Creativity techniques to enhance knowledge transfer within global virtual teams in the context of knowledge-intensive enterprises

This conceptual paper investigates the common concern among managers that the physical separation of workers within a global virtual team may hinder the transfer of knowledge amongst the team members that is required to carry out their work efficiently, especially in the context of knowledge-intensive enterprises. Workers and work teams in knowledge-intensive enterprises are often involved in creative tasks that are carried out jointly and involve team members with diversified competencies exchanging knowledge related to their projects and assignments to create innovative outcomes. We investigate some popular creativity-enhancing techniques in the perspective of their use as catalysts for knowledge transfer in this context. We assess whether the use of these techniques may alleviate the limitations imposed on global virtual team members by their use of telecommunications and collaborative work tools that might otherwise adversely affect the effectiveness of the knowledge transfer. These techniques are designed to be used individually, by groups or within a virtual community. The physical and temporal separation of the global virtual team members does not hinder the knowledge-intensive dimension of these enterprises when aided by creativity-stimulating techniques. Therefore, we suggest that global virtual teams making use of creativity-enhancing techniques may be more efficient in transferring complex knowledge.