As for virtual teams (VTs), literature offers different definitions.

Members of such teams may be formed

by people from different departments, organizations, countries and cultures (Pauleen & Yoong, 2001).
However, the common denominator across these different definitions is the recognition that VT
members live, work or study in different geographic areas and time zones, and that they generally use
information and communication tools (Hofstede, et al., 1997; Pauleen & Yoong, 2001; Jarvenpaa &
Leidner, 1998; Huang et al. 2010).

Moreover, since many individuals, groups, and organizations from different countries prefer using such
VTs to conduct their learning and work, team performance may be directly (or indirectly) affected by the
cultural contexts that team members bring in to the instructional or performance settings. Within this
context of multiple cultures, the use of advanced ICT for collaborative work offers the potential for
effective performance and the promotion of multicultural understanding among citizens of different
nations (Cagiltay et al. 2001). Hence, this study focuses on the factors and issues impacting the success
of collaboratively working multicultural VTs.

According to Hofstede et al. (1997), a multicultural team is a team whose members have different
cultural backgrounds. Most evident in that they have spent their formative years in different countries
and thus have learned different values, demeanors, and languages (Humbrick et al., 1998). When
“virtual” is added to such “multicultural teams,” it usually signifies that the members of such a “virtual,
multicultural team” may not have the advantage of face-to-face interaction and communication.
Instead, they rely solely upon an assortment of computer-supported cooperative learning and work
tools, of which the most widely and economically applied, are e-mail, chat rooms, and discussion lists.
Thus, given the current state of technology, VTs composed of multicultural or multinational members
can technically function well despite their dispersion across the globe.

Hofstede (1980) wrote that the survival of mankind will depend to a large extent on the ability of
people who think differently to act together. International collaboration presupposes some
understanding of how others’ thinking differs from ours. This type of research is especially important in
determining how interpersonal relations work in such environments in order to overcome the potential
effects of intergroup differences and create satisfying and productive partnerships among individuals
separated by cultural differences and geographical distances. Therefore, this paper intends to contribute
to our knowledge of collaborative multicultural teamwork in virtual environments.

Conclusion

Information and communication tools offer one of the most exciting and effective ways to teach people
how to collaborate by connecting teams around the world. Collaborative learning and working is
challenging when team members who are working together come from different nations with varied
cultures, histories, and socio-political beliefs. Such an environment can only be productive if we are well
prepared for potential problems and ready to take necessary actions in advance.

The recurring themes from the literature have shown that several factors affect the performance of
multicultural VTs (see Table 2). Facilitators or managers have important responsibilities in the
preparation of a healthy team work settings for VTs. They have to be knowledgeable about preparing
teams for such a challenging situation. Team facilitators need skills and knowledge to help keep the
team members on track, detect conflicting situations among team members, take necessary actions
before it is too late and use appropriate technologies to work collaboratively. These are only some of
the critical issues that were addressed in this paper.

There are some reflections in the literature on the educational impact of new technologies and two-way
interaction between cultures; however, there has not been much systematic investigation into the
dialectic of culture and new technologies. At this point, we cannot clearly identify and explore all of the
issues related to culture in such virtual settings. There is no well-defined model that specifically
investigates the problem of designing complex systems for multiple cultures. In order to find out the
most important issues in creating and supporting multicultural teams that work collaboratively in a
distance environment, there is a need for conceptual and empirical research on culture and its influence
on computer-mediated collaboration among VTs (Wild, 1999; Pauleen & Yoong 2001; Connaughton &
Shuffler, 2007; Vignovic & Thompson, 2010).

It seems apparent that the lack of research that targets cultural issues in collaborative working/learning
environments is likely to have negative consequences for both team members and
organizations/institutions in such collaboration. We posit that the sociocultural aspects of a virtual world
constitutes a more important and essential part of cyberspace than the technological aspects
represented by computers, modems and

Cagiltay et al. Smart Learning Environments (2015) 2:1

technology and information are constantly evolving, bringing everything to be more flexible. such as
working online, and also with increasingly advanced features, today many people work with online
teams from different nationalists and of course different cultures from around the world. This article
discusses how to work with online teams that have different backgrounds, what are the challenges,
what are the impacts, and what are the success factors in working with online teams with different
backgrounds.