Virtual Leadership in Project
Management.
Virtual Leadership in Project
Management.
1
CONTENT
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ABSTRACT
ACKNOWLEDEMENT
INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH PUPOSE
LITERATURE REVIEW
METHODOLOGY/FRAME WORK
o
o
o
o
o
RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY
RESEARCH APPROACH/STRETAGY
DATA GATHERING
SEMI STRUCTURED INTERVIEW
QUESTIONAIRE




FINDING AND ANALYSIS
PERSPECTIVES OF PROJECT MEMBERS
SURVEY FIGURES
CONCLUSION, CONTRIBUTIONS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
 PRCTICAL IMPLICATIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
 FUTURE RESEARCH
 REFERENCES
2
03
03
04
05
06
13
14
15
17
18
20
25
32
33
46
49
51
52
ABSTRACT
The effects of the changing working environments especially due to technological advancement
and digital revolution have been studied over the recent years. Through our research we
reviewed literature to make a good understanding on what establishes e-leadership in
organizations in Pakistan. We tried to find out how has technological development effected
Leadership styles, within the team interactions, project success and working environment in
general of organizations. We also tried to discuss the challenges of working in such Virtual
environment and solutions to those challenges. Through this article we have also discussed
practical implications, research limitations and suggestions for future researchers.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years globalization has emerged as the most efficient way through which people can
connect to each other. It has interconnected people around the globe. People today can move
and share their goods and services easily, quickly and in less costly ways. Technological
development and changes in social dimensions over the years have helped make
communication possible. Advancement in technological sector made improvements in
transportation and communication services. Rapid development in technology and their easy
access has also promoted to human development and improved standards of living by reaching
far flung areas that were previously underdeveloped. Pakistan is a developing country and is
currently facing issues in its economic, political and social sectors. (Rev Robert A Sircia, 2010)
Globalization opens up new avenues of development for countries like Pakistan. It increases
global connectivity and access to the global market. It brings about an influx of new technology
and services and provides for the better functioning of a free and fair market.
There is no sector that is free from the impacts of globalization, one of those areas is the domain
of project management. The advancements brought about by globalization have made their
way into the skill of project management in organizations and has created the need for new
ways of leading and managing. One of the most recent ideas is that of E-Leadership or virtual
leadership. E-Leadership, short for Electronic Leadership, refers to headship and management
in the new era of information. This era is characterized by rapid technological
advancement which has made it possible for businesses to reach across borders, wherever they
3
can find customers and make a profit. Virtual leadership aims to deal with and solve the issues
created by this era of information in organizations. It deals with managing a team and ensuring
its effective functioning through virtual leadership, overcoming the problems of
communication.
RESEARCH PURPOSE
This research aims to address the various problems that have risen due to the advancement
of technology and new methods of communication between members working in an
organization. Technological and virtual communication have on one hand improved
accessibility but they also have drawbacks for organizations. The purpose of this research is to
investigate the possibilities or drawbacks of advanced technological developments and its
effect on organizations in Pakistan. More precisely, it aims to investigate the issues that arise
in E-Leadership or Leadership in virtual setting, focusing mainly on the challenges hat
managers face in organizations.
With the advancement of technology leading a virtual team has many challenges in any
organizational capacity, and that needs an approach that evaluates a leader’s leadership quality
and competitiveness. The basic problem that arises is “How can one manage a team that they
are not physically in contact with?” Another problem is miscommunication errors that affect
team relations due to unclear and vague information regarding rules and responsibilities or task
delegation by leaders.
Avolio, Kahai and Dodge in their research in 2000 say that Virtual leadership changes the
leadership style and how it is measured in distinct organizations, even created or adjusted
4
though many other aspects of leadership don’t change. How can a leader build relationship and
social interaction within the team using limited or changing technology?
According to Kendick 2012 a project is considered successful when the project is completed on
time, within the budget and in the quality anticipated by the client or consumer or stakeholder.
And Lee- Kelley and Sanky claim in their studies that a project's achievement is very essential to
measure the triangle of time, budget and quality efficiency and qualitative variable. In another
research carried out in 2005 a survey by Goodbody claims that only 30% of IT projects have been
successfully completed.
Questions arise, how can leaders make sure that they complete a project successfully? Do they
regulate the process of the group or the project? What abilities or data a leader should have to
build an atmosphere that improves motivation, confidence and efficiency of the institution?
In 2006, Aggarwal and Rathod stated that from the view of a stakeholder, a project is not
deemed successful or unsuccessful. One result can possibly imply distinct outcomes for distinct
individuals engaged in a project. Other parties may not see actual achievement viewed by
project directors as achievement.
In this research, a project’s successful completion will be considered as the project
manager’s view point.
Trust is a big Factor for any team but for a virtual team or a team that is not in physical contact
the importance of trust multiples several times. According to Greenberg and Antonucci, 2007
Technology based communication is the factor that makes building trust more difficult.
We will focus this study on:
01: How do different challenges in Virtual setup effect Project Success?
02: What are the ways in which trust is accomplished by
Leaders in a Virtual Setup?
03: How is leadership behavior different in E-Leadership projects as compared to other normal
projects?
5
The paper will further discuss E-Leadership notions, project success and
construction trust. Shared leadership as an exclusive Virtual Workplace
management style, transition from traditional to eLeadership initiatives and the challenges faced by the teams will also be discussed. ELeadership by emphasizing on components of the relationship and task oriented behavior
and their importance in leading a Virtual team.
Organizations play a key role in how they exercise PM to obtain an advantage in the competitive
setting of today. Historically PM has played an important role from the start of civilization. But
in the last 100 years huge amount of project management related data has arisen.
LITERATURE REVIEW
To assess the changes in leadership brought about by advanced technology, it is imperative to
take a look at the traditional leadership roles in project management. John P. Kotter of Harvard
Business School defined leadership as “the process of moving a group of followers in some
direction through mostly non-coercive means and producing movement in the long-term best
interests of the group.” Another leadership expert, John W. Gardner defined leadership as
“process of persuasion or example by which an individual induces a group of followers to pursue
common objectives.” Lastly, another definition of a leader, given by a renowned author of
leadership, Peter F. Drucker, is “one who has followers, regardless of a leader's own individual
abilities or greatness, there can be no leaders without followers.”
Project management is the program of expertise, abilities, instruments and methods to the
project operations to fulfill the project's needs. It is often expected of project managers to be
leaders, however many authors have differentiated the roles of the two. Charles M. Cadwell
(2004) says that “management skills provide a foundation for developing leadership skills.
Effective leaders have the ability to apply the appropriate skill at the appropriate time and in the
appropriate place.” Leaders innovate while Managers administer, similarly leaders seek to
inspire, motivate and guide whereas managers seek to control. The only commonality between
the two, according to Peter F. Drucker, is that both leaders and project managers have followers.
Despite the differences and commonalities, there are certain leadership qualities that are
expected of a project manager.
Behavioral theories emphasize on a Manager /leaders style of action, normally categorized with
view to task-orientation or people-orientation (Glynn & DeJordy, 2010). Task oriented style of
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leadership focuses on reaching goals. Managers with a task oriented leadership behavior assist
their team to get to their goals by explaining aims and objectives, showing path, setting time
frames. It is also a common practice that leaders use a more direct path using one way
communication, assigning tasks setting goals and guiding through paths that will be used to get
to the goal. (Holloway, 2012)
Task-oriented behaviors:





