This conversation analytic research project investigates linguistic and multimodal practices acquired and developed on a digital platform at a multinational IT company, where English is used as a lingua franca. The project provides novel insights into how contemporary multilingual workforce juggles between multiple parallel tasks and online communication channels while acquiring, using and adapting linguistic, discursive and multimodal practices. The project answers a call for a more holistic research approach that takes multilingualism into consideration in second language acquisition studies, while engaging with the entirety of semiotic forms which contribute to meaning-making.

Contact person: Kaisa Sofia Pietikäinen

Laerdal Medical is present in 25 countries worldwide, which raises the question of what strategies the organisation adopts to communicate and keep its values and mission statement alive across different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The question is answered by conducting interviews and fieldwork observations at the subsidiary Laerdal Medical Japan. The research is a joint project between NHH and Laerdal Medical, and was funded by NHH. 

This PhD project focuses on language practices and language learning in the multilingual workplace, specifically at a fish farming factory in Norway. With over 500 employees from 35 different nationalities, the factory provides an ideal setting to investigate how language learning is experienced and perceived by second language users of Norwegian. The project aims to explore how the language learning conditions in the workplace align with the language learning policies of the company and the government, and how workers navigate these conditions.

The overall goal of this dissertation is to contribute to the growing literature on language learning in real-world contexts and shed light on workers’ experiences of language practices and learning in a multilingual environment. By examining the impact of multilingualism on language practices and learning, the project aims to offer a nuanced understanding of the subject.

To achieve these goals, the study employs qualitative research methods, including interviews with workers, ethnographic observations, and video recordings of naturally occurring interaction at the multilingual workplace.

Contact person: Ina Celise Sortland

In Norway, over 40% of highly skilled migrants (HSMs) are overqualified for their position, according to a recent report published by Statistics Norway (Statistics Norway, 2022). Much of the existing research on diversity and inclusion in the Norwegian work context has focused on Norwegian leaders’ perceptions of migrants and on existing structures to integrate migrants in organisations. These studies are interesting to explain the situation in Norway. Yet, to have a fuller picture of the integration process, migrants’ voices need to be heard. In particular, we need to understand better how they integrate into the local society, not just how they are being integrated.

This study investigates highly skilled migrants in Norway and their views on diversity and inclusion. One study looks at how they make sense of language-based discrimination in the workplace. Another one examines how they make sense of their contribution to integration in Norway. The data comprises 20 interviews of highly skilled migrants working in different organisations in the Bergen region in Norway.

Contact person: Annelise Ly

The Language Management project focuses on the challenges posed by the dramatic increase in the number of linguistically diverse organisations, where one of the most common strategies is to adopt English as the functional language for organisational communicative purposes.

Another aspect is the use of the local language in this function, exemplified by the use of Norwegian in multinational organisations located in Norway. The concept of sensemaking is used to describe how members of an organisation interpret their environment and try to reduce equivocality by creating a shared understanding of experienced situations.

This project is part of NHH's research programme Future-Oriented Corporate Solutions (FOCUS), and addresses questions concerning how language issues affect international knowledge workers working in Norway.

FOCUS

Contact person: Annelise Ly

Successful communication among employees working in the same company is essential but difficult. However, it can become even more challenging when employees are from different national and linguistic backgrounds and are required to interact in English (used as a lingua franca for business purposes or BELF), in which they may be less competent than in their mother tongues. Misunderstandings and tensions may arise and are often attributed to national cultural differences, particularly when the employees are from diametrically opposed cultures. The thesis examines the key challenges when employees communicate with their international colleagues. It draws on several disciplines (organisational theory, linguistics, intercultural communication…) and combines different research methods to tackle these issues.

More in the following studies

Ly, A. (2016). International internal communication in the workplace: A transdisciplinary approach. NHH

Ly, A. (2016). Internal e-mail communication in the workplace: Is there an “East-West divide”?. Intercultural Pragmatics, 13(1), 37-70.

Ly, A. (2017). Making sense of communication and cultural differences in the workplace: The case of Sino-Scandinavian Collaborations. In Intercultural Communication with China (pp. 111-131). Springer, Singapore.

Ly, A. (2016). Getting access to language data in the workplace: Role enactment as a data-generation method. The Ins and Outs of Business and Professional Discourse Research, 63-80.

Contact person: Annelise Ly

Companies that nurture a shared corporate culture based on specific corporate values can improve their performance. However, when companies expand globally, communicating and transferring these values can be challenging, particularly when there are significant linguistic and cultural differences. This qualitative study examined the case of a small Norwegian IT company that has put its two corporate values at the core of its activity, and how these values were transferred to a subsidiary in India. Drawing on the concept of recontextualization and socialization theory, the study investigates the following: (1) how the corporate values were transferred, recontextualized and renegotiated in the Indian subsidiary; (2) how those values were implemented through a set of socialization mechanisms. Our main findings reveal how the Indian leaders actively recontextualized the values into prevailing cultural practices in India, and how senior employees were engaged in the value transfer process. Moreover, this article outlines how a small company without a formal HR department and with no expatriates to guide the process can use soft control mechanisms related to more formalized and structured HR practices to implement the headquarters’ values. Additionally, the article discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

More in the following study:

Sverdrup, T. E., & Ly, A. (2022). The role of recontextualization and socialization practices in transferring corporate values from a small Norwegian IT company to an Indian subsidiary. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1-32.

Contact person: Annelise Ly