GROUP ASSIGNMENT

______________________________________________________________________

SUBJECT CODE : HPM7102E

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
SEPT/FIRST TRIMESTER 2022/2023

GROUP 2: THE EMERGENT OF GLOBAL VIRTUAL TEAMS (GVT) AND ITS

IMPACTS ON GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND EMPLOYEE
BEHAVIOR.

No. Name Matrix Number

1
M Hakimi Asyraf PBS22105054

2
Rebecca Megan PBS22105048

3
Mah Yu Ting PBS22105009

4
Cheah Lok Theng PBS22105007

5
Lum Ja Son PBS22105070

LECTURER: DR. LOGAMA DORAISAMY

1
 Table of content

No Content Page
1. Introduction 3
2. Analysis and Evaluation of Issues/Problems 5
3. Recommendations on Effective Solutions/Strategies 8
4. Conclusion 11
5. Reference 12

2
Introduction

The progress and development of global businesses, multinational corporations and

business ventures, encourages the adoption of Global Virtual Teams (GVT). Among others, the
advances in technology that enable such team coordination further to accelerate GVT is a common
practise in business communications. In order to understand better on GVT, GVT is defined as a
group of employees that are culturally diverse and globally dispersed virtual teams (global virtual
teams – GVTs) in multinational organizations (Glikson, E., & Erez, M., 2020).

The paper will discuss the adoption of GVT as part of standard practice in an organization
and its impact on global business environment and employee behavior. Included as part of the
discussion are the analysis of the main issues that arise on GVT, and relatable recommendations
to overcome the issues.

Identification of Main Issues/Problems

As per the definition of Global Virtual Teams, GVT involved cross-cultural employees that
are not bounded within any specific time-zones and geography, and employees that are not native
to English language but speak in English professionally. This definition by itself would be
identified and generally accepted as the main issue that would arise as part of GVT implementation
in an organization (Zakaria, N., & Mohd Yusof, S. A., 2020). Among others, a team will take
longer time to work cohesively and effectively.

The second main issue that is mostly discussed is trust. In specific, trust towards leadership
within a team in a virtual environment. Differences in personality traits further heighten and create
barriers of trust towards their team leaders. This is further explained especially on the influence of
subordinates’ personality traits on the trust they hold on to their team leader, and the impact of
their commitment to the team (Flavián, C., Guinalíu, M. and Jordán, P., 2022).

The next identified issue on GVT is also related to trust, but specifically lack of trust within
a team, that affects team cohesion, and may create miscommunications, which will impact the

3
overall team performance and team deliverables (Wei, L.H., Thurasamy, R. and Popa, S., 2018).
Team cohesion is the key in any organization, as the saying goes “Teamwork makes the team
work”.

The last issue would be the challenge of making technology to work as intended and able
to assist the employees in executing their work. The ICT infrastructure must facilitate the process
through the use of common and interconnected tools to increase virtual teams’ communication
based on the right mix of selected technologies (Gallego, J. S., Ortiz-Marcos, I., & Romero Ruiz,
J., 2021).

These aforementioned issues will be analyzed and evaluated further in the next segment.
The analysis and evaluation will then be used further to better develop recommendations to
effectively implement GVT in an organization.

Analysis and Evaluation of Issues/Problems

Cultural diversity was the antecedent of most conflict episodes since cultural values reflect
and are conveyed through language during communication, typically linguistic diversity which
entails cultural diversity and vice versa. However cultural diversity additionally includes national
differences as well as differences in broader cultural dimensions. Functional diversity has an
indirect effect on a certain outcome through external communication.

The differences in cultural background led to differences in workplace attitudes and behavior.
Besides that, differences in opinions and perspectives were found to increase task conflict and
social category diversity and to cause relationship conflict in traditional teams. However, the
evidence about whether cultural diversity in GVT increases or decreases conflict has been mixed
with some studies suggesting increases and other studies being inconclusive.

In traditional teams, functional diversity has been heralded for increasing such as innovation,
developing clearer strategies, and responding faster to changes, it also has an indirect effect on a

4
certain outcome through external communication. Team cohesion is affected, while technical
quality, schedule, and budget performance are all improved. Functional diversity also indirectly
affects team cohesion through work stress, which again weakens team cohesion. At the same time,
differences in opinions and perspectives engendered by functional diversity have been found to
increase task conflict.

