Walking Through Jelly: Language Proficiency, Emotions, and Disrupted Collaboration in Global Work

In an ethnographic study comprised of interviews and concurrent observations of 145 globally
distributed members of nine project teams of an organization, we found that uneven proficiency in
English, the lingua franca, disrupted collaboration for both native and non-native speakers.

Although all
team members spoke English, different levels of fluency contributed to tensions on these teams. As nonnative
English speakers attempted to counter the apprehension they felt when having to speak English and
native English speakers fought against feeling excluded and devalued, a cycle of negative emotion ensued
and disrupted interpersonal relationships on these teams.

We describe in detail how emotions and actions
evolved recursively as coworkers sought to relieve themselves of negative emotions prompted by the
lingua franca mandate and inadvertently behaved in ways that triggered negative responses in distant
coworkers. Our results add to the scant literature on the role of emotions in collaborative relationships in
organizations and suggest that organizational policies can set in motion a cycle of negative emotions that
interfere with collaborative work.

Tsedal Beyene

Pamela J. Hinds

Catherine Durnell Cramton

Full Report: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-138.pdf