Study of linguistic ostracism in Indian organizations

Abstract

India is a country with over 100 spoken languages with the Indian Constitution recognizing 23 languages for official use. Increased urbanization and permeation of the corporate culture to small towns and cities have resulted in people from varied regions coming together at their workplace. As India progresses, organizations have come to derive their workforce from varied linguistic backgrounds. An employee is increasingly likely to be working in a team where everyone speaks a different language. While there is a common operational language in place in all organizations, the native language of employees is seen to affect their social behavior. This is accentuated by increased globalization creating a potpourri of languages in a work environment. Language plays a significant role in social interaction and definition of identity. The macro level impact of linguistic changes such as language maintenance and loss of linguistic identity was studied by Giles and Johnson(1987). Studies by Gumperz(1982) and Tannen(2005) focused on comprehension difficulties stemming from different usage and interpretations of same language by speakers of different languages. Recently, DotanEliaz et al.(2009) and Hitlan et al. (2006) studied the role of language in social exclusion and interpersonal conflict.