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Case Study

Published June 2008

ArcelorMittal: Speaking the Language of Business

  Christian Standaert

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Mobility of people and ideas is central to success at ArcelorMittal. Thus, the company is emphasizing the importance of business English as a competency to ensure ideas and best practices can be shared throughout its global operations.

When you create one of the largest companies in the world via merger, integrating new people and ideas becomes a significant challenge. This is exactly the situation faced by ArcelorMittal. This company is a major player in the global steel industry, with current production equivalent to about 10 percent of the world’s steel output and a clearly defined brand promise of “transforming tomorrow.” With 310,000 employees in more than 60 countries, however, communication poses a challenge.

In the global steel industry, mobility of people and ideas is critical to success. To effectively manage this large international organization, ArcelorMittal is placing an emphasis on the need for its executives and managers to speak English, the all-but-official language of business around the world.

“In our aim to become the world’s most admired company, many things need to be improved,” said Lakshmi N. Mittal, president and CEO of ArcelorMittal. “A priority is the fluent command of the English language. Our business long ago evolved from being local to being global. To help drive the business forward, we need a common language. The ability to speak English is not only a priority for our company, it is a valued asset that may expand [employees’] career opportunities.”

“Global management requires a shared language,” said Alejandro Gardella, ArcelorMittal human resources manager for the Americas. “Without good communication skills, employees have a limited ability to contribute to the new global company. We have already had situations where managers have had to travel with interpreters in order to participate in our global meetings.

“Within our company, we have a wealth of talent and knowledge. But we need to be able to access this from across our group in order to position our company where we want to — as the best,” he adds. “When Arcelor and Mittal merged in 2006, it was clear to me that in order to gain full advantage of the employees and expertise in the Americas, English business language skills would be essential.”

Two Companies, Many Voices
After the merger, the ability to share information across the organization’s expanded international operations became critical. Thus, the company quickly saw the advantage in having employees in high-level positions speaking English. This presented a challenge, as only 15 percent of the ArcelorMittal workforce was comprised of native English speakers.

Previously, ArcelorMittal had provided classroom-based English language training, but this yielded inconsistent results. The company’s production facilities often are located away from large metropolitan areas, and the result was a limited and unreliable approach to English language training. In order to efficiently and rapidly provide employees with the business English communication skills they needed, a new approach was necessary.

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