Linguistic diversity is one of the main and has been highlighted as an important aspect of
cultural diversity. The literature on global teamwork has emphasized the importance of linguistic
diversity in intercultural communications. GVT helps remote projects and tasks management for
team members that might be in different geographically, time, organizational affiliation, and
cultures. One of the main conflicts that reinforces the link between linguistic diversity and conflict
in GVT was national diversity. National diversity gives rise to conflict when team members of one
nationality have negative feelings towards their other teammates of other nationalities. Cultural
diversity includes national and linguistic differences among members as well as differences among
broader cultural dimensions. Given that GVT members bring their disparate cultural values to the
team, it is important to know how cultural dimensions may impact conflict and performance in
GVT.

Trust towards leadership within a team in a virtual environment is a first step in addressing
this gap in knowledge. The lack of face-to-face interaction among GVT members is the main
reason has made it difficult for the enthusiasm of one member to inspire the others. In addition,
lacking face-to-face interaction, GVT members were restricted to fewer means to resolve the
ambiguity. Team coaching, performance monitoring, and team development are difficult to
achieve too, due to their virtual working environment. Subsequently, deficiency of support among
GVT members will lead to the feeling of isolation and subsequently compromising team
commitment. It was also discovered that trust affects how well works. Members of the team saw
that trust-building processes took longer in other project locations. Team members sometimes
found it more challenging to rebuild the trust when they could not meet in person because dispersed
team members could not respond to emails, instant chats, or phone calls in a timely manner.

5
 Over the past century, a team’s confidence has been identified to be positively associated
with team performance. Team confidences were developed when members familiarized
themselves with the abilities and skill set which each member owned. The problem with GVT is
that the members rarely meet face to face and rely on ICT to communicate. Thus, communication
tends to be less personal and limited to formal discussion. It is challenging to establish team
confidence in GVT’s environment as members lack the opportunity to understand each other's
knowledge and skills. Thus, developing team confidence in GVT is a big challenge. Individuals'
credibility can be increased, and others are more inclined to contact them when they need help by
giving them opportunities to present, such as monthly lunch and learning sessions, on a subject in
which they are knowledgeable. These discussions don't need to be limited to business-related
themes. One team member whose "unknown talent" was encouraged to be shared during a monthly
Zoom session.

A global virtual team might consist of people from different countries that speak different
languages, and this will easily lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings. Not only does
the language ability vary enormously, meanwhile each member might bring along their own
cultural assumptions of communications. (Warburton, 2021) For instance, one perceived that
his/her communication is clear and unambiguous, but another team member might feel that is rude
and aggressive. Poor communication can result in higher stress levels, conflicts, and issues, missed
deadlines, and unsatisfied customers. (Allen, 2020) For example, during a discussion, the manager
states a deadline for the team members, but due to some unexpected issue the deadlines shift to an
earlier date and only one person was notified, this will lead to higher stress level for other team
members to rush the project and has the possibility of the outcome is not satisfied with the
customers’ expectation. This will indirectly affects the mental health of an employee as well.

There are many digital tools to get connected with other team members, such as email, text
messages or a virtual call. A misinterpretation may happen when the team members communicate
via email and text messages, as these tools lack personalization of face-to-face interaction. In
addition, the disadvantages of using digital tools like email or text messages is that team members
might miss out on the emails and notifications as there might be many mails in a day or it may be
overlooked by the members. From a company perspective, GVT will cause difficulty in planning

6
and monitoring the task of each team member. (L. Dube´, G. Pare´, 2004) For instance, all tasks
will be distributed virtually, due to some members, especially new joiners, unfamiliar with
technology tools, will delay on-going tasks which lead to serious consequences. Furthermore, there
is a limitation for managers as they are unable to monitor or help his/her team members
immediately, when the team members face difficulty with the task.

Recommendations on Effective Solutions/Strategies

Global virtual teams have been the mode of communication in all organizations and the
role of leadership has in fact become pertinent especially in an environment that has global cultural,
time-zones and language differences. Hence, in order to have better performances and
understanding in global virtual teams, companies need to facilitate better communication and
practice openness across the organization and departments (Lauring & Jonasson, 2022).

