Book Review: Language Management: From Bricolage to Strategy in British Companies

The turn of the millennium brought along extensive expansion of information technology and communication, triggering rapid social changes in societies around the world (Budach and De Saint-Georges, 2017). Global networks connect people and, especially from the perspective of multinational corporations (MNCs), English could seem to be the universal driving force that set international business (IB) in motion. However, recent research shows that simply relying on English in international business may be more of an Anglophone wish than a reality of successful IB communication.

A recent book by Natalie Victoria Wilmot, draws attention to the complexity of communication across national borders and the ambivalent value of English in inter-organisational communication of smaller and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The author takes a pragmatic approach and employs a skopos theory, that focuses on the purpose rather than form of language-related activities, while examining the role of lingua franca, translation and informal boundary spanners in the linguistically diverse work environment of internationally expanding SMEs. Exploratory in nature and adopting qualitative methodology, the research features four case studies of language management and inspects strategies that the organisations and their employees adopt in their multilingual inter-organisational dailiness.

Analysing everyday practices related to cross-border communication in SMEs, the author explores the situated nature of language practices sources of their normativity. The findings show that language-related decisions are more a patchwork of happenstance than the result of a deliberate managerial decision in the participating SMEs. At the same time, management overestimates the role of English in internationalization and underestimates the added value of professional language work for international growth. Thus, internationalisation of the observed SMEs is determined by random (inter)personal circumstances. The book unveils the potential that a strategic approach to multilingualism has for the internationalisation of SMEs, namely in terms of new market opportunities, price-cost ratio of professional language work, and sustainability of international collaboration. Paradoxically, the book relies largely on research published in English and does not draw on previous research on multilingual practices in SMEs that have been discussed in languages other than English, for example from the German-Czech cross-border region (Engel et al., 2013). This, a bit invertedly yet powerfully, underlines the key message that the book puts forward—monolingual sources can be limiting. Given that the book under review is situated in the UK business context, the omission of research in other languages is not detrimental, but should be considered when discussed in a broader international context.

Analysis of case studies presented in this book contributes to closing a methodology gap in previous research, in which the qualitative approach was limited to the context of multinational companies, while the practices of SMEs have been examined mainly quantitatively. The author’s exploratory approach was appropriately supported by the choice of qualitative methods. The triangulation of thematic and narrative analysis with cross-case comparisons seems appropriate for the purposes of an exploratory study. The open inductive coding also fits the purpose of the exploratory endeavour, which aimed to put new themes on the table. Further qualitative studies could benefit from a more robust conceptual anchoring of the analyses in order to go more into depth of explanation of the encountered phenomena. Readers might also wish to know, how exactly were the data coded and analysed, particularly when it comes to the narrative analysis which is not common in managerial studies.

The author highlights considerations of the phatic and hegemonic aspects of language, which have long been theorized by linguistic anthropology (Saville-Troike, 2003), accentuated by the emergence of empowerment paradigm (Cameron, 2001), just to become more recently a trending topic shared at the intersection of sociolinguistics, multilingual vocational education and education (Lovrits, 2022). The reviewed book now adds managerial studies to the concerned fields. At the same time, it invites management researchers to develop the interpretive approach to practice theories (Ormerod et al., 2022) which do not focus solely on actors on the microlevel, but on a situated action in an interconnected interplay of macro- and micro-circumstances, tools (namely IT), interpersonal relations and other factors, including politico-historical discourses on language use.

The book also includes examples of how management theory can tend to reuse concepts from other disciplines in a rather down-to-earth way. For example, Lévi-Strauss’s philosophical concept of (semiotic myth-making) bricolage is used in its most general sense, i.e. as an employment of whatever means are available in order to pragmatically meet business needs. “Bricolage” is used as a simple term without the original context of the concept in anthropology. This probably does not matter in management research, but risks to complicate potential interdisciplinary discussions. Overall, the use of terms referring to complex concepts taken from other disciplines remains consistent with their original context. The author links the personal experiences of her participants under investigation to some historical and social contexts, for example, when discussing possible reasons why French respondents may feel compelled to challenge the presence of English.

