The Critical Global Citizen

Adopting a Global Virtual Team Approach to Enhance Performance of an International Nursing Research Collaboration

“…Arguably specific to the higher education context, which may challenge academics to consider their understanding of and approach to global activity as it relates to performance expectations, is the notion that competitiveness in commercial and other interests may overshadow higher education's fundamental academic mission and values (Hill et al, 2018). As research on organization scholarship indicates that individuals with a high growth need to seek opportunity for professional development and affective gains through engagement, the nature of virtual work may increase performance, given the opportunities for international impact and professional growth (Nurmi & Hinds, 2016).…”

“…As universities across the globe encourage mobility, there are unprecedented opportunities to create discipline-specific international networks, increase cross-cultural understandings, and create rich interactions in the scholarship of teaching and research (Hill, Salter, & Halbert, 2018). The international dimension, with its reliance on virtual communication, has changed how team members gather, share, exchange information, make decisions, and monitor progress (Jimenez et al, 2017).…”

“…Although virtual teams with members distributed globally hold the promise of increased organizational flexibility and resource utilization (Corrales, 2014), concerns regarding the impact of time zones, language commonality, and cultural difference persist (Klitmøller & Lauring, 2013). The advantages to a GVT that enable effective collaboration include the worldwide sharing of best practices, building a new paradigm with no boundaries between space and time and viewing teamwork as a strategic agenda (Hill et al, 2018). However, two distinctive features of GVT, the geographic dispersion of members and the intensive use of collaborative technology, pose significant challenges to the attainment of high levels of performance (Mattarelli et al, 2017).…”