Intercultural Issues In The Workplace

This textbook addresses key issues and challenges in contemporary multicultural and multilingual workplaces through the lens of leadership, communication and trust. It draws together contributions from fields including cultural studies, psychology, sociolinguistics, translation and interpreting studies, and business management, making a valuable contribution to the area of language and culture in the workplace. The volume is divided into 5 thematic sections: Intercultural Communication; Cross-cultural Leadership; Economy; Language; and Diversity. It offers a critical analysis on themes that tend to be overlooked in intercultural business and management scholarship, such as multilingualism in the workplace, translation and interpreting in cross-cultural work practices, dignity in the workplace, performing gender in the workplace, and D/deaf people in the workplace. It also revisits themes such as cross-cultural leadership, interculturality and the embedded economy, and managing uncertainty in the context of the contemporary globalized workplace. It then brings everything together in a Cross-Cultural Scenarios chapter at the end, with recommendations for every scenario. Overall, the textbook constitutes an essential resource for honours undergraduate and postgraduate students in these and related fields, as well as academics and practitioners with an interest in globalised workplaces.

From language classrooms to outdoor markets, the workplace is fundamental to socialisation. It is not only a site of employment where money is made and institutional roles are enacted through various forms of discourse; it is also a location where people engage in social actions and practices. The workplace is an interesting research site because of advances in communication technology, cheaper and greater options for travel, and global migration and immigration. Work now requires people to travel over great geographical distances, communicate with cultural ‘others’ located in different time zones, relocate to different regions or countries, and conduct business in online settings. The workplace is thus changing and evolving, creating new and emerging communicative contexts. This volume provides a greater understanding of workplace cultures, particularly the ways in which working in highly interconnected and multicultural societies shape language and intercultural communication. The chapters focus on critical approaches to theory and practice, in particular how practice is used to shape theory. They also question the validity and universality of existing models. Some of the predominant models in intercultural communication have been criticised for being Eurocentric or Anglocentric, and this volume proposes alternative frameworks for analysing intercultural communication in the workplace. This book was originally published as a special issue of Language and Intercultural Communication.

Addresses the issues of culture and communication within the context of international business. This text provides examples of how cultural values and practices impact business communication. It explores the relationships among the cultural environments of the firm and the structure of the firm.

Measureable, data driven outcomes are not the only indicators of success in today’s multicultural and globalized workforce. How employees interact with their colleagues and customers is also a significant factor in their career development. Luciara Nardon draws on her extensive research and international experience to guide employees and managers through the ambiguous and uncertain waters of today’s multicultural workplace. Each intercultural encounter is unique, involving different people, contexts, dynamics, and actions which general cultural protocols are unable to address. In Working in a Multicultural World, Nardon offers a comprehensive framework for understanding intercultural interactions and developing skills for successful intercultural situations. Numerous examples and exercises, including how to reconcile personal beliefs of equality with a hierarchical workplace and how to respond to perceived aggressiveness in business negotiations, enable employees and managers to embark on reflective processes that will springboard their intercultural competence. Working in a Multicultural World is an accessibly written and valuable resource for all professionals in today’s workplace as well as students and travelers interested in intercultural relations.

Language and Culture at Work provides an overview of the complex role that culture plays in workplace contexts. Eight chapters cover the core aspects of culture at work, comprising: Face and politeness Decision making Leadership Identity Gender Work-life balance The authors draw on a significant corpus of authentic workplace data collected in numerous professional and medical settings involving participants from a variety of different socio-cultural backgrounds (including Chinese, Filipino, Indian, British, Dutch, Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Australian). Using in-depth analyses of authentic interactions and interviews, the book proposes a new integrated framework for researching culture at work from a sociolinguistic perspective. This is key reading for researchers and recommended for those working in the areas of sociolinguistics, communication studies, discourse analysis and applied linguistics. It will be of particular interest to students of professional and workplace communication, intercultural communication and intercultural pragmatics.

Intercultural Communication In The Global Workplace offers student readers the solid theoretical foundation they need and a highly engaging writing style peppered with personal examples culled from the authors' experience living and working abroad. The authors zero in on the specific needs of a firm, from broad cultural and business values to the influence of culture on negotiations, to the structure of the firm and the richness of the message. Legal issues in intercultural business communication are covered extensively. Opening chapters contain detailed discussion of cultural values that influence intercultural business communication.