices and strategies interact with bodies of thought. Although I position the thesis in the language-sensitive IB and management literature, Paper 2 contributes to sociolinguistic theory as well, by demonstrating the relevance of organisation theory in conceptualising the enactment of ideology through agency on the individual level.

The analysis of Paper 3 confirms the explanatory power of the Bourdieusian concept of linguistic capital in explaining the appraisal of language proficiency and its link to individual status (Sliwa and Johansson, 2015). However, we also extend this notion by quantitatively outlining and theorising the mechanism of capital substitution, where linguistic capital may substitute status appraisal in the positive evaluation of collaboration performance. Bourdieu’s concepts play a central role in organisation and management studies, both through the direct transfer of concepts, but also more implicit general theoretical influence (Hallett and Gougherty, 2018;

Sieweke, 2014). Paper 3 reaffirms the explanatory power of linguistic capital in organisational contexts and extends it to the language-sensitive IB and management domain. This is done by showcasing the suitability of Bordieusian concepts for explaining the potential relationship between symbolic and linguistic capital in the context of a non-native academic context, where English language proficiency is a core skill in key professional tasks.

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3. Research questions

The dissertation addresses the following main research question and sub-questions:

Table 1: Thesis research questions

Main RQ: How is English maintained as an organisational language and what are the implications of this role for an international workforce?

Sub-question 1: How can cross-fertilisation between language-sensitive expatriate research and the wider international business and management research literature outline the role of language in global work?

Sub-question 2: How is English legitimated as an organisational language in the Danish/German context of a post-merger multinational corporation and what is the generative relationship between ideology and English language legitimation?

Sub-question 3: How do evaluations of English language proficiency moderate the relationship between personal status and collaboration performance evaluations?

The main research question is twofold. It investigates two aspects of English as an organisational language. On the one hand, I analyse the generative mechanism which supports the phenomenon in an organisational context. On the other hand, the present thesis investigates the implications of English as an organisational language for employees in contexts where English is an important lingua franca. The first sub-question is addressed in Paper 1. The thematic literature review sets the theoretical scene for the empirical studies by highlighting the international workforce context and integrating perspectives from expatriate studies in international human resource management (IHRM) with the wider language- sensitive IB and management literature. The review finds that integrating the streams helps position language as a factor in all three dimensions of global work (actors, processes and structures) (Reiche et al., 2019) and highlights the

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intersections between dimensions as potent areas for cross-fertilisation. I pursue the agenda set in Paper 1 through the other two sub-questions, where I investigate the relationship between agency and structure in critical realist analyses. Sub-question 2 is addressed in Paper 2, where I have set out to investigate the specific discursive strategies and the conditions under which they operate to maintain the role of English as an organisational language in an international organisation. I find that normalisation, rationalisation and moralisation, as main legitimating strategies, both reflect English language ideologies but also maintain and adapt them to the changing context in an interrelated generative mechanism supporting English as an organisational language. Finally, the empirical investigation of Paper 3 addresses sub-question 3, by examining the implications of English as an organisational language for international employees. The paper draws on insights from the expatriate stream in IHRM research, but combines this perspective with the wider language-sensitive IB and management research, and applies a theoretical framework inspired by Bourdieusian theory. The study finds that high English language proficiency may substitute for positive status evaluations in peer assessments of collaboration performance. Thus, the present thesis aims to exemplify the research agenda set by the literature review paper – to cross-fertilise expatriate research perspectives with the wider language-sensitive literature.

4. Empirical settings

The hallmark of critical realist research is the key role of context in the theorisation and explanation of phenomena (Welch, Piekkari, Plakoyiannaki and Paavilainen- Mäntymäki, 2011). Paper 2 studies a global, but historically European, MNC, with emphasis on its Danish, German and Spanish contexts. The empirical questionnaire material in Paper 3 stems from respondents in academic institutions in predominantly (87% of respondents) Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway), but also a smaller sample of East Asian contexts. Therefore, the

