GVT Challenges At Arnhem Business School

Abstract

We think that companies in Gelderland Region of the Netherlands and Noordrijn-Westfalen in Germany are beginning to adopt working in Global Virtual Teams (GVT) as a way to safe cost and increase performance. Participation in the GVT-based projects allows students to experience the challenges of collaborating cross-culturally and virtually and aids them in forming more realistic expectations with respect to what it takes to successfully collaborate across cultural borders. Still, main challenges are represented by isolation, lack of verbal cues, the absence of cooperation, lack of communication, lack of cohesion and absence of commitment. This specific study evaluates the impact of GVT based experiential learning in business education at Arnhem Business School, the Netherlands. It tries to identify the major challenges global virtual teams face and existing frameworks for successful global virtual teams. We suggest expanding the GVT literature by using a case study of the Arnhem Business School students’ experiences with GVT regards the challenges and opportunities that this type of learning environment can be suitable in the curriculum of higher education programmes. We look at the skills and competences that students might gain from taking part in GVT projects to be able to take proper advantage of prospective job opportunities offered by the companies.