Anawati and Craig (2006) researched an organization that had offices around the world, referred to as Global IT Solutions. Telephone conferencing and emails were the main forms of communication used to interact within the teams. The majority (80 per cent) of participants in the research found they had to change the way they spoke when working within the team. For example, they had to speak more slowly and clearly, avoid colloquialisms, keep words and sentences short, confirm understanding, and allow ‘think time’. Those who had worked in their team for less than three months were less likely to have made these adaptations. Those who had worked within their team longer realized that cultural differences existed and made a greater effort to adapt their behaviour. They had learned how to do this and allow for cultural differences, for example knowing that in Japan it is not polite to jump into the conversation, so a participant might prefer someone to invite them to speak.

Questions

1. What challenges would you anticipate if you worked in a virtual cross-cultural team?

2. What advice is there in the literature on teams on how individuals should consider cultural differences?