Crafting a language strategy in a multilingual European University Alliance

Purpose This article uncovers the crafting process of a language strategy. While taking into account the top-down and bottom-up interplay required for developing strategy and typical approaches to language strategy in international organizations, we take a processual perspective to study a team that navigates the paradox of promoting multilingualism in an English-speaking environment within a European University Alliance. Design/methodology/approach To understand the crafting process of a language strategy arising from the intricate interactions between team members, we became fully immersed in a European University Alliance team through ethnographic data collection, including participant observation, semi-structured interviews and collection of artifacts and archival data over the course of eighteen months. Data analysis used narrative descriptions and thematic coding for triangulation. Findings Crafting an organizational language strategy occurs through the dynamic interplay between three complementary team-level processes, including framing the issue, developing a collective identity and building legitimacy. These team-level processes are complemented by multi-level interactions between the macro context of EU language policy, alliance directives and competing approaches to language use. Understanding of language strategy development is enhanced by the perspective of societal language ideologies. Originality/value We provide a contextualized explanation of the process of language strategy crafting in the complex institutional environment of the European University Initiative. We emphasize the highly processual nature of strategy making that requires an intricate understanding of the context and a strong basis in the team. Our ethnographic study demonstrates how a team becomes empowered to shape organizational strategy.