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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of language ideologies in negotiating organisational relationships in a Korean multinational company (MNC). By adopting an interactional sociolinguistics (IS) approach, this paper illustrates how language becomes part of a mechanism of negotiating group membership and of perpetuating or challenging power asymmetries through social and ideological processes.

This paper draws on interview data from an ethnographic case study of a Korean MNC to understand language ideologies in one working team. The interview data are analysed through an IS framework to connect the situated interaction to the broader social context.

This paper shows that participants’ discourse of linguistic differentiation becomes an interactional resource in challenging the organisational status quo. Linguistic superiority/inferiority is constructed through particular sequencing and the systematic production of a dichotomy between two groups – expatriate managers and local employees – at various levels of their company structure. Group membership is enacted temporarily in positioning the self and the others.

This paper offers a methodological contribution to international business language-sensitive research on language and power by conducting interactional analysis of interview talk. Through the lens of IS, it provides insights into how discourse becomes a primary site of negotiating power and status and a multi-level approach to the study of organisational power dynamics and the complex linguistic landscape of any workplace.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on corporate communication issues that arise when a company offshores language-sensitive services to a country which does not have a workforce with the required language skills. It explores the consequences of adopting a total immersion policy and annual testing regime to build and maintain linguistic competence among the workforce, with regard to motivation, challenges and coping strategies.

The approach adopted was semi-structured interviews with management and employee representatives, interviewed separately. The interviews were transcribed and submitted to content analysis, supported by relevant company information.

The company’s language policy has generated a user environment where language proficiency is developed in corporate interaction, and where the workforce is motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Strategic decisions relating to language policy need to take the workforce’s input into account to discuss the testing regime with a view to test content and relevance.

The findings relate to a limited material of 6 interviews with 14 interviewees in total.

The paper focusses on how to strike a balance between developing the skills needed to perform job tasks and preparing for new more complex tasks without demotivating the workforce. The conclusion sets out managerial implications.

The paper contributes to understanding the dynamics of working in a multilingual context.

To the authors’ knowledge the specificities of offshoring of language-sensitive services with regard to motivation and coping strategies have not been explored previously. The fact that the services in question have to be carried out in a minor language and that a total immersion strategy has been adopted also represents something new.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of corporate language policies that are implemented without formal decision-making processes.

A qualitative case study based on three Scandinavian multinational corporations which use English as a common corporate language without formal language policy decisions.

Non-formalised language policies are found to be clearly distinct from formalised language policies in terms of language policy format, language policy focus, language policy formation, language planning agency and management style. Non-formalised language policies can represent a type of informal control, but the absence of a policy document leaves employees without a common reference point which may cause confusion and inter-collegial conflict.

The study offers a nuanced perspective on the role of language policies in corporate communication by demonstrating that language policies may come in a variety of different forms, also as implicit assumptions about language use. Findings reveal benefits and drawbacks of the different language policy approaches.

This study aims to identify and explore experiences, perspectives, barriers and enablers to women’s career progression to management positions in the health-care sector and to assess women’s and men’s perceptions of the policies and practices of the health-care system concerning gender equality and nondiscrimination between women and men.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among health-care professionals in ten selected hospitals, including physicians, registered nurses/midwives and pharmacists with or without managerial positions.

This study included a total of 2,082 female and 1,100 male health-care professionals. Overall, 70% of women and men reported that opportunities for advancement are based on knowledge and skills in their institution. However, 58.9% of women (p < 0.001) reported that women are more likely to face barriers to career advancement than men do in their workplace. Lack of women in general/line management and discrimination against women by supervisors at the point of promotion were the main barriers to women's career progression, as they were reported by two-thirds of women. The main barrier, as perceived by men (62.3%) was that women have family and domestic responsibilities.

To overcome barriers in women's career progression, there is a need to establish a career planning and capacity-building program for women in the health sector.

Jordanian female health-care professionals face different barriers that affect their career progression, including inequity and discrimination in the workplace, negative views about women’s abilities, lack of qualifications and training, hostile cultural beliefs and family responsibilities.