Communication Challenges in Global Virtual Teams

COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES IN GLOBAL VIRTUAL TEAMS

First edition. May 30, 2021.

Copyright © 2021 Wilson Garcia.

Written by Wilson Garcia.

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Cover design: Farrukh Bala

INTRODUCTION

Since the last three to four decades, the advancement of humans in telecommunications and the Internet has created opportunities for many companies to work worldwide, thus managing to build a team with high-performance members geographically dispersed but working together in virtual environments [1]; this is reflected in better cash flow (with lower costs), more productivity (improving resource utilization), and faster response to customer demands for new and better products.  

The latest developments on internet products (with collaboration tools like SharePoint or video/web conferencing like Zoom or Teams, between others) allow remote team members to have real-time communications, but this is not new to humans; phones provide similar opportunities that have been around longer.  So why the Internet and new developments like cloud computing and virtual collaboration tools help increase our interaction with people around the globe? The answer is simple because sharing information is the key; the Internet allows us to share all kinds of electronic documents almost immediately.  Under these ideas, global virtual teams were born; basically, temporary teams are created to tackle down tasks with resources all over our planet that communicate only through electronic means[2]

But how do these global virtual teams manage to communicate in these new environments? How do they build trust? How do these teams communicate continuously throughout our solar day cycle? What challenges do they face when trying to share information with people from different countries? Different cultures? With diverse perspectives and