Managing Communication Virtual Teams

Managing Communication within Virtual Intercultural Teams Christine Uber Grosse Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management Abstract As global companies rely more on virtual teams to conduct short and longterm projects, business students need to be prepared to manage the communication of intercultural teams. Communicating across cultures using technology can be a difficult task. Best practices in managing the communication of virtual intercultural teams are identified from interviews with four executives and feedback from 90 graduate business students. This information will help business communication faculty to prepare students for the complex job of communicating across languages and cultures on virtual teams. Keywords: global teams, virtual teams, intercultural teams, team communication

Many companies use virtual teams comprising geographically dispersed people to work on short and long-term projects. “Virtual” refers to the electronic communication of team members. Technology-enabled communication allows the team to function, even when physically separated by distance and time zones. Global trade and technology have changed the work environment for organizations of all sizes. With recent technological developments in communications and logistics, smaller companies can now compete in the international marketplace (Townsend, DeMarie, & Hendrickson, 1998). Net collaboration technologies let companies work with partners to bring new products to market with significant savings in time and money. Yet, this Internetbased collaboration is still in its infant stage. Dealing with different cultures and learning how to handle the technology pose the biggest challenges for

collaborative ventures (Keenan & Ante, 2002). Indeed, the two greatest barriers to effective team communication are technology and cultural differences. This study examines how to help business students manage virtual intercultural team communication. Given globalization

References: Ackley, J. & Barker, R.T. (2001). The presence of five intercultural dimensions in Mid-Atlantic managers: An exploratory study. Paper presented at the 2001 ABC European Convention in Dresden, Germany. May 24-26, 2001. Barrett, D.J. (2001). Teaching MBA students to manage intercultural teams. Paper presented at the 2001 ABC European Convention in Dresden, Germany. May 24-26, 2001. Child, J. (2001). Trust—The fundamental bond in global collaboration. Organizational Dynamics, 29 (4), 274-289. Daly, C.B. (1996). Does diversity matter? Harvard Business Review, 74 (3), 1011. DiStefano, J.J. & Maznevski, M.L. (2000). Creating value with diverse teams in global management. Organizational Dynamics, 29 (1), 45-64. Duarte, D.L. & Snyder, N.T. (1999). Mastering virtual teams. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Iles, P. & Hayers, P.K. (1997). Managing diversity in transnational project teams. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 12 (1/2), 95-118. Jarvenpaa, S.L., Knoll, K. & Leidner, D.E. (1998). Is anybody out there? Antecedents of trust in global virtual teams. Journal of Management Information Systems, 14 (4), 29-64. Keenan, F. & Ante, S.E. (2002). The new teamwork. Business Week, Feb. 18, EB 12-16. Kostner, J. (2001). Bionic eTeamwork. Chicago, IL: Dearborn Trade Publishing. McCain, B. (1996). Multicultural team learning: An approach towards communication competency. Management Decision, 34 (6), 65-69. Milosevic, D.Z. (1999). Echoes of the silent language of project management. Project Management Journal, 30 (1), 27-40. Odenwald, S. (1996). Global work teams. Training and Development, 50 (2), 5457. Overholt, A. (2002). Virtually there? Fast Company, 56,109-115. Snow, C.C., Snell, S.A., & Davison, S.C. (1996).Use transnational teams to globalize your company. Organizational Dynamics, 24 (4), 50-67. Thomas, D.C. (1999). Cultural diversity and work group effectiveness. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 30 (2), 242-264. Townsend, A.M., DeMarie, S.M., & Hendrickson, A.R. (1998). Virtual teams: Technology and the workplace of the future. The Academy of Management Executive, 12 (3), 17-29. Varner, I. (2001). Successful intercultural work teams: The role of human resource management. Paper presented at the 2001 ABC European Convention in Dresden, Germany. May 24-26, 2001. Warkentin, M.E., Sayeed, L., & Hightower, R. (1997). Virtual teams versus faceto-face teams: An exploratory study of a Web-based conference system. Decision Sciences, 28 (4), 975-996. Yates, J. & Orlikowski, W. (2002). Genre systems: Structuring interaction through communication norms. The Journal of Business Communication, 39 (1), 1336. This article was published as “Managing Communication within Virtual Intercultural Teams.” Christine Uber Grosse. Business Communication Quarterly.2002; 65: 22-38. It won the award for Outstanding Article of the Year in Business Communication Quarterly from the Association of Business Communication. Permission was granted to post this post-print version of the article on the author’s Web site from Karen Ehrmann, Permissions Editor for Sage Publications.