Papers by Anne Kankaanranta
International Journal of Business Communication, 2015
The drive to both maintain competitiveness and to meet marketplace expectations using the strateg... more The drive to both maintain competitiveness and to meet marketplace expectations using the strategic management of communication is a feature of the international workplace. In the complex and dynamic commercial environment of the new millennium, this drive includes the imperatives to employ competent communication professionals. Whether organizations are intent on acquiring or developing proficient practitioners, the ability to achieve these aims rests on the identification of relevant competencies and attributes. This study uses the Critical Incident Technique to explore the practice of Communication Management in a sample of practitioners in New Zealand and Finland—two geographically disperse countries. The identified critical incidents mostly related to managing crisis communication across both countries. To manage the incidents, communication practitioners predominantly used two competencies: stakeholder relationship management and external interface management. In addition, the...
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 2017
Research problem: Business-to-business contracts are complex communication artifacts, often consi... more Research problem: Business-to-business contracts are complex communication artifacts, often considered "legal stuff" and the exclusive domain of lawyers. However, many other stakeholders without a legal background are involved in the negotiation, drafting, approval and implementation of contracts, and their contributions are essential for successful business relationships. How can we ensure that all stakeholders in the global business context-whatever their native language or professional background-easily and accurately understand contract documents? This study suggests that integrating diagrams in contracts can result in faster and more accurate comprehension, for both native and non-native speakers of English. Literature Review: We focused on the following research topics: 1) how to integrate text and visuals in order to create more effective instructions, since we conceptualize contracts as a type of business instructions; 2) cognitive load theory, as it may help explaining why contracts are so hard to understand and why text-visuals integration may ameliorate their understandability; 3) cognitive styles, as individual differences may affect how individuals process verbal and visual information, thus allowing to explore the limitations of our suggested approach; 4) the English lingua franca spoken by business professionals in international settings, their needs and challenges, and how pragmatic approaches are needed to ensure successful communication. Methodology: We conducted an experiment with 122 contract experts from 24 countries. The research participants were asked to complete a series of comprehension tasks on a contract, which was provided in either a traditional, text-only version or in a version that included diagrams as complements to the text. In addition to measuring answering speed and accuracy, we asked the participants to provide information about their educational background, mother tongue, perceived mental effort in task completion, as well as to fill out the
Multilingua, 2018
This conceptual paper advances the notion of “English as corporate language” in the multilingual ... more This conceptual paper advances the notion of “English as corporate language” in the multilingual reality of multinational companies (MNC) with novel insights from the English as lingua franca (ELF) paradigm of sociolinguistics. Inspired by Goffman, Erving. 1959.The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday. dramaturgical metaphor of social life, we develop the notion of English as corporate language by making a distinction between the frontstage official language used in corporate communication and backstage working language used in interactions among MNC employees. We argue that the former approaches the notion of English as a native language and the latter represents ELF in the business domain (BELF); they are different in terms of understanding language competence, multilingualism and role of language in building legitimacy. Our conclusions imply first, that the frontstage English may not always be accessible to the backstage BELF users, due to which employees ma...
I dati eneolitici confermano la tendenza precedentemente riscontrata (Varalli et al. 2015; cf. Go... more I dati eneolitici confermano la tendenza precedentemente riscontrata (Varalli et al. 2015; cf. Goude et al. LIII RS IIPP 2018) di una riduzione dei valori di δ 15 N dal Neolitico all'Età del Ferro. L'analisi dei modelli bayesani in relazione alle informazioni isotopiche e ambientali della regione, suggeriscono:
Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 2018
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of corporate language policies t... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of corporate language policies that are implemented without formal decision-making processes. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study based on three Scandinavian multinational corporations which use English as a common corporate language without formal language policy decisions. Findings 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. Originality/value 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 ...
Iberica Revista De La Asociacion Europea De Lenguas Para Fines Especificos, 2013
This paper focuses on the development of the concept of BELF, which originally stood for "Busines... more This paper focuses on the development of the concept of BELF, which originally stood for "Business English as Lingua Franca", but later we have used the abbreviation to refer to "English as Business Lingua Franca". With this change we want to emphasize the domain of use rather than the type of English. The concept of BELF originates from two large research projects conducted at the Aalto University School of Business from 2000 to 2009. The projects were inspired by research into English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and, from that perspective, they set on exploring the language and communication practices of internationally operating business professionals. The findings of the projects showed how the domain of business, and particularly its goal-oriented nature, was significant for BELF discourse and for the perceptions of BELF communication of the practitioners themselves. Overall, it can be argued that for BELF speakers, grammatical correctness is not nearly as important as the genre knowledge of their own specific field of expertise, involving a shared understanding of what, why, how and when to communicate. Thus, we argue that professional competence in today's global business environment involves communication knowhow as an integral element of business knowhow. Further, in an international context, competence in BELF is a necessity.
