Leadership Dynamics in Partially Distributed teams: An Exploratory Study of the Effects of Configuration and Distance

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-2011

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. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Identifier

79957473068 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Group Decision and Negotiation

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10726-009-9180-z

e-ISSN

15729907

ISSN

09262644

First Page

273

Last Page

292

Issue

3

Volume

20

Grant

0534520

Fund Ref

National Science Foundation

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