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
During the last few years, I have noticed certain changes or patterns in email communication that can potentially damage virtual work. I am afraid that these patterns may be on their way to becoming a part of email communication culture. Many email users may be falling into these usage patterns without realizing their potentially damaging effects. With the idea of… Read more →
What: WSJ article on how text messaging may prevent languages from fading Posts to which it is related: None Bottom line: Language advocates worry that languages may not stay relevant if they are not used to send text messages on a cellphone. However, texting on a cellphone can be cumbersome because one has to make multiple taps on keys to… Read more →
What: ReadWriteWeb article about a report from Forterra Systems about virtual worlds being more effective than audio and web conferencing (also see related Business Wire release from Forterra Systems) Posts it is related to: Wonderland: A Tool for Online Collaboration, Rethinking the Value of Virtual Worlds for Virtual Team Collaboration Bottom line: Pilots with Forterra’s virtual world product OLIVE (On-Line… Read more →
It is that time of the year when people begin thinking about their new year’s resolutions. We often resolve to change our habits, thinking that the changes will make us more successful and our success, in turn, will make us happier. During the past decade, new research has emerged on the issue of the relationship between success and happiness…. Read more →
What: USA Weekend article on using email to motivate someone Posts to which it is related: Using Virtual Worlds for Leadership Development, The Leading Virtually Digest April 25, 2008 (see the last item), The Mind Has a Body of Its Own Bottom line: How do I motivate someone over email? This is a question that leaders of virtual teams often… Read more →
What: Research article from the Journal of Applied Psychology on antecedents of coworker trust Posts to which it is related: Transfer of Trust in Virtual Team Collaboration, Building Trust in Virtual Teams, Manipulate Perceptions to Improve Performance in Virtual Teams Bottom line: Trust between the members of a virtual team is an important requirement for team performance. How can a leader… Read more →
The Leading Virtually blog contains many articles that virtual team leaders are likely to find useful for effective team performance. But the articles are arranged chronologically, with the most recent ones appearing first. We believe that our readers would benefit if we took our blog posts and organized them on the basis of issues that virtual teams face during different… Read more →
What: Psychology Today Blog article ‘How to Run a Con‘ Posts to which it is related: Leading in Face-to-face Versus Virtual Teams, Building Trust in Virtual Teams Bottom line: The author of this article, a neuroeconomist, describes the neurological basis of a classic con known as the pigeon drop (see a video of this). According to the author, ‘The key… Read more →
Cost cutting and doing more with less is in the air. Rarely does a day go by when you don’t face pressures yourself to do more with less or hear something similar from others. At the beginning of the week, WSJ had two articles on how businesses are trying to improve productivity or manage with less (Stores count seconds to… Read more →
What: New York Times article on Facebook friends not meaning much in real life Posts to which it is related: Fostering Ambient Awareness in Virtual Teams, Building Social Relationships in Virtual Teams Bottom line: A while back Betsy discussed how social networking tools create ambient awareness and strengthen weak ties. I too blogged about how a blogger was able to… Read more →