Global virtual teams

Global virtual teams are project teams whose members do not work together at the same physical location, but who collaborate across geographic, national, temporal, cultural and/or linguistic boundaries. Over the past decade, most organizations have begun using global virtual teams; they are particularly prevalent in the translation industry. Due to the distance, language and time differences that typically separate their members, global virtual teams raise a number of unique challenges for translation and localization project managers. These challenges are compounded by cultural differences that impact communication, decision-making, mutual trust and common vision. The first part of this chapter describes strategies to best deal with the above challenges. Additionally, since communications technologies are important enablers of virtual teams, the second part discusses the applicability of those technologies in the context of the translation industry.