A Study of a Federally Funded Project between Higher-Ed Institutions in the U.S. and Pakistan

Abstract

The study explores the technical and intercultural challenges involved in a Department of State (DoS)-funded collaborative research project between a Mid-Sized Regional Public University in the U.S. and an International Research Institution in Pakistan. The collaborative research project on which the study is based is particularly significant as the groups from each institution face the central communication challenges that are the hallmark of distributed teams, namely physical separation, multiple organizations, and different time zones. This manuscript highlights the importance of intercultural factors in shaping the institutional relationships and examines expectations for collective responsibility in the given context.