The Global Virtual Teams Project: learning to manage team dynamics in virtual exchange

Our paper positions telecollaboration in the business context, in which culturally, geographically, temporally, and functionally dispersed teams – so-called Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) – are increasingly being used to engage an organisation’s creative and problem-solving capabilities. In this virtual workplace, team members must complete tasks efficiently, despite language and cultural difference, geographical distance, technological complexity, and variance in organisational goals. We propose that virtual exchange projects can provide students with valuable pre-workplace experience of the demands placed on GVTs and the skills needed to operate successfully in a GVT environment. The GVTs Project outlined in our paper was set up for this purpose, and is run across five business schools by management and ESP teachers. We identify themes that have emerged through project observation and student reports, and exemplify how students manage the challenges of working in a GVT with a case study in which a project participant analyses her team’s dynamics3.