Production stress– pressurizing for results.
Structure commensment – describes your own position obviously and allows supporters
to understand what is anticipated.
Role attention –being a boss rather than a Leader
Persuasive techniques – arguments and debates
Superior orientation – making good relations with seniors to get attention or promotion
Relations-oriented behaviors:





Freedom of Decision/action or initiation
Tolerance of and kind of mishap without losing calm.
Reconcile and reduce conflicts without making a big deal out of it.
Ability to predict or forecast results
Ability to resolve conflicts and integrate team
For a long period of time, management models are based on mottos like "One must lead, and the
others follow." This type of system is about governance concentrated on one person and a strict
organizational environment.
Shared leadership is the most effect way of management in today’s modern era as tasks are
more complex and independent (Pearce, 2004). Business and firms of all sectors have realized
that a more properly organized and executed form of leadership can have surprising effects on
the performance of the organization and the product result can go surprisingly high. (Kim
Cameron).
Kumar, V. S. (2009) in his paper titled Essential leadership skills for project managers has listed
down leadership skills for project managers as follows:

Motivating and inspiring
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


team building
negotiating and communication
listening and influencing
In their 2015 study, Niddiffer and Dolan say project management methods today are much
better than they had been years ago. Businesses concentrated on outcomes that did not
manage the evolving climate within the organization, client needs and business structure.
Today, however, organizations are embracing sustainability and shifting to virtual
environments. Technology has perhaps played one of the most important roles in transforming
the world among all the innovations of the previous century.
“Technology has impregnated society in particular, and significant state and financial participan
ts have acknowledged the significance of integrating technology throughout schooling to prepare
a productive workforce” (Farmer, 2011, p. 230)
With this shift in use of technology, it is evident that means and methods or organizing and
leading a team also had to be updated so as to enable leaders to function in these virtual set
ups and lead a virtual team. A virtual team, also known as the Regionally Scattered Team, is a
group of professionals / persons working on a project using electronic communication
instruments and technologies to meet / connect from different workplaces. A virtual project
management team will undertake projects for a particular quantity of purpose, cost and time.
Technology-mediated management style has become very important for managers at every
stage. V-leadership is about mixing techniques and traditional communication just as much as it
is about using more ICT-mediated communication. While the types of leadership skills required
in traditional and digital conditions are highly consistent, they aren't the same the differences
are critical to success and failure. The Skills required for efficient V-leadership are those that
allow skilled ICT, experts to lead skilled ICTs and other employees to identify and design revenue
streams and main possibilities for innovation.
Success in V-leadership is described as making the greatest use of ICT developments and
providing organizational value. Western sector is increasingly demanding to enhance the quality
of e-leadership, covering ICT innovation organizational leadership to deliver business
performance.
With changes in work place environment and introduction of advanced technology into
organizations, there has been a shift in the virtues of project management, particularly leadership
in project management. As a leader’s prime responsibility is listening and communication, how
8
can a leader fulfill these responsibilities in a virtual context. This gave rise to the studies and
research on E- leadership, or Virtual Leadership. The emergence of e-leadership as a concept in
the academics was not until early 2000s. Early works by Avolio focused on the changes that
technology and digitalization bring in a work environment and how they affect the roles of
leadership.
Avolio defines E-Leadership as a "social influence process mediated by Advanced Information
Technology (AIT) to produce a change in attitudes, feelings, thinking, behavior, and/or
performance with individuals, groups, and/or organizations.” A large part of the academic
discourse on E-leadership revolves around the role of leaders and their ability to adapt to the
digital and technological advancements brought into the structures of organizations and
companies. Authors like Gardner and Kirkland have introduced a new profile of leaders who are
constantly interact with technology.
Avolio, Kahai, and Dodge’s work on e-leadership focuses on the characteristics of E-leaders in
terms of their roles and behavior. He claims that the introduction of technology into work place
deeply changes the way in which leader communicate and connect with their followers. They
have used the Adaptive Structuration Theory to understand the relationship between leadership
and technology, more specifically how the two impact each other. Adaptive Structuration Theory
has become of the top theories of group communication. It is based on the theory that “human
action is guided by structures, which are defined as rules and resources that serve as templates
for planning and accomplishing tasks.” It is an approach to study the role of advanced technology
in organizational change. According to Avolio, Kahai and Dodge, technology creates organization
structures but at the same time technology and leadership impact these organizations. AST
focuses on social structures, rules and resources in organizations. it claims that structures in
technology and structures in human actions are interlinked. As summarized by Avolio and his
fellow authors, technology and leadership have a “recursive relationship.” both affect each other
while being affected by each other.
Probas Das Gupta has done an extensive literature review on e-leadership. He claims that “the
goals of leadership have not changed, but the new e-leader needs to implement those goals
electronically on computer-mediated virtual teams that are dispersed over space and time. What
is very different is that the e-leader may never physically meet one or more of the followers, and
that the main communication medium is the computer.” where E-leadership comes with
challenges, it has “ the ability to instantly communicate one-on-one with employees, customers,
and suppliers; the capability to use talent wherever it exists; the opportunity to enhance
organizational performance by assembling better multi-functional teams, and to improve better
customer satisfaction by using the ―follow the sun‖ methodology; the ability to cut costs; and,
9
scope for better knowledge management.” These factors largely improve the competitive ability
of corporations.
However some authors claim that the emergence of e-leadership in research as well as in
business and military organizations poses challenges to communication between leaders and
followers. One of the major challenges, as identified by Avoli , is that of building trust, which both
impacts and is impacted by virtual leadership. Being physically separate from their followers,
leaders must be more creative and diligent in how and how often they communicate with them.
Although the frequency of communication in virtual context increases, building trust becomes
harder in physical absence of the leader. As identified by DasGupta, bridging the physical distance
and communication with members in far flung areas, specially those that the leader has never
met, is a real challenge.
