Tsedal Neeley
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Tsedal Neeley is an assistant professor in the Organizational Behavior unit at the Harvard Business School.
Professor Neeley's research focuses on the challenges that global collaborators face when attempting to coordinate work across national and linguistic boundaries, with special emphasis in the impact of language, power, status, and emotions on social dynamics. In particular, she examines the effects of internationalizing firms' policies requiring employees of diverse skill-set to adopt English as their common business language, or lingua franca. In addition to lingua franca adoption behaviors, she studies the influence of culture in heterogeneous work environments. Professor Neeley's publishes her work in leading scholarly and practitioner-oriented outlets such as Organization Science, Management Science, Harvard Business Review and Organizational Dynamics.
Before her academic career, Professor Neeley spent ten years in industry working for companies like Lucent Technologies and The Forum Corporation in various capacities including strategies for global customer experience, 360 degree performance software management systems, sales force/sales management development, and business flow analysis for telecommunication infrastructures. With extensive international experience, Professor Neeley is fluent in four languages.
Professor Neeley received her Ph.D. from Stanford University's Department of Management Science and Engineering specializing in organizational studies. Professor Neeley was a Stanford University School of Engineering Lieberman award recipient for excellence in teaching and research.
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Article
| Organizational Dynamics
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The (Un)Hidden Turmoil of Language in Global Collaboration
Tsedal Neeley, Pamela J. Hinds and Catherine D. Cramton
Companies are increasingly relying on a lingua franca, or common language (usually English), to facilitate cross-border collaboration. Despite the numerous benefits of a lingua franca, our research reveals myriad challenges that disrupt collaboration and contribute to process decrements and productivity losses, many of which are hidden from leaders' attention. Through a series of field studies with global companies, we document language dynamics among global workers. Most notably, we found that both native and nonnative English speakers suffer anxiety when faced with conducting business in English. Nonnative English speakers respond with anxiety-mitigating strategies, such as avoiding English-only speakers or reverting to their native language, thus passing the problem like a "hot potato" to their native English-speaking colleagues. Native English speakers respond with strategies to reduce their own anxiety, such as exiting meetings and demanding that English be spoken, which passes the burden back to their nonnative English speaking colleagues. This back-and-forth dynamic often occurs because the feelings and experiences of native and nonnative co-workers are hidden from each other. Empathy arrests this cycle, leading to more sensitivity and accommodation of language diversity. Based on the insights from our research, we present lessons that global managers and collaborators alike can employ to halt the "hot potato" cycle and minimize productivity loss in global collaborations.
Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Problems and Challenges;
Strategy;
Global Range;
Spoken Communication;
Performance Productivity;
Diversity Characteristics;
Research;
Loss;
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Article
| Organization Science
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Language Matters: Status Loss & Achieved Status Distinctions in Global Organizations
Tsedal Neeley
How workers experience and express status loss in organizations has received little scholarly attention. I conducted a qualitative study of a French high-tech company that had instituted English as a lingua franca, or common language, as a context for examining this question. Results indicate that nonnative English-speaking employees experienced status loss regardless of their English fluency level. Yet variability in their self-assessed fluency—an achieved status marker—was associated with differences in language performance anxiety and job insecurity in a non-linear fashion: those who believed they had medium level fluency were the most anxious compared to their low and high fluency co-workers. In almost all cases where they differed, self-assessed rather than objective fluency determined how speakers explained their feelings and actions. Although nonnative speakers shared a common attitude of resentment and distrust toward their native English-speaking co-workers, their behavioral responses—assertion, inhibition, or learning—to encounters with native speakers differed based on their self-perceived fluencies. No status differences materialized among nonnative speakers as a function of diverse linguistic and national backgrounds. I discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for status, achieved characteristics, and language in organizations.