Communicating and understanding the employees’ geographic background are essential

elements of action processes in effectiveness and efficiency of the team or an organization. It is
important for the virtual team leaders to understand the workforce’s various cultures as it will
impact the communication style and interpretation of their verbal and nonverbal communications
with their employees. Different tone of voice, choices of words used, and body language could be
interpreted differently (Fallon, 2021). For example, simple hand gestures could be viewed as
unprofessional or even offensive to other countries. Hence, it is crucial to be aware of these when
communicating with wider global team members. As a result, it will help the global virtual team
members to not only embrace diversity but also find ways to overcome challenges they face.

In addition to that, virtual team leaders should practice openness and integrate an
understanding of culture in their business operations. Open communications with employees about
their work preferences helps the leaders to set expectations and delegate tasks accordingly. This
helps the organization to create a working and effective environment which makes everyone feel
comfortable and be productive (Garro-Abarca et al., 2021). This will not only foster an open and

7
honest virtual workplace environment, but it will also help to build trust in their leaders resulting
in high productivity and accountability among the team.

Besides that, creating and implementing shared visions and goals should be the key
foundation in a virtual team. Establishing goals and directing the team accordingly helps to build
a foundation of trust and create a sense of accountability among them. When the team shares a
common purpose and vision, even when the team works remotely, it will build and bind the people
and face the challenges together. In the process of managing the virtual team remotely, it will be
an opportunity for the virtual team to exchange significant values and learnings in the vision of
creating better and supportive virtual teams (Morrison-Smith & Ruiz, 2020).

Virtual Team building activities can help to improve communication, build trust, increase
creativity, reduce conflict, and help team members to understand one another better. To
communicate about work-related matters, remote teams can find ways to have fun together to
develop a shared culture and connection, such as organizing online team-building activities that
bring remote employees together. It will keep all the remote team members engaged, connected,
and create an encouraging cooperation environment. Mentally healthy workers will be happier and
be more productive. Team building activities increase productivity by promoting unity and
participation across distributed teams. When your employees have a common goal, they work
together more harmoniously.

When the Global Virtual Team gets along, they may be more willing to ask for help and
be more involved in critical projects. It will help them to have a clear common direction and a
strong sense of company goals, to work together more effectively and increase productivity. For
example, according to Gallup, a U.S. management consulting firm, top-ranked teams typically
have 25 percent employee engagement and 14 percent more productivity than bottom-ranked
teams’ 25 percent (Harter, 2022). Furthermore, employees that engage in team-building activities,
they often form more diverse relationships in their workplace. Virtual team building events
encourage employees to create a harmonious working environment and as they share their
experiences with each other, they tend to build lasting relationships between the team members.

8
This will help them to communicate and create relationships with members from other departments
as well.

The 2021 Global Employee Survey, from 1,250 employees in 15 countries, 58 percent of
workers that participated in the survey think that team diversity is the biggest value in working on
a global team (G-P, 2021). However, global virtual teams that work virtually may not share the
same opinion, as they did not have the chance to interact with each other, and tend to focus on
their own working task that was assigned to them. Hence, organizing virtual team activities plays
an important role in building an understanding relationship between the team members.
Workplace inclusion is important which encompasses the practices and attitudes of a business to
ensure all team members have an equal access to the same resources, opportunities, and can
contribute fully to the team’s and the business’s success. Based on a McKinsey study, it was found
that 39 percent of respondents said they had decided to quit their job because they felt a lack of
inclusivity in their departments and organizations. (McKinsey & Company, 2022)

Regardless of backgrounds and cultural differences, team members should contribute their
best ideas and work to the success of the organization which requires understanding and
cooperation from each employee’s experiences. Some of the actions can be taken by asking team
members about their needs and accommodating the changes accordingly. Besides that, creating a
space for input from different perspectives encourages more participation from the global virtual
team members and helps them to understand the challenges their members are facing and working
together in resolving the difficulties faced.

