Global Virtual Teams

contributed articles

doi: 10.1145/ 1610252.1610282

by niki Panteli and RobeRt tuckeR

Power and trust in Global Virtual teams

is that though the current understanding of virtual teams has advanced in significant areas over the last few years, it has not taken sufficient account of power dynamics within virtual teams nor sought to explore the nature of power within geographically distributed teams. Indeed, despite the overwhelming interest on virtual teams, our understanding of computermediated interactions and virtual team dynamics has remained limited. Reliance on mediated interactions and especially those that are text-based and asynchronous such as email has been seen to inhibit the development of good working and collaborative relationships;2,3,4 such views often derive from the media richness theory which suggests that face-to-face is a richer information medium.1 Our argument, however, is that even though the value of face-to-face communication in creating and promoting a rich information context needs to be highly appreciated, we also have to acknowledge that significant interactions remain computermediated and provide extensive opportunities for trust development. The challenge is to be able to manage power differentials effectively in order to allow collaboration to foster within a virtual team environment. Power, defined as the capability of one

Our b rOad cO nt e nt i O n i n t h i s ar tic l e

party to exert influence on another to act in a prescribed manner is often a function of both dependence and the use of that dependence as leverage.5,6 The question therefore is: how is power exercised in global virtual teams and how can it effectively impact trust development and overall team performance in such distributed environments? We pursued a qualitative study of 18 global distributed teams within a global IT organization, a Fortune 500 organization. The study involved interviews with individuals in the specific organization who were part of...