Cross-Cultural Virtual Team Development and Motivation

Developing virtual, cross-cultural teams can be challenging. The Internet has opened up amazing opportunities for running organizations spread across large geographic areas. Operating virtually, teams can lose communication richness and social presence. This lessening of communication effectiveness affects team development and motivation. Conducting operations cross-culturally compounds the issue. This paper looks at aspects of developing and motivating virtual, cross-cultural teams in light of Sue Freedman’s triple challenge of distance, language, and culture. Motivating teams through Bruce W. Tuckman’s stages of group development is also examined through the lens of content and process theories of motivation. These are tempered by cultural dimensions of collectivism vs. individualism, power distance, inner- vs. outer-directed, and high- vs. low-context communication. The common theme in all these situations is trust and relationship building