Linguistic Diversity a Challenge for Global HR Professionals

Online, January 24, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Human resource managers from global organizations addressed the unique challenges they face in serving employees from a multitude of cultures and languages at the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) presentation: Linguistic and Cultural Diversity: Communicating in a Global Organization.

The January 19th presentation, hosted by The Ayers Group and SHRM New York chapter (HRNY), brought to light the intertwined relationship between language and culture. It also covered commonalities and differences for various language groups, and gave examples of how and why these differences affect workplace communication.

"These linguistic and cultural differences aren't absolutes," said presenter Lauren Supraner, president of CAL Learning, an intercultural communication consulting company. "But they do offer the HR manager in a global organization a better understanding of how and why their diverse employees communicate like they do, and how to improve communication."

Just because everyone is speaking the same language, doesn't mean they are all on the same page. "People carry over both the linguistic and cultural structures of their first language when communicating in a second language," said Supraner. "For example, an American speaking Chinese may still use the direct approach to communicating preferred in English, whereas for Chinese, an indirect approach is preferred."

"The insights were extremely pertinent for those of us conducting business across borders," said Susan Farwell, chair of the International HR Special Interest Group that hosted the event. "It demonstrated clearly how our language and content choices are inherently tied to our cultural worldviews and values."

Supraner included numerous example of how communication styles vary by culture. "Responsibility for communicating the message also varies by culture," said Supraner. For example, English is a writer-responsible language. That means it is the responsibility of the writer to make sure the message is understood. Writing is clear, direct and unambiguous. On the other hand, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese are reader-responsible languages. That means the reader is responsible for deciphering the message, which is often not stated explicitly. For an American who is expecting direct and explicit information, this style can be very confusing.

CAL Learning is an intercultural communications company that that provides language and culture programs to global organizations. To learn more about CAL Learning, visit www.callearning.com or contact us at 845.469.7442 or [email protected]

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