Keywords: Organizations;
Status and Position;
Loss;
Spoken Communication;
Emotions;
Attitudes;
Behavior;
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Article
| Management Science
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Reflected Knowledge and Trust in Global Collaboration
Mark Mortensen and Tsedal Neeley
Scholars argue that direct knowledge about distant colleagues is crucial for fostering trust in global collaboration. However, their arguments focus mainly on how trust accrues from knowledge about distant collaborators' personal characteristics, relationships, and behavioral norms. We suggest that an equally important trust mechanism is "reflected knowledge," knowledge focal actors gain about the personal characteristics, relationships, and behavioral norms of their own site through the lens of their distant collaborators. Based on surveys gathered from 140 employees in a division of a global chemical company, we found that direct knowledge and reflected knowledge enhanced trust differentially. While both enhanced feelings of closeness with others, results indicate that direct knowledge increased focal actors' understanding of their distant colleagues, while reflected knowledge promoted feelings of being understood. We discuss implications of reflected knowledge to theories of trust and interpersonal dynamics in globally distributed collaboration.
Keywords: Knowledge;
Trust;
Globalization;
Relationships;
Behavior;
Surveys;
Personal Characteristics;
Chemicals;
Emotions;
Cooperation;
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Journal Article
| Harvard Business Review
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Global Business Speaks English: Why You Need a Language Strategy Now
Tsedal Neeley
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Article
| Organization Science
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How Managers Use Multiple Media: Discrepant Events, Power and Timing in Redundant Communication
Paul Leonardi, Tsedal Neeley and Elizabeth M. Gerber
Several recent studies have found that managers engage in redundant communication; that is, they send the same message to the same recipient through two or more unique media sequentially. Given how busy most managers are, and how much information their subordinates receive on a daily basis, this practice seems, initially, quite puzzling. We conducted an ethnographic investigation to examine the nature of events that compelled managers to engage in redundant communication. Our study of the communication patterns of project managers in six companies across three industries indicates that redundant communication is a response to unexpected endogenous or exogenous threats to meeting work goals. Managers employed two distinct forms of redundant communication to mobilize team members toward mitigating potentially threatening discrepant events-unforeseen disruptive occurrences during the regular course of work. Managers with positional power over team members reactively followed up on a single communication when their attempt to communicate the existence of a threatening discrepant event failed, and they determined that a second communication was needed to enable its joint interpretation and to gain buy-in. In contrast, managers without positional power over team members proactively used redundant communication to enroll team members in the interpretation process-leading team members to believe that they had come up with the idea that completion of their project was under threat-and then to solidify those interpretations. Moreover, findings indicate that managers used different types of technologies for these sequential pairings based on whether their motivation was simply to transmit a communication of threat or to persuade people that a threat existed. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory about, and the practice of, technologically mediated communication, power, and interpretation in organizations.
Keywords: Media;
Time Management;
Communication;
Information;
Mission and Purpose;
Groups and Teams;
Projects;
Motivation and Incentives;
Organizations;
Technology;
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Journal Article
| Harvard Business Review
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Effective Managers Say the Same Thing Twice (or More)
Tsedal Neeley and Paul Leonardi
How do effective managers get employees to act promptly? New research suggests that it's by making their requests at least twice. Though you may think redundancy is unnecessary and even a waste of time, a new study indicates that it helps your message cut through today's information overload.
Keywords: Interpersonal Communication;
Employees;
Management Style;
Performance Improvement;
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Article
| Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development
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Mentoring and Relational Mutuality: Protégés' Perspectives
Tsedal Beyene, Marjorie Anglin, Mary Ballou and William Sanchez
Keywords: Relationships;
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Chapter
| Wiley Encyclopedia of Management
| 2013
The Language of Global Management
Tsedal Neeley
Now in its third edition, this multi-volume Encyclopedia of Management has been revised and updated to chart the major developments that have occurred in digital technologies, ethics and governance-related issues, innovation, emerging markets, organizational networks, and new avenues of sustainable business growth. Providing comprehensive coverage of the field of management, the encyclopedia spans fourteen subject volumes providing a landmark work of reference for scholars, students, and professionals. In addition to two entirely new volumes (on Technology & Innovation and Management Research Methodology), the 14-volume encyclopedia now offers users a fully searchable online resource linked to the wider literature and to an associated database of handbooks and journals in the field.
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal. "The Language of Global Management." In Wiley Encyclopedia of Management. 3rd ed. Edited by Cary L. Cooper. John Wiley & Sons, forthcoming.
