Local intermediaries and their organisational identification in a French subsidiary

Abstract

The paper explores identification processes among subsidiary employees who function as intermediaries between the subsidiary and headquarters thanks to their language competencies in the common corporate language. The study is based on a qualitative in-depth case study and adopts a social constructionist approach to identification.The paper adds theoretically to the literature on languages in international business in three ways. First, it illustrates that fulfilling a role as local intermediary affects identification processes among subsidiary employees. Second, the paper shows that the literature on organizational identification contributes in conceptualizing local intermediaries' motivation for identification in terms of self-enhancement and sensemaking. Third, the empirical analysis indicates that feelings of self-esteem and sense-making may derive from symbolic resources for constructing workplace-related identities that prevail within the societal context of the subsidiary.In terms of managerial relevance, the study shows the importance of identifying the subsidiary employees that fulfil roles as local intermediaries in order to recognize their efforts and to foster organizational identification. When doing so, it might be relevant to consider prevailing symbolic resources in the local context, rather than the language.

With a “Licence to Adapt”: Translation Shifts in Subsidiary Corporate Value Statements

“…Such a translation may minimise any alteration in meaning and rhetorical function between the original text and international subsidiary versions, and thus contribute to the text serving its intended communicative purpose. Empowering subsidiaries to translate the corporate values themselves would seem to enable this type of translation, but this 'licence to adapt' also entails that subsidiaries may deliberately use the translation of corporate texts as an opportunity to favour their local agendas (Ciuk & James, 2015;Logemann & Piekkari, 2015;Zølner, 2019). In a study by Zølner on the role of local intermediaries in MNC subsidiaries, the task of translating the corporate values had been delegated to the subsidiaries.…”

“…In a study by Zølner on the role of local intermediaries in MNC subsidiaries, the task of translating the corporate values had been delegated to the subsidiaries. The head of communication in the French subsidiary strove to translate 'the spirit' of the values rather than producing a word-by-word translation, finding the act of translation to be an opportunity for professional self-enhancement (Zølner, 2019). Ciuk & James analyse a local translation session in which a group of Polish managers attempted to translate the Group's corporate values from English into Polish.…”

“…While previous studies have generally included the MNC's headquarters and one subsidiary (e.g. Gertsen and Zølner, 2012b;Sverdrup and Ly, 2022;Zølner, 2019), this study includes the headquarters and two subsidiaries. This makes it possible to identify shifts between the headquarters' CVS and the subsidiaries' versions of it, and to propose possible cultural and business-related reasons for these shifts whether they are made consciously by the subsidiaries or not.…”

“…This makes it possible to identify shifts between the headquarters' CVS and the subsidiaries' versions of it, and to propose possible cultural and business-related reasons for these shifts whether they are made consciously by the subsidiaries or not. Given that local translators play a vital role in the transfer of corporate values from headquarters to subsidiaries (Ciuk & James, 2015;Zølner, 2019), it is necessary to examine the actual linguistic changes they choose to make to the Group's CVS to fully understand the transfer process. In this paper, I propose a linguistic and discourse analytical approach to analyse and compare CVS texts that cannot be examined sentence by sentence.…”

An outline for an integrated language-sensitive approach to global work and mobility: cross-fertilising expatriate and international business and management research

“…Furthermore, social constructivist and interpretivist language-sensitive research of identity questions viewing identity as a fixed individual or group trait. Scholars have proposed viewing identification as a continuing process where actors construct their identities situationally and contextually (Zølner, 2019).…”