Language clustering and knowledge sharing in multilingual organizations: A social perspective on language

Abstract

Knowledge sharing is a product of the collaborative and supportive environment shaped by socialization and informal communication between employees. Under the pressure of globalization and business internationalization, organization's workforce has become increasingly diverse particularly in terms of language. This has implications for knowledge sharing. It has been observed that employees tend to gravitate toward their own language communities leading to language clustering (language-based grouping) which affects informal communication and knowledge mobility in organizations negatively. Although existence of such clusters has been reported in many previous studies, we do not clearly understand how and why language brings these clusters into being and what kind of implications this has for knowledge sharing. This paper draws upon the theory of the semiotic processes of linguistic differentiation taken from linguistic anthropology to provide a theoretical framework capable of explaining the dynamics of language creating language clusters. Unlike previous knowledge management studies, which largely focus on the instrumental aspect of language, this paper adopts a social perspective on language. It is argued that to deal with language clustering we have to explore the dynamics operating behind it in detail. This will not only allow us to understand its implications for knowledge sharin g but will also be helpful in devising potent knowledge management initiatives in multilingual workplaces.

Knowledge‐Sharing Networks: Language Diversity, Its Causes, and Consequences

“…It triggers emotional responses toward the use of a language (Ahmad & Widén. ). Negative attitudes toward a language entail less interaction in that language or complete avoidance of that language and sometimes its speakers as well (Jenkins, ).…”

“…Recently, organizations have experienced an ever‐more multilingual workforce. Cross‐border business commitments and movement of people have rendered many organizations linguistically and culturally diverse (Ahmad & Widén, ). An ever‐increasing number of organizations are adopting English as their corporate language and are also hiring multilingual employees (Peltokorpi & Vaara, ).…”

“…Because personal knowledge networks are subsets of larger organizational knowledge network, the presence of a low level of language diversity in personal knowledge networks leads to fragmentation in knowledge networks at higher level, for example, between departments and subsidiaries. As a result, organizational performance and innovation potential, which usually require high degree of collaboration, suffer (Ahmad & Widén, ). Moreover, cross fertilization of ideas across different language groups does not happen, and benefits of language diversity that usually coincides with cognitive diversity are not reaped in the organization (Ahmad & Widen, ; Holden & Von Kortzfleisch, ; Lucy, ).…”

“…As a result, organizational performance and innovation potential, which usually require high degree of collaboration, suffer (Ahmad & Widén, ). Moreover, cross fertilization of ideas across different language groups does not happen, and benefits of language diversity that usually coincides with cognitive diversity are not reaped in the organization (Ahmad & Widen, ; Holden & Von Kortzfleisch, ; Lucy, ). What influences language diversity in personal knowledge networks is not well known.…”

The impact of language diversity on knowledge sharing

“…One of the most important organizational activities is collaboration between employees. Organizational employees continuously engage with their colleagues to acquire task related information, advice, new insights and expertise to find solutions to their complex problems and develop innovative ideas (Ahmad & Widén, 2015;Widén-Wulff, 2007). This phenomenon is known as knowledge sharing.…”