Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-11-2007

Abstract

This paper explores the challenges of creating and maintaining trust in a global virtual team whose members transcend time, space and culture. The challenges are highlighted by integrating recent literature on work teams, computer-mediated communication groups, cross-cultural communication, and interpersonal and organizational trust. To explore these challenges empirically, we report on a series of descriptive case studies on global virtual teams whose members were separated by location and culture, were challenged by a common collaborative project, and for whom the only economically and practically viable communication medium was asynchronous and synchronous computer-mediated communication. The results suggest that global virtual teams may experience a form of “swift” trust, but such trust appears to be very fragile and temporal. The study raised a number of issues to be explored and debated by future research. Pragmatically, the study describes communication behaviors that might facilitate trust in global virtual teams. Annotated bibliographies about team management from the Weatherhead School of Management Executive MBA Class of 2007.

Keywords

Virtual Team

Publication Title

Case Western Reserve University EMBA Class of 2007

Rights

Kelvin Smith Library, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, provides the information contained, including reproductions of items from its collections, for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.

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