Global Virtual Teams Are Falling Short of Their Potential
Global Virtual Teams Are Falling Short of Their Potential
--Survey reveals teams are impeded by Human Intercultural Challenges--
NEW YORK, May 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In today's complex, global environment, it's hard to imagine work without interdisciplinary, virtual teams. What's surprising is that 89% of those teams include members from more than one culture, a further indication of how global business is becoming.
According to the 2018 Trends in High-Performing Global Virtual Teams conducted by RW3 CultureWizard, 1,620 respondents from 90 countries said that 89% of corporate employees serve on at least one global virtual team.
"Almost everyone who works in global business is on a virtual team and 88% of them say it is critical to their productivity," according to Charlene Solomon, President of RW3 CultureWizard. "These teams confront unique challenges because the lack of face-to-face contact magnifies and intensifies the impact of cultural differences between team members," she says.
"What makes these challenges particularly acute is that most people are unprepared for them," says Michael S. Schell, CEO of RW3 CultureWizard. "Organizations large and small continue to make the erroneous assumption that virtual teamwork comes easy because of cutting edge communication technology. Only 22% of virtual team members receive any training to prepare them to be effective on an intercultural team."
He continues, "The total economic impact on productivity represented by these virtual team challenges is incalculable, but obviously significant, and relatively simple to improve."
Solomon points out that leadership is also a critical issue. "The leadership skills that work domestically, often break down when applied to multicultural virtual teams because leaders need to anticipate how their leadership style affects people from diverse places."
Some of the following were cited as some of the biggest challenges for global virtual teamwork:
-- Colleagues who do not participate (76%)
-- Timeliness and responsiveness (80%)
-- Different expectations for how to manage and for how to be managed (74%)
Click here to download a full copy of the survey findings.
RW3 CultureWizard is the leading intercultural global business skill consultancy, specializing in business skill development for corporate employees. Since 2001, RW3 CultureWizard has helped hundreds of companies around the world develop the cultural competency and global mindset needed to drive business results. Offers over 30 years of experience fusing self-guided learning technologies with intercultural wisdom to develop global business skills for leaders, teams, individual contributors and international assignees all over the world.
CONTACT: For more information, please email liliana.vanegas@rw-3.com or call (212) 691-8900
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SOURCE RW3 CultureWizard
