The Role of Vertical and Shared Leadership in Virtual Team Collaboration

2016 ◽  
pp. 22-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Eisenberg ◽  
Jennifer L. Gibbs ◽  
Niclas Erhardt
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Shared Leadership ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Task Structure ◽  
Team Collaboration ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Team Environment ◽  
And Task

This chapter reviews current trends in the literature related to the influence of vertical and shared leadership styles in the context of virtual teams, unpacking the influence of team structure and task structure to better understand the mechanisms influencing team effectiveness. The authors start by reviewing key features of virtual teams and different aspects of leadership and its influence in the virtual team environment. They argue that both vertical and shared leadership have strengths and limitations, and both styles may complement one another. The authors discuss the influence of leadership on virtual team processes and outcomes and examine contingency factors related to team and task structure in order to identify the boundary conditions for the effectiveness of vertical and shared leadership. The chapter offers a conceptual framework to guide future research in this domain.

Collaborative Software Requirements Engineering Exercises in a Distributed Virtual Team Environment

2006 ◽  
pp. 178-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Keith Edwards ◽  
Varadharajan Sridhar
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Requirements Engineering ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Task Structure ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Software Projects ◽  
Team Environment ◽  
The Usa

Round-the-clock work cycle, low cost of software development, and access to specialized skills have prompted many companies in the USA, Canada, and Europe to outsource some or part of their software development work to off-shore centers in countries such as India. While design, development, and testing phases that are traditionally off-shored require less interaction between clients and the off-shore consultants, phases such as requirements engineering require close co-ordination and interaction. The clients and consultants in such off-shored projects often work in a virtual team environment. In this research, our endeavor is to understand the complex issues in such a virtual project environment during the requirements definition phase of the software development cycle. In particular, we conducted an exploratory research study, involving 24 virtual teams based in Canada and India, working collaboratively on defining business requirements for software projects, over a period of 5 weeks. The study indicates that trust between the teams and well-defined task structure positively influence the performance, satisfaction, and learning level of such distributed virtual teams.

Learning together and working apart: routines for organizational learning in virtual teams

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 138-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Information Industry ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Virtual Teaming

Purpose Research suggests that teaming routines facilitate learning in teams. This paper identifies and details how specific teaming routines, implemented in a virtual team, support its continual learning. The study’s focus was to generate authentic and descriptive accounts of the interviewees’ experiences with virtual teaming routines. Design/methodology/approach This case study gathered concrete, practical and context-dependent knowledge about virtual teaming routines in a specific environment. The main source of data was narrative expert interviews with working members of the team. Findings This study illustrates how a mix of face-to-face and virtual routines can ensure organizational learning in virtual teams. Research limitations/implications This case study is limited to one virtual team in the information industry. Future research could build on this research to study virtual teams in other industries. Practical implications This research offers specific examples of teaming routines that managers of virtual teams might adapt in managing their own teams. Social implications Given that the use of virtual teams is a growing phenomenon, understanding how to help those teams learn effectively is a critical issue. Originality/value This case study extends the research on teaming routines to virtual teams.

Guidelines for Working Collaboratively in Virtual Teams

2020 ◽  
pp. 68-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelley Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Team Collaboration ◽  
Educational Administrators ◽  
Technological Tools ◽  
Digital Environments

As virtual teams continue to become more prevalent, educational administrators, faculty, and other members of online communities must discover and employ guidelines for effectively collaborating in online contexts. Applying the same traditional team strategies to those working in dispersed groups of people may hinder communication and prevent optimal results. In today's world, teams need to execute and learn at the same time. It is time to re-define what constitutes a (virtual) team and consider new avenues for cooperating in an increasingly diverse, global, and continuously “plugged-in” society. A set of practical steps for why and how virtual teams can collaborate in digital environments is presented. Tips for implementing the steps are provided. An analysis of technological tools available for facilitating online team collaboration is also shared.

Virtual Team Effectiveness

2017 ◽  
pp. 687-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Carlson ◽  
Dawn S. Carlson ◽  
Emily M. Hunter ◽  
Randal L. Vaughn ◽  
Joey F. George
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Team Effectiveness ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Interpersonal Processes ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Main Effect

The work of virtual teams is increasingly important to today's organizations, work that is accomplished predominantly via computer-mediated communication. The authors investigate the moderating role of experience with instant messaging on the team interpersonal processes (cohesion and openness) to team effectiveness relationship in virtual teams. Data were obtained from 365 virtual team members using survey methodology and analyzed using hierarchical moderated regression and multilevel analyses. They found that team cohesion has a main effect on team effectiveness. Team openness has a main effect and is moderated by experience with instant messaging, i.e., strengthens the relationship. Understanding the role of team interpersonal processes and the role of the communication media will allow managers to more effectively build virtual teams and provide effective training and support. Using the theoretical lens of channel expansion theory the authors expand theoretical, empirical and practical knowledge of this area.

Successful Communication in Virtual Teams and the Role of the Virtual Team Leader

2011 ◽  
pp. 39-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie S. Switzer
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Team Leadership ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Organizational Boundaries ◽  
Successful Communication ◽  
Virtual Team Leadership ◽  
The World

The world now lives and works in cyberspace. Often, organizations have their people perform functional tasks by working in virtual teams, where members use technology to cooperate across geographic and organizational boundaries. As the use of virtual teams in the workforce becomes more prevalent, those involved must have the knowledge to communicate efficiently and effectively, especially the virtual team leaders. This chapter provides a general overview of virtual teams and virtual team leadership, and discusses specific communication strategies and competencies necessary for virtual team leaders to be effective and successful communicators.

