Will Technology Substitute for Leadership From Immediate Supervisors?

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Technology_as_Leaders

After I gave my final exam this week, one of my students came up to me and said that one of his takeaways from my course was his discovery of the Internet as a tool for learning. I use the videos and latest news posted on the Internet to make my courses more relevant and to also show how the students can continue their learning after my course has ended. But this student was trying to make another point — he was using the Internet to find videos and materials of Professors at other universities to learn material that he was not understanding in his courses. In other words, he was using technology to substitute for the Professors at my university. Whatever he thought that they were unable to deliver to him, he got it from other sources that today’s rich and searchable Internet made possible for him.

Could this happen with leadership too? Will technology step in to help those who need leadership but don’t get it from sources that are expected to provide it? According to i4cp’s latest study, most of today’s workers say that their managers are ineffective and that they lack leadership qualities. Will the workers of the future use the Internet to get leadership from other leaders rather than their most immediate supervisors? This may not be as far fetched as it sounds. Last Sunday’s New York Times reported an interview with the CEO of Zurich Financial Services, James J. Schiro, who has put himself on YouTube to connect with workers in his company. As more leaders put their messages on the Internet, messages that are interesting and relevant will get noticed by people and passed around. While not every leadership function can be substituted for this way, some functions such as providing inspiration and coaching can. A very good example is the video of Steve Job’s address at Stanford commencement.

Are you aware of cases of technology substituting for leadership from immediate supervisors? Share your stories or examples with us and our readers.

Article written by

Surinder Kahai is an Associate Professor of MIS and Fellow of the Center for Leadership Studies at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton. He has a B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay), an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rutgers University, and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Michigan. Surinder has an active research program on leadership in virtual teams, computer-mediated communication and learning, collaboration in virtual worlds, CIO leadership, and IT alignment. His research has been published in several journals including Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, Decision Sciences, Group & Organization Management, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management Information Systems, Leadership Quarterly, and Personnel Psychology. He is currently serving on the editorial boards of Group and Organization Management, IEEE-TEM, and the International Journal of e-Collaboration. He co-edited a Special Issue of Organizational Dynamics on e-leadership and a Special Issue of International Journal of e-Collaboration on Virtual Team Leadership. Surinder has won numerous awards for his teaching, including the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Surinder has spoken on and consulted with several organizations in the U.S. and abroad on the topics of virtual team leadership, e-business, and IS-business alignment, and IS strategy and planning

2 Responses

  1. JKM
    JKM at |

    This is exactly my case. My immediate manager does not provide much guidance. Not a bad person but not that good because of little experience, no feedback, not being a role model, etc.
    I have found several on-line forums – “Manager Tools” is my favorite – that are great. I ask all my hard questions there and get lots of great advice from people I’ve learned to trust – but have never actually met.

  2. chris
    chris at |

    Surinder, I was at the at the Raikes School in Nebraska recently and in discussion with these very talented students ‘learned’ that they are very open to different leadership and virtual relationships are in some ways comfortable. This is a different generation with a totally new way of looking at the world. As Don Tapscott says their brains are wired differently.

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