Alike Yet Distinct: The Effect of Language Diversity on Interpersonal Relationships Within National and Multinational Project Teams

Komal Kalra and Mike Szymanski

Management and Organization Review, 2023, vol. 19, issue 4, 627-654

Abstract: This study examines the impact of language diversity on interpersonal relationships in multinational and national/domestic teams in a multilingual country – India. Specifically, it explores whether and how the influence of language diversity differs in the two types of multilingual project teams. To this end, using direct observations and semi-structured interviews, we conducted a thematic analysis and found that native language-based faultlines and groups exist in both kinds of teams. However, such faultlines and language-based groups can disintegrate into smaller, regional dialect-based subgroups due to the emergence of dialect faultlines. Furthermore, evidence suggests that multilingual managers are more effective as boundary spanners in bridging the faultlines in multinational teams; at the same time, they need to be aware of the distinction between language differences and faultlines. This study provides the required distinction between language diversity and the role of multilingual managers in national and multinational teams in an understudied context, thereby contributing to the literature on language diversity. 本文对印度这个多语言国家中的本国和跨国工作团队进行了调研，研究语言的多样性对团队人际关系的影响。作者使用了直接观察法和半结构访谈法，对文本记录进行了主题分析，发现基于讲本地语言而导致的团队断层在两种团队中都存在。但是，此种断层可以渗透到更小的、基于方言产生的子团队中。重要的是，作者发现能说多种语言的管理者可以在跨国团队中更有效地弥合断裂，当然，这要求他们对不同语言和团队断层的差异有清醒的认识。

Date: 2023
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