English as a lingua franca in a business context What are the costs for non-native users?

Transcription

1 English as a lingua franca in a business context What are the costs for non-native users? Learning from narratives of Japanese business people Miyuki Takino Centre for Global Englishes University of Southampton June, 2015 HROB

2 Today s presentation Research overview Background, research methods, findings Looking at the HR perspective Costs for non-native English users Implications for HR management

3 Issues of language in international business Increasing needs of cross language management Worldwide spread of English as a corporate language, often as a matter of fact The language barrier Harzing & Feely 2007 Delay in decision making / misunderstanding The direct problem: everything takes more time and is more costly Issues in communication flows and power e.g. Marschan-Piekkari, Welch & Welch 1999

4 English becomes a global language English as a business lingua franca - BELF Goal oriented, pragmatic and flexible use of English - Native English speakers norms less relevant Non-native English users are successful in establishing intelligibility bad English can get things done Ehrenreich (2010), Louhiala-Salminen, Charles & Kankaanranta (2005)

5 Widely circulated discourses in Japan Weak English and reluctance to adopt English resulting in Japanese firms lagging behind global competition Need to increase the number of global human resources in Japan Need to shift to bilingual management or adoption of English as a corporate language Costs of Japanese language management Translation and interpretation fees, expenses for hiring Japanese speaking locals & Japanese expatriates, opportunity costs off outsourcing, using non-japanese human resources and their expertise Okabe (2009), The Council on Promotion of Human Resource for Globalization Development (2011)

6 Unequal access among non-native English users Unequal competence of English language Japanese people have limited exposure to English before starting business career Singapore Sweden Malaysia Greece Philippines Germany Portugal France Thailand Spain Indonesia Italy Taiwan China South Korea Japan Perceived level of English skills High Some Limited None 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Self-evaluated English proficiency (by nationality) Adopted from Terasawa 2012 / Based on Asia Europe Survey 2000

7 Research Aims and Questions Listen to BELF users own perspective Let BELF users (non-native English users in business contexts) voice their own value and interpretation Look at BELF users changes over time Reflect on their career, location and business environment The challenges Japanese BELF users face How they dealt with the challenges How they make sense of their experiences of using English

8 Methodology: Narratives = User s point of view = Trajectory of individuals School Business

9 Methodology: Participants and Interviews 30 Japanese business people who use English at work Have grown up and been educated exclusively in the Japanese education system People with business experience minute unstructured interviews / thematic analyses Successful BELF users Elite minorities among Japanese business people

10 Challenges at the initial stage Difficult to start using English at work Reluctance to use English with not comfortable competence The mental barrier You need to push people into the pool, and force them to learn how to swim Determination / needs at work is crucial Learn and build confidence from experiences at work

11 Challenges of using English Most commonly talked challenges Making contributions during meetings Especially multi-party meetings Writing in business format Reading in volume Lower productivity Higher risk of making mistakes

12 Trajectories and career development Learn English with use / getting used to is key Learn from communities at work, colleagues and business partners English skills required vary widely As the responsibility of the job changes, the English skills required change Continuous efforts to fill the gaps in their communication skills

13 Trajectories and career development A long road with ups and downs English skills as mobile and fluid - improvement and forgetting Unfixed and non-linear - accumulation of chunks of skills Participants reflection: English skills have changed significantly throughout their business career Many participants say that when they started working, their English skills were less than 50% of their current level

14 Costs of BELF for non-native English users Learning an additional language is often a life long process Less power in communication Coping with lower productivity in English Managing higher risk of making mistakes Develop know-hows to work as a critical point of two different environment

15 Inequality of BLEF Feelings of unfairness Linguistic competence influences the power in communication Evaluation of contents is influenced by fluency of the language Sense of lower performance in English compared to in Japanese Additional costs for non-native English users Many par(cipants say that their performance in English has limita(ons compared to what they can do in Japanese They experience frustra(ons of being unable to perform at their best capacity in business They feel that they are less powerful in English communica(on Especially true when communica(ng with people who they perceive to be stronger English users, both na(ve and non- na(ve users alike

16 Implications for HR Support during the initial stage / scaffolding support Support for learning at work and life long learning Systematic support by linguistic experts e.g. translator, proof reader, lawyer Managing risk of making mistakes Managing the risk of too much reliance on the person in the critical point

17 Selected references The Council on Promotion of Human Resource for Globalization Development. (2011). An Interim Report of The Council on Promotion of Human Resource for Globalization Development. Ehrenreich, S. (2009). English as a Lingua Franca in Multinational Corporations Exploring Business Communities of Practice. In A. Mauranen & E. Ranta (Eds.), English as a Lingua Franca: Studies and Findings (pp ). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Ehrenreich, S. (2010). English as a Business Lingua Franca in a German Multinational Corporation Meeting the Challenge. Journal of Business Communication, 47(4), Harzing, A., & Pudelko, M. (2013). Language competencies, policies and practices in multinational corporations : A comprehensive review and comparison of Anglophone, MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS : Journal of World Business. Harzing, A., & Pudelko, M. (2014). The bridging role of expatriates and inpatriates in knowledge transfer in multinational corporations. Human Resource Management, doi: /hrm Harzing, A.-W., Köster, K., & Magner, U. (2011). Babel in business: The language barrier and its solutions in the HQ-subsidiary relationship. Journal of World Business, 46(3), doi: /j.jwb Kankaanranta, A., & Louhiala-Salminen, L. (2010). English? Oh, it s just work! : A study of BELF users perceptions. English for Specific Purposes, 29(3), Kankaanranta, A., & Planken, B. (2010). BELF competence as business knowledge of internationally operating business professionals. Journal of Business Communication, 47(4), Okabe, Y. (2009). Language Benefits and Language Costs in Japanese-style Management. Kyoto Sangyo University Library, Social Science, 26(26), Terasawa, T. (2012). The discourse of Japanese incompetence in English based on Imagined Communities : A sociometric examination of Asia Europe survey. Asian EFL Group, 7(1).