Leading Effectively: What is your Global Management Style?

February 25, 2009

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So far we have discussed what is a virtual team. Now we need to explore what it is not. A virtual team is not the same thing as a cross-functional team, a multiorganizational team, or a multicultural team. This is because it is possible for a team to be colocated and comprise members from different functions, organizations, and cultures. Given our definition, it is possible for a virtual team to consist of members from the same function, organization, and culture. That said, many of the virtual teams studied in our research had members from multiple functions, organizations, and national cultures. The greater the geographical dispersion on the team is, the more likely it is that the team will comprise members quite different from one another. Like degrees of virtuality, these differences increase the complexity that must be managed. However, they do not define virtual teams. These same differences can and do occur in colocated teams.

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