Prof. Helen Spencer Oatey

MANAGING WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS: LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND RAPPORT

October 18, 2023    4pm CET | 3pm BST     10am EDT | 7am PDT

Duration 90 minutes

It is widely accepted that workplace relationships are of vital importance – they can affect many aspects of work, including staff well-being, staff retention and project success. Language and communication, of course, are core to relationship management, and cultural factors add an extralayer of complexity to this.

In this talk I explore some of the challenges of managing workplace relationships in contexts ofcultural diversity, especially in international business. With the help of authentic mini case studies from various parts of the world, I illustrate a range of interpersonal and intercultural clashes that can occur, analysing them using the TRIPS rapport management framework.

This is a new framework that I am currently developing. Grounded in a sociocultural pragmatics approach to language and communication, its aim is to provide an accessible set of concepts and tools that professionals can use to help them deal with relationship challenges at work.