Gender and Anonymity in Virtual Teams

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Koh ◽  
Na Liu ◽  
John Lim
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Team Performance ◽  
Group Performance ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Process Variables ◽  
Team Collaboration ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Collaboration Process

With the advancement of information and communication technology, virtual teams are becoming more popular as geographical constraints in collaboration have become a non-issue. Features of the technology and characteristics of the group influence interaction processes and outcomes. Two elements are the focus of this paper. The first is anonymity, which has been made feasible by technology. The other concerns gender. Gender is an important research target, and its role in groupwork must not be overlooked. Both elements have aroused much interest across multiple research fields. The existing literature shows their potential in influencing team collaboration processes, satisfaction, and performance. In this paper, the authors present a process-based interpretation of virtual team collaboration, incorporating the anonymity of technology and the gender difference of team members. Using a multiple case study approach, the paper identifies a key set of process variables that shape team performance. The study also examines the interdependencies among the processes. Task-related activity that occurred during team discussion was affected by gender anonymity, and this influenced group performance and members’ satisfaction toward the collaboration process. Group dynamics, including member awareness, leader emergence, and member’s conformity, are salient process variables that affect the virtual team performance as well.

scholarly journals Team Dispersion and Performance: The Role of Team Communication and Transformational Leadership

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 348-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Eisenberg ◽  
Corinne Post ◽  
Nancy DiTomaso
Keyword(s):  
Transformational Leadership ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Team Performance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Team Communication ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Geographic Dispersion ◽  
Highly Dispersed ◽  
Dispersed Teams

Organizations increasingly rely on virtual teams to access geographically dispersed expertise. Yet, team dispersion introduces challenges to team communication that may negatively influence team performance. Using a sample of 53 innovation teams representing a variety of geographic dispersion configurations from completely collocated to highly dispersed, we examined the moderating role of transformational leadership on the relationship between team dispersion, team communication, and team performance. Our findings suggest that while transformational leadership is effective in reducing the negative effects of dispersion in collocated teams or ones with low levels of geographic dispersion, it is less effective helping improve the performance of highly dispersed teams. This effect may be due to a transformational leader’s difficulty in facilitating team communication in highly dispersed teams, where his or her influence might actually have counterproductive effects. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory, future research, and practice.

Effects of enterprise social media usage on task performance through perceived task structure: the moderating role of perceived team diversity

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manting Deng ◽  
Hefu Liu ◽  
Qian Huang ◽  
Guanqi Ding
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Task Structure ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Diversity ◽  
Enterprise Social Media ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Task

PurposeOrganisations have widely adopted enterprise social media (ESM) to improve employees' task performance. This study aims to explore the mediating role of perceived task structure on the relationship between ESM usage and employee task performance. The authors investigate the moderating effects of perceived team diversity on the relationship between ESM usage and perceived task structure.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a questionnaire survey in China on 251 working professionals who use social media in their respective organisations.FindingsResults showed that employees' perception of task structure considerably mediates the relationship between ESM usage and task performance. Findings also confirmed that perceived team diversity negatively affects the relationship between ESM usage and perceived task interdependence.Research limitations/implicationsPractitioners and/or managers should pay attention to the effect of ESM usage on employee's perceived task structure. Furthermore, they should focus on the level of team diversity when adopting ESM to enhance task performance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the knowledge of perceived task structure in explaining the effect of ESM usage on task performance based on communication visibility theory. This work presents the relationship among ESM usage, perceived task structure, perceived team diversity and task performance. Moreover, this research enriches the literature on ESM usage by investigating the moderating roles of perceived team diversity whilst presenting the negative effects of perceived team diversity.

Managing Virtual Teams: Strategies for Team Leaders

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Lyons ◽  
Heather A. Priest ◽  
Jessica L. Wildman ◽  
Eduardo Salas ◽  
David Carnegie
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Team Leadership ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Support Tools ◽  
Virtual Team Leadership ◽  
Collaborative Support ◽  
And Training

Organizations' increasing use of virtual teams has emphasized the importance of effective virtual team leadership. Yet the distribution of team members complicates typical leader functions, such as supervision and support, which the leader must now perform through technology. In this article, we present 10 strategies for managing virtual teams, focusing on the role of technology and training. Our hope is that these strategies will inform designers and guide them in developing collaborative support tools and procedures for these tools and in designing training for the use of these tools.

TASK-BASED PRONUNCIATION TEACHING AND RESEARCH

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan C. Mora ◽  
Mayya Levkina
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
First Language ◽  
Task Design ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Task Structure ◽  
Crucial Issue ◽  
Grammatical Development ◽  
Research Domains ◽  
Key Questions ◽  
And Task

AbstractThis article synthesizes the conclusions of the empirical studies in this special issue and outlines key questions in future research. The research reported in this volume has identified several fundamental issues in pronunciation-focused task design that are discussed in detail and on which suggestions for further research are outlined. One crucial issue is how attention to pronunciation resulting in language-related episodes effectively leads to robust gains in accuracy. Another important aspect discussed is the need to adapt task design features to the phonological domain under focus and how to incorporate systematic patterns of first language interference into the task structure. Finally, we propose that future research in task-based pronunciation teaching and second language phonetics and phonology should systematically examine learner factors known to affect task performance and task features established in the research domains of lexical and grammatical development.

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