HBS CASES

HBS Cases: Overcoming theStress of ‘Englishnization’Published: March 19, 2012Author: Kim Girard

CEOs of global companies increasinglymandate that their employees learn English.The problem: these workers can experience aloss of status and believe they aren't as effectivein their learned language, says AssistantProfessor Tsedal Neeley. Key concepts include:• One of the most powerful ways for

non-American companies to competeglobally is to madate that employees speakEnglish.

• Employees learning English share auniversal experience of status diminutionand believe they'll never be as sophisticated,as influential, or as articulate as they are intheir native language.

• Employers can ease this process byunderscoring that nonnative speakers don'thave a problem. All workers have to beinvested in working and speaking together.

• Managers should consider testing andoffering benchmarks as a method for easinganxieties

In March 2010, CEO Hiroshi Mikitani(HBS MBA '93) stood in front of his employeesat online retail giant Rakuten's Tokyoheadquarters and dropped a bomb: all 7,100workers would have two years to becomeproficient in English—the "language ofbusiness"—or risk demotion.

"I was simply astonished," said an engineerinterviewed after the announcement. "ManyRakuten employees are allergic to English."

"If they don't have alanguage strategy, they'llregret it"In a company where just 10 percent of all

workers at the time spoke English, Mikitani'smove was radical and divisive. He even coineda term for the conversion: "Englishnization."

"This issue is explosive," says AssistantProfessor Tsedal Neeley, who tracks Rakuten'sjourney in her case Language and Global"Englishnization" at Rakuten. "Students havestrong reactions to this. Some insist that this is apoison pill that you have to swallow—there's noother choice. Others say: 'This is impossible,

the CEO is crazy. How can you do that?' "Neeley argues that chief executives of

global companies will have no choice but toconfront the language issue as they extend theirglobal reach.

"If they don't have a language strategy,they'll regret it," she says. "EvenAmerican-based companies with operationsoverseas need a language strategy. One of themost powerful ways to globally compete todayis to make your company an English-speakingcompany. This takes years to achieve."

The problem is that teaching non-Englishspeakers a new language risks drops inproductivity, causes some employees to losestatus, and can engender belief that they aren'tas effective in their second tongue—allsignificant hurdles employers must overcome tomake a program successful.

Neeley, who has studied this unminedsubject for nearly 10 years, worked closely onthe case with Mikitani, described by some asJapan's Bill Gates.

Mikitani expected that the initial globalEnglish-only conversion would be difficult forhis company. "This is going to be a long-termeffort for us," he said. "Starting this month, myown speech will simply be in English."

All workers were required to take atwo-hour 200-question test to assess theirreading and listening comprehension ofbusiness English, and continue to take the testuntil they passed. A second phase involvedbringing in lecturers to discuss with employeeshow to study and manage learning the language.The last phase was encouraging workers to useEnglish in meetings.

In line with a do-it-yourself culture, oneearly problem was that Rakuten offered littleinitial training or support to workers, who wereexpected to pay for their own English classesand learn during off-hours.

Neeley, who drafted some best practicesthat the company began to implement, saysRakuten has quickly moved to make substantialchanges, including paying for language classes.

While workers in their 40s and oldertypically resist language mandates more than do20-somethings, Neeley says the older workersat Rakuten also shared advantages: they oftenhad more education and money to pay for

additional private or small-group classes."Higher education is correlated with strongerlanguage education," she says. "If you have asecond language already it is so much easier,and people in their 40s can make inroads."

While it's challenging for workers to startfrom scratch it is "absolutely doable," she says.

English in a French firmIn a separate, forthcoming Organization

Science article titled "Language Matters: StatusLost and Achieved Status Distinctions in GlobalOrganizations," Neeley interviewed workers ata $25 billion Paris-based high-tech companyabout its two-year-old English-only languagemandate. (She uses the pseudonym Frenchcofor the company in the case.)

With about 40 percent of Frenchco's210,000 employees based outside France,pressure had mounted to change toEnglish-only. The company's customers,partners, suppliers, and competitors were usingEnglish exclusively; its operations werebecoming increasingly global; and it had maderecent acquisitions in Poland and the UK andopened a subsidiary in China.

