Employee Perspectives Towards Language Policy : An Interpretive Case Study of a Multinational Enterprise and Its Language Policy

Abstract

This thesis explores the corporate language policy of a Finnish multinational enterprise, UPM. To understand the functionality of the policy, questionnaire data from 12 employees have been studied for their perspectives. Then, the language policy itself has been inspected in detail. The aim has been to comprehensively understand the language regulation in the enterprise to identify reliable and valid ways of developing the policy. To attain these aims, this study employs three methods in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the policy: a questionnaire to assess employee perspectives on the policy, close reading and classification of the LP, and interpretive policy analysis (IPA) by Dvora Yanow (2000). Additionally, the analysis includes the Code of Conduct and the website of the enterprise. By taking an interpretive approach to researching the language in the enterprise, the multiple subjective social contexts can be accessed. This study concludes that the general viewpoint of the twelve employees is positive overall but that the enterprise still has room for developing the policy further. As the purpose of the research has ultimately been to find these points of interest, it concludes that the main points for development are as follows: tone of communication, use of artificial intelligence, translation, multilingualism, and unifying language-related policies. The study creates leverage for possible improvements in the corporation but does not aim to carry out any measures as it is.