« Traduttore, Traditore » ? La réception contextualisée des valeurs d’entreprise dans les filiales françaises et allemandes d’une entreprise multinationale américaine

Abstract

Dans l’entreprise multinationale, les valeurs d’entreprise, instruments de la culture d’entreprise normative, sont « transférées » de la maison-mère vers les filiales pour partager un cadre de référence commun mais la signification de ces valeurs est en partie spécifique à la langue et au contexte dans lesquels elles sont formulées. Notre contribution présente le processus de réception et d’interprétation de valeurs d’entreprise de manière comparative dans les filiales françaises et allemandes d’une entreprise multinationale américaine. L’analyse comparée nous permet de mettre en évidence les interprétations différenciées des valeurs au sein des filiales ainsi que les éléments de la « recontextualisation » locale des valeurs.

The role of translation in the cross-cultural transferability of corporate codes of conduct

“…Supposing a transnational conception has managed to make the code compatible with the world recognized diversity of beliefs and business norms (Thorne and Saunders, 2002), its dissemination around the world will not guarantee identical understanding and implementation unless language has been considered. The fact that one tends to ‘hear in one’s mother-tongue’ (Tietze, 2008) – that is, interpret according to the meaning frame provided by one’s culture and native language – is often overlooked by multinationals who erroneously assume that values conveyed in an English as a lingua franca version are understood by all in the same way (Barmeyer and Davoine, 2013). Translating the code into the employees’ own language seems preferable, provided the translation mode is communicative (Newmark, 1981) or cultural (Janssens et al, 2004), and not semantic (Newmark, 1981) as in the Swedish example; an example that demonstrates that agreeing on a code of conduct contents is not sufficient to ensure it is meaningful to employees belonging to a different culture.…”

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

“…Translation does not automatically ensure a uniform understanding of corporate values across international locations because the local context strongly impacts employees' perception of the values, even in cases where the values are expressed in their mother tongue (Barmeyer & Davoine, 2013).…”

“…A company's articulated corporate values, i.e. the explicit values that management uses in strategic discourse, may be different from its actual lived values (Barmeyer & Davoine, 2013;Bjørge & Whittaker, 2015). In this article I will refer to articulated corporate values simply as corporate values.…”

Skills, Identity, and Power: The Multifaceted Concept of Language Diversity

“…The language for describing a particular quality or value may have a positive connotation in one language and cultural context and a negative one in another (Brannen, 2004). Language related to branding and corporate values is often culturally embedded which makes the task of translating language from one national language context to another extremely challenging (Barmeyer & Davoine, 2013). The differences in language experience, whether it be national language or one of the other layers of language, inform the attitudes employees bring to a work context and may constitute a source of diversity.…”