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Northern European, and especially Nordic sociolinguistic context is a key unifying trait for the empirical investigation of the dissertation. The primary reason for pursuing empirical data from the Nordic context is the role of English in these societies. Although English is neither an official language in any of these countries, nor are there large native English-speaking minorities, English has assumed the role of a main foreign language (Hultgren, Gregersen and Thøgersen, 2014; Simensen, 2010). Although reliable proficiency data for objective English proficiency in these countries is not available, there are several sources which suggest that English is a widespread foreign language in this context. First, the European Union’s Adult Education Survey from 2016 shows that a minimum of 92.1% of adults between 25- 64 in all four countries report knowledge of minimum one foreign language and a minimum of 74.8% of those respondents report “good” or “proficient” command of that language (Eurostat, 2016). These rates do not necessarily equate with a high English proficiency, as the data do not indicate which language the respondents are reporting proficiency in. For instance, the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland could be reporting Swedish as their foreign language, the German-speaking minority in Southern Denmark could be doing the same, while speakers in the Scandinavian countries may be reporting proficiency in the proximate language of their neighbouring country. However, it is plausible to assume that English accounts for a sizeable share of the high numbers. Furthermore, the introduction of English as a mandatory foreign language in the first years of primary school in Norway, Denmark and Sweden further exemplify the degree of exposure to English the inhabitants of these countries have experienced for the past decades (Simensen, 2010).

The second central contextual commonality in the research settings of the papers is the anticipation that English serves as a frequent lingua franca on the organisational level. Paper 2 analyses the European context of a multinational corporation with global operations in an international business environment. Not

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only does the organisation have offices in a broad selection of global sites, but many of the sites also have international workforce compositions, either due to internal international mobility or local international hires. Thus, the use of English as an organisational language in an MNC may be motivated by three contextual factors.

Firstly, the global business environment where the organisation operates through interaction, such as, sales, B2B relations and market competition, has been characterised as English-speaking. Here, English commonly acts as the common language when two (or more) parties do not share a native language (Crystal, 2003;

Harzing and Pudelko, 2013; Neeley, 2012; Tietze, 2004). Secondly, English is a likely lingua franca for intra-organisational communication between units in different countries when the employees are situated in differing linguistic contexts (Marschan-Piekkari et al., 1999a). Finally, English may assume an intra-unit lingua franca role in mixed international workforce compositions where no other language is shared. This is particularly relevant in organisations which rely on international recruitment and mobility for talent acquisition (Tenzer and Schuster, 2017).

In parallel, the international academic context of Paper 3 is also an employment context where English commonly functions as a key lingua franca for both professional and social settings. This has been found to be particularly relevant in management education and research (Tietze, 2004; Tietze and Dick, 2009), but also other disciplines, such as the natural sciences (Negretti and Garcia-Yeste, 2014). Here, similar pressures for English, as in the business context, drive this process. The global scholar community is commonly seen as English-speaking, mostly due to the established English norms in academic publishing and conferences. Furthermore, academics rely on international networks of specialists in their field who are not always co-located in the same university. Since this creates an inter-organisational meeting ground for multilingualism, English is commonly a common language for scholars with different native languages. As in the business context, many international academic institutions rely heavily on international

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recruitment, in order to find experts in a given field (Selmer, Trembath and Lauring, 2017). Increases in English language tuition, coupled with less requirements for local language proficiency contribute to diverse workforce compositions in a significant share of higher education institutions.

Despite the indisputable presence of English in the empirical contexts of the present thesis, it is necessary to nuance the account of English as a dominant lingua franca. In both the corporate and academic contexts, other languages remain present and, at times, equally legitimate. The local languages of the countries where the organisation is situated remain key for the embeddedness of the organisation in local society. In the business context of the case MNC in Paper 2, relationships to the local market, political climate and service providers are often fostered in the local language of the country. In the academic sector of Paper 3, despite increases in international student bodies and English-language tuition, many programmes and courses are still taught in the local language. Furthermore, other competing common languages may be preferred by employees who share another language than English.

For instance, Spanish as another global language, or regional linguae francae, such as German or Russian, may be equally viable options for communication. Thus, English as an organisational lingua franca commonly operates in parallel with other languages (Luo and Shenkar, 2006).

Since English is not the official language in the empirical contexts of the thesis, but has such a prominent role, the Northern-European context is a suitable backdrop for investigating the role of English as an organisational language. When a language assumes status as legitimate (Bourdieu, 1991), in these cases as a legitimate foreign language, it is pertinent to investigate the conditions for and implications of this legitimacy. The legitimacy of a language is not a default status or merely a neutral product of historical language development, but is upheld through a wide array of legitimating actions which perpetuate the structure of its existence. Equally, when one language, or an organisational practice, carries

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sufficient legitimacy, individuals act and interact according to this status, which, in turn, has consequences for other organisational members (Dowling and Pfeffer, 1975; Kostova and Zaheer, 1999). It is important to underline that the present dissertation examines the factors behind, and implications of, English in the organisational contexts, which are embedded within the wider societal contexts outlined above. Therefore, while the micro- and meso-levels are studied here, macro-level discourses of English are clearly relevant for explaining the organisational phenomenon as well.