Collaboration and project management is one of the biggest challenges organizations face
when they have a Global Virtual Team, and this is where technology plays an important role.
(Ideagen, 2021) Organisation needs to provide employees with a good collaboration and project
management framework that includes meeting tools, chat applications and data-sharing software.
It can be from existing online tools or organization self-invent tools. Organization needs to ensure
that employees are well equipped with a handful of online tools to assist with remote work, by
granting free access for online tools and providing virtual training and preparing modules in order
for them to familiarize the application better and faster. This may allow the Global Virtual team to

9
perform their work smoothly. Besides, other support can include from high-speed internet
connection to essential gadgets and equipment, especially for those who do not have the necessary
facilities.

Conclusion

According to Trends in Remote Work Growth over the last 12 years, globally by FlexJobs
and Global Workplace Analytics, research found that it was an increase of 159%, and it was
heightened mainly because of the Covid-19 Pandemic (Allen, 2020). Though we find there are
many issues that could have a potential impact on employee’s behavior and the global working
environment, there are solutions to curb the challenges with the help of training and technology.
Using the analysis on past research, we described challenges which belong to 4 categories:
Linguistic Diversity, Trust on leaders, Trust among employees and ICT barriers.

In conclusion, a global virtual team regardless of culture, geographical background,

company size and business type, should encourage and develop communication norms and
interpersonal trust within the organization. Based on the analysis above, the results affirm that
highest performance is achieved when the organization practices a trust-building model and the
increased virtuality brought by the pandemic can be an opportunity to innovate in communication
to influence team member’s performance (Morrison-Smith & Ruiz, 2020). Organizations that
operate in a global business environment should implement best practices and ethical
methodologies in the vision to create a supportive and collaborative global virtual team.

10
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2019.101001

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 International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences
Vol. 9 , No. 12, December, 2019, E-ISSN: 2 2 2 2 -6990 © 2019 HRMARS

Global Virtual Team (GVT): Exploring the Challenges, and

Potential Gaps in Research
Lee Heng Wei, Tan Bee Wah, Ramayah Thurasamy
To Link this Article: http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v9-i12/6731 DOI: 10.6007/IJARBSS/v9-i12/6731

Received: 10 November 2019, Revised: 25 November 2019, Accepted: 02 December 2019

Published Online: 24 December 2019

In-Text Citation: (Wei et al., 2019)

To Cite this Article: Wei, L. H., Wah, T. B., & Thurasamy, R. (2019). Global Virtual Team (GVT): Exploring the
Challenges, and Potential Gaps in Research. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and
Social Sciences, 9(12), 342–351.
Copyright: © 2019 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute,
translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full
attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen
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Vol. 9, No. 12, 2019, Pg. 342 - 351

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 Journal of International Management 26 (2020) 100654

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of International Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/intman

Crossing Cultural Boundaries Using the Internet: Toward Building a

T
Model of Swift Trust Formation in Global Virtual Teams
Norhayati Zakariaa, , Shafiz Affendi Mohd Yusofb
⁎

a
Faculty of Business and Management, University of Wollongong in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
b
Faculty of Engineering and Information Science, University of Wollongong in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: This study employs a qualitative research method to advance understanding of the process of
Global virtual teams swift trust formation in global virtual teams (GVTs), which rely heavily on the Internet for virtual
Internet collaboration. We explore two key research questions: 1) What is the process of swift trust for-
Swift trust mation in GVTs? 2) How do GVTs develop swift trust behaviors during virtual collaboration?
Cultural values
Over a period of two years (2014–2016), we interviewed 57 individuals from 16 countries. The
Task orientation
Relationship orientation
interviewees had been GVT members in an international experiential learning project, and our
Team development aim was to explore their in-depth experiences of teamwork dynamics and swift trust formation.
Millennials Our key contributions to the international management literature are 1) the development of a
descriptive model of global virtual collaboration that explains the cyclical process of swift trust
formation and 2) the formulations of prescriptions for promoting high-trust behaviors in GVTs. In
the conclusion, this study reviews the theoretical and practical implications of understanding
swift trust behaviors in the GVT context in order for firms to achieve business excellence and
management effectiveness internationally.

