Global virtual teams are internationally distributed groups of people with an organizational mandate to make or implement decisions with international components and implications. They are typically assigned tasks that are strategically important and highly complex. They rarely meet in person, conducting almost all of their interaction and decision making using communications technology. Although they play an increasingly important role in multinational organizations, little systematic is known about their dynamics or effectiveness. This study built a grounded theory of global virtual team processes and performance over time. We built a template based on Adaptive Structuration Theory (DeSanctis and Poole 1994) to guide our research, and we conducted a case study, observing three global virtual teams over a period of 21 months. Data were gathered using multiple methods, and qualitative methods were used to analyze them and generate a theory of global virtual team dynamics and effectiveness. First, we propose that effective global virtual team interaction comprises a series of communication incidents, each configured by aspects of the team's structural and process elements. Effective outcomes were associated with a fit among an interaction incident's form, decision process, and complexity. Second, effective global virtual teams sequence these incidents to generate a deep rhythm of regular face-to-face incidents interspersed with less intensive, shorter incidents using various media. These two insights are discussed with respect to other literature and are elaborated upon in several propositions. Implications for research and practice are also outlined.

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The purpose of this article is to develop a model to explain performance in decision-making groups characterized by high diversity in composition. It begins with a brief discussion on the nature and effects of diversity. Previous research on group performance is then reviewed with the general conclusion that diverse groups perform less well than homogeneous ones do. This conclusion is challenged by closely examining a small group of studies specifically researching the effects of diversity, and it is shown that diversity can enhance a group's performance if it is integrated. Communication is proposed as an integrating mechanism, and a theory of communication in terms of preconditions is described. This theory is then used to develop propositions concerning the relationships among diversity, integration, and performance in decision-making groups. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

This paper reviews workforce diversity literature and its research findings. We identify important gaps between the literature and the challenges of diversity management. These gaps include lack of organizational level analysis, tokenism, and artificially constructed research settings that cannot address a variety of cultural contexts. Furthermore, most studies do not investigate underlying beliefs and values or managerial interventions. We conclude that the diversity field itself is not very diverse and has been dominated by US-centric research. We provide suggestions for future research themes: language diversity, cultural contextualization of diversity, and social class diversity.

This article describes a theoretically-grounded framework of cultural dimensions conceptualized and operationalized at the individual level of analysis, based on the work of anthropologists Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck. We present empirical data gathered from five countries - Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and the United States - to assess the validity of the framework. We then use the results to explore how the cultural orientations framework can add insight and new perspectives to critical questions in cross cultural management research.