Man and Woman Talk in Indian Organizations: Grammatical and Syntactical Similarities

Abstract

The article examines grammatical and syntactical forms in reported speeches of men and women in the Indian work environment. Until recently, there has been little or no study on the linguistic performance across genders in the Indian setting. However, the recent advent of women in the organizations indicates that an understanding of the linguistic similarities or variances is required and will aid collaborative communication. Based on an empirical study, the article posits that linguistic variances in the organizational setup begin to fade at the middle management level. Communication and styles of communication are organization and not gender specific. Additionally, the article argues that organization-fit language is more masculine in nature and hinges on aggression and assertion rather than nurturance or submission. Findings of the research may be of significance to academics and corporates in the business scenario who review the process of communication in same- and mixed-gender groups from the lens of organizational requirements rather than gender specifics.

Balancing Emic and Etic: Situated Learning and Ethnography of Communication in Cross-Cultural Management Education

“…To date, intra-and intercultural qualitative research on workplace interactions inspired by ethnography and discourse analysis have shown the value of emic knowledge as gained from the anal-ysis of real-life work practices. Such insights could be usefully fed into the CCM curriculum alongside students' preparation for and execution of ethnographic projects (e.g., Salvi & Tanaka, 2011;Koester, 2004;Drew & Heritage, 1992;Yamada, 1992;Dhanania & Gopakumaran, 2005;Hong, Easterby-Smith, & Snell, 2006;Boden, 1994;Bargiela-Chiappini & Harris, 1997;Tanaka & Bargiela-Chiappini, 2011;Hanford, 2010;Nair-Venugopal, 2006;Paramasivam, 2007;Fujo, 2004;Tanaka, 2011;Chakorn, 2006;Kaul, 2012;Yotsukura, 2003;Zhu, 2005).…”

A Narrative on the Use of Interviews to Shape an Ethnographic Research into Family Language Practices

“…The crux of this question lay in the language practices and the ways in which they reflected and enacted concepts of status and power. Drawing on my own cultural upbringing in a South Asian context, I presumed that the Malayali families would be based on the Indian patriarchal system within which authority and status are assigned on the basis of gender and generation (Kaul 2012). Accordingly, within a nuclear family unit in which a married heterosexual couple are of the same generation, the father would become the head of the household owing to his gender.…”