1. Introduction

As businesses continue to expand across borders and the demand for innovative structures forces companies to look increasingly
farther afield for talent, global virtual teams (GVTs) are becoming the new norm (Derven, 2016). The spread of Internet connectivity
has radically transformed working structures by enabling businesses to assemble teams of individuals who collaborate across national
boundaries using only digital forms of communication. These temporary crowds of virtual-based collaborators, who may live and
work in a range of countries and have no history of working together (Adamovic, 2017; Altschuller and Benbunan-Fich, 2013;
Jimenez et al., 2017; Malhotra et al., 2017; Zakaria, 2017), are usually assembled to complete a specific task (Jarvenpaa and Leidner,
1999) and then disbanded. Central to the spread of GVTs has been the proliferation of common proprietary software such as Microsoft
Outlook and open source software1 (Magnier-Watanabe et al., 2017; Marlow et al., 2016). These tools give firms a competitive
advantage by facilitating business decision making, the creation of innovative marketing plans, and speedy outreach to customers and
competitors (Bisbe and Sivabalan, 2017; Pinjani and Palvia, 2013). In terms of GVTs specifically, they lower costs (because team
members do not need to travel), allow for the rapid exchange of information, make globally dispersed information resources more
accessible, and permit flexible scheduling and work practices (Adamovic, 2017; Davison et al., 2017; Hunsaker and Hunsaker, 2008;
Zivick, 2012).

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: NorhayatiZakaria@uowdubai.ac.ae (N. Zakaria).
1
Dropbox, Adobe Connect, Whatsapp, Trello, Basecamp, Zoomy and many others.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intman.2018.10.004
Received 21 June 2017; Received in revised form 4 September 2018; Accepted 22 October 2018
Available online 15 November 2018
1075-4253/ © 2018 Published by Elsevier Inc.
 Journal of World Business 55 (2020) 101001

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of World Business

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jwb

The emergence of a communication climate in global virtual teams T

a, b
Ella Glikson *, Miriam Erez
a
Department of Organizational Behavior and Theory, Tepper Business School, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
b
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000 Israel

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Focusing on the micro-dynamics of intercultural communication in global virtual teams, we hypothesize that
Communication content relationally-oriented content, communicated in the first message, and exchanged in the early stage of team
Global virtual teams formation, facilitates the emergence of psychologically safe communication climate, which in turn improves
Team communication climate team performance. We test our hypotheses by examining early asynchronous communication in sixty global
Climate emergence
virtual teams of MBA students and measuring team communication climate and performance. Our findings
Team micro-dynamics
support the hypotheses and reveal the anchoring role of the first message exchanged between team members,
extending previous research on intercultural communication and relationally-oriented content within global
virtual teams.

1. Introduction Scholars have rarely examined the communication aspects that fa-
cilitate the emergence of positive relations in GVTs (Gilson, Maynard,
The development of global markets and technological advance- Jones Young, Vartiainen, & Hakonen, 2014). Specifically, whereas the
ments have accelerated the presence of culturally diverse and globally issues of media use and language proficiency have gained increasing
dispersed virtual teams (global virtual teams – GVTs) in multinational attention (Brannen, Piekkari, & Tietze, 2014; Kirkman, Cordery,
organizations (Connaughton & Shuffler, 2007; Gibson, Huang, Mathieu, Rosen, & Kukenberger, 2013; Klitmøller & Lauring, 2013;
Kirkman, & Shapiro, 2014). Despite the potential benefits of GVTs, Neeley et al., 2012; Powell, Piccoli, & Ives, 2004), the content of in-
which utilize their latent diverse sources of knowledge and expertise, terpersonal communication among team members remains mostly un-
their effectiveness is often not fully realized (Hinds & Bailey, 2003; explored (for recent review, see Marlow, Lacerenza, & Salas, 2017).
Mesmer-Magnus, DeChurch, Jimenez-Rodriguez, Wildman, & Shuffler, Keyton (1999) defined two content types of communication – re-
2011; Neeley, Hinds, & Cramton, 2012; Polzer, Crisp, Jarvenpaa, & lationally-oriented (i.e., communication that promotes relationships
Kim, 2006; Stahl, Mäkelä, Zander, & Maznevski, 2010; Stahl, between and among team members (p. 192) and task-oriented content
Maznevski, Voigt, & Jonsen, 2010; Stahl & Tung, 2014). (instrumental communication aimed at accomplishing a task). Studies
The multicultural context in which GVTs operate introduces for- that analyzed the communication content exchanged among team
midable challenges for intercultural communication (Adair, Buchan, members have mostly focused on the task-oriented content of team
Chen, & Liu, 2016; Jimenez, Boehe, Taras, & Caprar, 2017; Mannix & communication and its effect on team outcomes (Kanawattanachai &
Neale, 2005). The range of cross-cultural differences within a global Yoo, 2008; Woolley, 2009). The relational content of communication
team portends a high level of complexity and uncertainty with regard to has generally been overlooked, as it has been considered to relate only
intercultural communication norms in such teams (Gibson et al., 2014). tangentially to team performance (Keyton, 2000; Von Glinow, Shapiro,
The level of uncertainty is especially high in the early work stages of & Brett, 2004). Nevertheless, sharing relational content could be a va-
newly formed GVTs, when there is no prior familiarity among team luable means for effective intercultural communication (Chua et al.,
members (Haas & Cummings, 2015). Understanding the communica- 2012; Hajro, Gibson, & Pudelko, 2017). Based on Uncertainty Reduc-
tional factors that enable improvement of interpersonal relationships tion Theory (URT; Berger & Calabrese, 1975; Bradac, 2001; Gudykunst
within GVTs may assist in overcoming GVTs’ challenges and enhancing & Nishida, 1984), we suggest that the exchange of relational content in
their performance (Chua, Morris, & Mor, 2012; Dahlin, Weingart, & the introductory phase of communication may reduce the levels of
Hinds, 2005; Hinds & Mortensen, 2005; Zander, Mockaitis, & Butler, uncertainty, which are driven by GVT members’ lack of familiarity and
2012; Zimmermann, 2011). cultural diversity, allowing the process of relationship building.

