Bridging the academic divide? Exploratory discourse on the challenges of distance and culture for academic global virtual teams

Abstract. Global virtual teams (GVTs) have become an industry-wide trend in\ud international business that is widely studied and reviewed. In academia, similar\ud team structures exist in collaborative global research ventures but are rarely\ud studied. This paper is an exploratory examination of the possible similarities and\ud differences that might exist for academic global virtual teams as compared to the\ud industry paradigm. This paper conceptualizes how cultural, linguistic, and\ud technological challenges may hamper academic collaborative success if not\ud acknowledged and addressed.\ud \ud <br />\ud <br />\ud \ud Résumé. Les équipes virtuelles mondiales correspondent à une tendance dans tout\ud le domaine industriel pour les affaires internationales et elles ont fait l’objet de\ud nombreuses études. Au niveau académique, des structures parallèles existent dans\ud des recherches menées au niveau global mais elles ont fait l’objet de peu de\ud travaux. Nous proposons ici une étude comparative entre les équipes virtuelles\ud universitaires et celles du monde industriel, en termes de similitudes et de\ud différences. Cet article se focalise sur les enjeux culturels, linguistiques, et\ud technologiques qui peuvent entraver le succès de la collaboration académique s’ils\ud ne sont pas suffisament admis et reconnus

Working together apart? building a knowledge-sharing culture for global virtual teams

A new impetus for greater knowledge-sharing among team members needs to be emphasized due to the emergence of a significant new form of working known as ‘global virtual teams’.As information and communication technologies permeate every aspect of organizational life and impact the way teams communicate, work and structure relationships, global virtual teams require innovative communication and learning capabilities for different team members to effectively work together across cultural, organizational and geographical boundaries.Whereas information technology-facilitated communication processes rely on technologically advanced systems to succeed, the ability to create a knowledge-sharing culture within a global virtual team rests on the existence (and maintenance) of intra-team respect, mutual trust, reciprocity and positive individual and group relationships.Thus, some of the inherent questions we address in our paper are: (1) what are the cross-cultural challenges faced by global virtual teams?; (2) how do organizations develop a knowledge sharing culture to promote effective organizational learning among culturally-diverse team members? and; (3) what are some of the practices that can help maximize the performance of global virtual teams? We conclude by examining ways that global virtual teams can be more effectively managed in order to reach their potential in this new interconnected world and put forward suggestions for further research

Mapping a typology for identifying the culturally-related challenges of global virtual teams: a research perspective

This chapter presents and synthesizes the culturally oriented challenges of managing distributed projects by Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) and examines the distinctive issues intrinsic to GVT work structures from a research perspective. In the first section, the authors define the concept of the global virtual team and explore the differences between global virtual teams and traditional co-located team structures. In the second section, they draw upon the cross-cultural theories (Hall, 1976; Hofstede, 1984) as a framework to explore the unique aspects of managing GVTs and then further develop a cultural typology illustrating the challenges of GVTs. Next, the authors discuss the research approaches to examine the cultural impacts on the success of GVTs, as well as highlight the practical implication in the light of the wide-ranging training programs needed by multinational corporations. In the final section, they assert that in order to be effective, GVTs need to develop new patterns of communication, team structure, knowledge exchange, and project management capabilities, and thus, the authors conclude with the future research directions

Transcending Cultural Frontiers

This book focuses on the cultural challenges often faced by international managers and global business operations. In the last few decades, the world has witnessed unprecedented economic turmoil, volatility, and uncertainty which has altered the political dynamics and sociocultural landscape around the globe and directly or indirectly affected international business activities. Further, new markets have opened up in every corner of the world. Brazil, Russia, India, and China, collectively known as BRIC, are strong emerging economic powers similar to the once captivated ‘Asian Tigers’ such as Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan which rose decades ago. The emergence of these markets has heightened both the opportunities and challenges for national and international businesses. Multinational firms are gradually expanding in the emerging markets and are expected to become giants in the foreseeable future. As they expand, they also need to assume increasing social responsibilities in a global context, and it is important that the ways business is conducted are developed accordingly. As such, understanding the practices, challenges, and strategies that companies have developed is critical to global firm’s success. Against this background, the book highlights the importance of understanding cultural elements when managing multicultural human behaviors in the workplace. Based on conceptual and empirical work, it pushes the frontiers of knowledge of this emerging field in international business setup and management, and explores how globalization is changing the way in which multinational firms formulate their business strategies