"Management, Culture and Language: Native and Second Languages in Management Team Communication"

Abstract

Cultural differences in dialogue and speech acts are common communication challenges in management involving Chinese and Western employees and managers. Research on cultural differences affecting cognition and language in recent decades has opened for more direct exploration of how such patterns may influence communication patterns in management. Comparing four groups - Chinese, English speaking Chinese, Chinese-speaking Westerners and non-Chinese speaking westerners, we assessed the effect of language and ethnicity on the ability to predict communication obstacles in a management team scenario. Culturally expected differences were found, and bilingual respondents were significantly more likely to deviate from their ethnic biases. But bilinguals were not more likely to adjust their metacognitions about communication towards those of the native speakers. The study creates a link between management, cognition and linguistics, as well as having consequences for the study of metacognition in cross-cultural management.