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: eglikson@andrew.cmu.edu (E. Glikson).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2019.101001
Received 30 November 2017; Received in revised form 12 April 2019; Accepted 25 June 2019
Available online 08 July 2019
1090-9516/ © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 European research on management and business economics 28 (2022) 100193

www .e ls e vi er .e s/ e rmb e

Virtual teams are here to stay: How personality traits, virtuality and
leader gender impact trust in the leader and team commitment

na,*, Miguel Guinalíua, Pau Jorda
Carlos Flavia
nb
a
Facultad de Economía y Empresa, University of Zaragoza, Gran Vía 2 − Zaragoza, Spain
b
ESIC Business and Marketing School, Spain

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article History: Teleworking has, today, become a necessity for many organizations, so effective virtual team management is
Received 7 June 2021 critical. This study analyzes the influence of the personality traits of virtual team workers on team efficiency.
Revised 22 December 2021 To do so we examine the effects of subordinates’ personalities on the trust they give the virtual team leader
Accepted 24 December 2021
and the impact of this trust on commitment to the team. We also discuss how the team's degree of virtuality
Available online 29 April 2022
and the leader’s gender influence the relationship between personality and trust. The findings showed that
extroversion has a positive effect on trust felt in the leader, and that this trust has a positive effect on com-
Keywords:
mitment felt toward the team. On the other hand, it was observed that neuroticism had a more negative
Virtual teams
Trust
effect on trust in more virtual environments. The leader’s gender had no significant effect. The study offers
Extroversion advice for virtual team management and discusses its limitations and future research directions.
Neuroticism © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. on behalf of AEDEM. This is an open access article
Commitment under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Virtuality
Gender