Establishing a project with a virtual team needs a different set of social skills, strategies and tools
than initiating a project involving internal staff. (Pawel Ha, 2017). Virtual teams are now a reality
in the workplace (where we work with peers in distant locations, whether they are nearby or in
separate nations). If this trend remains in the workplace environment, internet feature will
progressively influence how we work, and the' effective virtual team worker' will be a valued
asset. A major benefit of forming digital teams is the ability to access a wide range of talent from
different places (Gary Hamilton, Jeff Hodgkinson, and Gareth Byatt)
Working in virtual teams is challenging as people working on different projects need to
synchronize and communicate across time differences, distance, cultures and traditions.
Challenges must be ensured:
• Public knowledge, linguistic and cultural differences, with no body language and speech
signals available
• Cooperation to ensure that everyone is where they need to be, with the right information,
facilities and skills.
• Honoring individual cultures while establishing a common team culture when working across
organizational boundaries.
Zofi (2011), says that before you start with GDT teams, there are a lot of difficulties to consider.
These are:

Build relationships within the team
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
Assess the members’ performance

Communicate

Do the participants know what they can do to delegate?

Building a team without earlier meeting members in individual?

Existence of conflicts since teams are dispersed

Deal with promotions
Members of the virtual and conventional team learn how to interact effectively with other
members and also agree on standard operating procedures that enable the building of trust and
confidence between employees (Zaccaro & Bader, 2003).
Virtual teams are more likely to be selected for a limited period of time and a specific mission,
and the team is often disbanded when this is completed. The issue recognized here is that it
requires time to create the dynamics of an efficient virtual team. Effective teams go through
phases of formation, storming, standardization, performance and adjournment to create
elevated levels of team confidence and cohesion. (Zaccaro and Bader,2003)
Building Trust and Confidence
Confidence is a choice. It is a decision to have confidence or not to have confidence. We can
depend on it to fulfill commitments, such as taking care of your interests or fulfilling our
expectations. Mistrust or uncertainty implies that we lack trust. We're more guarded and
suspicious. Trust connects individuals, it distinguishes them from distrust.
M. R. Covey in The speed of trust, Says that “trust is a performance multiplier, not a soft, social
virtue”
Some scientists think that except for our own loved ones, we are genetically programmed to
distrust everyone. However, studies have already shown that confidence can be actively
increased and retained in virtual organizations even if they need to be placed on the move with
dispersed staff.
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Teams can't really work well if they don't trust each other. It is hard enough to develop and
maintain confidence in the conventional physical workplace, but the method is even harder in a
virtual space where individuals often have to work with it. (Keith Ferrazzi, 2012)
As stated above, trust is a crucial factor for success in all projects, but it is especially crucial in
interactive teams because it is much difficult to build confidence when team members are
regionally spread and interact through electronics (Greenberg et al., 2007).
Bradley and Vozikis in their research in 2004 point out that even though physical meetings are
hard to arrange, there must be focus on reliable and advance media. Team members should rely
on trust based on their previous experiences.
They identify some of the best practices for trust building:
• Leverage “swift trust.” Recognize that individuals are generally prepared to give others
the advantage of suspicion when organizations first develop.
• Pro-actively build interpersonal trust. Team Leaders often believe that stakeholders will
be mostly concerned in what their team mates are capable of when they assemble a virtual
team, as compared to who they are as people. When looking at someone's curriculum vitae,
or bio, individuals often lock personal information, such as pastimes and other external
concerns, such as the person's charities. Another theory suggests that we generally trust
others we think are comparable to us because, we think these people will respond to
different circumstances in the same way as us.
• Communicate with predictability. Quantity isn't the key to excellent correspondence, but
quality is. Smart executives acknowledge that, particularly if in the past they had issues with
staff being surrounded by an analysis paralysis of numerous emails and frequent conferences.
• Share and rotate power. Teams are generally resulted by lone leaders in a conventional
workplace. This sort of centralized power framework is less efficient in a virtual space. A
research of virtual coaches in a worldwide IT business Fortune 500 discovered that authority
had moved among the teams with a large degree of confidence the members based on the
stage of the project. Typically, individuals at any specified moment held the most authority
was also the person with the most understanding and appropriate data about that specific
point of job.
Building trust between team members and leaders tackles the issue of communication in virtual
settings. However today, all the sharing of data and information is also done through these new
modes of communication such as Whatsapp, Skype, and Email etc. In this highly advanced and
technological setting, the virtues of leadership have not changed but the technological
advancement has just brought a shift in the means of leading a team. Leaders are still required
12
to have inspirational abilities, however they now expected to lead across virtual settings, guiding
people they’ve never even met. Avolio and Kahai have termed this shift as a “quiet revolution.”
There is ample research on virtual leadership in the west considering the paradigm is fairly new,
however literature on E-leadership in Pakistani context, in local organizations lacks. This paper
aims at understanding the shape that these challenges of E-leadership take in our national
organizations.
METHODOLOGY/FRAME WORK
This section analyses the ways used to gather information and data for organizational decision
making. The data sources may include different types of publications, articles, Interviews,
Surveys, and any other kind of information, which may be from the past or present.
In this study have used different kinds of methodologies to get our concerned data for research.
For quantitative data we have measured and questioned current theories or hypotheses.
We often use the newly gathered data to create new theories. Checking quantitative data is
better for a researcher’s contemporaries as some people find figures and statistics more easy
and secure. We through this study have explored leadership in Virtual settings, for which we
broke down our research into 3 questions. In order to get a more understandable result we
constructed two different kinds of direct data collection techniques, an interview and a
questionnaires.
Our study aims to investigate leadership in a virtual environment.
Our objective
is
divided into three research issues that affect how we perform the study.
We
have
decided to incorporate two types of information from project executives operating in a digital e
nvironment and their team
members
from
different
organization in order to get more knowledge of our study issues.
RESEARCH PSYCOLOGY
According to Saunders et al.’s 2012 research paper there are 4 kinds of research philosophies in
Management.

