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¶ … team have to address the challenges and leverage the opportunities associated with operating as this particular type of virtual team
Multinational virtual teams allow organizations to benefit from the cultural knowledge conveyed to the base organization from interacting with employees from local businesses without some of the costs of transferring members of the organization abroad. Organizational members can be mobile "any place, any time, anywhy" in a virtual team without leaving behind family, friends, and familiarity (Collings, Doherty, Luethy, & Osborn 2011, p.364). However, this is also one of the challenges of a virtual team. Because the members are not actively forced to make a cultural adjustment because they are not expatriates, they can ignore the need to make cultural accommodations or appreciate cultural nuances and differences (between low-context cultures like the U.S. And high-context cultures like Thailand). Just as with a formal transfer to a foreign nation, preparation is key. "Where there is a lack of support for the softer skills, the impact of culture shock for the person…can profoundly color their experience and their career outcomes" (Collings, Doherty, Luethy, & Osborn 2011, p.365). In fact, to some degree even more support for the development of such soft interpersonal skills...
People are often very defensive about their biases. Simply disseminating knowledge about the culture "may or may not be adequate to understand the actions of others and guide the behaviors of an expatriate. Expatriates may or may not be aware of their knowledge limitations" (Haslberger, Brewster, & Hippler 2011, p. 337). Training for the assignment should involve role-plays, discussions of cultural differences in a specific fashion, and preparing people for encounters in a hands-on rather than a theoretical fashion. Rules such as meeting frequency and timetables should be defined so the team has a clear series of goals to work toward in a collective fashion.
Q2. What resources (readings, video, etc.) and training does your team recommend to help ensure your imagined "client's" virtual team's success and why?
To orient the team together, reading literature on the subject of expatriate preparation would be useful. The articles by Collings, Doherty, Luethy, & Osborn (2011) and Haslberger Brewster, & Hippler (2011) are not specifically directed at members from virtual teams but rather at individuals preparing…
References
Collings, D. Doherty, N., Luethy, M. & Osborn, D. (2011). Understanding and supporting the career implications of international assignments. Journal of Vocational Behavior 78,
361 -- 371
Haslberger, A., Brewster, & Hippler. (2013). The dimensions of expatriate adjustment. Human Resource Management.
Welch, D. & Steen, A. (2013). Repositioning global staff transfers: A learning perspective.
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