Crossing Borders: In Research and Business Communication
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.
[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.
[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.
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:69384", author = "E. Podhovnik", title = "Crossing Borders: In Research and Business Communication", 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.", volume = "9", number = "4", pages = "1078-6", }