Pragmatism / Rational
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


Positivism/ Anticipation
Realism/ practical
Interpretivism/ Analytical
Research is concerned with the source of information, its importance and its growth/ effect.
Simply said research philosophy is the study of how to collect, gather, analyze and use the
information.
Practical implications affect the selection of a particular study philosophy. There are significant
variations in philosophy between research focusing on facts and numbers.
A significant point of discussion has traditionally been the decision between positivist and inter
pretative study philosophies or between quantitative and qualitative research methods.
In this research we have employed the rational/pragmatic research philosophy. We have used
the triangulation technique, mixing both qualitative and quantitative questions in our survey and
interview.
Popular
Data
Collectio
n
Methods
PRAGMATISM
POSIVTISIM
REALISM
INTERPRETIVISM
- Mixed/Multip
- Bigger
- Metho
- Investigatio
le methods
Samples
ds
ns
design
- Highly
chosen
- Small
- Qualitative
structured
must fit
samples
and
- Measured
the
Quantitative
Quantitati
subject
ve but can
matter.
use
Quality
qualitative
wise or
quantit
y wise
collecte
d data
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Saunders et al., (2012),
RESEARCH APPROACH OR STRATEGY
This can be divided into 3 types
1. Deductive or synthesis approach
2. Inductive or Generalization approach
3. Abductive approach
The connection of hypothesis to our study is the main difference between synthesis and
generalization. Deductive approach checks the accuracy of our assumptions and inductive
approach helps us construct fresh theories and generalizations.
Whereas, Abductive study starts with' unexpected information' or' puzzles' & their interpretation
is related to the study phase.
LOGIC
DEDUCTION
INDUCTION
ABDUCTION
,
 WHEN
 KNOWN
THE
 KNOWN
INFORMATION IS
DATA
INFORMATION
USED
TO
ARE
IS USED TO
GENERATE
TRUE,
UNTESTED
TESTABLE
RESULT
RESULTS
RESULTS
S MUST
ALSO
BE
TRUE
GENEREALABILT
Y

