Problem: Assume you are 45-year old American woman who is the project manager of a global cross-functional team for a U.S. multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in New York City. Your team is assigned to market globally a new drug for asthma. Your team is composed of a South African woman working in Johannesburg, a Korean man working in Seoul, an Indian man working in New Delhi, a Brazilian man working in Sao Paulo, and a Swiss woman working in Geneva. In the next year, the team members will physically meet three times in the worldwide headquarters in New York. Most of the communication between the team members will be electronic (emails, phone, conference calls, video conferencing...).

Required:

Question: As the project manager of this global team, what communication challenges are you likely to face? How will you address these challenges to effectively manage your team? Be sure to support your response with specifics.