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The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework that can be used to enhance the effectiveness of global teams.

The objectives of this paper are to provide a practical, concise framework for organizations that are using or considering global virtual teams. Based on extensive consulting research and literature review, the paper describes how global virtual teams can use Diversity & Inclusion, structure and processes to promote desired outcomes.

With globalization and skill shortages, global virtual teams are required to meet critical organizational objectives. Often these teams fall short of their promise, due to the complexity and lack trust and formal processes. This paper presents a framework to address these challenges.

Global virtual teams can use the proposed framework presented in this paper to promote high performance in both results and relationships.

This paper presents an original framework for optimal global team functioning.

This paper aims to examine interrelations of the team environment factors of trust and affiliation and the motivation factors of perceived reciprocal benefits and importance of enjoyment to determine how they influence knowledge sharing within loose-linked global virtual teams.

The study involved 115 business students from three large universities located in the USA, China and Peru being assigned to global virtual teams of between three and four members in one phase and between four and seven members in a second phase. Students were required to work in virtual teams using telecommunication tools to complete assigned cases.

Trust, reciprocal benefits and enjoyment are significantly related to positive attitude toward knowledge sharing. Positive attitude, enjoyment, age, nationality and computer experience are positively related to knowledge sharing behavior. Affiliation is not found to significantly affect positive knowledge sharing attitude. Gender is not related to knowledge sharing behavior.

Understanding how trust, affiliation and motivation influence positive attitude and knowledge sharing behavior can assist managers in developing intervention strategies that improve team environments to support knowledge sharing behavior.

This paper contributes to the advancement of theory by extending the current knowledge sharing research to virtual team environments with diverse cultural backgrounds and by considering both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation factors, including the importance of enjoyment in loose-linked environments of global virtual teams.

This paper aims to examine how students can learn how to work in multi-cultural global virtual teams in a classroom-based setting using experiential learning. The students from two graduate programs in France and Japan were given relevant reading materials, individual and joint team assignments on virtual team work and were asked to evaluate their work using previously identified global virtual team key success factors.

Text-mining and co-word analyses of students’ assignments, and correlations of keyword frequencies with student culture scores provide insights on how students first experience this novel setting, raising their awareness and providing them skills for future application in an organizational setting.

The process experienced by virtual student teams has many similarities with the team formation stage in virtual teams in organizational settings. Such experiential learning is useful for global virtual team education, as students will have already experienced and solved typical challenges in a safer non-work-related setting.

This study is based on a small sample of respondents and therefore presents inherent limitations in terms of significance and generalizability.

The rise of information and communication technologies has facilitated the creation of new approaches for coordinating work and, subsequently, for new collaborative organizational forms. Little research has been conducted to address education or training for these new and essential forms of collaboration.

This paper examines the aspect of designing global virtual teams and the key factors that impact team design. Examines how design impacts team performance. Proposes a conceptual model for designing such teams to deliver optimal performance. The model contains four major elements: virtual team structure, strategic objectives, work characteristics and situational constraints. The impact of the last three elements on team structure and their relationship to team performance are examined. Proposes a multi‐dimensional measure for virtual team structure, and considers how situational demands and performance constraints can impact team design. Highlights the fact that performance of teams too is multi‐dimensional and design has to consider the tradeoff involved in these factors. Proposes that global virtual teams be designed with a holistic approach considering an optimal fit between the team structure and the key impacting factors like objectives, work characteristics and situational constraints to deliver performance.

The purpose of this paper is to present and examine the use and effects of global virtual teams as a tool in the logistics and supply chain management classroom to prepare students in a simulation environment for the demands of their future careers in the profession.

Literature of logistics and supply chain management education is combined with streams from management learning literature. The way the tool of global virtual teams was applied is explained, followed by an analysis of quantitative and qualitative participant response data. From the data analysis the effects of individual factors in the design and application of the global virtual team are isolated and recommendations are extracted for future use of the tool.

The paper finds that the application of global virtual teams helped participating students to develop the management skills required for a career in logistics and supply chain management. Although students perceived the international nature and the lose frame provided by the tool as challenges, most learning effects were caused by these challenges. The paper also shows that the set up by the involved educators is crucial for the learning effect in particular toward similar weights of the assessments and the number of group members from each geographical area.

The paper does not examine all potentially amendable factors but focuses on those that were seen as relevant and practically achievable under the available resources to ensure the tool can be easily scaled up by adding further institutions and participants.

The paper is the first application of global virtual teams in logistics and supply chain management education. It provides the theoretical foundations and rationale for its application and is relevant to educators by giving them access to this tool for improvement of their students’ career preparedness.

