Global Virtual Teams Research Articles

Nationality biases in peer evaluations: The country-of-origin effect in global virtual teams

In a post-COVID-19 world, due to the increasing reliance on virtual work, global virtual teams (GVTs) are critical for the international success of firms. A fundamental challenge that firms face in this new remote work context is the need to measure the performance of individuals in GVTs. Peer evaluations are advocated as a way to improve the validity of performance appraisals. Peers work closely with one another and, presumably, are better positioned to observe and evaluate fellow team members’ performance. Even when completed in good faith, however, a fair evaluation of individual contributions and performance in GVTs could be distorted by subjectivity, bias, cultural and institutional differences, and the limitations of online communication tools. Based on a sample of 6634 GVTs comprised of 33,271 people in 79 countries that worked on an international business (IB) project, we tested the country-of-origin (COO) effect in peer evaluations within the context of GVTs. Results indicate that the nationality of the team member is a source of significant bias in peer evaluations. Our tests show that the prestige and the level of economic development of the country that a team member is from is a better predictor of peer evaluations received than objective measures of individual skills and competencies, including English proficiency, technical ability, and cultural intelligence, or national per-capita spending on education, suggesting that a COO effect based on personal bias may affect performance ratings more than actual contributions. We conclude that the COO effect in peer evaluations in GVTs has to be taken into account when designing evaluation systems and discuss implications for theory, practice and future research.

OS DESAFIOS DA GESTÃO DE EQUIPES VIRTUAIS GLOBAIS: O CASO DE DUAS EMPRESAS MULTINACIONAIS DE TECNOLOGIA

The evolution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has enabled the formation of work teams connected by a common objective, despite being dispersed geographically, temporally, and organizationally: the global virtual teams (GVTs). However, this team’s management is challenged by intercultural and linguistic barriers, time zone differences, difficulties in coordinating efforts, and maintaining the participants' motivation and engagement. Thus, this study's objective was to investigate the perceptions of managers about these challenges and good practices. For this, 13 interviews were carried out with Brazilian managers working in two multinational companies in the technology sector. The data were analyzed according to the content technical analysis (CÂMARA, 2013). The result was the identification of challenges related to cultural, institutional, individual contextual aspects, communication, and the enumeration of good practices applied to personalized management, people management, and process management focused on processes.

The effects of cultural intelligence, psychological safety, and teamwork climate on conflict frequency in global virtual teams

The effects of cultural intelligence, psychological safety, and teamwork climate on conflict frequency in global virtual teams

Cohesion and performance in global virtual teams: the moderating role of technical skills

Cohesion and performance in global virtual teams: the moderating role of technical skills

Managing conflict in global virtual teams: a study in cultural intelligence

Managing conflict in global virtual teams: a study in cultural intelligence

Multi Structures-Scales (MSS) in Project Execution Management (PEM)

This research study focuses on project organization structure, multi-tasking, issues, challenges, and limitations that occur during the project execution for a conventional and virtual team. This research aims to understand the importance of the technical labor force in the organization and fill the human resources gap in project engineering, construction, and management implementation. The project is unique and must be dealt with highly technical by the project team. Projects might be the same structure and scale but in different conditions, parameters, and requirements. In general, dealing with and executing other projects is challenging. The design guidelines are formatted, although not entirely the same. The process model uses model-based optimization to compare the conventional and virtual MSS organizational structures to optimize, innovate, and multi-tasking project staff, personnel, and direct technical members. The study will include the importance of global virtual teams (GVT) and the contribution of software collaboration, including cloud-based software (CBS). Multi structures-scales (MSS) concept can be a diversified, optimized, and innovative way to increase team effectiveness, technical dependence, and utilize existing resources. It uses organizational productivity and the individual living of project team members. However, even though the MSS concept seeks to lower the labor cost and reduce individual participation, the labor issue, technical workforce, challenges, disputes, and other problems are not inevitable. As a result, in this implementation, the corporate organization will solidify the project team structure into multi-project execution even to long-term employment and operation. The PE/S can perform simultaneously in different stages of the same type of project. In contrast, a PM can perform additional steps even on other kinds of projects. Furthermore, in the study, PS and PM can effectively function if not more than three (3) projects; otherwise, low-performance evaluation and low-quality product results occur. In this regard, further study and research related to this topic for better implementation in the field.

