Community of Practice: A narrativized Account of a Full-time Multicultural Worker

Abstract

Working in an international context requires both resilience and flexibility. Every multicultural worker may face distinctive linguistic and cultural challenges but also have precious learning opportunities. This study was motivated by a desire to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of international employees through the voice of a worker currently engaged in transcultural communication. The research participant is a non-native speaker of English but is highly proficient. The participant obtains high-level tertiary qualifications and has worked professionally in her home country. Sarah is Vietnamese and has been working in Australia for years as a research fellow at a university. Data was collected through an elicited narrative, prompted by open-ended questions, and done in written form. The story was coded for transcultural communication topics, and then selected passages were chosen to showcase intriguing ideas. Findings indicated that one could achieve transcultural success in a multicultural working context by conquering transcultural challenges with huge support from his/her Community of Practice (CoP). It is also suggested that workplace CoPs play an important role in proceeding transcultural communication through social interaction between employees in a global organization, which results in transcultural successes.