Managing the Global Virtual Workforce: Reducing the Liability of Foreignness

Abstract

Effective management of global virtual workforces may reduce the liability of foreignness. As more organizations do business across borders, global workforce effectiveness is critical given logistic, language and cultural distances. Based on theories of global workforces, virtual technology use, cultural differences, and common language policy, we posit that global virtual workforces will better succeed if organizations (1) select appropriate communication technology, (2) train members to navigate cultural differences, and (2) adopt a language policy. We highlight strategies with examples from conversations with managers of several organizations, and we emphasize unexpected benefits to organizations that successfully manage their global virtual workforce.