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 2014
CMC research presents emoticons as visual representations of writers' emotions. We argue that the... more CMC research presents emoticons as visual representations of writers' emotions. We argue that the emoticons in authentic workplace e-mails do not primarily indicate writers' emotions. Rather, they provide information about how an utterance is supposed to be interpreted. We show that emoticons function as contextualization cues, which serve to organize interpersonal relations in written interaction. They serve 3 communicative functions. First, when following signatures, emoticons function as markers of a positive attitude. Second, when following utterances that are intended to be interpreted as humorous, they are joke/irony markers. Third, they are hedges: when following expressive speech acts (such as thanks, greetings, etc.) they function as strengtheners and when following directives (such as requests, corrections, etc.) they function as softeners.
Public Relations Review, 2012
The Routledge Handbook of English as a Lingua Franca
European J. of International Management
Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 2013
This is an electronic reprint of the original article. This reprint may differ from the original ... more This is an electronic reprint of the original article. This reprint may differ from the original in pagination and typographic detail.
Business Communication …, 2007
The authors' business communication perspective is not in fact that of ESL but rather Englis... more The authors' business communication perspective is not in fact that of ESL but rather English as a foreign language (EFL) or, even more so, English as a lingua franca (ELF). To be more specific, they would like to add one more acronym to the list: They teach BELF, by which ...
Journal of Management Studies, 2018
This paper explores the assumptions underlying the core concept of language used in the growing f... more This paper explores the assumptions underlying the core concept of language used in the growing field of language-sensitive research in international management. We reviewed 92 articles on the topic of language(s) in multinational corporations published during the period 1997-2015, and applied a linguistic lens to uncover how these articles “talk about language”. The assumptions found in these articles can be grouped into three complementary categories that take a structural, functional or social practice view of language. We go beyond the review by also reflecting on the consequences that these underlying assumptions have for the study of language in multinationals. We consider the social practice view the most promising one, and propose a future research agenda for advancing it and thereby contributing to theorizing about the multinational corporation more broadly.
Multilingua. Journal of Cross-cultural and Interlanguage Communication, 2018
This conceptual paper advances the notion of "English as corporate language" in the multilingual ... more This conceptual paper advances the notion of "English as corporate language" in the multilingual reality of multinational companies (MNC) with novel insights from the English as lingua franca (ELF) paradigm of sociolinguistics. Inspired by Goffman's (1959) dramaturgical metaphor of social life, we develop the notion of English as corporate language by making a distinction between the frontstage official language used in corporate communication and backstage working language used in interactions among MNC employees. We argue that the former approaches the notion of English as a native language and the latter represents ELF in the business domain (BELF); they are different in terms of understanding language competence, multilingualism and role of language in building legitimacy. Our conclusions imply first, that the frontstage English may not always be accessible to the backstage BELF users, due to which employees may feel disadvantaged or disempowered. Second, the use of formal language testing in recruitment and performance appraisal may transform into a gate-keeping mechanism that leads to power inequalities. In our recommendations, we call for an emancipatory language policy accepting different standards of English for different positions and adopting ideas of the Plain Language initiative to better reach all MNC employees.
