Culture and Communication Challenges in Virtual Workspaces

Abstract

The issue of globalization is one that contemporary organizations are constantly trying to unravel. However, globalization has brought about or reinvents the concept of workspaces such that work is no longer confined to a traditional space in a specific geographical setting whereby individuals are restricted to face-to-face meetings and interactions. Rather, globalization has created the idea of virtual workspaces wherein collaborations and communication interactions occur with the aid of information and communication technologies in order to allow collaboration among workers across different geographical boundaries. Virtual workspaces, however, also bring into the foreground the issue of culture and its effect on behaviors and communication interactions. This discussion explores the role of culture and its implications for virtual workspaces. At the same time, an attempt is made to address adaptation from traditional to virtual workspaces. The objective of researching and reporting on the transition of traditional to virtual workspaces is to offer organizations and their members or other practitioners a way to address differences in cultures while fostering effective collaboration in virtual workspaces which facilitates the globalization process.