Exploring Virtual Teams "Best Practices": Compare and Contrast of different Frameworks

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION2

Virtual Teams2

Leadership Styles4

Transformational Leadership4

Transactional Leadership5

Leadership in Virtual Teams6

Leadership in Collocated Teams8

REFERENCES11



CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter provides a detailed analysis and the discussion of the subject being studied. It facilitates the readers with proper view of the data gathered through the primary research method. The analysis and the discussion presented in this chapter forms the basis for a proper conclusion at the end of the study.

Virtual Teams

Virtual Teams are teams that are geospatially dispersed and do not as a rule work in physical proximity to each other. Virtual Teams are project or task focused groups of both limited and unlimited duration. Lipnack and Stamps (1997) define a Virtual team as “a group of people who interact through interdependent tasks guided by a common purpose”, and that work “across space, time and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technologies” (p. 6), other authors such as Davison and Ward (1999) are more restrictive, defining Virtual Teams as teams that never meet face to face, but a more common definition of a Virtual Team involves a team that meets and conducts most of is business via technology (Geber, 1995), (Melymuka, 1997), (Townsend, DeMarie and Hendrickson, 1996), (Young, 1998).

While scholars acknowledge that technology affects Virtual Teams, research into the effects of specific technologies has been hampered to some degree by a lack of consensus as to what technologies to evaluate. Becker et. al, (2001) note that “in spite of a large quantity of research, no standard set of collaborative technology tools has emerged” (p. 9), indicating that there are no standard tool sets that Virtual Teams seem to use. This condition may stem from the fact that there exists a continual variety of tools available to Virtual Teams as well as the fact that

Virtual teams are so diverse in function, that no one set of tools is always appropriate, thus creating a dynamic working environment. The closest academia has come to the study of technology and the Virtual Team to date has been Rocco (1998), who stated that while there may be no substitute, a VTC may provide a degree of augmentation. She writes that “trust can be achieved when team members have an initial face to face contact” (1998, p. 501), a position typical of the time.

Trust is tied to Virtual Team effectiveness. Current literature clearly establishes a link between trust and effectiveness of a Virtual Team (Snow, Snell and Davison, 1996). Establishing, maintaining and improving trust in a Virtual Team is critical in order to for the Team to function. Improved trust tends to also equate to better performance. For example, Lawley (2006) notes that “the research literature confirms that virtual teams that have higher levels of trust outperform those with lower levels of trust” (p. 14). As cited in Lawley (2006), Zucker, Darby, Brewer and Peng (1995), stated that “trust reduces costs in working together either through increased creativity or the ...