5. Ontological and theoretical framework - Critical

realism, legitimation, discourse and linguistic capital

As an object of study, language in international management and business has been approached from a broad variety of theoretical, ontological and epistemological traditions (Karhunen et al., 2018; Tenzer et al., 2017). This thesis focuses on the factors behind, and implications of, English as an organisational language, which implies that the object of inquiry is the relationship between an organisational practice and perceptions expressed by organisational members. The two empirical papers differ in approach and data, but a critical realist ontology underpins the analysis and theoretical implications of both empirical projects. This section first conceptualises English as an organisational language from a critical realist ontological perspective, followed by a discussion of the separate theoretical frameworks of the two papers.

5.1 Critical realism and English as an organisational language

Depending on the philosophical stance, English as an organisational language may be conceived as a wide range of different phenomena. A focus on the linguistic properties of English in organisational settings may imply a structuralist Saussurean

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(de Saussure and Baskin, 2011) conception, whereby language is used by individual actors, who convey meaning and knowledge through language as a structured system of grammatical rules and vocabulary. Variable-oriented research in business and management has conceptualised language through proficiency, where language is an individual characteristic, or trait, which has a causal relationship with other individual characteristics (e.g., Selmer and Lauring, 2015, Peltokorpi, 2008).

Functionalist underpinnings in language-sensitive research have often entailed sacrificing the contextual insight to the particular functioning or use of language in one setting. In a more contextual, but equally static conceptualisation, corporate language policies have also been studied and conceptualised as a ‘top management problem’, with focus on the effects of the political choice between different official languages (Luo and Shenkar, 2006; Harzing and Pudelko, 2013). This perspective has also been characterised as too focused on language as an exclusively structural framework which contains and regulates individual agency (Karhunen et al., 2018).

In order to shed more light on the interactive element of language in organisations, and inspired by sociolinguistics, language-sensitive scholars have more recently supported the conceptualisation of language as a fluid and evolving social practice which emerges in situ (Janssens and Steyaert, 2014; Gaibrois, 2018). This conceptualisation shares commonalities with the post-structural sociological view of practice as situated ‘sayings’ and ‘doings’, and language as individual and collective discursive practices which shape institutions and structures (Schatzki, 2005). Taking these fundamentally different perspectives into account poses a challenge for the definition of English as an organisational language – which is the conceptual focus in this thesis. Since English may be seen as a structural element in organisational policy, but also as the medium of communication through which employees communicate, create and negotiate meaning, there is a danger of conflating individual agency with structure. In an attempt to avoid the risk of conflation, while studying English as an organisational language, the current thesis

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adopts a critical realist stance (Fleetwood, 2005; Sayer, 2000), which theorises the interdependent and interrelated, but distinct roles of structure and agency.

Critical realist perspectives frame a layered ontology, which acknowledges the existence of an external objective world independent of humans. However, human interpretations of the world vary and do not necessarily correspond to the world or each other. Knowledge and interpretations of the world are argued to operate on a different level than reality itself. Three layers of reality are therefore proposed to deal with the duality between the world and human knowledge of it – the empirical, the actual and the real (Ackroyd, 2010; Fleetwood, 2005;

Kozhevnikov and Vincent, 2019; Sayer, 2000). The empirical can be experienced and observed. The actual consists of events which could be different from the empirical experiences. Finally, the real is the deepest layer of reality and holds the aggregation of causal powers.

In the current work, the critical realist world view is a suitable framework for defining the phenomenon of English as an organisational language due to the opportunity to separate between different modes on the real layer, and thus, different aspects of the investigated phenomenon. Entities on the real layer of reality may have different modes. Materially real entities, like the sun and water, are material objects which exist independently of human action. Ideally real entities are conceptual entities, such as discourse, beliefs and bodies of ideas. Artefactually real entities are conceptually mediated real entities where interpretations of the object define their function. Finally, socially real entities are practices and social structures, such as organisations, with causal effect (Fleetwood, 2005). Here, the various real modes of ‘English as an organisational language’ are discussed.