The concept of teams and teamwork is increasingly becoming an important key to productivity and employee satisfaction in the contemporary workplace. This paper looks at the concept of teams and teamwork and several innovative ways of using teams. Among the innovative ways of using teams are globally networked teams, team‐based strategic planning, flexible‐jobbing, the horizontal corporation, and the virtual corporation. The use of computer‐mediated communication technologies and other groupware technologies provide a workable, reliable, and flexible base of systems for creating the platforms for virtual teams and virtual organizations. An overview of current information technology available for supporting teams and which types of information technology are most valuable in enhancing the new team applications is briefly addressed. Supporting technologies include groupware for facilitating communication, supporting information storage and retrieval, and supporting decision making. Lastly, the many competitive advantages to the use of virtual teaming in the global environment as well as its managerial implications and strategic recommendations for improving the performance of virtual teams are presented.

Virtual teams had become a fundamental way to conduct business for organizations to remain competitive and sustain in a global environment. Organizations which willing to understand what makes virtual teams more effective can likely accrue positive results from virtual teams. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate what are the factors that impact the performance of virtual team. This study highlights factors that influence virtual team performance, which not been widely studied in developing countries (i.e. Malaysia). This study tests the impact of six factors (coordination, communication, relationship building, cohesion, trust and reward) on team performance.

A quantitative approach via self-administered questionnaire was adopted. A total of 205 questionnaires were successfully collected at the end of the data collection. Structural equation modelling using partial least squares approach (i.e. ADANCO 2.0 software) was then used to assess the relationships among variables in the virtual team.

After ensuring the data have acceptable reliability and validity, structural model assessment was performed to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that a significant and positive relationship exists between communication, relationship building, cohesion and trust towards team performance. On the other hand, no significant relationship was found between coordination and reward towards team performance.

First, the study may be slightly biased due to the differences in the size of the multinational companies. The result might tend to represent the bigger companies where more virtual teams are available for sampling of this study. Second, the duration of virtual team (long-term and short-term) and the number of sites in the team should be clearly identified. The respondents might have very different experiences and perceptions in different settings of virtual team environment. Therefore, taking care of these characteristics would have provided a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of factors influencing virtual team performance in Malaysia.

The findings from this study can serve as guideline for managers to manage the virtual teams effectively, as well as to optimizes the resources usage and implement the most efficient tools of communication, and subsequently improve the overall efficiency of the teams. This study is useful for researchers, managers and organizations to highlight the factors that contribute to virtual team performance.

The present study has not only extended the use of Media Richness Theory in the context Virtual Team Performance in a developing country but also broadened the previous study through inclusion of other crucial factor, namely, Reward. Given the significant role in the Global marketplace, the understanding of factors influencing virtual team performance in Malaysia using the extended theory of Media Richness would contribute knowledge not only to technology management but also to manufacturing service industry.

This paper aims to extend knowledge about virtual teams and their advantages and disadvantages in a global business environment.

Based on a literature review and reported findings from interviews with experts and practitioners in the field, the paper has identified and discussed the advantages and problems associated with creating and managing virtual teams.

In today's competitive global economy, organizations capable of rapidly creating virtual teams of talented people can respond quickly to changing business environments. Capabilities of this type offer organizations a form of competitive advantage.

By identifying the advantages and problems associated with virtual teams, organizations will be better able to successfully establish and manage such teams.

A new collaborative workplace is evolving which is both global and virtual. Those working in this environment are faced with two major challenges: isolation and confusion. This paper aims to look at what leaders can do to overcome these challenges.

Building on years of experience of working on and coaching global virtual teams, the author presents ten practical guidelines for enabling such teams to perform at their best. These guidelines highlight the importance of, for example, thinking proactively about the specific conditions faced by the team, applying cultural intelligence, staying person‐centric, establishing predictability, and driving for precise communications.

Applying these guidelines helps teams co‐create a shared workplace that is conducive to efficiency and psychological wellbeing.

Virtual global teamwork is only going to increase in the years ahead. This paper provides a basis on which leaders in the new workplace can begin re‐skilling themselves for leading at a distance.

The purpose of this article is to share with readers details of this consortium's multicultural virtual teaming project implementation and the lessons learned from experiences of the participating students and professors.

To establish a preliminary relationship, virtual student teams exchange e‐mail messages with team mates at participating universities that provide introductions for each member of the team. Each team member uses these individual introductions to write a brief paper that introduces all team mates. Next, the students virtually interview one another to obtain answers to culture‐specific questions for each culture that is represented on the team. In some courses, this information is analysed using Hofstede's four dimensions of culture: power distance, individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity versus femininity.

Based on participants' experiences in these virtual teaming projects, the following recommendations are presented: emphasise relationship building; solicit widespread input for planning; and balance individual control with shared objectives.

These cultural virtual teaming projects proved to be valuable learning experiences for both the students and faculty who were involved.