Communication styles, by which I mean the individual's preferred or default manner of communicating, can have a great influence on their ability to be effective in communicating in virtual team environments. There are many different sources of information on communication styles and, among them, a reasonably confusing assortment of terms... read more →
Aug
20
Aug
18
One of the first things to consider when setting up a new project in the modern working environment is how the team will be structured. Historically, it was simply a case of assembling the project team in one location and getting on with the work, but with the evolution of virtual... read more →
Aug
14
One of the most demanding and complex tasks in a large virtual teams project is that of interface management. This work is typically undertaken by someone with a title such as 'interface manager' or 'coordination manager', and is the person, or group of people, with responsibility for ensuring each location is aware of... read more →
Aug
12
Turnover of personnel in an organisation is always a problem, personnel join, learn the ways the company does its business, meet and work with their colleagues in the organisation and from time to time, decide to move on. Understanding the impact of personnel turnover in a co-located team is relatively... read more →
Aug
08
Ambiguity is a curse in almost any business environment. Dealing with uncertainty in most endeavours can be frustrating for all concerned, but managing ambiguity in virtual teams is one of the most challenging tasks facing any team. As discussed in an earlier post, many cultures deal with uncertainty differently, but the cultural... read more →
Aug
06
Continuing the discussions of cultural diversity in virtual teams, the cultural concept of uncertainty avoidance is that each regional or national group has a level of uncertainty they expect in general life and consequently communications. Similar to power distance, individuality, cultural masculinity and long term orientation they are largely ingrained into the fabric of the society... read more →
Aug
04
Continuing the series of posts on cultural diversity in virtual teams, I will next discuss the concept of individuality. The impact of individuality in a cultural sense can be important to the efficient functioning of a virtual team. The concept of individuality and its opposite pole of collectivism was explored... read more →
Aug
01
Continuing the series of posts that began with a brief overview of cultural diversity in virtual teams , Long Term Orientation sits along with Power Distance, Individuality, Cultural Masculinity and Uncertainly Avoidance as one of the measured cultural differences from Hofstede's research. As the name of this characteristic suggests, long term orientation is a measure of a culture's... read more →
Jul
30
Continuing the discussion and series of posts in cultural diversity in virtual teams, I will next turn to the concept of cultural masculinity. The impact of the level of masculinity in a culture on the functioning of virtual teams is an interesting one to consider. Cultural Masculinity, along with Power Distance, Individuality, Uncertainty Avoidance and Long Term... read more →
Jul
26
The term Power Distance Index (PDI) was coined by Geert Hofstede to enable him to describe the way different cultures manage working and social relationships, relationships between manager and subordinate or between elder and younger members of families or communities, essentially identifying the level of formality in these relationships. It... read more →