Operations Management

MAJOR CHALLENGES IN MULTI-CULTURAL VIRTUAL TEAMS
Robert Vinaja University of Texas-Pan American 1201 W. University Dr., Edinburg, TX 78541 [phone]
Abstract: Some of the problems that multi-cultural virtual teams experience include: time delays in replies, lack of synergy among cross-cultural team members, communications breakdowns, unresolved conflicts among members, limited hours allowed to be worked and different holidays. This paper reviews major challenges faced by multi-cultural virtual teams and describes some managerial implications. Although many previous studies have focused in various factors such as telecommuting issues, there are few studies that investigate the issues in multi-cultural virtual teams. The main objective of this research-in-progress paper is to empirically investigate multi-cultural challenges in virtual teams and outline the proposed research.

INTRODUCTION
Previous studies have investigated issues in virtual teams (Yoong 2001, Suchan et. al. 2001). A multi-cultural team is a team whose members have different cultural backgrounds, for instance because they are from different countries. In a global marketplace, more and more companies need international presence; therefore the need for creating virtual teams exists. By dynamically allocating people to projects based on expertise rather than location, organizations can more easily assign the most qualified people to appropriate projects without concern for the expense and wasted productivity caused by extensive travel or frequent relocation (Goldman 2000). Multi-cultural virtual teams are important in these days due to the increasing globalization of organizations and the proliferation of new network technologies (LAN, WAN, Internet, extranets). Some of the problems that multi-cultural virtual teams experience include the following: time delays in replies, lack of synergy among cross-cultural team members, communications breakdowns due to cultural variances, unresolved

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