Globalizing processes often place the social cohesion of organizations at risk
when multinational people experience and exhibit tensions from their diverse cultural
and language norms. This study uses discourse analysis and dialectical theory to
understand the intersection of organizational tensions and multinationalism as they
appear at a bilingual Swiss higher education institution. I define multinationalism as the
intersection of communities who self identify with a national heritage and perpetuate
that identity through daily communication and interaction.
This case study is approached from a social constructionist perspective. I use
grounded theory and dialectical analysis to analyze the fifty-nine interviews in order to
identify the tensions that intersect with multinationalism and how they are managed. The
tensions identified include: choosing a language where two are privileged, providing an
intercultural environment as described by the mission statement, and managing
pedagogy/co-teaching practices. Choosing a language is often described in a dual
dimension between choosing French/choosing English where language groups are
sometimes seen as oppositional and vying for privileged status even though the organization privileges both languages. Providing an intercultural environment is
described as a global endeavor and yet sometimes becomes dialectical when balancing
how the organizational environment is actually managed/not managed based on national
and organizational cultural perspectives. Practicing pedagogy/co-teaching activities are
often framed as oppositional and dialectical when trying to reconcile French
pedagogy/Anglo-Saxon pedagogy and co-teaching practices, especially in regard to
American influence. Multinationalism emerges when participants use group identity
descriptors and intersects in a variety of ways depending on the intensity of the tensions.
Managing tensions result in ambiguity because of undefined language fluency
and competency. While ambiguity allows for social cohesion and time for interpreting
messages, it sometimes is used strategically to deny messages and retain privileged
positions. Disorienting interactions for some employees result in paradoxical situations,
and in some extreme cases, participants reported schizophrenic behavior when paranoid
statements are made which reflect their paralysis, uncertainty and loss of power.
This study advances dialectical theory by redefining totality as including
regional, national, and global contexts that also influence organizational agency and
discourse. In addition this study adds to the understanding of knots of contradictions by
illustrating how tensions evolve in their own right and also spin off simultaneous and
interconnected tensions. Finally, results from this study suggest that using ambiguity
could be seen as another management option as well as a result when dealing with
dialectical and paradoxical tensions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2009-08-863 |
| Date | 2009 August 1900 |
| Creators | Shoemaker, Martha McArdell |
| Contributors | La Pastina, Antonio |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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