Syfte: Det finns en växande trend med ökad kulturell mångfald i samhället, organisationer och inom individer. Bikulturalism innebär specifik kompetens som underlättar ett relationsbyggande inom kulturell mångfald. Arbete organiseras dock ofta virtuellt, vilket försvårar relationsbyggandet. Syftet är att skapa ökad förståelse om bikulturella ledare och deras ledarskap i globala virtuella grupper (GVG). Hur visar sig bikulturella ledares kulturella kompetens i GVG?    Metod: En kvalitativ fallstudie som görs i en global organisation, marknadsledare inom sin sektor. Organisationen värdesätter mångfald och erbjuder en intressant kontext för studien. Studien antar ett abduktivt angreppssätt och semistrukturerade intervjuer gjordes med bikulturella ledare inom GVG. Teman identifierades från resultaten och presenteras under kategorier som kan härledas till teori om kulturell intelligens, CQ.  Resultat & slutsats: Studien bekräftar tidigare forskning (Hong, 2010) om att bikulturella ledare, tack vare sin kulturella kompetens, är bra på att bygga relationer inom kulturell mångfald. Studiens resultat visar att detta även gäller inom en virtuell kontext.  Examensarbetets bidrag: Resultaten visar att relationer byggs virtuellt genom strategier för informell interaktion. Vår studie bidrar med två nya insikter. För det första, hur mer spontana virtuella informella möten kan skapas i praktiken, vilket är relevant för organisationer som arbetar i virtuella kontexter. För det andra, en ny insikt som inte har uppmärksammats i tidigare forskning om att virtuella informella möten också har fördelar som bidrar positivt till gruppens sammanhållning.  Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Studiens resultat kan förstärkas genom studier inom andra typer av organisationer. Vidare kan kvantitativa metoder resultera i större generaliseringar av resultaten. / Aim: There is a growing trend of cultural diversity in the society, organizations and within individuals. Biculturalism means competence that facilitates relationship building in cultural diversity. Work is often organized virtually, which complicates the building of relations. The aim is to create more understanding about bicultural leaders and their leadership in global virtual teams (GVT). How does bicultural leaders’ cultural competence manifest in GVT?  Method: Qualitative case study in a global organization, a market leader in its sector. The organization values diversity and provides an interesting context. An abductive approach is used and semi-structured interviews were conducted with bicultural leaders in GVT. Recurrent themes were identified from the results and are presented under categories, derived from theory about cultural intelligence, CQ.  Result & Conclusions: This study confirms earlier research (Hong, 2010) that bicultural leaders, due to their cultural competence, are skillful in building relations within cultural diversity. The results show moreover, that this is also true in a virtual context.   Contribution of the thesis: The results reveal that relations are built virtually by using strategies for informal interaction. Our study contributes with two new insights. Firstly, how more spontaneous virtual informal meetings can be created in practice, which is relevant for organizations working in virtual contexts. Secondly, a new insight that has not been given attention in earlier research, that virtual informal meetings also have advantages that positively contributes to group cohesion.  Suggestions for future research: The results can be confirmed with studies in other types of organizations. Quantitative methods can result in larger generalizations.

Earlier research has identified challenges in leading global virtual teams (GVTs). However, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world globally, even GVTs had to shift to work from home instead of an office. Hence, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate how challenges of leading GVTs have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Identified challenges, including before the pandemic and additional ones that were recognized during it, are introduced. The thesis implements semi-structured interviews with leaders of GVTs to get results in line with the purpose. The results indicate that existing challenges have changed depending on what industry the GVT works in and what restrictions members face due to the pandemic. Additionally, the new challenges that were experienced during the pandemic are distractions, work/life balance, and dealing with isolation. Further challenges are having the right equipment to work comfortably, recruiting and onboarding new staff / Tidigare undersökningar har identifierat utmaningar med att leda globala virtuella team (GVT). När Covid-19 pandemin drabbade världen över påverkade det till och med GVT, som därefter behövde arbeta hemifrån istället för på ett kontor. Denna uppsats syftar därmed till att undersöka hur utmaningar med att leda GVTs har påverkats av Covid-19 pandemin. Utmaningar med att leda GVTs har identifierats i tidigare studier och inkluderar både innan pandemin och nya som har uppstått under den. För att undersöka detta genomförs semi- strukturerade intervjuer med ledare av GVTs. Resultaten indikerar att befintliga utmaningar har förändrats beroende på vilken bransch teamet arbetar i och vilka restriktioner medlemmarna står inför på grund av pandemin. Dessutom är de nya utmaningarna som uppkommit under pandemin distraktioner, balansen mellan arbete och fritid, och att hantera isolering. Ytterligare utmaningar är att de anställda har rätt utrustning för att arbeta bekvämt, rekrytering och att introducera nyanställda.