Scholars reading this book from the perspective of other disciplines may notice the appeal of sociolinguistic, (linguistic) anthropological, and social psychological concepts in the international and cross-cultural management literature and feel inspired to engage in the discussion. This might build on the door opened by the book under review, bring greater depth to conceptualisations and help answer the ‘why’ questions that multilingualism research has been crying out for in the last decade (Hua, 2014). The book under review already answers the call in the sense that it shifts the focus from an ethical to an emic understanding of language as a situated social practice that embodies and reinforces or challenges power relations.

One particularly interesting aspect that is questioned in the book is the predominance of a “functional” or “technicist” view of interlingual meaning transfer. Instead, languages are explored as mutually permeable means of communication that create mutual trust and a sense of competence. Moreover, the author actively tries to refrain from methodological nationalism (Kraus and Grin, 2018), i.e. she tries not to consider languages as abstract, homogeneous and strictly discrete systems that are automatically associated with citizens or states. Yet a thorough reflection on the notion of “native speaker” would make this approach more consistent (Yildiz, 2012). Rethinking the usefulness of the old (essentialist and space-bound) linguistic categories such as “native language/mother tongue” in the globalized contexts which are characterized by high international mobility may be a sociolinguistic call for international and intercultural management in general.

Although the author of the book examines the language practices of SMEs at the interpersonal, not the structural, level, she nevertheless reflects on the possible organizational implications. Data discussed in the book illustrate that “international business English” (or “business English as lingua franca”–BELF) does not necessarily consider the “native” Anglophones to be at the top of an imagined hierarchy of language users. Research presented in the book suggests that a monolingual mindset preventing a change of perspectives may hinder international communication more than non-idiomatic language use. Unlike in most previous managerial research, this stance is taken from the perspective of “native English speakers” and UK-based business. Still, the message stands– stepping out of the monolingual comfort zone has positive implications for the participants and organisations in the study. Namely, employees can move further in their careers (vertically or laterally) and the organisation gains new markets abroad.

A specific avenue that the book opens up for future research is the under-researched role of small talk in international business and the need for conscious care of metalanguage in the workplace. The author demonstrates that the SME employees in her case studies do not consider small talk as an unnecessary and boring activity, but as a means to create long-term friendly relationships with SME suppliers abroad, strategically building on trust in business relationships. The importance of “trivial talk” or “small talk” has been thoroughly discussed in sociolinguistics as a means of creating social cohesion at the microlevel of interpersonal communication (Blommaert and Varis, 2015). Transposing the routine ways of expressing subtle aspects of personal mutuality into another language and/or social context is tricky, risks misunderstandings and directly threatens a person’s prosperity at work, particularly thwarting integration of newcomers (Holmes, 2005).

Furthermore, the book under review implicitly highlights an overlooked ethical aspect in the discussion on language nods and boundary spanners–the reluctance of enterprises to pay for the quality of language work. The unpaid informal work of co-workers and employees tends to be framed as an individual professional investment. Yet the data in the book suggest that it may be a source of resentment among employees and an inappropriate money-saving for the organisation. One example from the book is a SME that used extensive unpaid student collaboration to translate the content of the organisation’s website. The collaboration with students was eventually cut for being ineffective. Although the students' translation was accurate, it took too long to be useful in the web development process. Eventually, properly paid professional services replaced the ethically questionable employment of unpaid student work and proved to be the best business solution for the SME.

Alongside reflections on ethical behaviour towards external collaborators of SMEs, the book provides a rich data evidence on the underestimated value of the linguistic well-being of the organisations’ own employees. No explicit critical theory stance is taken throughout the book, but the findings are complemented by critical studies that have previously pointed to the commodification of employees' multilingual skills, which are systematically exploited by the firm without any payoff to individual value-adding workers (Duchêne, 2011). Daring research may be needed to identify potentially exploitative practices.

Finally, the author lucidly points out that much more energy and resources seem to be invested in meeting the language needs of the (potential) clients through translation and localisation of websites and user manuals than in considering the language needs of collaborators. Indeed, supply chain members and business partners across linguistic borders sometimes can’t or prefer not to communicate in English, so investing in multilingual employees and professional language services proved to be a strategic investment in the investigated case studies. Whereas clients’ satisfaction and comfort may generate direct revenues, efforts invested in external relations in supply chains seem to build relationships of trust and pay off in the long run. Ultimately, capitalizing on language potential at lower levels of the organizational ladder seems to remain an untapped potential for professional and organizational growth of SMEs.