Contenu du sommaire : La question du langage et de la communication dans le management international : un défi pour les hommes et les organisations

In this paper we propose a framework to analyze the linguistic distance between the home country of a multinational corporation (MNC) and its host country, and a tool to measure it. Our approach to linguistic distance is grounded in the taxonomy of multinational corporations (MNCs) developed by Perlmutter (1969) and then improved by Bartlett et al. (2005). We used the Expected Utility Method (Von Neumann and Morgenstern, 1947) and the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) method (Roy, 1985) to define a composite index aimed at measuring the linguistic distance. Its components build upon the foundations laid by the findings of several previous studies. We then used this index to assess the linguistic distance between Canada and four Asian countries and we present our findings.

This article reports on an interdisciplinary research linking discourse analysis and a culture interpretative approach. It was performed on several corpora of French, Chinese and United-States organizations' corporate communication documents, either produced in the speakers' mother-tongues or in English as a lingua franca. The discourse analysis results indicate that the proper way to handle one's customer varies according to the speakers' culture entailing communication difficulties, as confirmed by the annoyance underpinning interpersonal e-mail messages collected in multinationals. These findings induce the conclusion that discourse analysis could help any staff needing to convince people belonging to another culture.

This article concerns the guides of individual appraisal interviews of personnel evaluation systems. By using a comparative semiotic methodology, with two appraisal interview guides, we analyze two different contexts, the first one in a Small and Medium-Sized Firm in the French private sector, the second one in a big Anglo-Saxon multinational company. We show that there is a particular way of writing for these professional appraisal guides, and that it constitutes a specific discursive mode in this type of procedure.

In this paper, we report on a sample of 6,434 young Swiss men, who answered a questionnaire about their foreign language skills and intercultural abilities. The instrument combines well-established as well as novel attitudinal scales. The focus of the paper is on the operationalisation of variables through the Common European Frame of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). Preliminary results are also presented, showing a significant relationship between three MPQ dimensions (open-mindedness, cultural empathy and social initiative) and language skills. There was no significant relationship between language skills and the other two dimensions (flexibility, emotional stability). A significant relationship was also found between the nature of respondents' second language and open-mindedness, social initiative, emotional stability, and flexibility.

When language issues are discussed in management literature the focus has most often been on resolving what has become known as “the language barrier” which is found to slow down business and increase costs for the company. This operational dimension is certainly important, but it has taken center stage while another important function of communication, namely the management of relations and the establishing of rapport, has tended to be overlooked. Research conducted on relationship building and managing distance in global teams has shown the importance of psychological and social factors but tends to ignore the primordial role played by verbal communication in intercultural interactions. This is surprising given that varying degrees of language knowledge and of communication competencies among members of such teams can create obstacles for effective teambuilding and cooperation. Companies invest large amounts in technology such as video-conferencing and sophisticated e-mail networks, and although a lingua franca may be used, individuals are often unable to relate to each other. While information has the potential to flow more quickly, collaboration remains difficult as the ‘language barrier' has not been dealt with effectively. An understanding of language use in interactions is therefore critical for the successful management of interpersonal relations and for establishing rapport in international teams. This paper demonstrates that these language and cultural differences can be opportunities rather than obstacles and that an understanding of the effects of language strategies and choices leads to more enlightened communication for managing relations and establishing this rapport. Based on a review of a sample of the management literature and on illustrative empirical data analysed from a sociolinguistic perspective, findings show the importance of understanding language use in context and demonstrate how interactional patterns and discursive strategies affect the management of relations in teams. A lack of trust and the stigmatization of individuals or groups have been identified in recent management research as being part of the risk factors for individuals in multicultural work settings. The paper discusses the implications of this research for management education and for the development of “soft skills”, said to be lacking among graduate trainee managers. Some linguists have claimed that many textbooks on intercultural business communication deal with the question of the effective management of communication very superficially. This supports the argument for an interdisciplinary approach bringing together research in the human sciences and management sciences. It is essential for the “language” faculty in business schools to understand the challenges facing managers in international professional settings. In many “language” courses in business schools in France, for example, the focus is on language as representing a given national culture or “civilisation”. This approach tends to be comparative and contrastive, with the aim of facilitating insertion in a given country, in the case of an overseas assignment for example. However it is insufficient for preparing students for working in international teams. The recommendation made in this paper is that there should be a shift of focus in language training for management students with an emphasis on “borders and frontiers that join rather than divide” (Alread et al 2003, in Bargiela-Chiappini & Nickerson 2003).

Based on an empirical survey, this paper aims to show the evolution of the role of executives of educational institutions. Executives appear as public managers in search of legitimacy and professional reference in order to ensure their leadership and their strategic and educational responsibilities. Executives are also in the heart of opposing forces which result from the current structural changes of the French educational system. They must reconcile three modes of coordination : the standardization of processes still present in the techno-bureaucracy, the standardization of the results imposed increasingly by the Government and the standardization of skills in order to maintain a real autonomy for teachers.

42 feedbacks returns about teachers' experience of violence at school, analysed successively using two text-analysis software programmes, Alceste and Nvivo, reveal that there is a hidden factor in the issue of aggression, which has nothing to do with the behaviour of the pupils, but stems from an organisational dysfunction. Analysis suggests that teachers are subject to aggressive behaviour because there is a lack of support for them from the Head of the School. This is seen as a sign of weakness and permissiveness which encourages violent confrontation with authority. Such results show a need for new performance measures.

The French University is, in a context of new governance, influenced by multiple stakeholders. Analysis of the University‘s President speech in the preamble of the social report confirms the strategic importance given to staff as stakeholders because of its representation and its contribution in terms of resources and skills.

Management literature and, more specifically, the theory of levers control made by Robert Simons (1987), (1990), (1991), (1994), (1995), (2000), (2005) can be used to understand the approach of the Confucius Institute of the People's Republic of China. It provides an analytical framework to explain the emergence of a strategy and therefore understand the control system of public schools.

This article questions the impact of contest « Challenge Projets d'Entreprendre » on entrepreneurial intention of students, but also its real contribution to the creation of innovative firms as motivation and stimulation factors. The results confirm its role of «awakening» among students, but they do not suggest that this type of training predominantly influence the passage to the act of creation, even for the winners of this competition.