Enabling conditions for the emergence and effective performance of technical and cultural boundary spanners in global virtual teams

Abstract

Globalization has led to a widespread increase in the practice of ‘offshore outsourcing’ of projects in the construction industry. This phenomenon has led to the development of a new form of organization—the ‘global virtual team’. Where much is explored in the extant literature on the ingredients affecting virtual team functioning, relatively little research has been done on the interaction of participants in virtual teams, the role of boundary spanners that bridge occupation and cultural boundaries and their impact on project performance. Motivated by this understanding, a research experiment was conducted wherein postgraduate engineering students from IIT Madras, India and Columbia University, USA, collaborated virtually to develop a computer-aided design model and an organizational simulation model of ongoing construction projects in the USA. We used social-network analysis to examine the performance of four teams that executed this academic exercise virtually over a period of three months. Team fraternization, richness in communication and the presence of individuals who share attributes across sub-teams were found to influence the boundary spanning process and impact project performance. Greater fraternization among virtual sub-teams led to the emergence of technical boundary spanners (TBSs) who were able to bridge technical and work-related differences. The presence of a rich face-to-face communication environment and team members who shared attributes with both cultural sub-teams led to the emergence of cultural boundary spanners (CBSs) who helped bridge cultural differences in real time. TBSs enabled successful completion of project tasks whereas the combined competence of both the TBSs and the CBSs led to project success and effective team performance. Finally, we propose a theoretical model depicting the enabling conditions that induce members to emerge as technical and CBSs.