Global virtual (GV) teams provide an opportunity for engineering students to participate in meaningful, cross-cultural learning projects without additional costs of time and money associated with study abroad programs. However, students must learn how to communicate effectively with international team members. Instruction to help students learn which virtual communication technologies to use and how to use them is needed. Training must include cross-cultural training that facilitates team communications and interactions with people from different cultural backgrounds. This study focused on how 10 specialized lessons, Principles of Global Virtual Teams (PGVT), facilitated the communications and interactions of students participating on GV teams in an advanced engineering design course. All GV teams provided evidence that communications and interactions on GV teams are different than Co-located teams. However, teams receiving the PGVT instruction showed indications of increased communication ability on GV teams. These indicators included technology use, vernacular phrase use, communication competence ratings and descriptors from team emails.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-10-08T15:50:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Manfred Weinberg_.pdf: 1835574 bytes, checksum: 46b2cf436002a018205b8d7e607c8d19 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-08T15:50:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Manfred Weinberg_.pdf: 1835574 bytes, checksum: 46b2cf436002a018205b8d7e607c8d19 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-07-27 / Nenhuma / Os Times Virtuais Globais têm características específicas em relação às equipes presenciais, e a dinâmica de trabalho e relações interpessoais são mais complexas em um time virtual, sendo necessário gerenciar de forma diferente. Em grande parte, isso ocorre pelo fato de os componentes de um time virtual global terem impactos com a tecnologia de comunicação (não é face to face) e muita interação eletrônica como meio de integração. Aliado a isso, existem barreiras no processo de trabalho, como diferenças culturais, fuso horário e idioma, que aumentam muito os desafios em relação às equipes presenciais. A presente dissertação buscou investigar e analisar os fatores-chave na gestão de um time virtual global sob o prisma de uma multinacional de um país em desenvolvimento. O método utilizado foi o estudo de caso único, por se tratar de um caso contemporâneo e pela acessibilidade dos dados, quando o pesquisador tem acesso limitado a outras fontes (GIL, 2002). Para análise de dados, foi utilizada a triangulação das informações e a técnica de conteúdo. Os resultados evidenciam fatores-chave para boa gestão dos times virtuais, corroborando com outras pesquisas sobre o tema. No entanto, este estudo permitiu observar peculiaridades, como fatores específicos em um país em desenvolvimento que não foram verificados na literatura. / Global virtual teams have specific characteristics in relation to face-to-face teams and the work dynamics and interpersonal relationships are more complex in a virtual team, and it is necessary to manage differently. This is largely due to the fact that the global virtual team components have communication technology impacts (not face to face) and a lot of electronic interaction as integration possibility. In addition, there are barriers in the work process such as: cultural differences; time zone; language, which considerably increases the challenges in relation to face-to-face teams. The present dissertation looked for to investigate and analyze the key factors in a global virtual team management under the multinational in a developing country focus. The method used was the single case study, because it was contemporary with limited data accessibility, when the researcher has limited access to other sources (GIL, 2002). For data analysis was used the triangulation data and content technique. The result shows key factors for virtual team’s good management, corroborating with other research on this subject. However, this study allowed us to observe peculiarities such as specific factors in a developing country multinational that were not verified in the literature.

Organizations in the age of modern technology have a diverse workforce, who are spread around the globe, and the business leaders of the 21st century need to understand how best to manage, overcome new challenges, and know the various skills of team members to capitalize on their differences and unique skills. To allow those geographically dispersed workers to reach their full potential and facilitate team success. Global virtual teams (GVTs) operate in complex environments characterized by diverse cultural and organizational elements. The primary purpose of this correlational and nonexperimental quantitative research was to examine the impact of transformational leadership on GVTs, their productivity, and job satisfaction with leadership effectiveness. Using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), data analyzes were completed through SurveyMonkey.com and SPSS software. The study measured transformational leadership, the independent variable, by the leader's ability to motivate workers to be satisfied and productive, and by the leader's effectiveness in the organization. Data were assessed by frequency analysis, moderation analyzes, and multiple regression analysis on the dependent variables of job satisfaction, leadership effectiveness, and productivity. The findings from this study reinforced the positive relationships found between transformational leadership, employee productivity, and leadership effectiveness in GVTs. Results also showed that motivated employees increase productivity and help in the organization's growth. Implications for positive social change included improvements in GVT interactions to increase the exchange of diverse ideas that lead to increased productivity and job satisfaction.