Leadership, Management and the Welsh Language

Abstract

Adopting a multilingual perspective, this empirical paper explores the varied use and meanings of referents of leadership and management among 24 Welsh senior managers. We argue the importance of recognizing the linguistic imperialism of the English language – and its dominant leadership discourse of the heroic individual leader – over locally signified referents of leadership and management in other languages and discourses. At present, the lexical item leadership lacks evaluation of its relevance and meaning within other languages and multilingual contexts. We add to this gap through a discussion of research that analyses 24 Welsh senior managers’ reflections on referents of leadership and management and their varied meanings in their two official workplace languages, namely, Welsh and English. Based on the findings, we explore linguistic power dynamics represented in their reflections on this language diverse work setting and conclude with implications for the practice of leadership and management.

Working with Language: A Refocused Research Agenda for Cultural Leadership Studies

“…Alvesson and Sveningsson ; Fairhurst ; Fairhurst and Uhl‐Bien ) as well as aesthetically informed (see Hansen and Bathurst ) and visual or arts‐based enquiries (see Schedlitzki et al . ; Schyns et al . ; Taylor and Ladkin ).…”

“…Akin to Schedlitzki et al . (), they could explore the use and history of meanings of specific notions associated with phenomena that in the English language are captured by such terms as ‘leader’, ‘manager’, ‘leadership’, ‘management’, ‘conductor and ‘governing’. It is important to bear in mind that any insights gained into possible meanings of leadership are tied to the very dynamics of the sample gathered and research team involved.…”

“…Rather than imposing a semi‐structured format that is so dominant within current leadership studies, we therefore suggest engaging with a set of creative and projective techniques (Goetz and LeCompte ; Taylor and Ladkin ), such as the use of word cards (Schedlitzki et al . ) and cultural artefacts (e.g. images, paintings, myths, stories or poetry), to encourage an open, interactive discussion.…”

“…The importance of such research into linguistic multiplicity as a means to explore culturally embedded practice is further supported by research such as Prince's () work on Taoism, Schedlitzki et al .’s () exploration of the Welsh language, Julien et al .’s () study of Canadian aboriginal leaders, and Peltonen's () conceptual history of management/leadership in Finland. The close examination of language and communication within these studies allows the researchers to highlight culturally embedded, fundamental differences in meaning and practice of leadership between these specific linguistic and cultural contexts and mainstream, western leadership theories.…”

“…Schedlitzki et al . (), for example, used word cards as a projective technique in their interviews to elicit discussion of different meanings of Welsh and English words connected to leadership and management. This helped to uncover emotive and power‐based dimensions of these language expressions in use within multilingual work contexts.…”