Should I accommodate you Cross-cultural code-switching behaviours of global virtual team members during swift trust formation

Should I accommodate you Cross-cultural code-switching behaviours of global virtual team members during swift trust formation

Should I accommodate you Cross-cultural code-switching behaviours of global virtual team members during swift trust formation

Should I accommodate you Cross-cultural code-switching behaviours of global virtual team members during swift trust formation

Professionalism—its effect on interpersonal relationships in high-tech global virtual teams

AbstractDrawing on accounts presented—and the metaphors incorporated therein—in interviews with 129 workers, this study considers the effect of professionalism on relationships between Indian and Israeli global team members working in the high-tech industry. This study shows how the discourse of professionalism (together with additional, professionally oriented organizational mechanisms), as manifested in high-tech organizations, dictates not only employee–organization relations but also relationships between peers working in global virtual teams (GVTs). The study further illuminates how this particular construction of professionalism can engender a paradox in interpersonal relationships for professionals working in GVTs; and its subtle negative impact, from an ethical perspective, on interpersonal relationships between them. It also shows, however, that perceptions of friendship do emerge despite these limiting conditions.

Stepping up the game–meeting the needs of global business through virtual team projects

PurposeVirtual collaboration provides students with an opportunity to develop cultural intelligence while fitting into the team where the members are from diverse cultures. The purpose of this study is to explore whether global virtual team (GVT) projects raise students' understanding of cultural differences. In addition, it is interesting to know how internationally disruptive events such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic influence GVT projects.Design/methodology/approachThe research involved two parts: In the first part, a two-wave longitudinal study was conducted to investigate how intercultural sensitivity and intercultural communication competence coevolve within a group of international students enrolled in a virtual business professional project. In the second part, using word clouds and topic modelling on the participants' perceptions, the study investigated whether the sudden disruption caused by the pandemic show similar results in performance, focussing primarily on the resilience of virtual teams. Further, the study explored participants' perceptions towards online learning in higher education institutions as well as the attitude of corporate organizations towards remote working in the post-pandemic years.FindingsThe results confirmed that GVT projects, in fact, do raise students' understanding of cultural differences and the need to adjust their behaviour accordingly in order to engage with their culturally different counterparts effectively. Participants reported an increase in their cognitive, behavioural and affective attributes.Research limitations/implicationsAmong the limitations of this study is the relatively small number of student participants. Furthermore, the number of respondents from India dominated the sample. Since the Indian students were disproportionately affected by the shutdown, causing them to return often to rural areas with poor Internet connectivity, responses concerning the disruption caused by the pandemic may be overriding negative. The same could be said of responses from US-American students, who often rely heavily on-campus employment or whose parents became unemployed during the pandemic, and thus were faced with disproportionate economic insecurity.Practical implicationsThis paper provides insights to the educators and international organizations on how such projects provide the skills essential for reducing costs, accessing knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) across borders, maintaining flexible work schedules and arrangements, and taking advantage of multiple time zones to increase productivity.Originality/valueWhile highlighting the significance of cultural intelligence, this paper investigated how the sudden disruption caused by a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts performance, focussing primarily on the resilience of virtual teams.

The role of context in overcoming distance-related problems in global virtual teams: an organizational discontinuity theory perspective

Working at a distance has become a hot topic since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. One type of work unit that naturally faces both physical and social distance is the Global Virtual Teams (GVT). While distance has been debated in the GVT literature, there is still a scarcity of research on how to deal with distance related problems. Guided by organizational discontinuity theory, we explore the effect of individual-level approaches to overcoming physical distance (time zone adjustment) and social distance (trust in peers) in GVTs. In addition, we assess how these mechanisms are affected by the team context in the form of openness to cultural diversity. We do this by studying 23 GVTs (171 team members and 23 team leaders) in the global R&D department of a Danish engineering company. Our findings demonstrate that trust in peers is positively associated with job role clarity and job performance at the individual-level, and that high team openness to diversity, in the case of performance, makes the individual’s level of trust in peers less necessary for achieving performance. Our results also show that time zone adjustment increases job role clarity for the individual team member, but only in GVTs with high openness to cultural diversity. Based on this, we contribute to the organizational discontinuity theory by demonstrating how continuity-creating mechanisms can interact with the team context to ultimately support the individual’s potential for handling distance in GVTs.