USE OF DATA

GENERLISING
IT
FROM
GENERAL TO
SPECIFIC
TO EVALUATE
PROPORSTION
S
OR
HYPOSTHESIS
15

GENERLISING
FROM SPECIFIC
O GENERAL


USED
TO
EXPLORE
PHENOMENO
N,
THEMES

INTERACTION
BETWEEN
SPECIFIC
AND
GENERAL
TEST
THIS
THROUGH
SUSEQUEN DATA
COLLECTION
TO EVALUATE
EXISTING
THEORIES
THEORY


VERIFICATION
AND
PATTERENS
AND
TO
CREATE
A
CNCEPTUAL
FRAME WORK.
THEORY
BUILDING OR
THEORY
GENERATION

GENERATION OR
MODIFICATION
AND/OR
IINCORPORTAIO
N INTO EXISTING
THEORY
The significant differences in logic, predictive validity, information use and theory between ded
uctive, inductive and abductive study methods.
We need to get a clear picture of the phenomenon or the idea of leadership in a virtual setup. As
a leaders role and behavior, and trust building influences both parties involved. The leader and
the follower. Using qualitative or quantitative data offer us 2 different perspectives. Mixed
approached of research may give us reliable internees. (Lund 2012).
Our research has a deductive approach, building on previous literature regarding the challenges
that advanced technology has brought for leaders in project management.
The logic of our conclusion will be increased in our study by integrating data collected
qualitatively from the managers and the data collected quantitatively from the team members
of organizations. Later the results will be analyzed to see how they oppose or support each
other’s views.
STRATEGY
(Saunders et al., 2012’s report says different research strategies can be chosen depending on
what the research question/ purpose or philosophy is. For our qualitative part of the research we
used case study strategy and also used different sources of data which included interviews.
16
For a more disagreeing view and later conclude we will use the strategy of survey where we will
be using questionnaire/survey forms. To improve the strength of our survey and to acquire
deeper knowledge of Virtual setup we need to use survey strategy. Hurmerinta-Peltomäki &
Nummela, 2006
Our case study design can be seen as fixed design, because it involves more than one unit of
analysis which is 10 project leaders which is just not limited to qualitative analysis but also
involves different methods correspondingly
DATA GATHERING
Data that we collect can come from different range of sources
Similarly, the collection of primary data requires a range of methods to be used. Some of the m
ost popular methods for collecting information:




Survey forms/ short questionnaires
Internet Sources
Semi structured interviews
Case studies and research papers.
We will be collecting qualitative data using semi structured interviews to find out how they see
leadership behavior and trust building in a Virtual Set up.
SEMI STUCTURED INTERVIEW
We decided to construct and interview with more particular questions and list more focused
topics and accurate issues. It gave us the advantage of being sure we had taken care of the
important
areas
of
our
research.
The interview that we designed included more practical questions to define manager’s true views
regarding virtual leadership. More follow up questions helped them elaborate on particular
concerns.
Semi-Structured Interview Questions for Managers in Virtual setting.
General Questions:
17



Brief Description about yourself? Your company? And your position?
During your professional carrier have you been a part of a virtual team?
Have you ever managed or supervised a virtual team?
Team


Is your team regionally/geographically dispersed? Or are they in the same country you
live in?
How are Teams created and members selected?
Views about Teams




What do you think is the biggest difference b/w leading a virtual team and a normal team?
What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of working within a v-team?
What Kind of challenges do you face/critical factors working within a virtual
team/project?
How do you handle them?
Project Success



How do you evaluate the plan's achievement?
What are the main barriers that effect a virtual project success?
Is a leader’s behavior, vision, emotions and values as important as the results?
Behavior and Task




Is pressure on your team mates important to obtain required results?
How is individual progress monitored?
Is leadership shared with in your team?
Does your team know their responsibilities?
Relationship Oriented Leadership




How are emotions expressed in your team?
How is feedback provided/ how does your team provide support or coaching?
How free are your team members to take decisions?
How do you handle conflict situation? How does it affect the project outcome?
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

How does Time difference and cultural differences effected the way you worked? How
do you manage?
What do you do to make your team commit to work?
Trust building











