![]() ![]() Personal diversity includes differences in easily observable personal characteristics such as age, gender, language, skills, and values. We tracked two broad categories of differences: personal diversity and contextual diversity. Each team was comprised of six to eight team members from different countries, entirely relying on digital communication tools. In our study, we observed the behaviors and interactions of 5,728 individuals in 804 remote international teams as they worked for several months on business consulting projects. Which Differences Matter in International Teams? The question is: When do teams whose members live in different countries perform better, and when do they struggle? Our research explains how different types of geographic diversity play out across teams. Such teams also consider more options, process facts more carefully, are less likely to fall into the groupthink trap, and ultimately make better decisions. Numerous studies have shown that less homogeneous teams exhibit more creativity. However, team member differences can also be very beneficial for a team’s performance. Similarly, much research has shown that age, gender, or racial differences can complicate interactions among team members. There’s a large body of scholarship examining the challenges of cross-cultural communication and collaboration: A recent review of more than 1,100 studies published over the course of 24 years in the Journal of International Business Studies revealed that 95% of those studies focused on the negative effects of team member differences. ![]() The Challenges and Benefits of Geographic Diversity Managers need to understand these dynamics to keep teams happy and productive. For managers, understanding how these dynamics work can help keep teams happy and productive. In a recent study, our team identified some of the specific ways that differences across these remote global teams can shape how they function. Differences across time zones, languages, cultures, and skill levels, not to mention the different economic conditions and political systems of the team members’ countries, can affect how teams work together and how they perform. Virtual collaboration across global teams is not without challenges. Yet despite the many benefits of GVTs, virtual collaboration is not without challenges. In a globalized - not to mention socially distanced - world, online collaboration is indispensable for bringing people together. A recent survey of employees from 90 countries found that 89 percent of white-collar workers “at least occasionally” complete projects in global virtual teams (GVTs), where team members are dispersed around the planet and rely on online tools for communication. ![]()
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