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Communication of Leaders in

Virtual Teams

Expectations Towards Leaders and How

They Live Them up through Computer-

Mediated Communication

Anu Sivunen

Laboratory of Work Psychology and Leadership

Helsinki University of Technology, Finland

[email protected]

12th International Workshop on Telework, Lillehammer, Norway, August 29, 2007.

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Backround

In teamwork, leaders have to rise to several challenges.

There are many competencies identified as importantin team leading:

– Focusing on the goal – Ensuring collaborative climate

– Building competence

– Demonstrating technical know-how

– Setting priorities – Managing performance

(Larson & LaFasto 2001)

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Backround

Qualities and competencies needed in virtual team leading have notbeen studied extensively.

However, virtual teams differ from traditional teams in severaldimensions, such as

– Geographical distribution• Questions of availability

– Temporal distribution• Reliance on asynchronous communication tools

• Meetings outside working hours

– Cultural distribution

• Language skills• Cultural differences

– Organizational / functional distribution• Members are experts in their respective fields

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Backround

Few empirical studies have investigatedleadership effectiveness and important virtualteam leader characteristics (Kayworth &

Leidner 2002; Kokko, Vartiainen & Lönnblad2006)

These studies have found qualities, such as

– determined mindset, propensity to trust employees,empathy, information sharing and communicationskills, coordinating and organizing skills

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Research Question

The goal is to – explore the qualities and skills considered as important for

team leaders according to virtual team members

and

– investigate if these qualities and skills can be found in thedaily computer-mediated communication between the leadersand members.

What are the expectations towards leaders and how they are

lived up in the actual computer-mediated communicationbetween the leaders and members?

RQ:

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Methods

Participants: 4 virtual teams from 4 differentorganizations (N=35)

Data collection: Interviewing and observation – Interview dataset (35 transcribed interviews)

– Computer-mediated communication dataset• video conference and conference call recordings

• saved messages from instant messenger and electronic discussionforum

Analysis: Qualitative, line-by-line analysis influenced

by Miles & Huberman (1984) and Lincoln & Guba(1985).

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Findings

Four types of skills and qualities were considered as

important in leading virtual teams:1. Motivating the team members

2. Giving support3. Giving guidelines for the use of communication technology and

CMC practices

4. Setting clear goals for the future

The first three expectations were lived up fairly well

but setting clear goals for the future seemed to be

especially challenging in virtual teams.

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Findings: 1.Motivating the Team

Members

Team members saw their leader as a role modelregarding active communication in the team.

– If members do not know each other’s competencies

and roles very well, it is crucial that the team leadermotivates the members to contact each otherfrequently and tries to activate their collaboration.

– If team leader communicates and takes initiative

actively, it enhances the team members’collaboration as well.

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Findings: 2. Giving Support

Members in virtual teams are often experts in their

respective fields

– They do not expect the leader to give them much

professional guidancebut

– they anticipate to gain support and feedback from the leader.

The support given was usually informative,

instrumental or emotional in nature.

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In the next excerpt the team leader shows both

instrumental and emotional support for the team member,who is leaving the team and applying for another position

inside the same organization.

[…] C3: ok, thanks for all of your help! I will finally submit my resume

tomorrow, i'll bcc you. the position will still be posted for another

week. I hope that there aren't too many candidates for it.

C1: I will support you in any possible way I can in this! I have my own

interest here in stake (keeping you "attached" to [Team C]), so I dowant to be involved in this process. […]

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Findings: 3. Guidelines for the Use of

Communication Technology and CMC

It is crucial that the team leader provides differentkinds of communication tools and possibilities for thevirtual team members.

If the team leader had offered communication tools tothe members and given guidelines for their efficientuse, the team’s communication and collaboration ingeneral was seen to be improved.

Furthermore, guidelines for effective computer-

mediated communication were needed in the teams. – Shared practices and rules for communication were seen ascrucial as most of the communication is computer-mediated.

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Findings: 4. Setting goals for the future

Setting clear goals was the most challenging

leadership skill in virtual teams.

The difficulties in setting goals were due tofour factors:

1. the goals were not discussed in the team

2. the goals were not set on a concrete level

3. there was a lot of cross-functionality in the team, or4. the team had undergone organizational changes.

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C7: The last two years have been like this, the organization around usis renewing all the time. It is under constant change, who is ourcustomer, how we decide things, and it is kind of difficult tograsp it.

Researcher: What about the communication in your group, are yousatisfied with it?

B2: I’m satisfied with the communication we have between the team

members, but I’m not 100 percent satisfied with thecommunication from the manager.

Researcher: Okay, which parts?

B2: Mostly the thing that I said before, what’s happening with our team, who’s doing what, ways of working, they should be clearer

identified before we are there so to say. If you know that someoneis going to take a new role from April 1st, then I would say wewould discuss this around Christmas-time, for example, weshouldn’t discuss it the 1st of May.

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Conclusions

Challenges in virtual team leading are partly similar aschallenges in traditional team leading.

However, some of the qualities needed in virtual team leadingstem from geographical, temporal, cultural and organizational

dispersion. Challenges rise, because

– members may join the team from different organizational units

– they may belong to many different functions and projects at the sametime

– structure of the team may change due to changes in organizationalenvironment.

Complicate especially the goal setting function of the team leaders.

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Practical Implications

Clear vision and goals help the members to committhemselves to the team and its future.

Therefore, virtual team leaders should bring the team’s

goals to a concrete level and discuss them regularlywith the team members through CMC.

– Attention should be paid to the creation of clearcommunication rules and frequent communication practicesin virtual teams.

– The team leader should consider how, when and on whicharena the goals are being discussed with the team members.

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Thank you!

[email protected]

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