How do you assemble or establish your team?
Is there a formal introduction?
Are team building activities held?
Are there any rules of engagement in your team?
How is your team member’s contribution acknowledged?
Is communication between team members monitored?
How do you know everyone’s informed and has understood every instruction?
Are there interim deadline celebrations held?
Are there any specific guidelines to communicate? That you established to enhance
communication and exchange of information?
What hardship did you face while building trust?
To overcome interview bias, we tried to make themes and develop the interview advance and
the question that we will be asking are neutral and free from personal or cultural beliefs as much
as we can.
QUESTIONAIRE
The qualitative data we we gather will be also helped by primary data that we will be collecting
by a web based questionnaire/ survey form.
We constructed this questionnaire to be filled by project menbers in order to encounter project
managers’ view of leadership compared to project memebers view of leadership to get a more
clear understanding of the issue.
19
The questionnaire contained different categories of questions.
QUESTIONAIRE
E-Leadership for Project Managers in Pakistan
1. Please mention the project you’re working
on while filling in this questionnaire?
Or
Name the Organization you work for?
2. What was the project duration?
Or
How long did you work for this institution?
3. The size of the team you work with?
o
o
o
o
o
4. Team mates from
o 1 country
5-10 people
10-20 people
30-40 people
More than 40
The size of the team varied
considerably
o 2 to 4 countries
o 5 to 6 countries
o 7 to 8 countries
o more
20
5. face to face meeting are held
o
o
o
o
o
6. What are the communication tools that
you use?
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
7. main function/role was
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
21
no meetings
1 time during project
2 times during project
3 times during project
More
Email
phone
apps for video calls
text messaging
skype
Online discussion forum
Wiki
Social
network
site
(whatsaap/instagram)
o Online office suite (e.g., Google
Docs)
Business development manager
Accounts
Administration
Sales and marketing
Project management
IT department
Risk Management
customer care
operations
research and development
HR
Information
Legal/ Law
Supply Chain
8. How much time did you spent working
within this team?
o
o
o
o
o
o
80%
60-80%
40-60%
20-40%
10-20%
Less than 10%
9. The most difficult thing working with a VTeam was
o
o
o
o
o
Technology based communication
Language and culture
Time difference
coordination
trust and confidence building
10. what
tools
were
communicating?
foe
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
11. I would describe my Manager/ Team lead
as:
o
o
o
o
o
efficient
22
Email
phone
apps for video calls
text messaging
Skype
Online discussion forum
Wiki
Social
network
site
(whatsaap/instagram)
o Online office suite (e.g., Google
Docs)
Result focused/task oriented
Relationship oriented
Helping and caring
Supporting and guiding
Communication gap
12. Factor that contributes to project success
o Sure aboot objectives and
responsibilities
o Stakeholders satisfaction
o Leaders support and team
building activities
o Understanding
of
cultural
differences
o Trust, communication and team
confidence.
Strongly disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
disagree
agree
 Leader helped me clear my doubts
every time.
 Leader gave us honest and accurate
feedbacks
 Leaders acknowledged and appreciated
our
achievements
and
accomplishments.
 I was clear about my roles and
responsibilities
 I had confidence in my fellow team
members skills and abilities
 We, team mates exchanged information
and talked about topics other than work
too.
 We
faced
conflicts
and
misunderstandings as a team
23
 It didn’t feel like I didn’t know other
team members personally
 I could ask for help and support anytime
I needed from my team members
 I think the project manager’s way of
leading was suitable and efficient for
the virtual setting
 The team managers style of leading was
satisfactory and suitable
Since a high response rate is essential for ensuring the representativeness of the sample and the
reduction of the risk of non-response bias. We calculated the active response rate (ARR) of our
report as suggested by Neumann (2005).
We need a higher rate of responses to make sure representatives of the sample and to reduce
the risk of no responses from the non-serious responders.
We will calculate Active Response Rate as suggested by Neumann in his case study in 2005.
24
FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
Our research was aimed at identifying the issues in virtual work environments in Pakistan. From
our interviews with the respondents, our findings show that team members indeed find it difficult
to trust leaders who are only in contact through phone or other electronic means. It is harder do
decipher the exact orders given by a leader and it becomes confusing as there are no rules and
regulations of how to manage a virtual team in our local organizations. Task delegation and team
connectivity is better when the team as well as the leaders meet, which happens sporadically
during a year. Many respondents claimed to have weak or no internet connections to
communicate with their leaders. Lack of technological knowledge, especially in Pakistani society
is common. Hence this creates hurdles for leaders to resolve conflicts, delegate tasks and manage
a virtual team through media. With all these challenges, it becomes tougher for a leader to bring
team members on a single page and guide them all towards the achievement of a goal.
Limitations:
While carrying out this research we faced certain limitations. Firstly, there is no considerable data
available on virtual leadership or team building in Pakistani context. There is a star difference
between western and Pakistani society regarding use of technology in work places. However due
to lack of data in our local social context, we had to take guidance from western theories and
apply them on our local context. Secondly, not all respondents from our sample were ready to
fill the surveys. There was general lack of seriousness among the respondents which made it
challenging to gather data. Lastly, the surveys were distributed through electronic media i.e.
Google Forms, because of which problems of access to network arose.
PROJECT SUCCESS
REAL/EMPERICAL FINDINGS
The respondents of our survey had different opinion about project success, most of the members
think that time, quality and budget was more important than the vision emotions and behavior
of the Project leader but they also mention that a leader’s role is equally important.
9 respondents of the survey said that clear objectives, roles and responsibilities were important,
3 agreed upon customer and stakeholder satisfaction and 4 agreed on team building activities by
25
a team leader and one thought that for a virtual setting cultural understanding an communication
played an important role. 4 people choose trust and good communication between the team
members.
There were different answers related to how to measure project success and the key factors of
it but a common answer was that a desired goal or final target was the basic factor. Other than
that people from different businesses focused on different factors such as individuals from
industrial businesses emphasized on Quality, Quantity, profitability and time management
whereas respondents from social side (NGO & Public sector) focused on the results and feedback
from target audience and impact on general public.
ANALYSIS
After our research, and survey we relied to find out that time budget and quality contributes
heavily to a project success where a team leader and working environment within the working
group matters a lot too.
WORKING WITHIN A VIRTUAL SET UP & IT’S CHALLANGES
FINDINGS

