Exploring Trust among Globally Distributed Work Teams

Trust among team members has been identified as a crucial variable for the success of projects executed by virtual teams. This paper explores trust among IT work teams whose members are located at sites that are distributed in the United States, Ireland and India. Our case analysis suggests that trust among team members is problematic and it can be difficult to achieve among on-shore and off-shore sites when a "client/vendor" orientation frames the relationship. The key point of this paper is that management cannot expect team members to be able to build trust through competence and personal relationships when the social dynamics of the firm creates fragmentation, "Us versus Them" feeling and an environment of distrust. As a result, workers at distributed sites must find ways of overcoming this orientation and developing some measure of personal rapport to enable the formation of trust and accomplishment of collaborative work