Multilingual repertoires and strategic rapport management: a comparative study of South African and Dutch small business discourse.
- Authors: Lauriks, Sanne
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Discourse analysis , Business communication -- South Africa , Business communication -- Netherlands , Multilingual communication -- South Africa , Multilingual communication -- Netherlands , Communication in management -- South Africa , Communication in management -- Netherlands , Sociolinguistics -- South Africa , Sociolinguistics -- Netherlands , Language and culture -- South Africa , Language and culture -- Netherlands
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2382 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013162
- Description: In this era of globalisation and the consequent increase in social, economic and physical mobility, small businesses are transforming into sites of increasing language contact (Harris and Bargiela-Chiappini 2003). This study explores situated language practices within two small multilingual businesses. The first is a bicycle rental and repair shop located in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), which is a city with a dynamic multilingual society. The second is a tyre fitment centre in Grahamstown (South Africa), which is a city characterised by a stable triglossia of English, Xhosa and Afrikaans. Using Linguistic Ethnography (Rampton 2007) as my data collection method, I spent a total of eight weeks in these businesses. For the analysis I draw on Spencer-Oatey’s (2000b; 2011) Rapport Management Framework and sociolinguistics of globalisation (Blommaert 2010). This combination allowed me to explore situated language practices in relation to a contemporary context of increased globalisation. The analysis is structured using Spencer-Oatey’s (2000b) concept of rapport orientations. The orientations are presented as one of the key factors that influence the choice for a certain strategy. The orientations thus seemed a constructive way of showing how the observed strategies were employed by the participants of this study and what function they fulfilled in a certain context. However, difficulties emerged during the analysis with applying this concept to some of the more elaborate and complex data. As a result my argument developed into two different strands. The first demonstrates how individuals turn to their multilingual repertoires to negotiate agency and power relationships in small business discourse. The analysis reveals that people at times deliberately promote and maintains discordant relations, which can be understood as a rational response to the individual’s social and economic context. The second discusses the problems that emerged during my analysis with applying rapport management orientations to my data. I propose theoretical developments, warranted by my data, to create an Enhanced Rapport Management Framework suitable for the analysis of complex small business discourse.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Managing leader member exchange frequency effectively in a South African retail company
- Authors: Viljoen, Petrus Johannes Jacobus
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Communication in organizations -- South Africa , Communication in management -- South Africa , Leadership -- South Africa , Organizational behavior -- South Africa , Organizational effectiveness -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:8692 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1106 , Communication in organizations -- South Africa , Communication in management -- South Africa , Leadership -- South Africa , Organizational behavior -- South Africa , Organizational effectiveness -- South Africa
- Description: The purpose of this research is to highlight the importance of identifying the communication frequency within the leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship, and to appreciate what the positive or negative effect of a low or high LMX frequency has on this relationship and on staff morale. Management is for the most part responsible for communication frequency and is in a position and has the means to change such frequency or to add additional communication channels. The research was based on a program introduced in a South African retail company three years ago. Data was collected from 64 stores in the Western Cape and the results were statistically analysed on the SPSS16 program. The results clearly supported the hypotheses that, in a low-communication frequency area, an increase in communication frequency has a positive effect on staff morale and that the proximity to head office (or lack of it) does not have a negative effect on staff morale.
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- Date Issued: 2009
The experience of multi-cultural communication within a South African organization
- Authors: Lesch, Anthea M
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Intercultural communication -- South Africa , Communication in management -- South Africa , Communication in personnel management -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:3008 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002517 , Intercultural communication -- South Africa , Communication in management -- South Africa , Communication in personnel management -- South Africa
- Description: This research study was conducted in an attempt to explore the experience of multicultural communication within a South African organization. To this end employees, representing both Black and White culture, within a South African organization in the throes of transformation, were accessed. A model of managing diversity, focussing on the personal, interpersonal and organizational levels, was utilized in an attempt to uncover the nature of the experience of multi-cultural communication within Company X. A qualitative research design, and more specifically the case study method was employed in this study. Consistent with the case study approach a number of data sources were accessed. The primary data source consisted of a 3-stage interview process. Other data sources included documentary sources and company publications. By accessing multiple data sources, the researcher attempted to gain a holistic understanding of the experience of multi-cultural communication. It was found that the societal context of our post-Apartheid society exercises a profound influence on multi-cultural communication. Under Apartheid cultural separation was promoted. Diverse peoples thus have little common basis for interaction and view each other with skepticism and distrust. This exercises an effect on the personal and organizational levels of the managing diversity model. Influences at the personal level relate to the cultural paradigms of the individuals which provide the rules governing interactions and affect judgements of acceptable and unacceptable behaviours. Issues at the organizational level relate to its structures and policies which are still based on the “white is right ideology”. These issues, in turn, affect the interpersonal level of managing diversity, i.e., where the interactions occur, causing “communication short circuits” within the process of multi-cultural communication. In order to deal with failed multi-cultural communication, the individuals have developed a number of coping strategies. The results of the study indicate that both the organization and its employees share a responsibility for creating an environment that will facilitate effective multi-cultural communication.
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- Date Issued: 2000