Effects of English as a Corporate Language on Communication in a Nordic Merged Company

In the business world facilitation of corporate communication through the use of a single language has become almost a standard procedure. There is little knowledge, however, regarding how working in a language other than the mother tongue affects our thought processes and functionality at work. This study is an attempt to clear some issues around the subject. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the corporate language, English, on managers’ communication within the organisation. The target group includes Finnish and Swedish managers working at a Nordic IT corporation, TietoEnator. The study was conducted by combining theoretical material on communication, language and culture with the empirical results of 7 qualitative interviews. The results show us that using a shared corporate language has both advantages and disadvantages. English helps in company internationalisation and in creating a sense of belonging, but also complicates everyday communication. The main disadvantage that English has caused is the lack of social communication between members of different nations in an unofficial level. The main conclusion is that the corporate language is not at all times sufficient fulfil the social needs of the members of the organisation. Through this lack of socialisation it is possible that the functionality of the organisation loses some of its competitive advantage in the business markets