Collaboration in International Online Teams

This paper examines the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) by four international online teams active in rural and environmental development projects on three continents. These cooperative teams engage in mutually supportive learning, as they utilize electronic mail and computer conferencing facilities, to help overcome challenges to effective communication presented by geographic isolation and time zone complexities. The groups’ experiences are examined in terms of their transition to CMC use, the types of communication tasks carried out via CMC, problems encountered and benefits received. CMC is reported to play a key role in developing an electronic or paper database to act as a project’s ‘collective memory’, increasing the feasibility of inter-continental projects, and viewing modern team communication as an orchestration of media. Recommendations are made regarding the effective use of CMC in international project management and the benefits of team learning to advance communication at the frontiers of cross-cultural problem solving.