Managing globally distributed teams

Globally distributed work is an integral part of offshore outsourcing. Offshoring and offshore outsourcing often imply that client and supplier teams need to work together in a globally distributed fashion. In such cases, some teams will be based onshore, either at the client’s site or at the supplier’s onshore site, and others will be based offshore, for example in Mumbai, India. To define them, globally distributed projects are projects that consist of two or more teams working together from different geographical locations to accomplish project goals. These teams face major challenges on various fronts, including cultural differences, language barriers, national traditions, values, and norms of behavior. Therefore, this chapter will focus on the following aspects: the challenges distributed teams such as offshore outsourcing teams face;the methodologies available for managing globally distributed teams;the role of face-to-face meetings in facilitating collaboration and other social aspects that matter for distributed collaboration;the tools and technologies available to support distributed collaboration;what client firms can do to help build truly collaborative teams.