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
(Revised from original 2013 version)
Language and Globalization: 'Englishnization' at Rakuten: Results Are In! (B)
Tsedal Neeley
Keywords: Technology Industry;
Retail Industry;
Japan;
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
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2012
Hiroshi Mikitani Reflects and Provides Early Updates on Englishnization (November, 2011)
Tsedal Neeley
CEO of Rakuten, Hiroshi Mikitani, candidly responds to controversial questions about his Englishnization strategy and implementation across 7,100 employees a year and a half later: Did he make an impulsive move when he mandated English as the company language? Why does he enforce a universal mandate? How has he adjusted his stance on how to elicit commitment from his employees over time? Is he imposing the pursuit of being a role model company of a new Japan on his employees?
Keywords: language;
culture;
globalization;
communication barriers;
dynamic global marketplace;
rapid change;
Management Teams;
Change Management;
Communication;
Ethnicity Characteristics;
Globalization;
Japan;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2012
(Revised from original 2009 version)
Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (TN) (A) & (B)
Tsedal Neeley
Teaching Note for [409003].
Keywords: Management;
Groups and Teams;
Information Technology Industry;
Computer Industry;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2012
(Revised from original 2011 version)
Language and Globalization: Englishnization at Rakuten (TN)
Tsedal Neeley
Keywords: Spoken Communication;
Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Globalization;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2013
(Revised from original 2011 version)
Language and Globalization: 'Englishnization' at Rakuten (A)
Tsedal Neeley
Hiroshi Mikitani, the CEO of Rakuten, (Japan's largest online retailer), is at the helm of an organization that is rapidly expanding into global markets. In a critical stride toward becoming the world's No. 1 Internet services company, Mikitani announces Englishnization—a highly publicized aggressive two-year English proficiency mandate for all 7,100 of Rakuten's Japanese employees. Mikitani's goal is not only to ensure the success of the organization, but also to break down linguistic and cultural boundaries in Japanese society. At the time, only an estimated 10% of the Japanese staff could function in English. The stakes are high: those who do not reach their target score by the deadline risk being demoted. As Englishnization progresses, loss of productivity, lack of time to study, and conflicted views among managers impede staff success. Some employees even question the relevance of Englishnization, particularly for staff working exclusively in Japan. Fifteen months since the announcement, the vast majority had not yet reached their target English proficiency scores. With the deadline rapidly approaching, Mikitani must decide how to proceed to ensure the success of Englishnization, the continued global rise of his organization, and even the future of Japan.
Keywords: Teaching;
Human Capital;
Change Management;
Transformation;
Social Enterprise;
Communication Strategy;
Internet;
Disruptive Innovation;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Strategic Planning;
Leadership;
Global Strategy;
Technology Industry;
Retail Industry;
Japan;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2009
(Revised from original 2008 version)
Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A)
Tsedal Neeley and Thomas J. DeLong
Greg James, a global manager at Sun Microsystems, Inc., sets out to meet with his entire 43-member customer implementation team spread across India, France, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America to resolve a dire customer system outage as required by a service agreement. Rather than finding a swift resolution to the rapidly escalating customer situation that motivated his trip, he finds himself facing distributed work, global collaboration, conflict, and management issues that are threatening to unravel his team.
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction;
Crisis Management;
Service Delivery;
Groups and Teams;
Conflict and Resolution;
Technology Industry;
India;
United Arab Emirates;
France;
United States;
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
|
2009
Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (B)
Tsedal Neeley
This case updates students on the steps Greg James took to solve the problems that instigated the crisis documented in “Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A).” We find out how James solves the process problems involved in his team's breakdown and creates team cohesion to help them function together effectively. We also learn whether or not James is successful in taking his global team to a new level of productivity and customer service.
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction;
Globalized Firms and Management;
Crisis Management;
Service Delivery;
Business Processes;
Performance Productivity;
Groups and Teams;
Technology Industry;
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Simulation
| 2009
Tip of the Iceberg: Global English Lingua Franca Simulation (TIP)
Tsedal Neeley
Keywords: Communication;
Globalization;
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal. "Tip of the Iceberg: Global English Lingua Franca Simulation (TIP)." Simulation and Teaching Note. Harvard Business School Publishing, 2009. Electronic.