Research problem: Business-to-business contracts are complex communication artifacts, often consi... more Research problem: Business-to-business contracts are complex communication artifacts, often considered “legal stuff” and the exclusive domain of lawyers. However, many other stakeholders without a legal background are involved in the negotiation, drafting, approval, and implementation of contracts, and their contributions are essential for successful business relationships. How can we ensure that all stakeholders in the global business context—whatever their native language or professional background—easily and accurately understand contract documents? This study suggests that integrating diagrams in contracts can result in faster and more accurate comprehension, for both native and non-native speakers of English. Literature review: We focused on the following research topics: (1) ways to integrate text and visuals to create more effective instructions, since we conceptualize contracts as a type of business instructions; (2) cognitive load theory, as it may help explain why contracts are so hard to understand and why text-visuals integration may ameliorate their understandability; (3) cognitive styles, as individual differences may affect how individuals process verbal and visual information, thus allowing us to explore the limitations of our suggested approach; (4) the English lingua franca spoken by business professionals in international settings, their needs and challenges, and the fact that pragmatic approaches are needed to ensure successful communication. Methodology: We conducted an experiment with 122 contract experts from 24 countries. The research participants were asked to complete a series of comprehension tasks regarding a contract, which was provided in either a traditional, text-only version or in a version that included diagrams as complements to the text. In addition to measuring answering speed and accuracy, we asked the participants to provide information about their educational background, mother tongue, and perceived mental effort in task completion, and to complete an object–spatial imagery and verbal questionnaire to assess their cognitive style. Conclusions: We found that integrating diagrams into contracts supports faster and more accurate comprehension; unexpectedly, legal background and different cognitive styles do not interact with this main effect. We also discovered that both native and non-native speakers of English benefit from the presence of diagrams in terms of accuracy, but that this effect is particularly strong for non-native speakers. The implication of this study is that adding diagrams to contracts can help global communicators to understand such documents more quickly and accurately. The need for well-designed contracts may open new opportunities for professional writers and information designers. Future research may also go beyond experimental evaluations: by observing this new genre of contracts in vivo, it would be possible to shed light on how contract visualizations would be perceived and interpreted in a global communication environment.
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (Volume: 60, Issue: 2, June 2017 )
Business Communication Quarterly, 2010
Business English as a lingua franca (BELF) has come to dominate as the shared code used to “get w... more Business English as a lingua franca (BELF) has come to dominate as the shared code used to “get work done” in international business. In this article, the authors explore internationally operating business professionals’ perceptions of BELF communication and its “success” at work, based on selected data from an online survey (N = 987) and in-depth interviews (N = 27) conducted
English for Specific Purposes, 2005
The article is based on findings from research into communication and language use in two interna... more The article is based on findings from research into communication and language use in two international corporations, both formed as a result of a merger between a Swedish and a Finnish company. A questionnaire was sent to representatives of each case company, focusing ...
In recent years, the use of English has become everyday practice in multinational companies (MNCs... more In recent years, the use of English has become everyday practice in multinational companies (MNCs), and it has been investigated in three disciplines: applied linguistics, international management and corporate communication, all of which can be housed in international business schools. While reviewing research in these disciplines, we ask the question: how does the research inform the teaching of ‘English’? By taking an example of an international business school located in a small non-English speaking country, we present the educational environment and the needs of future business graduates before moving on to demonstrating a continuum of English as a shared language constructed on the basis of the disciplines. The continuum extending from ‘official English’ to ‘working language’ BELF (English as Business Lingua Franca) illustrates different uses that English as a shared language meets in the MNC environment and in the students’ future work contexts. Based on this discussion, we conclude our paper by presenting the implications of the different conceptualizations of English for the teaching of ‘English’ at an international business school.
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Papers by Anne Kankaanranta
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (Volume: 60, Issue: 2, June 2017 )
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (Volume: 60, Issue: 2, June 2017 )
Aalto University School of Business, Department of Communication
Recent developments in communication technologies have led scholars in various fields to claim that the so-called social media radically change the organization–stakeholder relationship, “empowering” consumers and enabling “co-creation” and “dialogue”. We wish to look at the issue critically and examine whether the discursive practices of company-consumer interaction on one of the most popular of these media, Facebook, can really be described as dialogue.
Approaching corporate Facebook pages as a genre, we draw from Bakhtin (e.g. 1984) who argued that different genres have different potential for dialogism and multi-voicedness. We therefore ask:
1) Are there carnivalistic features that might affect speaker/hearer roles and power distribution in this corporate communication genre?
2) What are the inherent possibilities for the presence of multiple voices?
We address these questions using a) in-depth, semi-structured interviews with corporate Facebook representatives and b) text data collected directly from corresponding corporate Facebook pages. Our analytical framework combines elements from Bakhtin’s theory and the North-American genre theory that views genre as social action (Miller, 1984).
Our analysis reveals dialogical and monologizing discursive dynamics in organizations’ interactions with their stakeholders and discusses how the discursive power of companies is embedded in generic conventions and the particular features of a medium designed to please companies. Certain carnivalistic features are present but counteracted by remnants of antecedent corporate communication genres and their aims to control stakeholder relations and minimize disagreement. We suggest that awareness and acknowledgement of the carnivalistic frame might make a genuine dialogue possible.
Keywords: genre, dialogue, corporate communication
References
Bakhtin, Mikhail 1984. Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Miller, C. R. 1984. Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 70, 151–167.