Virtual teams and multiculturality: differences and impacts of organizational culture in an I.T. company

Abstract

In the process of internationalization, multicultural management deal with the cultural differences issues, i.e. diversity related to language, values, customs and behavior in the workplace. Due to the internationalization of companies and work teams, new organizational structures have emerged, such as virtual teams. The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of cultural differences and multiculturalism in virtual teams as well as to identify potential cultural impacts in their work development and performance. For this, it was conducted a single case study in depth in a US multinational IT company. After completed the content analysis, we identified issues related to the differences between the global organizational culture and the national culture of the team members, communication barriers, differences in leadership style and acclimatization to the virtuality. They led to the conclusion that virtual teams, although they are essential to the growth and evolution of the company, they need to be worked to overcome the multicultural differences among team members, or better managed toward an improved outcome for the organization. The reflection and contribution presented in this paper refers to the emergence of local culture studies about the organizational culture regarding global virtual teams.