Cultural diversity in the perception of time. Implications for global virtual teams

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 2,0, University of Münster (Wirtschaftsinformatik), course: Seminar: Dark Side of Technology, language: English, abstract: This thesis aims at identifying dimensions in the individual¿s perception of time that are influenced by some dimensions of national cultures. Further, implications of cultural differences in these time perception dimensions for GVTs and the temporal coordination in GVTs should be identified. Additionally, the influence of ICT on the internal team processes and the team members¿ surrounding environment is assessed. Therefore, the current state of the literature with regards to GVTs, its relevance and problems as well as with regards to temporal coordination is reviewed. Moreover, time perception dimensions are discovered in the actual research, combined with existing cultural dimensions and applied on GVTs.

The continuous progress in the development of modern information and communication technology (ICT) and the need for flexible responses to globalized markets trigger companies to frequently build global virtual teams (GVT). Most of the teams that are assembled in companies work at least to some extend virtually. The team members of a GVT are geographically and timely dispersed and collaborate through the use of ICT. Compared to face-to-face teams, these GVTs face several additional challenges, some of which are caused by the cultural diversity of GVTs and the associated differences in the perception of time. Although much effort was spent in the past to synchronize the clock time and calendars globally, the meaning of time is perceived differently across national cultures.