Abstract
Globally distributed software development projects are on the rise. However, 69% of cross-regional projects fail completely or partially, because of lack of cross-cultural understanding. This paper presents a qualitative study of the impact of communication on Global Software Development (GSD) within firms due to cultural differences. In particular, we provide a model of problems and solutions related to communication of German/Chinese and American/Chinese collaborations in GSD. The model was derived using grounded theory to study six globally distributed software development projects. The results may not only help companies understand cultural problems, but also help them overcome these problems. To this end, we discuss the solutions adopted by the multinational software companies that we studied.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Herbsleb, J.D., Moitra, D.: Global software development. IEEE Softw. 18, 16–20 (2001)
Carmel, E.: Global software teams: collaborating across borders and time zones. Prentice Hall PTR (1999)
OSF Global Services: Overcome cultural differences in the outsourcing process (2012)
Persson, J.S., Mathiassen, L., Aaen, I.: Agile distributed software development: enacting control through media and context. Inf. Syst. J. 22, 411–433 (2012)
Damian, D.E., Zowghi, D.: RE challenges in multi-site software development organisations. Requir. Eng. 8, 149–160 (2003)
Holmstrom, H., Conchúir, E.Ó., Ågerfalk, P.J., Fitzgerald, B.: Global Software Development Challenges: A Case Study on Temporal, Geographical and Socio-Cultural Distance (2006)
Bjørn, P., Ngwenyama, O.: Virtual team collaboration: building shared meaning, resolving breakdowns and creating translucence. Inf. Syst. J. 19, 227–253 (2009)
Keil, M., Im, G.P., Mähring, M.: Reporting bad news on software projects: the effects of culturally constituted views of face-saving. Inf. Syst. J. 17, 59–87 (2007)
Glaser, B.G., Strauss, A.L.: The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Transaction Books (2009)
Zaghloul, B.: A Theory of Problems and Solutions in German/Chinese and American/Chinese Software Engineering Collaborations (2014), http://goo.gl/1Zcnp7
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Zaghloul, B., Riehle, D., Zhou, M. (2015). Communication in Firm-Internal Global Software Development with China. In: Fernandes, J., Machado, R., Wnuk, K. (eds) Software Business. ICSOB 2015. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 210. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19593-3_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19593-3_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-19592-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19593-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)