Virtual Teams and Development: A Language Games Perspective

Communication and language are important in international negotiations and even more so when these negotiations are conducted in virtual settings. This paper investigates discourse in virtual teams comprised of international civil servants who interact online to negotiate terms on an agreement concerning terrorism. As these discussions took place shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, they represent negotiations between officials representing countries with roles to play in addressing this global problem. Following an exploratory analysis of these online interactions, this paper provides insight into the language games that relate to the roles played in negotiating actions against terrorism. The contribution of this paper lies in the identification of the language games that take place in virtual teams and how these enable aspects of development to be addressed.