Behind the WebCam: Effective Leaders of the Virtual Pack

Inter-organisational alliances, flatter organisational structures and globalisation are all forcing businesses to adapt to manage activities that span geographical and organisational boundaries. It’s the age of a new kind of ‘virtual’ knowledge worker. The authors of this article ask what factors contribute to effective leadership in virtual team environments. They assembled thirteen culturally diverse global teams from locations in Europe, Mexico and the US, assigning each one a project leader and task to complete. Their findings suggest that effective team leaders demonstrate the capability to deal with paradox and contradiction by being able to perform multiple leadership roles simultaneously (behavioural complexity). Specifically, the authors discovered that the most effective virtual team leaders act in a mentoring role, exhibiting a high degree of understanding and empathy towards other team members. At the same time, effective leaders are also able to assert their authority without being perceived as overbearing or inflexible. Finally, they found the effective leaders extremely good at providing regular, detailed and prompt communication with their virtual teams and articulating role relationships (responsibilities) among the virtual team members. This study provides useful insights for managers interested in developing global virtual teams as well as for academics interested in pursuing virtual team research.

Like this content? Why not share it?
Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedInBuffer this pagePin on PinterestShare on Redditshare on TumblrShare on StumbleUpon
There Is 1 Comment
Click to See or Add Your Own »