English as an organisational language has been studied as a policy which stipulates which language organisational members are expected to use and how (Sanden, 2016). The strictness and comprehensiveness and focal areas of language policies may vary greatly between organisations (Sanden and Lønsmann, 2018). On

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the one hand, such policies may be considered as artefactually real (Fleetwood, 2005), as the policy may be codified in a physical or digital corporate document.

Research investigating language policy through document analysis focuses on the content and format of artefactually real documents, where socially real and ideally real entities are communicated through language. However, the policy document, as an entity, will be conceptually mediated through various interpretations. For instance, a hypothetical language policy may, for some, be a set of rules for language use to be followed, while others might interpret the policy as loose guidelines or best practices. From a power perspective, a language policy may also be conceptually mediated as a control mechanism imposed by certain parts of the organisation (Piekkari, Vaara, Tienari and Säntti, 2005). Nonetheless, the codified aspect of an organisational language in language policy can be argued to exist as an artefactually real product of human activity with various implications.

Moving past the materiality of language policy documents, most research on English language policies concentrates on the implications of the policy content. As socially real entities (Fleetwood, 2005), English language policies are linguistic descriptions of practices which are defined as desirable according to organisational rules. The rule to use English in certain situations could be defined as socially real because it is non-material, but its existence is defined by human activity and articulation – such as the discursive action of formulating the rule and organisational employees choosing whether to follow the rule or not. An English language policy, or language management more broadly, may also be defined as a set of collective organisational practices which aim to influence the linguistic composition and practices of the organisational workforce (Sanden, 2015a). As opposed to a focus on the structural element of policy rules, a practical emphasis on definitions of common organisational languages concentrates on activities, such as language requirements in recruitment or language choice in the production of internal communication documents (Peltokorpi and Vaara, 2014; Simonsen, 2009). Such

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practices may or may not be defined in language policy, but are elements of organisational languages as a phenomenon. In the conception of languages as socially real, a discursive focus may also emphasise individual language choices, where an organisational language is defined by the act of communicating in a specific language (Bordia and Bordia, 2014; Lønsmann, 2017). This conceptualisation applies particularly well to English as an “organisational language”, rather than a language policy, as there should be a differentiation between the explicit declaration of an official language through policy on the one hand, and widespread employee use of a language, on the other.

The phenomenon under study in this thesis may also be conceptualised as ideally real. Ideas, beliefs, discourses and language itself have been argued to occupy a mode of reality where entities are real based on their causal efficacy, not materiality (or lack thereof). The idea or belief that a particular organisation uses or needs to use a common language is not an indisputable fact, but a conceptual entity with both ideal and non-ideal referents. Here critical realist perspectives are compatible with the notion of social construction, as these ideally real entities are concepts dependent on social interaction (Fleetwood, 2005). Sociolinguistic research of language ideology has conceptualised various sets of shared beliefs about the role of different languages in the world (Kroskrity, 2004; Woolard and Schieffelin, 1994). Furthermore, despite the frequent use of English in international business and international workplaces, there are other potential and, at times competing, common languages. Thus, the belief that English is or should be a common organisational language could be regarded as an ideology (Lønsmann, 2015; Tietze, 2004). These ideas may also materialise through, and be constructed by, practices and discourse, where actors engage in discourse or action which affirms the ideological view of language which they hold. As opposed to the practice-oriented conceptualisation discussed earlier, a view of the phenomenon as ideally real targets the body of attitudes behind language use in an organisation.

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Remaining on an ideal mode of reality, the focus on English as an organisational language may also lie in its linguistic properties. Language, as a system of grammatical rules and a lexical inventory has been argued to be ideally real (Fleetwood, 2005). Although this thesis does not focus on the actual language and communication in interaction, it is necessary to clarify what is meant by the

‘English’ aspect of the phenomenon under investigation. Defining the English language is not intended here, but I do outline the ideal aspects of English as an organisational language and its potential variation. Sociolinguistic scholars have conceptualised English as a lingua franca (ELF) as an alternative to standard varieties of English, such as British English or American English. The ELF concept is grounded in the fact that most users of English across the globe are non-native speakers and may therefore deviate from standardised conventions in speech and writing (Jenkins, 2009; Mauranen, 2017; Seidlhofer, 2017). This notion has also been adapted to the business context by business communication scholars. In business, or another work context, the vocabulary and formulation of phrases may be influenced by the work activities and terminology of the industry. Furthermore, due to a pragmatic focus on efficiency rather than precision, business English lingua franca (BELF) has been found to be used to ‘get the job done’ rather than observing standardised English grammar rules (Kankaanranta, 2006; Komori-Glatz, 2018;

Louhiala-Salminen and Kankaanranta, 2012). As a concept, BELF highlights the fact that the language which employees actually use in organisations, although English, may deviate from standard varieties of English.

