“Communicate Through the Roof”: A Case Study Analysis of the Communicative Rules and Resources of an Effective Global Virtual Team

Abstract

Challenges to effective collaboration are magnified when work teams are composed of geographically distributed members. Team members separated by time, distance, and culture often struggle with issues of trust, conflict, and potentially divisive subgroups. With global virtual teams becoming increasingly common in organizations, it is important to understand how to minimize such interactional difficulties. This study examines rules and resources that members of a corporate global team draw on to structure their interactions. In this case study, team members draw on highly ritualized actions prescribed by their software development process and their enacted values to mitigate their communication challenges.

Keywords:

• Organizational Communication
• Small Group
• Structuration Theory
• Teamwork

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Muriel E. Scott

Muriel E. Scott (M.A., University at Albany, State University of New York, 2010) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication at the University at Albany, State University of New York.