Understanding the Dynamics of Language and Multilingualism in Professional Contexts

Edited by Philippe Lecomte, President of GEM&L, Retired professor of International Communication, Toulouse Business School, Mary Vigier, Professor Emeritus, Department of Management, ESC Clermont Business School, France, Claudine Gaibrois, Professor of Global and Intercultural Management, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Business School and External Lecturer in Language Diversity, Research Institute for Organizational Psychology, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland and Betty Beeler, Retired Professor of Intercultural Management, Ecole Supérieure de Commerce, Saint-Etienne, France

‘The editors have compiled empirically grounded chapters which utilize new theoretical perspectives, demonstrate cultural and political sensitivities about language use in organizational contexts and beyond. Such a collection is no mean feat to achieve and editors and authors are to be congratulated for this important and innovative book.’

• Contents:Foreword xivIntroduction to Understanding the Dynamics of Language andMultilingualism in Professional Contexts 1Betty Beeler, Mary Vigier, Claudine Gaibrois and Philippe LecomtePART I MULTILINGUALISM IN A RAPIDLYCHANGING WORLD: NEW PERSPECTIVESON LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES IN ORGANISATIONS1 Introduction to Multilingualism in a rapidly changingworld: new perspectives on language differences in organisations 7Claudine Gaibrois2 Recognition theory: a new lens for investigating languagedifferences in multilingual organisations 13Marjana Johansson and Martyna Śliwa3 Diversity, activation and self-support: clashinginstitutional logics around the inclusion of refugees on thelabour market 30Dorte Lønsmann4 Agency and multilingualism in public health care:how practitioners draw on local experiences and encounters 46Yaron Matras, Rebecca Tipton and Leonie GaiserPART II LANGUAGE PRACTICES IN MULTILINGUALWORKPLACES AND IMPLICATIONS FORHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT5 Introduction to Language practices in multilingualworkplaces and implications for human resource management 62Mary Vigier6 Ethnographic study of a manager’s engagements withwritten ‘English’ workplace genres in MNCs 67Tiina Räisänen and Anne Kankaanranta7 Revisiting ethnography and reflexivity forlanguage-sensitive workplace research 84Kristina Humonen and Jo Angouri8 Multilingual organisations: employee motives and humanresource management adaptive strategies 101John FisetPART III ORGANISATIONS AS DISCURSIVE,POLYPHONIC SPACES:A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH9 Introduction to Organisations as discursive, polyphonicspaces: a multidisciplinary approach 119Betty Beeler10 Organizing through and by multilingualism: writinglanguages into the study and practices of organizations 124Marjana Johansson and Wilhelm Barner-Rasmussen11 Revisiting identity-construction in the multilingualworkplace: an intersectional approach 140Linda Cohen and Jane Kassis-Henderson12 Duality of language as a tool for integration versusmobility at work: utility of a polyphonic perspective 154Cihat Erbil, Mustafa F. Özbilgin and Sercan Hamza BağlamaPART IV DIFFERENT CRITICAL PERSPECTIVESON THE POWER OF LANGUAGE ININTERNATIONAL BUSINESS13 Introduction to Different critical perspectives on thepower of language in international business 169Philippe Lecomte14 Language in multilingual organizations: power, policiesand politics 173Guro R. Sanden15 Voices in the employee magazine: a critical investigation 189Peter Kastberg and Marianne Grove Ditlevsen16 Let us (not) speak Finnish! On language, power relationsand ambivalence 205Janne TienariConclusion to Understanding the Dynamics of Language andMultilingualism in Professional Contexts 219Claudine Gaibrois, Betty Beeler, Philippe Lecomte and MaryVigierIndex