Acquiring Skills for Virtual Multicultural Teams through a Business Game (Track 2, Session 4)
Author(s) :
Iris Fischlmayr (Johannes Kepler University, Austria)
Satu L�hteenm�ki (Turku School of Economics, Finland)
Abstract : In our contribution we will analyze typical behavioral factors coming up in virtual multicultural teams in order to find innovative ways to train team members and leaders to acquire skills required for efficient virtual multicultural teamwork and communication. Virtual teams are working groups that are geographically dispersed and work towards achieving a common goal by using mainly electronic media such as e-mail, videoconferences, chat or phone. Due to the geographical dispersion most of these teams will be composed of participants coming from different cultural backgrounds, and are thus named virtual multicultural teams. In the paper we present the design and first insights of a training module for virtual multicultural teams. As a preparatory step, we find out more about relevant issues influencing virtual team work by gaining data from students who will play the online business game RealGame�. At different points in the game their team work will be evaluated with different tools such as qualitative interviews, reflective essays where they report about their individual experiences, learnings and critical incidents or questionnaires on their team processes. By composing the teams multiculturally, we will find out more about cultural differences and their impact on virtual team work. These data will be analyzed by grounded theory method. Later on, and based on those influences on virtual multicultural teams, we will develop a training module where the team members can acquire and train typical skills required in virtual teams, especially on virtual communication. Role plays, mini-cases, discussions, simulation games as well as theoretical knowledge serve the participants to require these abilities such as cross-cultural communication, negotiation, leadership in virtual teams, conflict solution and above all cultural sensitivity. In order to use the skills in practice and to verify their relevance, RealGame� will be played again. After this step, the same procedure will be used for companies who want to provide training to their virtual team members all over the world.

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