"Not all multilingual teams are created equal " : Conceptualizing language diversity management

Amy Church-Morel (1) , A. Bartel-Radic (2)

1 Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Savoie Mont-Blanc
2 CERAG - Centre d'études et de recherches appliquées à la gestion

Language diversity is an inherent aspect of international work, and multinational companies have been described as multilingual communities by definition. Recent research has made progress in demonstrating the ways in which language diversity can affect teams and organizations by significantly influencing communication and knowledge-sharing, group dynamics, and power relations, all pointing to the necessity of organizations taking a strategic approach to language management. However, current research does not tell us much about which team language management practices are most effective for specific team configurations and organizational contexts. The aim of this paper is to contribute to fill this knowledge gap through a review of literature in order to build a conceptual model which lays groundwork for studying the connections between a multilingual team's characteristics, the processes by which the team overcomes or deals with language barriers, and the team's performance. Language diversity can be compared with other kinds of diversity, differences among individuals which can play a role in organizational outcomes. We first examine the concept of language diversity and language management through the lens of diversity literature.

Mots clés: teams; language management; language diversity; multilingual; international management

Domaines: Gestion et management

Amy Church-Morel, A. Bartel-Radic. "Not all multilingual teams are created equal " : Conceptualizing language diversity management. XXIIIe Conférence de l'Association Internationale de Management Stratégique (AIMS), 2014, Rennes, France. 26 p. ⟨halshs-01185822⟩