ABSTRACT
Trust is essential in team formation and considered by some to be the basis of the Tuckman team development model formation phase, and an essential element in the development of effective virtual teams. A project team will have many cultures, many roles, and many personalities. Team members that join a project because of a specialized skill or role may retain other responsibilities with other projects and teams. Project team communication in the past was overwhelmingly a synchronous exercise that blurred the role of sender and receiver. Managers need to account for the new challenges in the virtual team communication that may affect the team building process. Reputation development within the team may further enhance the feeling of being connected to the group. In the situation of cross-cultural teams the process of feedback and reinforcement may be confounded by differences in culture or organizational position.
