Blog #5

Vogel, D.R., Van Genuchten, M., Lou, D., Van Ekkout, M, Adams, A. (2001). Exploratory research on the role of national and professional cultures in a distributed learning project. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 44(2), 114-125.

While according to Neff and Whithaus (2008) process scripts can be used effectively in any type of distance learning activity, this article by Vogel et al. (2001) shows how it is especially important to provide a detailed process description to students working in intercultural virtual teams. The article describes a seven-week project where ten different heterogeneous teams of students from the Netherlands and from Hong Kong created a report with a topic in software engineering.

The researchers identify in the study that the two main factors associated with successful team work are team feeling and trust. Team feeling can be defined as the overall impression of team members that they truly feel like an integral part of the team. While Dutch students reported significantly lower rates of team feeling than their Hong Kong counterparts in this study, overall team feeling numbers were much higher in high-performing teams. The rates of reported trust levels were also lower with Dutch students, but a correlation was seen between high frequency of communication and increased trust levels. Vogel et al. attribute the differences in the reported rates to cultural differences; Dutch students took the initiatives, and were more concerned with their individual performance than students in Hong Kong with a collectivistic culture background who waited and left room for others to come up with ideas. The different cultural approach to the project could have been influenced towards a more positive outcome by instructors requiring a certain level of input (i.e. posts on discussion boards) by a certain date form all team members. This could have motivated Hong Kong team members to participate equally in the initial stage, which would have resulted in higher trust by their Dutch team mates.

When addressing the lessons learned from the project, the article by Vogel et.al emphasizes the importance of support instructors need to give throughout the project which includes quick response time, frequent monitoring of progress, and making sure that technology works for all participants while using a supportive rather than directive management style. In addition, a “sandwich structure” (p 122) is recommended to maximize effectiveness in the process of creating a collaborative report which means starting out the project with synchronous interaction, continuing asynchronously and finishing up with synchronous meetings.

This study contains many practical ideas that can be applied to cross cultural team work. While the article focuses on a software project, any type of writing class that requires students to collaborate on creating a document can use the suggestions that grew out of this extensive study. While the teams were made up of members from only two different cultures, the overall lessons learned could be applied to any diverse group. I especially agree with the authors in recommending the “sandwich structure” to control the group process as it has been suggested by other authors (i.e. Grosse 2002, Berry 2006) reviewed in previous blog entries that face-to-face meetings are crucial in the decision making phase of the project.


References

Berry, G. R. (2006). Can computer-mediated asynchronous communication improve team process and decision making? Learning from the management literature. Journal of Business Communication 43(4), 344-366.

Grosse, C. U. (2002). Managing communication within virtual intercultural teams. Business Communication Quarterly 65(4), 22-38.

Neff, J.M. & Whithaus, C. (2008) Writing Across Distances & Disciplines: Research and Pedagogy in Distributed Learning. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.