Modern organizations face many significant challenges because of turbulentenvironments and a competitive global economy. Among these challenges are the useof information and communication technology (ICT), a multicultural workforce, andorganizational designs that involve global virtual teams. Ad hoc teams create bothopportunities and challenges for organizations and many organizations are trying tounderstand how the virtual environment affects team effectiveness. Our exploratorystudy focused on the effects of cultural diversity and ICT on team effectiveness.Interviews with 41 team members from nine countries employed by a Fortune 500corporation were analyzed. Results suggested that cultural diversity had a positiveinfluence on decision‐making and a negative influence on communication. ICTmitigated the negative impact on intercultural communication and supported thepositive impact on decision making. Effective technologies for interculturalcommunication included e‐mail, teleconferencing combined with e‐Meetings, andteam rooms. Cultural diversity influenced selection of the communication media.
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