Leadership Dynamics in Partially Distributed Teams: an Exploratory Study of the Effects of Configuration and Distance

Abstract

Despite the importance of leadership and the wealth of empirical studies focused on leadership effectiveness in traditional and computer-supported groups, there is little research examining leadership dynamics in partially distributed virtual teams (PDTs). Virtual teams are partially distributed when they are configured with one or more subgroups of collocated members and isolated members. This paper lays the groundwork for an in-depth study of leadership in PDTs that can be extended to other types of virtual team configurations. Using three dimensions of virtual distance (geographic, cultural and temporal), we analyze how the configuration of virtual teams interacts with leadership dynamics. We also summarize the results of an exploratory study using 12 student teams to examine the effects of distance and configuration on leadership in PDTs. Findings show significant differences in leadership dynamics (i.e., leader emergence vs. leader retention) which impacted team performance. From these results, we develop propositions on leadership and PDTs.

Team dynamics in virtual, partially distributed teams: Optimal role fulfillment

“…Consistent with prior early-stage research on virtual teams (e.g., Carte et al, 2006;Cogliser et al, 2012;Ocker et al, 2011), we studied the interactions among members (n = 152) of vPDTs (n = 28) organized for an undergraduate business class project. The team members were geographically dispersed between two universities (one in the US and one in the UK) in order to encourage virtual communications.…”

“…Ocker et al (2011) described three different characteristics that tend to exacerbate this so-called "in-group" effect. The characteristics -all of which are common to temporally dispersed vPDTs -include geographic distance, temporal distance, and cultural distance (including both organizational and national culture).…”

Healthy Divide or Detrimental Division? Subgroups in Virtual Teams

“…Research has found that training and leadership styles can mitigate some of the negative effects associated with subgroup formation [34,35]. Managers may want to take an active lead in heading off potential problems associated with racial and gender diversity resulting from subgroup formation.…”

The Development Process Towards Achieving a Framework for Incorporating Virtual Teams into Projects in Engineering Courses

“…That is, there is at least one subgroup consisting of co-located members, while other team members are geographically dispersed from this subgroup (although they may be co-located with each other). For members and subgroups that are geographically separated, there is a required reliance on electronic means for communication 15 . Figure 1, shown below, represents one of the types of partially distributed team configuration that could occur.…”

“…In order to be able to engage all the students and give them exposure to how projects work in the real world, once they graduate, many professors get the students involved on group projects and expect the workload to be distributed evenly (Ocker & Huang, 2011). Professors choose to do this because in most high tech/engineering jobs today, the teams are partially or completely virtual teams, so as to have an access to an expanded pool of workers at the best possible salaries 11 .…”