A Strategic Embeddedness Analysis of Global Business Teams: Directions for Future Research

Are global business teams (GBTs) nothing more than just a group of individuals collaborating across cultural and geographic distances? We argue that such a view represents a gross simplification of the reality, since every GBT member also represents the knowledge and interests of an organizational unit. Recognizing the broader strategic context within which teams are embedded, we advance a typology of GBTs. We argue that different types of GBTs impose different motivational structures on team members as well as different coordination challenges. We also examine how the salience and consequences of various emergent and designed team characteristics will differ across different types of GBTs.