A final component of critical realist ontology, which aids the definition of English as a common organisational language, is the theorisation of structure and agency. The critical realist perspective on the dual and interrelated relationship also aids the understanding of organisations in the current work (Vincent and Wapshott, 2014). Proponents of critical realism argue that competing ontological perspectives may risk conflating agency and structure or prioritising one over the other in the

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analysis (Fleetwood, 2004; Kozhevnikov and Vincent, 2019). Here, the two are perceived to coexist and relate internally in an interdependent manner. The social world is the result of human action, but recurring human activity may, in turn, form structure, such as institutions and organisations (Ackroyd, 2010). Similarly, on the one hand, English as a common organisational language may be defined by the act of using English or displaying other behaviour which acknowledges the organisational role of the language. On the other hand, such recurrent individual and group behaviour and/or top management ambitions for an English-speaking organisation may produce and reproduce a structure (e.g. through policy and/or norms), which, in turn, prompts individual employees to use and continue to use English in certain situations. Language ideologies or English language policies, as defined earlier in this section, may thus form and constitute socially real structures.

However, the individual agency in reproducing and transforming these structures cannot be underestimated. This duality allows to account for both the structural and agentic traits of an organisational language.

The ontological discussion of English as an organisational language presented above through a critical realist lens shows that there is a multitude of potential underlying relationships worth investigating in organisations where English functions as an organisational language. In the empirical papers of this thesis, two relationships are studied in particular: the relationship between English language ideology and the legitimation of English as an organisational language, and the implications of English as an organisational language for evaluations of individual employee status and collaboration. Each empirical project operationalises different theoretical concepts – the first, a combination of discursive legitimation theory and language ideology, and the second, linguistic capital. The remainder of this section presents their application in the thesis.

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The first empirical paper (Paper 2) explores how a multinational corporation (MNC), both as individual employees through discourse in interviews, and on a collective level, through policy documents, legitimates English as an organisational language. Early contact with the case organisation indicated that English holds a strong position, while the management of internal language use did not appear to be high on the agenda of HR and communication professionals. As several studies have found English to be applied as a default and taken for granted functional language (Lønsmann, 2015; Sanden and Kankaanranta, 2018), in an abductive fashion, I re- focused the research question on how the legitimation of English, as well as the format and content of the language policy, reveal ideological thinking related to language. Given the explicit focus on legitimating micro strategies, Vaara et al.’s (2006) adaptation of Van Leewen and Wodak’s (1999) framework for discursive legitimation strategies is applied.

Sociological research of institutions and organisations has long recognised legitimacy as a central concept in the understanding of organisational activity (Dowling and Pfeffer, 1975; Kostova and Zaheer, 1999). Although varying, conceptualisations of legitimacy, to a certain extent, converge on a notion of recognition, or “appraisal”, of action, according to a set of shared norms and values in the wider social system of the organisation (Parsons, 1960). In other words, for an organisation to be regarded as legitimate, its actions need to correspond to the expectations of members of the organisation’s social context. Dowling and Pfeffer (1975) outline three interdependent, but distinct, areas (legal, economic and legitimate) of organisational behaviour. They also note that, although an organisation’s adherence to legal requirements and participation in the competition for economic resources are components of legitimate behaviour, an organisation’s alignment with the social system’s norms and values is still a key source of legitimacy.

The Role of English as an Organisational Language in International Workplaces

The Role of English as an Organisational Language in International Workplaces

THE ROLE OF ENGLISH AS AN ORGANISATIONAL

LANGUAGE IN INTERNATIONAL WORKPLACES

The role of English as an organisational language in international workplaces

Foreword

English abstract

Norsk sammendrag (Norwegian abstract)

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Thesis positioning in the literature

3. Research questions

4. Empirical settings

5. Ontological and theoretical framework - Critical

realism, legitimation, discourse and linguistic capital