1. ¹Department of Sociology, Bentley College, Waltham, MA, USA
2. ²Department of Information and Process Management, Bentley College, Waltham, MA, USA
3. ³Department of Management, Bentley College, Waltham, MA, USA
4. ⁴Department of International Studies, Bentley College, Waltham, MA, USA

Correspondence: GC David, Department of Sociology, Bentley College, 175 Forest Street, Waltham, MA 02452, USA. Tel: +1 781 891 2698; Fax: +1 781 891 3410; E-mail: gdavid@bentley.edu

Abstract

In an era where a strategic command of global resources is becoming a requisite for success, firms are struggling to successfully unify their onshore and offshore sites. The literature on global virtual teams generally frames the impediments to coordination and collaboration based on divergent nationally based cultural attributes, language barriers, and the limitations of information and communication technologies. Drawing on world-systems theory, this paper argues for a decrease in the importance afforded to national boundaries and individual sites, and a re-orientation to the social dynamics across sites regardless of nationality. By changing the unit of analysis to the organization as a world system and focusing on emergent practices, this paper provides new insights regarding globally distributed collaborative work and identifies how to manage global relations to overcome structural impediments, to develop positive social relations, and achieve collaboration.