TECHNOLOGY & COMMUNICATION
Respondents of our survey mentioned how technology was a big challenge when you work with
a Technology Based team. 2 Respondents (A&F) said that emotions and body language were
important factors for a normal projects success but working in a virtual team it’s a big challenge
to express emotions and expectations which leads to miscommunication. One of the participants
(G) said that personal connection gets lost while working virtually, another respondent said that
more facial interaction leads to more trust and comfortable environment.
As my research was conducted in Pakistan and all the respondents were from Pakistan most of
the participants, to a question related to challenges of a virtual working environment said that
not everyone here has access to high speed internet which is often a cause of delay.
Keeping check and balance and accountability was very hard according to the survey participants.
Some of them also feared that leading a virtual team and making them follow deadlines and
making them serious towards the project goal was difficult so the managers responded to this
issue by saying that the hiring process of a VT is very crucial.
Lack of trust due to distance, cultural and time differences and task distribution are some other
factors that some respondents found challenging.
26
A big ration in the Pakistan’s working class is not very familiar to technology like the rest of the
world, and to be in a VT it’s important for team members to know how to use technology.
CONFLICTS
Conflicts of any kind can come up in any working environment, it’s a universal challenge everyone
has to face. The Participants of my survey responded to handling conflicts differently as most of
them mentioned they were ready to face it.
Participant A said “Excessive conflicts creates hurdles for in Achieving Project Goals” so they
handle conflicts sternly. B said that they call a meeting every time such a situation rises, they
involve all the team members. They talk about it and find a common solution to it. Participant C
said that they refer to their mentors and senior co-workers. Resonant E stated that they have a
company policy towards such situations as they issue show cause to people involved and decide
according to the policy.
Respondents F G and H said they listen to both parties involved before taking any decisions.
Time zone and Cultural difference
Another challenge that a virtual setup, specially, faces is time and cultural differences. Some of
my participants were open to diversity so they did not find it a problem e.g. respondent A.
whereas respondent B said cultural and time difference did effect their work but “we live in a
global village and this is 21st century. So we act like it’. Respondent C did not answer anything to
these questions. Respondent D and E said that they don’t face such a situation right now but
when they do they accept time zone issues and respect cultural difference.
Respondent F said that they take this challenge as an opportunity to learn and grow, although
they do face language barrier but they involve relevant people for the job.
ANALYSIS
Technology and Communication
From our empirical findings we come to a conclusion that most of the communication related
issues rise due to team members not having knowledge of technology which ends up in
technology failure. The respondents of my survey felt that they weren’t trained well enough to
27
use up to date technology which thy use for communication purposes. Most of the respondent
said they used the easier tools of communication or they relied on pretty old tools for example
phones and emails. Video Calls were used in special situations.
Cultural Difference
Cultural differences can be used in a positive way if a team leader and his members know and
understand and also are sensitive towards the issue. Our research highlighted how important it
is to be aware of cultural differences and its effect on virtual teams. Most of our respondents
said that they took cultural difference positively and as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Somehow there were challenges that our participants said they faced which included language
barrier.
Some said that team leaders had different English levels where as some had to face total black
out in communication i.e Chinese language for which they had to hire concerned language
translator.
Conflicts
The two major types of conflicts that arise are either relationship related or they are task related
conflicts, relationship related conflicts can be personal. In this research we concluded that
conflict is a universal challenge and everyone is ready to face it.
Most of the conflicts our respondents said were task related caused due to mismanagement or
miscommunication or high level of pressure and expectations.
Task oriented conflicts have positive effect on projects as such conflicts help tem members grow
and learn. And know each other what is behind the surface.
TRUST BUILDING PRACTICES
EMPERICAL FINDINGS
Concerning the planning stage the team members that were selected were based on technical
expertise, capabilities and abilities. “Based on their skills, shared experiences, common abilities
and different approaches towards a common problem” (Respondent A). Other Criteria
Identified were project requirement, skills, and previous performances.
For trust to be gained, participants mentioned that creating a common goal is very important.
When a team is put together, introduction where previous achievements are shared might have
different effects on different working groups/teams. For some organizations and projects it’s
28
important for them to share past experiences where as some don’t care they just need name and
function to be known in the initial phase of introduction because it is considered that with time
and experience with each other members find their ways and know about each other.
All of the respondents agreed that acknowledgement and appreciation of the contributions team
members made were important in any working environment as it plays an important role in trust
and team building and also in personal growth of the members which obviously contributes to
productivity. Some of the ways that a leader of an organization can use to contribute were direct
appreciative communication, written appreciation letters from the Head of the Organizations or
head of project, employ of the month/ week announcements, bonuses and cash rewards and
Award ceremonies at least once a year.
Everyone did everything to monitor and make it better but the communication flow was
considered a big hurdle within a virtual setup. The respondents said that in a virtual setup they
cannot have informal communication as it is one important thing to know each other informally
be friends, to build a comfortable working environment, they said they were stuck to formal
communication only which makes it boring. They only got chance to have informal meetings only
in the occasional face to face meetings.
It is very important for a team leader in a Virtual setting to be very present and be there for the
team whenever they are needed as team members on ground do not see their leaders and they
don’t know what the leaders do in the background so if a leader is busy when a team member
tries to contact them it is not appreciated and creates frustration.
Most of the respondents said deadlines were celebrated if the work is done on time. For a project
with long life interim deadlines are set. And respondents said that interim deadlines ere
celebrated too. Those respondents who said they did not celebrate interim deadlines mentioned
that they focused on final goals and celebrations were done when final goal was achieved.
REAL FACE TIME & MEETINGS
The respondents of our research said that team real face to face meetings were held at least once
a year. All of them mentioned how important it was to hold such meetings and that too with
frequency.
Project leader’s emphases on such meetings and said that it’s important for them to meet their
teams twice a year in order to create team spirit and also to help in better communication and
also to deliver and make team release what is expected. It is also important for a manager/ team
leader to see the reactions and feedback of team members.
29
ANALYSIS
During our research we found out that team selection is done on basis of availability and skills.
The role of a project leader is very small in the selection process.
The respondents said they had hard time in the start while creating trust. It was also difficult to
find a common ground and make an environment based on team’s skills and experiences. Thy
also said that there weren’t any formal rules of engagement and even if there were they weren’t
really cared about. But team leaders do encourage team building activities during meetings.
Greenberg et al (2007) says that frequent flow of communication (task and no task related),
monitoring flow of communication and encouragement are very important parts to build trust
within the team. We in our research found out that leaders/ angers found it hard to monitor
communication flow. So team leaders during the meetings would encourage members to open
up and share their experiences to create a trusted environment where later they could raise their