1. Introduction unprepared, and which causes stress (Deloitte, 2020) due the inten-
sive use of videoconferences and the difficulty of delimiting working
The dramatic societal changes wrought by the COVID-19 pan- hours (Observe Research Foundation, 2020). Moreover, beyond the
demic have caused the use of virtual teams to increase exponentially effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, teleworking is becoming an
in companies of all sizes and in all sectors. Statista (2020) recently increasingly commonly used option. In 2018 the number of tele-
reported that the number of employees in the U.S. who work entirely workers in the EU28 stood at 13.5% of the employed population,
virtually has grown from 17% to 44%. Virtual teams have been defined although the differences between countries is very wide; in Sweden
based on the following aspects (Flavia
n et al., 2019): (1) they are the figure is 30%, while in some countries, such as Romania, tele-
work teams that operate totally or partially through telematic com- working is almost non-existent and, in others, such as Spain, it is 7.5%
munication tools; (2) their members have diverse roles and are often (Anghel et al., 2020). The growth potential of teleworking and, there-
geographically dispersed, even in different time zones; (3) they tend fore, virtual teams, is large; in the USA forecasts predict that 34% of
to have a flexible structure and endure only for as long as defined by jobs might be carried out remotely (Dingel & Neiman, 2020), while in
the project for which they were created (e.g., to solve a problem in Spain this figure might reach 30.6% (Anghel et al., 2020).
the supply chain, plan a communications campaign, manage a repu- In the current context it is essential to understand which factors
tational crisis, develop a new product). Although we should not con- enhance the performance of virtual work teams. Previous studies
fuse teleworking with virtual teams (teleworkers do not have to into virtual teams have suggested that certain factors influence their
work as a team; in a virtual team, some interactions can be carried management and results. For example, Hao et al. (2019) point out
out face to face), the truth is that the unstoppable growth of tele- how personality, job design, self-efficacy affect knowledge sharing
working is a clear indicator of the interest of organizations in having behavior. Haines (2021) suggests that activity awareness practices
their teams operating in telematic environments. Thus, teleworking increase feelings of social presence within the team and a willingness
has become the only way that many organizations are able to con- to work harder for the team. The influence of team members’ person-
tinue to operate, and this has meant a radical change in work practi- alities on team performance has been widely examined in the man-
ces. This has created a work dynamic for which many were agement literature (LePine et al., 2011). Early studies reported that
personality influenced team results (e.g., Heslin, 1964; Spector & Sut-
tell, 1957), although at that stage there was still no clear conceptuali-
* Corresponding author.
zation of personality traits. Subsequent studies more precisely
E-mail address: cflavian@unizar.es (C. Flavi
an).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iedeen.2021.100193
2444-8834/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. on behalf of AEDEM. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
 Technological Forecasting & Social Change 162 (2021) 120353

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Technological Forecasting & Social Change

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/techfore

Main challenges during project planning when working with virtual teams T
J.S. Gallego , I. Ortiz-Marcos, J. Romero Ruiz
⁎

Department of Industrial Engineering, Business Administration and Statistics, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: This study confirms the need to correctly plan human resources, risk and communication management when
Virtual teams virtual teams are included in a project team, as indicated in the literature review. his study extends the current
Project planning literature in the field, in a way not previously identified by other authors, by identifying the importance of
Integration planning virtual teams in the requirements collection and scope management processes during project planning. It is
fsQCA
demonstrated that project managers should consider the impact of virtual teams on integration and scope
planning and not simply on resources, communication and cost planning. In this study, the use of fuzzy set
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) is a key methodological contribution to indicate hidden or unknown
impacts of virtual teams in certain key project planning processes.

1. Introduction Management Institute (PMI, 2017) introduced the concept of VTs as an

environmental factor to be considered as an input in project integration
Globally distributed companies are the most expansive businesses execution and as a tool in project resource management (execution
and their coordination has improved through new technologies and phase) to provide flexibility and advantages like knowledge sharing
communications since the early 1990s (Janssens and Brett, 1994) with between remote locations; however, they did not include specific pro-
the objective of managing project complexity to reduce product de- cesses to be executed by VTs during project integration planning or
velopment time (Clift and Vandenbosch, 1999). New technologies allow planning processes from other knowledge areas which are related to the
global companies, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to project management plan. Haywood (1998) also states that the com-
satisfy global product demand via new product development plexity of managing virtual teams relates to communication, knowledge
(Gallego, 2016; McDonough, Kahnb, and Barczaka, 2001). This in- management, and performance data for monitoring and control. In
creased demand complexity has forced companies to establish multi- other words, for a global or multinational company (independent of its
national locations in order to commercialize their products directly, location), it is imperative to clearly identify the processes and critical
reducing development and manufacturing costs (locating low-value success factors (CSFs) to be considered during the planning phase when
processes in regions where salaries are low), leading to knowledge ac- VTs are involved in the execution of the project. Meanwhile, there are
quisition from leading technological countries, and providing on-site other project management knowledge areas and processes for which the
services to their customers. Because of this increased complexity, vir- effect that a VT could have during project execution has not been taken
tual teams (VTs) are more frequently used in all sizes of projects and in into consideration, meaning that the possibility of using VTs during the
many companies; therefore, this research is focused on the identifica- project planning phase is ignored.
tion of knowledge areas when working with VTs in project-oriented Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify those project
organisations during the project planning phase, in order to improve planning processes where VTs influence the project management plan
the project management plan (Rolstadås, et al., 2014). (integration planning process). As indicated in the literature review,
There are many studies related to VT management; they focus there are currently no significant studies on the influence of VTs during
mainly on the execution and monitoring phases, which identify pro- the creation of the project plan or on how they can be considered a key
blems and the impact of IT communication tools or human resource element of the plan, adding value to the project as indicated by
techniques applied to this kind of team. However, the project planning Afflerbach (2020). In order to fill this gap in the knowledge, we aim to
literature does not provide specific analyses indicating how to identify answer two main research questions:
which project processes and knowledge areas are influenced by VTs
when they are part of the project team. In this context, the Project RQ1: What is the impact of VTs in each knowledge area while the

