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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 616

Part of Session 197: Urban multilingualism in a context of international mobility (Other abstracts in this session)

‘See the Need, Fill the Need?’: Language Strategies, Language Tactics and Instrumentality in Danish International Companies

Authors: Millar, Sharon Louise; Cifuentes, Sylvie
Submitted by: Millar, Sharon Louise (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)

In business management, the need to appreciate the difference, but inter-dependence, between a strategy and a tactic is recognized: a strategy is developed at a higher organizational level and at a higher level of abstraction, is less subject to change and involves choices; a tactic is a means to implement the strategy (Clampitt et al. 2000). However, strategies and tactics are not always distinguished by managers so the two may be confounded or detached from one another. From a very different perspective, the French cultural critic Michel de Certeau (1988) distinguishes between strategy, produced by those in power, and tactic, defined by a lack of power, and used by those to act, often subversively, within the spaces carved out by a strategy. Here too a link between strategy and tactic is assumed. Taking into account these business and culturally-oriented approaches, this paper examines questions of language strategy and tactics in Danish international companies. On the basis of qualitative interview data, the nature of (reported) corporate strategies and/or tactics is identified (e.g. corporate language, language training) as are the (reported) tactics of individual employees (e.g. hybridization, linguistic brokerage). These are then subjected to social psychological explanation, within the framework of social representation theory (Augoustinos et al. 2006), where the issue of instrumentality is particularly scrutinized. Implications for corporate language management will also be considered.

References:

Augoustinos, M., Walker, I. and Donaghue, N. 2006.  Social Cognition: An Integrated Introduction. (2^nd edition). London:Sage

Clampitt, P., DeKoch and R. and Cashman, T. 2000. “A strategy for communicating about uncertainty”.  Academy of Management Executive 14(4): 41-57.

De Certeau, M. 1988. The Practice of Everyday Life. Translated by Steven Rendell. Berkeley: University of California Press.