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Chapter 3. Multilingualism and diversity management in companies in the Upper Rhine Region

  • Georges Lüdi , Katharina Höchle Meier and Patchareerat Yanaprasart
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Exploring the Dynamics of Multilingualism
This chapter is in the book Exploring the Dynamics of Multilingualism

Abstract

The world’s increasing globalisation requires more interaction among people from diverse settings. Maximising on workplace diversity has become an important issue for management today. Many empirical studies clearly show that the management of linguistic diversity is of central importance to both strategic and operational processes. An important part of the preceding research concentrated on a shift of companies’ language to English as a lingua franca, being advised as a constructive source of mutual intelligibility, allowing for more effective communication. Our work is based on a “multilingual mentality”. The basic questions are how, and under what conditions, “multilingual solutions” are a genuine advantage for businesses. The aim is to understand, on the one hand, to what extent companies in the Upper Rhine Region conceive their corporate identity and organise their patterns of language use, but also the impact of their language management measures and, on the other hand, in what way individuals’ multilingual repertoires evolve into a communicative and strategic resource in organisational and professional interactions in mixed teams. The observed practices lead to a fresh view on multilingualism, based on two complementary conceptions: “institutional multilingualism” (largely additive) and “multilanguaging” (exploiting integrated individual plurilingual repertoires).

Abstract

The world’s increasing globalisation requires more interaction among people from diverse settings. Maximising on workplace diversity has become an important issue for management today. Many empirical studies clearly show that the management of linguistic diversity is of central importance to both strategic and operational processes. An important part of the preceding research concentrated on a shift of companies’ language to English as a lingua franca, being advised as a constructive source of mutual intelligibility, allowing for more effective communication. Our work is based on a “multilingual mentality”. The basic questions are how, and under what conditions, “multilingual solutions” are a genuine advantage for businesses. The aim is to understand, on the one hand, to what extent companies in the Upper Rhine Region conceive their corporate identity and organise their patterns of language use, but also the impact of their language management measures and, on the other hand, in what way individuals’ multilingual repertoires evolve into a communicative and strategic resource in organisational and professional interactions in mixed teams. The observed practices lead to a fresh view on multilingualism, based on two complementary conceptions: “institutional multilingualism” (largely additive) and “multilanguaging” (exploiting integrated individual plurilingual repertoires).

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction ix
  4. Part I. Companies
  5. Chapter 1. Multilingual practices in professional settings 3
  6. Chapter 2. The practical processing of plurilingualism as a resource in professional activities 33
  7. Chapter 3. Multilingualism and diversity management in companies in the Upper Rhine Region 59
  8. Chapter 4. Representations of multilingualism and management of linguistic diversity in companies 83
  9. Chapter 5. A social representational perspective on languages and their management in the Danish corporate sector 101
  10. Chapter 6. What can Gaelic teach us about effective policy through planning? 121
  11. Chapter 7. Language diversity management on corporate websites 137
  12. Part II. European institutions
  13. Chapter 8. Language competence and language choice within EU institutions and their effects on national legislative authorities 157
  14. Chapter 9. EU and lesser-used languages 179
  15. Chapter 10. Dynamics of multilingualism in post-Enlargement EU institutions 205
  16. Part III. Higher education
  17. Chapter 11. Accomplishing multilingualism through plurilingual activities 229
  18. Chapter 12. Multilingual higher education between policies and practices 253
  19. Chapter 13. Plurilingualisms and knowledge construction in higher education 279
  20. Chapter 14. Language policies in universities and their outcomes 299
  21. Chapter 15. Policies and practices of multilingualism at Babeş-Bolyai University (Cluj, Romania) 323
  22. How policies influence multilingual education and the impact of multilingual education on practices 353
  23. Part IV. Transversal issues
  24. Chapter 17. Assessing efficiency and fairness in multilingual communication 365
  25. Chapter 18. English as a lingua franca in European multilingualism 387
  26. Chapter 19. Europe’s multilingualism in the context of a European culture of standard languages 407
  27. Conclusion 429
  28. Index 437
https://doi.org/10.1075/mdm.2.03lud

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction ix
  4. Part I. Companies
  5. Chapter 1. Multilingual practices in professional settings 3
  6. Chapter 2. The practical processing of plurilingualism as a resource in professional activities 33
  7. Chapter 3. Multilingualism and diversity management in companies in the Upper Rhine Region 59
  8. Chapter 4. Representations of multilingualism and management of linguistic diversity in companies 83
  9. Chapter 5. A social representational perspective on languages and their management in the Danish corporate sector 101
  10. Chapter 6. What can Gaelic teach us about effective policy through planning? 121
  11. Chapter 7. Language diversity management on corporate websites 137
  12. Part II. European institutions
  13. Chapter 8. Language competence and language choice within EU institutions and their effects on national legislative authorities 157
  14. Chapter 9. EU and lesser-used languages 179
  15. Chapter 10. Dynamics of multilingualism in post-Enlargement EU institutions 205
  16. Part III. Higher education
  17. Chapter 11. Accomplishing multilingualism through plurilingual activities 229
  18. Chapter 12. Multilingual higher education between policies and practices 253
  19. Chapter 13. Plurilingualisms and knowledge construction in higher education 279
  20. Chapter 14. Language policies in universities and their outcomes 299
  21. Chapter 15. Policies and practices of multilingualism at Babeş-Bolyai University (Cluj, Romania) 323
  22. How policies influence multilingual education and the impact of multilingual education on practices 353
  23. Part IV. Transversal issues
  24. Chapter 17. Assessing efficiency and fairness in multilingual communication 365
  25. Chapter 18. English as a lingua franca in European multilingualism 387
  26. Chapter 19. Europe’s multilingualism in the context of a European culture of standard languages 407
  27. Conclusion 429
  28. Index 437
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