"Leading Virtual Teams"

Arvind Malhotra, Ann Majchrzak, and Benson Rosen

Academy of Management Perspectives

February 2007, pp. 60-70

This article presents results of a study of 55 successful virtual teams in 33 different companies. Six leadership practices were identified that leaders of successful teams use to overcome the special challenges of virtual teams:

• Establish and maintain trust through the use of communication technology—This is done by:
  • Focusing on the norms of how information is communicated
  • Revisiting and adjusting the communications norms as the team evolves
  • Making progress explicit through use of the team virtual workspace
  • Making sure that no one is more inconvenienced than others by doing such things as rotating the meeting time
• Ensure diversity in the team is understood, appreciated, and leveraged—This is done by:
  • Posting a prominent team expertise directory and skills matrix in the virtual workspace
  • Virtual sub-teaming to pair diverse members and rotate sub-team members
  • Allowing diverse opinions to be expressed through use of asynchronous electronic means
• Manage virtual work-cycle and meetings—This is done by:
  • Allowing idea divergence between meetings and idea convergence and conflict resolution during virtual meetings
  • Using the beginning part of each virtual meeting for social relationship building
  • During the meeting, check to make sure everyone is engaged and heard from
  • At the end of the meeting, ensure that the minutes and future work plan is posted to the team repository
• Monitor team progress through the use of technology—This is done by:
  • Closely scrutinizing electronic communications patterns
  • Making progress explicit through posting balanced scorecard measurements in the team's virtual workspace
• Enhance external visibility of the team and its members—This is done by:
  • Having frequent report-outs to a virtual steering committee comprised of the local managers of team members
• Ensure individuals benefit from participating in virtual teams—This is done through:
  • Virtual reward ceremonies
  • Individual recognition at the start of each virtual meeting
  • Making each team member's "real location" boss aware of the member's contribution

Back to top of page