Bridging Space Over Time: Global Virtual Team Dynamics and Effectiveness

Martha L. Maznevski () and Katherine M. Chudoba ()
Additional contact information
Martha L. Maznevski: McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903-2493
Katherine M. Chudoba: College of Business, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-1110

Organization Science, 2000, vol. 11, issue 5, 473-492

Abstract: Global virtual teams are internationally distributed groups of people with an organizational mandate to make or implement decisions with international components and implications. They are typically assigned tasks that are strategically important and highly complex. They rarely meet in person, conducting almost all of their interaction and decision making using communications technology. Although they play an increasingly important role in multinational organizations, little systematic is known about their dynamics or effectiveness. This study built a grounded theory of global virtual team processes and performance over time. We built a template based on Adaptive Structuration Theory (DeSanctis and Poole 1994) to guide our research, and we conducted a case study, observing three global virtual teams over a period of 21 months. Data were gathered using multiple methods, and qualitative methods were used to analyze them and generate a theory of global virtual team dynamics and effectiveness. First, we propose that effective global virtual team interaction comprises a series of communication incidents, each configured by aspects of the team's structural and process elements. Effective outcomes were associated with a fit among an interaction incident's form, decision process, and complexity. Second, effective global virtual teams sequence these incidents to generate a deep rhythm of regular face-to-face incidents interspersed with less intensive, shorter incidents using various media. These two insights are discussed with respect to other literature and are elaborated upon in several propositions. Implications for research and practice are also outlined.

Keywords: Distributed Teams; Electronic Communication; Global Virtual Teams; Grounded Theory; Media Choice; Multicultural Teams; Temporal Rhythms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (127)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.11.5.473.15200 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:11:y:2000:i:5:p:473-492

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Organization Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().