Misunderstandings in Global Virtual Engineering Teams: Definitions, Causes, and Guidelines for Knowledge Sharing and Interaction.

This chapter defines the misunderstandings which might occur in engineering, especially when teams are "virtual", and the risks linked to these misunderstandings. Based on related work and our experience in particular in the VRL-KCiP network of excellence, we make the assumption that if we intend to manage these risks; we have to focus on communication errors, which are rooted in six interrelated semiotic layers. We suggest general guidelines in terms of crosscultural communications and discuss the role that IT-based tools could play in solving misunderstanding problems in virtual engineering teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]