Reading :: Words Matter

Words Matter: Communicating Effectively in the New Global Office
By Elizabeth Keating and Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa

Elizabeth Keating is a linguistic anthropologist who teaches in the Human Dimensions of Organizations MA program at the University of Texas. When she mentioned her recent research, it was intriguing enough that I had to pick up this 2016 book and read more about it.

Keating and Jarvenpaa collaborated on this research program, which involved observing and interviewing engineers involved in international teams. These engineers—from the US, India, Brazil, and Romania—worked on shared projects across language and culture barriers, usually via teleconferencing and email. And although they were all engineers and all spoke English, they had to deal with frequent miscommunications and the resulting hurt feelings and suspicion that can result.

Through stories about these teams, Keating and Jarvenpaa identify several assumptions that cause trouble in such teams:

• the purpose of communication is to convey new information
• all hearers can be treated alike
• information is always the same, no matter where it originates
• if people speak the same language, they should understand each other
• communication is based on clear, rational rules
• good communicators know how much information to convey
• the right language can neutralize the effects of culture
• good communication is direct and clear (pp.18-19)

They suggest that cross-cultural teams will communicate more successfully if they take on new assumptions:

• "Language is action, not information" 
• "The hearer is the most important player"
• People must "build common ground to interact successfully
• "Language is social (and cultural)"
• "Technology is a handicap" (that is, communicating in ways other than face-to-face) (pp.19-20)

The authors offer the "Communication Plus" model for helping such teams to communicate more effectively.

Importantly, this book is written for a general readership, not scholars. I could easily see it being used by business professionals or others who do not specialize in communication theory. For those readers, I recommend it highly. Language specialists will get less out of it, but it will still be useful to them. Definitely pick it up!