RESEARCH
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2019
RESEARCH
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THE LANGUAGE OF WORK Dr Erika Darics of the School of Languages & Social Sciences is interested in how words create meaning and status in the workplace – and how we can all learn to be better communicators.
Much of the work that we do is intangible, so communication is our way of making sense of what we do; how we contribute; what the organisation is; how we belong."
W
ork is how many of us spend the majority of our waking hours and the office is the site of collaboration with others; the place where we negotiate and establish our position in the hierarchy. For linguists, the way we communicate at work is not only fundamental to understanding the nature of what we do, it’s key to how we perceive our value. Language influences the success of teams and has the power to raise or bring down corporations; it even impacts on our happiness.
“With all the intensive knowledge work that we do, it can be hard to put your finger on the things you did during the day,” she explains. “The only way to make sense of your work and your contribution is through framing it – in other words, through talking about it. It’s not as if a lot of us can show a piece of furniture and say: ‘This is what I made’. Much of work that we do is intangible, so communication is our way of making sense of what we do; how we contribute; what the organisation is; how we belong. This is especially important given that teams are now very fluid, working across different spaces or countries.”
Look at almost any job advert and you will see communication as a required skill. Employers are now beginning to realise its importance, and people like Dr Erika Darics, Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at Aston University, are helping them to harness the power of language and translate it into positive action.
In these terms, a company can be seen not just as a building or an estate, or even the corporate strategy, but the sum-total of human interactions happening within its walls – past, present and future.
Illustration: Daniel Turner
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