You are working for a software development company in Brisbane which is considering establishing several international teams which may be located in Australia, France, SouthKoreaand China.
Your organisation wants to consider this move very carefully.
Before the move is implemented, the company's senior executives want to know more about what GVTs are, the advantages and disadvantages of them for the organisation, how they are different from co-located (face to face) teams and what management problems they may generate . If the move to GVTs is implemented, team leaders will need to be trained, so youshould also consider the skills that team leaders and managers need to develop.
You have been asked to research a range of aspects
- an appropriate definition of a GVT
- the characteristics of GVTS
- the advantages and disadvantages of GVTS compared to F2F teams.
- the issues associated with managing a GVT effectively
- effective solutions / strategies to use in dealing with management problems
You have been asked to
• carry out library research on GVTs (also called globally distributed teams GDTs) and base your report on authoritative academic and industry information
• write a report in appropriate format of 2000 words, based on your research.
You need in this report to analyse and evaluate information, not simply describe. Your supervisor wants more than just an information report; he wants you to- include, from your readings, analysis and evaluation based on the research also- e.g. what advantages / disadvantages follow from using GVTS rather than co-located teams, and explain why these advantages / disadvantages occur ; examine the issues that develop with the use of GVTS. You need to analyse what problems these issues cause for employees and managers or leaders. You also need to discuss or evaluate any strategies management can implement to deal with these issues.
As part of the analysis above, your supervisor would like you to consider some or all of the following questions related to GVTS:
what is meant by ‘diversity' in a team? are there different types of diversity? do some forms of diversity cause more problems than others?
what management problems may be caused by diversity of team members and why do these problems occur?
- how does communication normally occur within GVTs? doesthis cause any problems? what management strategiescan be used to ensure effective communication in GVTs?
- what is the role of technology in effective GVTs? whatproblems may be caused if technology is inappropriate? how can managers and leaders reduce technology problems?
- the growth of GVTs in international organisations
- what is trust? how is it defined in the literature? why is trust important to the operation of successful GVTs
- what is conflict? is all conflict the same? does conflict occur within GVTs? what causes it? how can conflict be managed within GVTs?
- in what ways is distance a problem for GVTs?
As you do your readings, you may read about other GVT-related issues that you feel are relevanteg appropriate leadership styles. You may include these issues in your report.