Cultural Intelligence and Employee Engagement in Global Virtual Teams

The extant literature has been elaborate on multiple conceptualizations of employee engagement. However, there is dearth of literature which addresses employee engagement in varied organizational contexts, one such being the context of global virtual teams (GVTs). The practitioner literature reports reduced levels of employee engagement in members of GVTs. Furthermore, it has been proposed in scholarly literature that the drivers of employee engagement might change in the context of GVTs. One such significant driver influencing employee engagement in GVTs was found to be ‘cultural intelligence’ of the GVT members. In this study, we intend to study the influence of cultural intelligence on employee engagement by testing the relationship at GVT member level and team level. The research site for this study was a global engineering, and digital technology solutions company, Cyient Ltd., headquartered in Hyderabad, India. Cyient uses GVTs to organize its work and at the time of study it had around 1500 GVTs functioning in diverse geographic locations. Data for this study was collected through a survey across Communications Business Unit of Cyient. The survey was administered to 3500 employees across several locations of which we received 827 valid responses from across 102 teams. In this study, it was found that the levels of trust in a team (both at individual and team level) partially mediated the relationship between cultural intelligence and employee engagement. It meant that apart from cultural intelligence other factors might also be effecting employee engagement in GVTs both at individual and team levels. This study empirically evaluates the relationship between cultural intelligence and employee engagement both at GVT member and GVT levels using a multilevel modeling technique.

The Influence of Multiple Intelligences on Conflict Occurrence and Performance in GVTs

The role of different facets of intelligence in the occurrence of conflict in global virtual teams (GVTs) has largely been overlooked in the literature. Building on the theory of multiple intelligences as well as the affective events theory and the contingency theory of task conflict and performance in groups and organizational teams, the present study explores the influence of cultural intelligence, emotional intelligence, and cognitive ability on the occurrence of interpersonal, task, and process conflicts and the impact of these different types of conflict on the performance of GVTs. Utilizing multi-level analysis, we tested the research model using a sample of 810 individuals from almost 40 countries who worked in 232 GVTs. The results show that the cultural intelligence, emotional intelligence, and cognitive ability of the team members reduce the occurrence of the three different intragroup conflicts in GVTs. We also demonstrate that process conflict negatively affects the GVT performance. We discussed the implications for research and practice.

The Holy Grail in Global Virtual Teams: The Mediating Role of Satisfaction on Performance Outcomes

Even though the satisfaction-performance relationship has been well-established in the context of traditional face-to-face teams, prior research has largely overlooked the global virtual teams (GVTs) context. As the COVID-19 pandemic has given virtual teams a further boost and increased their relevance, it is unclear whether or not findings based on traditional teams are generalizable to GVTs. Our multi-level analysis based on a sample of over 2,700 participants working in 680 teams examines the relation between satisfaction and both, individual and team performance in GVTs. Using multi-level modeling, we demonstrate the mediating role of satisfaction between various antecedents of individual as well as team satisfaction and performance in GVTs. We discuss the implications of our findings for both research and practice.

A critical success factors for software project manager in GVTs within covid-19 pandemic

The covid-19 pandemic sweeping the world and has rendered a large proportion of the workforce as they are unable to commute to work. This has resulted in employees and employers seeking alternative work arrangements, including the software industry. Then comes the need for the global market and international presence of many companies to implement the global virtual teams (GVTs). GVTs members are gradually engaged in globalized business environments across space, time and organizational boundaries via information and communication technologies. Despite the advancement of technology, the project managers are still facing many challenges in communication. Hense, to become a successful project manager still a big challenge for them. This study is trying to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) for software project manager. A literature review was conducted to identify the CSFs. Next, an online survry was conducted to rank those factors according to their propriety. An online survey was distributed among the software developers, project managers, and academicans. The statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 22 was used to analyze the data collection. Twelfth CSFs were identified in this study. Also, the findings indicated that leadership skills factor is the highest factor level ranking in this study.

Team Dynamics and Performance in Virtual Teams During COVID-19: Does Leadership Structure Matter?

