Collaboration, distribution and culture: challenges for communication

Work, to an increasing amount, is based on collaboration between different partners; collaboration emphasizes the importance of communication between the collaborating parties. Increasingly, work is also becoming distributed and carried out in different geographical locations; distribution underlines the importance of managing and organizing work. The third important aspect characterizing current work is globalization; this refers to the multicultural characteristics of work and the need to understand the behavioral patterns of different (national) cultures. The paper addresses these three challenges related to the current work context. The approach points out the importance of a deep understanding of the characteristics of work - collaboration, distribution, and cultural diversity. Adaptive learning provides one potential solution to the challenges.