Elizabeth Keating is a professor at the University of Texas, Austin, and an award-winning scholar in the field of linguistic anthropology. She has researched communication and design practice among engineers, mathematicians, doctors, and programmers and has also studied the impact of new communication technology on deaf families and their interactions with sign language.

Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa is an award-winning scholar and professor in business administration at the University of Texas, Austin, where she also directs the Center for Business, Technology, and Law. She studies and writes about virtual organizations and teams as well as global electronic commerce.

Introduction
1. A Duty to Die
2. Bringing a Gun to a Fistfight
3. Don't Lie to Me
4. Show Me Yours
5. Dead Dogs Don't Bark
6. When Is Fruit a Vegetable?
7. Private Parts
8. Is a Burrito a Sandwich?
9. Haunted Contracts
10. That Jet Won't Fly
11. What Have You Done for Me Lately?
12. The Dancer Who Didn't Dance
13. A Peerless Peer
14. And the Band Played On
15. Don't Do Me Like That
16. The Five-Year-Old Defendant
17. Don't Forget to Duck
18. The Worth of a Chance
19. Pray at Your Own Risk
20. Coin-Flip Wrongdoers
21. Growing Your Own
22. Your Body, My Body
23. Imagine No (Copyright) Possessions
24. My Barbie World
25. A Time for Dying
26. The Voice of God
27. Judging Jenna
28. Three Generations
29. A Good Walk Spoiled
30. That's My Mother You're Talking About!
31. Funeral Crashers
32. Bench Memo
Notes
Index

In a twenty-first-century global economy, in which multinational companies coordinate and collaborate with partners and clientele around the world, it is usually English that is the parlance of business, research, technology, and finance. Most assume that if parties on both ends of the conference call are fluent English speakers, information will be shared seamlessly and without any misunderstanding. But is that really true?

Words Matter examines how communications between transnational partners routinely break down, even when all parties are fluent English speakers. The end result is lost time, lost money, and often discord among those involved. What's going wrong? Contrary to a common assumption, language is never neutral. Its is heavily influenced by one's culture and can often result in unintended meanings depending on word choice, a particular phrase, or even one's inflection. A recent study of corporate managers found that one out of five projects fail primarily because of ineffective transnational communication, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars.

In Words Matter, you will venture into the halls of multinational tech companies around the world to study language and culture at work; learn practical steps for harnessing research in communication and anthropology to become more skilled in the digital workplace; and learn to use the "Communication Plus Model," which can be easily applied in multiple situations, leading to better communication and better business outcomes.