Recently, Surinder and I did a day-long workshop on virtual team leadership, and I think it has gotten both of us thinking more than ever about those who are actually practicing virtual team leadership. We try to do two things when making suggestions for virtual team leaders: first, to support them with research and practitioner experience, and second, to organize… Read more →
My fellow bloggers and I have made many recommendations on this blog about how to improve the functioning of virtual teams. When we recently presented these recommendations to an audience, we were told that it would be useful if we could take some of the most critical recommendations and frame them in a way that makes it easier for someone… Read more →
In this post, I would like to get back to a really basic interest of the Leading Virtually group. There are at least a few prominent articles (see, for example, the Seriosity report and an HBR article) that predict multiplayer online games offer us a preview of the future of the business environment and leadership. While this may be true, we are interested primarily in the potential of… Read more →
For those who are interested in virtual team collaboration, the concept of teamwork is crucial. But rarely is “teamwork” actually defined. Just as the adage goes, we know it when we see it, but we may have trouble explicitly saying what makes for good teamwork. This week, Surinder sent me an academic journal article by Martin Hoegl and Hans Georg… Read more →
As more companies are considering the option of allowing their employees to telecommute (see the recent flurry of news about telecommuting), there is an increasing need to understand how leading in virtual teams is different from leading in face-to-face teams. In many cases, people have challenged the idea that leading in virtual teams is different from leading in face-to-face situations…. Read more →
Without a doubt, technology plays an important role in the modern workplace. In most organizations, employees must have certain technology skills in order to complete their work. Most people in office jobs need to demonstrate proficiency with a word processor or spreadsheet; in some positions much more specific software proficiency is required. We seem to assume that proficiency with a… Read more →
One of the benefits of virtual collaboration is that team members and leaders have a number of ways they can complete tasks, interact, and communicate. In this posting, I want to highlight this range of possibilities and draw from my own experience to demonstrate the broad range of leadership roles that can be accomplished virtually. I have a coaching and… Read more →
Recently the Leading Virtually team came across an article by several academic researchers that broadly discusses whether virtual teams have potential for organizations. Their discussion was based on a research study they conducted. The authors found that virtual teams of short duration have lower performance, lower satisfaction, and a lower results-to-effort ratio. Meanwhile, one can find new articles each week… Read more →
Betsy’s last post on the power of self-efficacy perceptions reminded me of a recent study by Professor Ellen Langer of Harvard University. I am fascinated by Prof. Langer’s ability to conduct provocative research and have used her ideas in my research on the illusion of control in spreadsheet-based decision making. Prof. Langer’s recent study, which showed that perceptions can be… Read more →
It has been almost impossible in the past year to avoid the media hype about virtual worlds and virtual teams. Virtual worlds such as Second Life have received a lot of press claiming that their existence will revolutionize the way we interact and do business. A number of high-ranked universities, including Harvard, have set up campuses and are conducting classes… Read more →