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how people interact with each other, especially in the workplace and business settings. Based on a sample of 1,224 self-managed global virtual teams (GVTs) consisting of 4,096 members, we found that compared to the pre-pandemic time, during the pandemic, GVT members experienced decreased team conflict, leading to increased team members’ satisfaction and improved team performance. We also found support for the interaction effect between team leadership structure and pandemic condition, such that shared leadership was beneficial before the pandemic but not during. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

Speaking of cultures: Linguistic structures and cultural values

Languages require speakers to arrange words and symbolic sounds according to grammar structures that govern how speakers perceive the world around them. We use data collected from a large sample (N = 18,098) of students who formed global virtual teams across 159 countries to put forth an empirical relationship between language grammar structures and cultural value dimensions. A total of 79 languages were represented in our sample. We integrate linguistic and cultural transmission theories and research in the realms of psychology, economics, and management to test whether language grammar structures (e.g. gendered grammar structures pronoun drop, politeness distinctions and future time reference) are related to individual-level cultural values dimensions including masculinity, collectivism, power distance, and long-term orientations. Our results show that gendered grammar structures in languages are related to traditional masculine values. We also show that higher levels of collectivism are likely to be found among speakers of languages that permit personal pronouns to be dropped from sentences. Our results provide further support for linguistic relativity and cultural transmission. Keywords: Linguistic structures, Culture, Survey-based cultural dimensions, Values

Chartering the Course in Team-Based Projects: Do Team Charters Affect Performance in GVTs?

We conducted an experiment using 1,891 student teams that completed an eight-week international business consulting project. Half of the teams were instructed to develop a team charter, while the other half were not. Teams with charters saw improved process performance metrics, but only at the forming stage of team development, and reported higher conflict levels. However, more conflict did not negatively affect peer evaluations or team output quality, suggesting that such conflict was not entirely negative. Team charter was not directly associated with output quality. However, team national diversity moderated the creativity of the project output such that high-diversity teams benefited from charter use in producing a more creative team output. These findings suggest team charters may initially aid process improvement but not necessarily the quality of the output. We hypothesize that the difference between the two groups studied is essentially one of formal written versus informal psychological contracting, which provides for equifinality in performance over the lifecycle of a project. The study contributes to the theory on team charters, particularly with respect to formal versus informal psychological contracting within the context of global virtual teams. The implications for the use of charters in team-based projects are discussed.

Translation of Activities in a Global Virtual Teams Software Development

. This study explores Global Virtual Software Teams’ development practices and try to demystify some of the misconceptions about global software development practices based on findings from the global virtual software teams’ experiment that was carried out at DePaul University from 2011 – 2018. The moments of translation from the perspective of actor-network theory (ANT) was employed in the data analysis, to examine how development approach was selected by the global virtual teams. One of the key findings from our research is that the success of a global software development project does not have a strong dependency on the development approach. While we agree that it is one of the key influencing factors, there are other equally strong factors for global virtual software team’s success.

A socio-technical intervention in BIM projects – an experimental study in global virtual teams

‘Global Projects’ and ‘Global Virtual Teams’ are revolutionizing the construction industry. An increasing number of multi-national engineering firms are adopting this business model due to the possible advantages of cost and time optimization. However, literature identifies several challenges that the project teams endure in temporarily organizing while transitioning through time and space, some of which include cross-cultural differences in teams and limited richness of the communication media. Perceiving virtual project execution as a multi-variable construct, organizational theorists and sociologists adopt a socio-technical approach to understand the dynamics of action embedded in the process and recommend implementation of pre-process, during process or post process intervention strategies to enable performance. In this paper, we address this research concern through an experimental study conducted across two global universities, National Institute of Construction Management and Research, Pune, India and Washington State University, USA. Around 24 students from each university in ten teams collaborated virtually for a period of 2.5 weeks to develop a 3-dimensional Revit model and a 4-dimensional BIM model in Autodesk Revit and Navisworks, respectively, for a multi-storey residential building. The study aimed to investigate the role of project teams in organizing and coordinating projects tasks and taking a socio-technical approach, explored the role of a BIM Execution Plan as a pre-process intervention strategy. Data collected through qualitative survey post the experiment was qualitatively analyzed using ethnographic coding techniques. Findings showed that the project and team challenges primarily stemmed from coordination issues and institutional differences. Members significantly mitigated the issues through a proactive approach and a priori planning. The BIM Execution Plan allowed members to instantly get involved with the tasks and plan the process apart from being able to foresee the complexity. Teams emphasized the importance of implementing a detailed BIM Execution Plan during the planning phase for a collaborative and successful project outcome and further observed that pre-process intervention strategy such as a BIM plan was the needed impetus for members to collaborate and coordinate project tasks.