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Tool
| 2009
Facilitator's Guide: Tip of the Iceberg: Global English Lingua Franca Simulation (TIP)
Tsedal Neeley
Keywords: Communication;
Globalization;
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal. Facilitator's Guide: Tip of the Iceberg: Global English Lingua Franca Simulation (TIP). Tool. Harvard Business School Publishing, 2009.
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Conference Presentation
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9
Aug
2010
Global Language Strategies: The Impact of Mandating English as a Lingua Franca in Global Work
Tsedal Neeley
Keywords: Strategy;
Global Range;
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal. "Global Language Strategies: The Impact of Mandating English as a Lingua Franca in Global Work." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, August 09, 2010.
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Conference Presentation
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9
Aug
2010
Traveling for Effective Global Collaboration: Evidence from the Field
Mark Mortensen and Tsedal Neeley
Citation: Mortensen, Mark, and Tsedal Neeley. "Traveling for Effective Global Collaboration: Evidence from the Field." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, August 09, 2010.
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Conference Presentation
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9
Aug
2010
Being There: Firsthand Experience and Perceived Reflected Knowledge in Engendering Trust in Global Collaboration
Tsedal Neeley and Mark Mortensen
Keywords: Knowledge;
Perception;
Trust;
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal, and Mark Mortensen. "Being There: Firsthand Experience and Perceived Reflected Knowledge in Engendering Trust in Global Collaboration." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, August 09, 2010.
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Conference Presentation
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1
Jul
2010
Language Matters: Lingua Franca Mandates and Status Hierarchies in Global Organizations
Tsedal Neeley
Keywords: Status and Position;
Organizations;
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal. "Language Matters: Lingua Franca Mandates and Status Hierarchies in Global Organizations." Paper presented at the European Group for Organizational Studies Colloquium, Lisbon, Portugal, July 01, 2010.
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Conference Presentation
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1
Mar
2010
Language Mandates, Power & Emotions in Globally Distributed Teams
Tsedal Neeley
Keywords: Groups and Teams;
Emotions;
Power and Influence;
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal. "Language Mandates, Power & Emotions in Globally Distributed Teams." University of Virginia, Darden School of Business, March 1, 2010.
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Conference Presentation
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1
Feb
2010
Language Mandates, Power & Emotions in Globally Distributed Teams
Tsedal Neeley
Keywords: Groups and Teams;
Power and Influence;
Emotions;
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal. "Language Mandates, Power & Emotions in Globally Distributed Teams." Boston College, Carroll School of Management, February 1, 2010.
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Conference Presentation
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1
Jul
2009
Why do Firsthand Experience and International Assignments Matter in Global Collaboration
Tsedal Neeley
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal. "Why do Firsthand Experience and International Assignments Matter in Global Collaboration." Paper presented at the European Group for Organizational Studies Colloquium, July 01, 2009.
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Conference Presentation
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1
Jul
2009
Language Matters: Lingua Franca Mandates and Status Hierarchy
Tsedal Neeley
Keywords: Communication;
Status and Position;
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal. "Language Matters: Lingua Franca Mandates and Status Hierarchy." Universidad de Navarra, Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (IESE), Barcelona, Spain, July 1, 2009.
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Conference Presentation
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01
May
2009
Language Matters: Lingua Franca Mandates and Status Hierarchy
Tsedal Neeley
Keywords: Communication;
Status and Position;
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal. "Language Matters: Lingua Franca Mandates and Status Hierarchy." Paper presented at the Harvard Business School Seminar, Boston, MA, May 01, 2009.
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Conference Presentation
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1
Aug
2008
Wearing Many Hats: The Multiple Roles of Expatriates in Globally Distributed Contexts
Tsedal Beyene and Mark Mortensen
Citation: Beyene, Tsedal, and Mark Mortensen. "Wearing Many Hats: The Multiple Roles of Expatriates in Globally Distributed Contexts." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, August 01, 2008.
