"Why Can't They Do as We Do?": A Study of the Discursive Constructions of "Doing Culture" in a Cross-border Company

Inger Askehave, Lise-Lotte Holmgreen

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Taking its point of departure in ten semi-structured interviews with ten members of staff in a Danish-owned, cross-border software company, Softia, this article analyzes how members of staff talk about and make sense of ways of “doing culture” in a corporate context. The article adopts a discourse analytical perspective and applies systemic functional grammar in order to identify the characteristics of three major discursive constructions which members of staff draw on interchangeably, and to a greater and lesser extent, to give expression to their intercultural practices in Softia. This text-focused, practitioner oriented, discursive approach provides valuable insights into the practitioners' understandings of intercultural practices, and, therefore, offers a welcome contribution to the ever-growing, but less text-focused, literature on intercultural business communication and cross-cultural management.
Original languageEnglish
JournalText & Talk
Volume31
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)271-291
Number of pages20
ISSN1860-7330
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2011
Externally publishedYes

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