Dealing with Students’ Aversion in Global Virtual Teams: Evidence from Czech Republic and Estonia

Abstract

The paper tackles with theories of virtual international teams and students’ different perceptions on collaborating internationally in global virtual teams (GVT) based-projects. The study sheds light on managing virtual teams that involve students from some universities around the Baltic Sea and students studying at Tallinn and Helsinki branch of the Estonian Business School. It contributes to understanding how universities and schools deal with student unwillingness and co-operation barriers, when it comes to team-based projects on the cases of Estonia, Germany and the Czech Republic and what are lessons learnt from such projects. The article tries to explain what the key pillars for successful cross-border cooperation are regarding virtual teams among universities in different regions of Europe. At the same time, the study provides detailed analyses of students’ aversion to different types of teamwork assignments, which need to be worked out and delivered by bachelor and master students in the above-mentioned countries. Furthermore, the study suggests strategies for dealing with cross-cultural differences, which affect the virtual collaboration among the students, who come from different cultural and geographic backgrounds and who perceive and manage differently such international virtual collaborative projects across Europe. The authors try to outline and show, how the communication and the interpersonal chemistry within the students’ teams work as it is critical to the successful completion of the international virtual cooperation within the ongoing projects among the universities. Readiness to work in international virtual teams and obstacles to such work are also discussed in the broader context of globalization and innovative entrepreneurial orientations in order to explain attitudes that inhibit or support cross-cultural communication and joint project work with team members from different countries. Keywords—students’ aversion, global virtual teams