Adapting Leadership Theories and. Communications Techniques. to 21st Century Organizations. Margaret R. Lee

Transcription

1 Leading Virtual Project Teams Adapting Leadership Theories and Communications Techniques to 21st Century Organizations Margaret R. Lee CRC Press Taylor & Francis Croup Boca Raton London New York CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Croup, an informa business AN AUERBACH BOOK

2 Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Case Studies Preface Acknowledgments About the Author Introduction xi xiii xv xvii xix xxi xxiii Chapter 1 Overview 1 Virtual Terminology 1 Factors AfFecting the Movement from Traditional Work Environments to Virtual Organizations 5 Challenges of Leading in Virtual Organizations 7 Looking Ahead: The Application of Traditional Leadership Models and Theories to Virtual Project Management 10 References 12 Chapter 2 e-leadership for Projects 15 Introduction 15 Defining e-leadership 17 Application of Traditional Leadership Models and Theories to Virtual Project Management 18 Control-Related Leadership 18 Leadership through Empowerment 20 Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles Contingency School of Leadership 23 Situational Leadership Styles 24 Decision Tree Approach 25 Agile Project Management 26 Servant Leadership and Grateful Leadership 28 Models of Team Development 29

3 viii Contents The ARCS Model 30 Entrepreneurial Leadership 32 Extreme Agility 33 Negative e-leadership Approaches 35 Authoritarian Leadership Style 35 Laissez-Faire Leadership 38 Leader-Member Exchange Theory 38 Moving toward Multiple e-leadership Styles 39 Benefits of Multiple Leadership Styles in Virtual Projects 39 Looking Ahead: Current Approaches to Virtual Communications 42 Food for Thought 54 Notes 54 References 55 Case Study References 59 Chapter 3 Enhancing Virtual Project Communications 61 Understanding Project Communications 61 e-leadership for Virtual Project Communications 62 Planning for Project Communications 62 Communications Plan 63 Various Approaches to Virtual Communication 68 Different Methods 68 Tools and Techniques to Enhance Communications for Virtual Organizations 69 Communications Technology 70 Virtual Etiquette 71 Sharing Knowledge 72 Communicating in a Nonverbal World 72 Best Practice Approaches 74 Face-to-Face Communications 74 Teleconferences and Telephone Calls 75 Collaboration Tools 76 Using Multiple Leadership Styles to Communicate to Distributed Teams 79 Situational Communication Styles 80 Servant Leadership Communication 82

4 Contents ix Communication with Empowerment 82 Entrepreneurial Leadership Communication Skills 84 Looking Ahead: Cultural Communication Issues and Effective e-leadership 86 Food for Thought 91 Notes 91 References 91 Case Study Reference 93 Chapter 4 Cultural Communication Issues and Effective e-leadership 95 Understanding Culture 95 Primary Dimensions of Culture 97 Individualistic versus Collectivistic Cultures 97 Low-Context versus High-Context Cultures 99 Low-Power Distance versus High-Power Distance Cultures 101 Masculine versus Feminine Cultures 103 Monochronic versus Polychronic Cultures 104 Low Uncertainty Avoidance versus High Uncertainty Avoidance Cultures 105 Cultures within the Organization 109 Organizational Culture 109 Team Culture 110 Boundary Crossing 111 Project Management Cultures 112 Culture of the Virtual Nomad 115 Integrating Organizational and National Cultures 116 Integrating Cultures 116 Leading the Integrated Culture 118 Globalization and Communications 119 Barriers to Globalization 120 Communicating across Cultures 121 Cultural Fluency 121 Use of Language and Words 122 Communicating across Time Zones 125 Deadlines and Urgency Issues 128 Age Discrimination as Cultural Awareness 129

5 x Contents Religious Considerations in the Multicultural Team Second Language Concerns 130 Flexibility in Communicating with Multicultural Teams. 132 Looking Ahead: e-leadership Competencies 133 Notes 138 References 138 Case Study Reference 141 Chapter 5 Virtual Project Leadership Competencies 143 Competencies in Project Management 143 Virtual Project Management Competencies 144 Competencies for Leading Virtual Projects 147 Focusing on the Vision of the Project 147 Clarityof Virtual Structure and Processes 148 Team Charter 148 Code of Conduct 149 Monitoring and Controlling the Virtual Project 153 Project Meetings 154 Status Reporting and Accountability 154 Managing the Virtual Team 158 Building Team Cohesiveness Virtually 158 Motivating the Virtual Team 160 Types of Motivators 161 Retention 163 Empowering the Team 164 Relationship Building and Trust 165 Managing Social Isolation 167 Politics and Cyberbullying in the Virtual Environment 170 Indicators of Inappropriate Virtual Team Member "Fit" 172 e-ethics 173 Notes 183 References 183 Index 187