Public Lecture: Gail Flanagan

Abstract

This study investigates spoken communication in International Virtual Teams (IVTs) in the Irish-based technology sector. Even prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, IVTs were firmly established as the norm in this sector, utilising global teaming processes to effectively communicate (Richardson et al. 2012; Noll et al. 2016). The Irish-based technology sector is also highly significant to the Irish economy, currently employing 270,000 people (Technology Ireland 2022). This sector thus provided a rich source of potential research participants with a wide variety of lived experiences in IVT communication.

This study advances linguistically-informed knowledge on communication in International Virtual Teams (IVTs), building on the extant literature which adopts a broader organisational communication theory stance. The in-depth analysis of the linguistic layers of virtual workplace discourse and the collation of the International Virtual Team Corpus (IVTC) for the present study, as one of the first corpora of spoken virtual discourse, delivers on this new knowledge.

This is a mixed methodology study, comprising a research survey and a corpus-based spoken discourse study. The mixed methodological approach facilitates a more robust, triangulated framework (Bryman 2021, p.364). The research findings from the survey inform, rather than precede, the corpus-based findings as they are different participant groups. In turn, the empirical, corpus-based findings provide an evidence-based layer to substantiate the recounted interactions of the survey participants which may be influenced by emotionally-subjective recollections (Spencer-Oatey and Harsch 2016, p.234). Wenger’s (1998) Community of Practice (CoP) concepts provide the theoretical framework for the present study. This framework enables a thorough explanation of the research findings under the auspices of the three CoP dimensions of shared repertoire, joint enterprise and mutual engagement. Politeness face theory (Brown and Levinson 1987) also scaffolds the analysis of the language practices that comprise the IVTC CoP in the present study.

The findings from the present study deliver a wealth of communication scenarios on effective information sharing, managing the conversation and language engagement in the virtual workplace. The corpus-based analyses demonstrate that modality, referencing and specialised terminology significantly contribute to the shared repertoire practices of the IVTC CoP. Structured turn-taking is shown to enable the joint enterprise of the community. A variety of mutual engagement practices, encompassing a second layer of modality analysis, pragmatic markers, humour and figurative language, is further revealed. These communication scenarios and linguistic strategies can, ultimately, be used to develop experienced-based, IVT communication education programmes, both for Higher Education and professional learners.

Bio

Dr. Gail Flanagan has over 20 years of professional experience in Business Operations leadership in global technology companies. She is highly skilled in managing multicultural teams. She has managed international, cross-functional projects and is an expert in employee and business process integrations as a result of Irish subsidiary start-ups and company acquisitions. She has extensively worked in international virtual teams.

She completed a research PhD at the University of Limerick (UL) in 2025 on spoken communication in international virtual teams in the Irish-based technology sector. She currently works as a freelance Business Communication, Linguistics and Intercultural Studies lecturer in both the Business and Language schools in UL, teaching at undergraduate, postgraduate and executive/professional level. She has widely delivered guest lectures and conference papers at universities in Europe and the USA. She is a member of the Association for Business Communication, currently co-chairing their International and Intercultural Business Communication (IIBC) committee. Having recently established Gail Flanagan Communication, she now delivers leadership and team communication training and consultancy services, marrying both her professional and research experience.

Publications and Media

• Flanagan, G. and Farr, F. (2024) ‘Perspectives on virtual intercultural communication in the Irish-based technology sector’, International Journal of Corpus Linguistics., 29(3), 417–445, available: https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.24062.fla.

• Irish national media contributor on language and communication topics