"In English I am notmyself. My personality ismuch smaller in thiscontext."Neeley, who speaks five languages,

conducted in-depth interviews in English andFrench with workers at all levels of Frenchco,in particular studying status loss among workerslearning a new language. She searched for keywords in her interviews with workers such as"diminished," "devalued," "reduced,"disqualified," and "less sophisticated."

All employees whose native language wasnot English experienced a status loss under themandate, she found, regardless of their level ofEnglish fluency.

"There's this universal experience of statusdiminution when people compare theirnative/formally trained language to this newlanguage," Neeley says. "So no matter howfluent some people are in English, they believe

COPYRIGHT 2012 PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE 1

they'll never be as sophisticated, as influential,or as articulate as they are in their nativelanguage."

Interestingly, Neeley found theFrench-to-English-only transition was mostdifficult for workers with midlevel fluency.They shared the most anxiety about theirlanguage abilities, which were neither stellarnor poor.

One low-fluency worker painfullysummarized his experience: "If you cannotexpress your ideas because you lack languageskills, the collaboration becomes a nightmare.You lose interest to continue, and you feel youare being devalued."

Most of these language-anxiety issuesremained under the surface at Frenchco, Neeleysays. These workers often suffered silently,worrying about disclosing a deficit, beingpassed over for promotions, being left out ofconversations that they couldn't understand, orsimply not being able to show their true selvesthrough humor and discussions in English at thesame level they were able to in French.

Neeley's forthcoming OrganizationalDynamics article, "The (Un)Hidden Turmoil ofLanguage in Global Organizations," writtenwith Pamela J. Hinds and Catherine D.Cramton, addresses the hidden nature oflanguage struggles.

These problems created an "us and them"class of native and nonnative English speakers,which sometimes led to resentment and distrustamong nonnative speakers toward the native

speakers.Working with English speakers from the

UK or America was more difficult for theFrenchco workers than working withEnglish-speaking colleagues in Poland, theNetherlands, or Spain, Neeley found. In oneinterview a Frenchco worker said: "A realEnglish person is in a stronger position, and Ifind myself justifying myself much more inthose interactions."

Native speakers can also dominateconversations, workers said in Neeley'sinterviews. "Sometimes it's hard to get ourAmerican colleagues to be quiet but wemanage," a high-fluency speaker reported in aninterview. "I say, 'If you don't stop we're goingto talk in French.' "

While many Frenchco workers were angryabout the English-language mandate, Neeleysays a small number of highly fluent workersviewed the change as a chance to perfect theirEnglish by asking for feedback from nativespeakers, participating in meetings as often aspossible, repeating key phrases, and seeking outEnglish speakers in their groups.

Helping employees learnThere's a number of techniques companies

can employ to reassure and help workers withthis transition. First, it's crucial for CEOs andmanagers to be firm that nonnative speakersdon't have a problem. All workers have to beinvested in working and speaking together,

Neeley says.Managers should also be aware that workers

often underestimate their language capabilities.In many cases, testing and offering benchmarkshelps calm anxieties, as can limiting meetingsfor low-confidence English speakers until theirlanguage skills improve.

Future research, Neeley says, includesexploring the role of language as themechanism by which companies transform froma domestic to a global player-the fulcrum oflanguage.

When teaching the Rakuten case at HBS,where 35 percent of her students areinternational, Neeley says, students werepassionately engaged. There is no topic that ismore personal than language. You just needhuman experience to "get it."

"I had an American student who couldn'tstop thinking about what a nonnative classmatesaid in class: 'In English I am not myself. Mypersonality is much smaller in this context.' Somany people have said the case taught themabout themselves."

Aside from the deep personal connection,the case is also powerful for students becausethey have such an intense interest inglobalization. "Language is emblematic ofthat," she says.

About the authorKim Girard is a writer based in Brookline,

Massachusetts.

HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL | WORKING KNOWLEDGE | HBSWK.HBS.EDU

COPYRIGHT 2012 PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE 2