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: jaime.sgallego@alumnos.upm.es (J.S. Gallego), isabel.ortiz@upm.es (I. Ortiz-Marcos), javier.romero@upm.es (J. Romero Ruiz).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120353
Received 17 June 2020; Received in revised form 6 September 2020; Accepted 23 September 2020
Available online 09 October 2020
0040-1625/ © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 ORIGINAL RESEARCH
published: 17 February 2021
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.624637

Virtual Teams in Times of Pandemic:

Factors That Influence Performance
Victor Garro-Abarca 1 , Pedro Palos-Sanchez 2* and Mariano Aguayo-Camacho 2
1
School of Computing, Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica, 2 Department of Financial Economics
and Operations Management, University of Seville, Seville, Spain

In the digital age, the global software development sector has been a forerunner in
implementing new ways and configurations for remote teamwork using information
and communication technologies on a widespread basis. Crises and technological
advances have influenced each other to bring about changes in the ways of working.
In the 70’s of the last century, in the middle of the so-called oil crisis, the concept of
teleworking was defined using remote computer equipment to access office equipment
and thus avoid moving around using traditional vehicles. Then from the 90s, with the
advent of communications and the widespread use of the Internet, the first virtual
work teams were implemented in software development companies that already had
some of the important characteristics needed to work in this way, such as, cultural
diversity, characterized tasks, geographical distribution of members, communication,
interdependence of tasks, leadership, cohesion, empowerment, confidence, virtuality.
Edited by: This manuscript groups the main factors into different models proposed by the literature
Maria Angeles Garcia Haro, and also analyzes the results of a study conducted in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis on
Open University of Catalonia, Spain
317 software development teams that had to work in virtual teams (VT). The results of
Reviewed by:
Raul Ramos,
the quantitative methodology with structural equation modeling based on variance using
University of Barcelona, Spain the partial least squares route method are analyzed. The results of the research focus
Ricardo Hernández-Rojas,
on some determinants that can directly affect the performance of the virtual team. A first
University of Córdoba, Spain
determinant is communication in relation to the tasks. The second is trust in relation to
*Correspondence:
Pedro Palos-Sanchez leadership, empowerment and cohesion. The results of virtual teams provide information
ppalos@us.es that can serve as a basis for future research lines for the implementation of virtual work
strategies in post-pandemic work.
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to Keywords: global software development, COVID-19, virtual teams, determinants of performance, PLS-SEM
Organizational Psychology,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Psychology
INTRODUCTION
Received: 31 October 2020
Accepted: 18 January 2021
The digital era has meant a change in the processes and routines of the business dynamics to which
Published: 17 February 2021
many organizations have had to adapt in order to compete and survive in globalized markets. The
Citation: virtualization of organizational life and the digital transformation of labor relations goes hand in
Garro-Abarca V, Palos-Sanchez P
hand with the accelerated advance of technologies such as cloud computing, which have made it
and Aguayo-Camacho M (2021)
Virtual Teams in Times of Pandemic:
unnecessary to have tangible servers, software and hardware infrastructures in the company offices
Factors That Influence Performance. and many processes are being carried out by accessing personal equipment or terminals (computers,
Front. Psychol. 12:624637. laptops, and mobile devices) connected to an increasingly fast Internet network. All this is possible
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.624637 thanks to the technology of virtualization (Sánchez, 2017). Recent studies have analyzed the attitude

Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 1 February 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 624637