Global Business Managers Depend on Virtual Teams for Productivity

NEW YORK, July 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- RW³ CultureWizard, the leading intercultural global business consultancy specializing in business skill development for corporate employees, released its 2014 Virtual Teams Survey Report. The Report finds that in the global workplace, more than half of the productivity of a significant portion (41%) of workers depends directly on virtual teams. 77% of workers have colleagues from other cultures on their teams, and 40% of all workers spend between almost half to all of their time working on multicultural virtual teams.

According to Charlene Solomon, President of RW³, "Almost everyone who works in global business is on a virtual team."  She says, "These teams confront unique challenges because the lack of face-to-face contact intensifies the impact of cultural differences between members."

81% of survey respondents feel virtual teams produce better business results than co-located teams, but lack of face-to-face contact creates challenges that affect trust (64%), decision-making (55%), managing conflict (54%), and expressing opinions (53%).

"What makes these challenges particularly acute is that many are unprepared for them," says Michael Schell, CEO RW³ LLC. "Organizations assume that virtual teams are easier because email, telephones, and web technologies make them ubiquitous and easy to create. Only 21% of virtual team members receive any training to be effective on an intercultural team, leaving virtual team members facing challenges they're unprepared for."

He continues, "The economic impact on productivity represented by these virtual team challenges is incalculable, but significant, and relatively simple to improve." 

Solomon adds, "38% of the survey respondents were team leaders, underscoring the importance of virtual teamwork as a developmental arena for future leaders."

Nearly 3,000 managers from more than 100 countries—and a range of industries—participated in RW^3's biennial survey, the third since 2010.

The entire study is available at [email protected] or by contacting [email protected].

RW³ CultureWizard is an intercultural training consultancy that provides a complete range of instructor-led, virtual training and coaching programs, with customized online training tools and e-learning facilities to develop global skills. It blends over 30 years of experience with technological capabilities to create a cultural e-university providing cross-cultural courses, global and virtual team collaboration, global leadership, international assignee support, and country information.

Julie Briggs [email protected] +1.212.691.8900
Web http://rw-3.com

SOURCE RW3 CultureWizard