Synthesis: Politics and the English Language in the 21st Century

Katherine Bell:

In 2009 three professors published a Harvard Business School working paper about a Germany-based technology multinational that had adopted English as its official language. The policy requiring English for all work-related communication among employees was intended to improve efficiency and collaboration, but Tsedal Neeley, Pamela J. Hinds, and Catherine Durnell Cramton found that it created anxiety and resentment instead. Some of the Germans at headquarters felt awkward communicating in English. They avoided speaking in meetings, left native English-speakers out of discussions, and sometimes "code-switched"--drifted back into speaking German--during a conversation or an e-mail thread to more efficiently make a point. Meanwhile, native English-speakers (along with Indian employees who'd achieved near-native fluency in English) interpreted their German colleagues' avoidance of English as rude and exclusionary. This led to extra tension on teams and less-effective problem solving.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 22, 2011 1:35 AM
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