1. 6/27/2015 Virtual AND Multicultural!! Team Challenges Svjetlana Madzar October 31, 2008

2. 6/27/2015 VTs are Vulnerable to…  Failure to communicate and remember contextual information  Uneven distribution of information  Differences in what information is salient  Differences in speed and timing  Uncertainty about the meaning of silence

3. 6/27/2015 Practices of Effective Virtual Team Leaders (Malhotra et al. 2007)  Trust through Technology  Focus the norms on how information is communicated  Revisit communication norms as the team evolves  Make progress explicit through use of virtual workspace  Equal “suffering” in the geographically distributed world

4. 6/27/2015 Practices, cont…  Ensure diversity is understood, appreciated and leveraged  Prominent team expertise directory and skills matrix in virtual space  Virtual sub-teaming to pair diverse members  Diverse opinions can be expressed through asynchronous means

5. 6/27/2015 Practices, cont…  Manage virtual work-cycle and meetings  All idea divergence between meetings (asynchronous) and idea convergence and conflict resolution during meetings (synchronous)  Use the start of the meeting for social relationship building  During meeting: ensure through “check-in” that everyone is engaged and heard from  End of meeting: minutes and future plan posted

6. 6/27/2015 Interpretive Barriers Functional Heterogeneity Cultural Heterogeneity Virtuality

7. 6/27/2015 Decision Making: Cultural Tips  The planning phase:  Process vs. outcome orientation  Hierarchy  Beware of cultural dominance

8. 6/27/2015 Shared Understanding: A word of caution  Stereotypes  Consciously held  Descriptive rather than evaluative  Best “first guess”  Modified with experience In the face of problems, assume misunderstanding until disagreement is proven. Adapted from Adler, Nancy J. (1991): International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior (2nd ed.). Boston: PWS-Kent, p. 72.