Virtual Teams, Technology, and Leadership: A Primer

Abstract

Interactions among humans are always very complex and the outcomes of their interactions can be unpredictable. Subsequently, when a group of people are required to come together as a team for the purpose of accomplishing common goals, there is potential for either great success or great failure. When individuals are separated by distance, as is the case in virtual teams, interaction is mediated by technologies and presumably this leads to a greater level of interaction complexity and presents a greater challenge to leaders and managers. In effort to meet the challenges of globalization and the digital age, many organizations are shifting from hierarchical top-down organizational structures to the flatter organizational structures afforded by team-based approaches. Driven by the need for global business and the great array of Web 2.0 technologies, effective leadership in virtual teams is now an important consideration for leaders. The basis for enactment of effective leadership in virtual teams must be an understanding of the nature of virtual teams. The author's rationale for the writing the present chapter is thus to highlight major features of virtual teams and to bring to the fore core issues related to these features which impact significantly on team performance.