Using Fuzzy Decision Trees and Information Visualization to Study the Effects of Cultural Diversity on Team Planning and Communication

Virtual teams that span multiple geographic and cultural boundaries have become commonplace in numerous organizations due to the competitive advantages they provide in human resources, products, financial means, knowledge sharing and many others. However, the promises of multinational and multicultural (MNMC) distributed teams are accompanied by a number of challenges. Many research studies have suggested that one of the most challenging barriers to the effective implementation of MNMC distributed teams is culture. In this study, data collected from the experiment conducted by the NATO RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel Research Task Group (HFM-138/RTG) on “Adapatability in Multinational Coalitions” has been analyzed to study the effects of cultural diversity on team planning and communication. Fuzzy decision trees have been derived to model the effects, and information visualization techniques are used to facilitate understanding of the derived classification patterns. Results of the research suggest that there are no single and straightforward conclusions on how cultural diversity affects team planning and communication. Different dimensions of culture values interact in influencing team behaviors. However, diversities in power distance and masculinity seem to play more influential roles than others.