ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the more problematic areas related to international virtual offices (IVOs). It presents strategies readers can use to avoid miscommunications in IVO settings. Online media have expanded the concept of the “office” to virtual environments in which individuals regularly interact with co-workers from other nations. Factors of access and labor cost, moreover, indicate technical communicators will become increasingly involved in IVOs. Cyberspace has created a series of new workplace trends. One of the more interesting of these is the use of “virtual offices”—work contexts in which individuals in different locations use online media to interact. Making and maintaining contact with others is essential for virtual offices to work. Making contact, however, requires all parties to have a similar understanding of how and when contact should be made; yet cultures can differ markedly on these two points.
