Emerging English-speaking business discourses in Japan

Taking an ethnographic approach, this research investigates workplace interaction in English in a Japanese chemical company, a subsidiary of American multinational corporation. While previous research on business communication has focused on specific linguistic or rhetorical features, this study offers new insight through the incorporation of socio-economic, historical, and cultural elements in the analysis, and by taking a dynamic view of language, human beings and organisations. The researcher collaborated with the human resource manager of the participating corporation as a hired consultant in an intra-organisational communication development project. The data was collected through interviews, observations, and email exchanges. Initial analysis showed that the dominant Discourse in the company was based on western business values. Further analysis unveiled the changing nature of the Discourse as it is influenced by the local and American education systems, human resource ideologies, learners’ learning, and transformation business philosophies.