Other Tongues at Work: Foreign Language Accommodation in Multilingual Organizations in the U.S.

ABSTRACT

Foreign language minorities are a ubiquitous part of the 21st century workforce, yet they are underrepresented in the diversity management literature. What little is known about workplace foreign language use tends to emphasize nonnatives’ challenging experiences. This research investigates whether natives' experiences with and reactions to foreign languages further elucidate the workplace integration difficulties nonnatives face. Drawing on social identity theory and communication accommodation theory, this study documents the types of foreign language encounter native workers experience in the United States, and how they react to situations where they don't understand what is being said around them. Participants' recollections of and responses to a foreign language experience were solicited through critical incident methodology. Participants' narratives (n = 157) reveal that natives experience a foreign language at work with internal and external constituents, and that these encounters are task-related or social. Natives' reactions suggest 4 types of communication accommodation orientations toward foreign language use (i.e., enforced monolingualism, conditional monolingualism, functional multilingualism, and proactive multilingualism), ranging from conservative to proactive. The authors conclude with implications for research and managerial practice.

KEYWORDS:

• foreign languages in the workplace
• language diversity in organizations
• diversity in the workplace
• communication accommodation theory

Notes

1. These figures include all language related formal charges (i.e., English-only rule and accent related violations). No data exists on how many language-related complaints with the EEOC do not materialize into formal charges, or on the perceived language related discrimination cases that don't get reported.

2. The online survey was administered through Sona System, cloud-based participant management system. All student research pool participants were able to access the study through their individual Sona accounts. Participants were provided with a brief description of the study purpose along with the URL of the online survey Once they completed the survey, they received course credit. The procedure was approved by the University Institutional Review Board.