Language as a Window into Culture

Culture is assumed to play a pivotal role in business success and failure. In contrast to prevailing top-down perspectives, we propose an approach to studying culture that accounts for myriad organizational subcultures, how individuals fit into those subcultures, and the causes and consequences of shifts in culture and cultural fit. We propose that the language through which people communicate with colleagues offers a powerful lens for studying cultural dynamics and its relationship to individual, group, and organizational success. We describe a burgeoning stream of research that uses language as a window into culture and discuss its implications for managerial practice.