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Conference Presentation
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1
Jul
2008
Mutual Understanding Intermediaries: Surrogates, Catalysts, and Liaisons in Global Work
Tsedal Beyene and Mark Mortensen
Keywords: Communication;
Citation: Beyene, Tsedal, and Mark Mortensen. "Mutual Understanding Intermediaries: Surrogates, Catalysts, and Liaisons in Global Work." Paper presented at the European Group for Organizational Studies Colloquium, July 01, 2008.
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Conference Presentation
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01
Feb
2008
Language Proficiency as a Stigma in International Work
Tsedal Beyene
Keywords: Communication;
Competency and Skills;
Citation: Beyene, Tsedal. "Language Proficiency as a Stigma in International Work." , Boston, MA, February 01, 2008.
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Conference Presentation
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01
Jan
2008
Communication in Globally Distributed Work Teams: Evidence from the Field
Tsedal Beyene
Keywords: Communication;
Global Range;
Groups and Teams;
Citation: Beyene, Tsedal. "Communication in Globally Distributed Work Teams: Evidence from the Field." Paper presented at the International Workshop on Intercultural Collaboration, Kyoto, Japan, January 01, 2008.
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Conference Presentation
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1
Aug
2007
Redundant Communication: Redundancy as a Strategic Practice in Project Management Work
P. M. Leonardi, T. Beyene and E. M. Gerber
Keywords: Communication;
Strategy;
Management Practices and Processes;
Projects;
Citation: Leonardi, P. M., T. Beyene, and E. M. Gerber. "Redundant Communication: Redundancy as a Strategic Practice in Project Management Work." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, August 01, 2007.
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Conference Presentation
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01
Jan
2007
Language Proficiency as a Stigma in International Work
Tsedal Beyene
Keywords: Communication;
Competency and Skills;
Citation: Beyene, Tsedal. "Language Proficiency as a Stigma in International Work." , Cambridge, MA, January 01, 2007.
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Conference Presentation
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29
Sep
2006
Walking through Jelly: Uneven Language Proficiency and Disrupted Collaboration
Tsedal Beyene
Keywords: Communication;
Competency and Skills;
Citation: Beyene, Tsedal. "Walking through Jelly: Uneven Language Proficiency and Disrupted Collaboration." Paper presented at the Stanford University Center for Work, Technology and Organization 10th Anniversary Conference, Stanford, CA, September 29, 2006.
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Conference Presentation
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1
May
2006
Language Proficiency as a Stigma in International Work
Tsedal Beyene
Keywords: Communication;
Competency and Skills;
Citation: Beyene, Tsedal. "Language Proficiency as a Stigma in International Work." Kellogg School of Management, Evanston, IL, May 1, 2006.
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Conference Presentation
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5
Aug
2005
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10
Aug
2005
Language Challenges in International Work: The Impact of Uneven Proficiency in the Lingua Franca
T. Beyene, P.J. Hinds and C. D. Cramton
Keywords: Communication;
Competency and Skills;
Citation: Beyene, T., P.J. Hinds, and C. D. Cramton. "Language Challenges in International Work: The Impact of Uneven Proficiency in the Lingua Franca." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Honolulu, August 05–10, 2005.
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Other Unpublished Work
| 2011
Emotional Labor in Global Collaboration: Coping with Uneven Language Fluency
Tsedal Neeley, Pamela J. Hinds and Catherine D. Cramton
Keywords: Communication;
Labor;
Global Range;
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal, Pamela J. Hinds, and Catherine D. Cramton. "Emotional Labor in Global Collaboration: Coping with Uneven Language Fluency." December 2011. (Under review at the Journal of International Business Studies.)
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Other Unpublished Work
| 2011
Toward a Theory of Overlapping Cultural Repertoires in Global Collaboration
Tsedal Neeley, Ryann Elizabeth Manning and Mark Mortensen
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal, Ryann Elizabeth Manning, and Mark Mortensen. "Toward a Theory of Overlapping Cultural Repertoires in Global Collaboration." December 2011.
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Other Paper
| 2011
From Global Language Mandate to Personal Transformation: How Employees Address The Performance Challenge
Tsedal Neeley and Boram Do
Citation: Neeley, Tsedal, and Boram Do. "From Global Language Mandate to Personal Transformation: How Employees Address The Performance Challenge."
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