concerns and find solutions to them. It is important to be friendly and commutable when working
together in a group but respondents identified that non task oriented communication was
missing.
A leader needs to show his availability, encourage the team and their contribution is
acknowledged and guidance is provided. Respondents emphasized on the importance of a team
leader’s role.
LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOURS
ACTUAL FINDINGS
The team Leaders that we interviewed said that it was very challenging to lead a virtual team and
make sure member’s time dedication to the project. Not every member of the team is reliable
therefore a team leader’s role becomes very crucial at this point. A team lead has to struggle
between tasks making up for not so serious members time and work.
TASK & RELATIONSHIP ORIENTED LEADERSHIP
For a virtual working environment it is important to keep a balanced leadership between task
and relationship oriented leadership style.
30
The behavior depends mainly on people and culture within the company, there for participants
emphasized on creating a free environment were team members could speak freely and
communication did not stop.
For a task oriented leadership it is pressure is an important factor but to what extend would they
go and how hard would the leader pressurize their team was the debate. In response our
participants said that there was a difference between stress and pressure. Teams were
pressurized enough to get the task done but none was stressed. Although pressure was applied
to different members differently depending on their task and individual’s personality.
MANAGEMENT OF EXPECTATIONS
It’s important for a leader to know how to manage expectations, as he is considered to be central
when leading a virtual project. One of the main barrier is managing expectations as time, distance
and cultural differences are bigger challenges themselves. A leader is expected to be present all
the time, know everything and be available.
People also face issues when they understand what their responsibility is but they miss out what
is expected from them.
MOTIVATION & EMPOVERMENT
In our research and interview we found out that motivation and expectation is the most
important job of a team leader. They key factors to empower their team is freedom of expression
and freedom of action to the team members.
Giving freedom to their team was one thing participants mentioned in their interviews but they
also mentioned that there was always a limit. Manager needs to trust his team and members
need to gain his trust in the same it is important that the team members trust their
manager/leader to complete and for that freedom is important.
SHARED LEADERSHIP
All the respondents agreed on shared leadership, but every managers shared leadership was at
different extends. Every member in the teams they lead had a share in decision making and
leadership but at different level where as the project managers held the overall leadership
throughout the project.
The respondents mentioned that shared leadership were not very different in virtual setups then
the traditional ones, and sharing of leadership was supported by almost all the respondents but
some mentioned that only if there were members within the team with leadership skills.
31
ANALYSIS
Through our research and interviews we found out that the importance of task related leadership
increases. But it doesn’t mean that people/relationship oriented leadership role isn’t important.
According to “The Contingency Theory” the leadership style changes with organizational
functions and different situations. Our research suggests that task don’t affect leaders’ behavior
but it depends on team members and their backgrounds.
We conclude that to create trust and unity can be created by good communication flow even
when task related leadership style is observed.
For a project success trust is important and to create an environment where there is high level
trust within the team task oriented behavior is important. It is important to make team members
act, step in and communicate and share ideas for a project to succeed. Our participants said that
empowering team members is a way to ensure good leaderhip in virtual teams.
Shuffler, Wiese, Salas & Burke (2010) say that since team members are placed remotely it’s
important for a virtual team to practice shared leadership in order to increase productivity of
members. Being displaced the need of a distribution of leadership increases.
Our research also supports the significance of shared leadership in VT to identify and find better
solutions to problems
It’s not important everyone in the team has the same leadership approach as the team manager,
infect different styles of leaderships are encouraged. Shared leadership is practiced in such teams
where members are seen to have good leading qualities, and where a leader gives opportunity
to team mates to experience the leadership roles and make them feel empowered. But this is
important to mention that there is a different between the leadership roles of the project leader
and a project members.
Pearce (2004) says that task oriented leaderships are more independent and difficult the shared
leadership which is quite effective but shared leadership doesn’t work in decision making as this
lies in the hands of the leader only. He may ask for suggestions but taking decisions is a leader’s
work.
32
PERSPECTIVES OF PROJECT MEMBERS
Here is are some questions and their answers statistically shown, answered by the participants
of our survey.
Figure:
01
33
Figure: 02
Figure: 03
34
Figure: 04
Figure: 05
35
Figure: 06
Figure: 07
36
Figure: 08
Figure: 09
37
Figure: 10
Figure: 11
38
Figure: 12
Figure: 13
39
Figure: 14
Figure: 15
40
Figure: 16
Figure: 17
41
Figure: 18
Figure: 19
42
Figure: 20
Figure: 21
43
Figure: 22
Figure: 23
44
Figure: 24
Figure: 25
45
Figure: 26
46
CONCLUSION, CONTRIBUTIONS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Our findings depict the lack of technological skills and lack of cultural knowledge in organizations
affects the achievement of goals. Moreover, conflicts, that are difficult to handle through virtual
modes of communication affects teams and their working. These factors create hurdles in the
achievement of goals which is why it is necessary to develop trust trainings along with skills
enhancement and capacity building.
We will conclude our research by answering the questions that we raised in the very beginning
of this research, with the help of the data gathered through interviews and surveys.
01: How do different challenges in Virtual setup effect Project Success.
To our question regarding project success the participants agreed upon both end measurable
equally important. The challenges faced in a virtual environment were communication gap,
conflicts within the teams and conflicts. Overcoming these challenges through management and
trust building a project can be operated successfully.
These issues were considered very important to be taken care of by all the managers who
participated in our research. Communication management challenges were hardest to control
because it was time consuming which resulted in delays in project.
Communicating through technology kills creativity and personal touch, due to lack of real face
time meetings.
Lack of knowledge regarding technology and its usage is another challenge which slows down all
the process there for lack of technology trainings and being updated regarding development of
technology is very important for an organization/team.
Time zone difference within the teams was one challenge the project managers of our research
said effected the success of their projects as time zone difference slowed down communication
and coordination between team members.
Cultural difference effected how the team members perceived the project goals and confused
them of what was expected from them by the client or their managers. Therefore it was
important for the project managers to be open minded and to know about different cultures and
how members from different cultures behaved to gain the required results from the project.
Another challenge was conflicts thin teams which had multiple results. Personal conflicts effected
projects negatively and it was a challenge to overcome whereas task related conflicts were
somehow beneficial as they might be team member’s creativity, frustration, and feelings. And
giving an ear to such conflicts helped team members to feel confident and strong.
47
02: Ways Trust is accomplished by Leaders in a Virtual Setup.
Through our research we found out that for a start project managers create a unifying purpose
to which everyone in the team could agree and to achieve the goal everyone could rely on each
other.
To attain trust it is important to create an environment where team members respected each
other’s skills and perspective and where everyone is appreciated for their achievements and
experiences.
Such an environment is possible through frequent meetings, team building activities and by
encouraging sharing of experiences and new ideas.
Other activities and actions that helped in trust building are celebrations on small
achievements/interim deadlines, team leaders/project managers’ presence in time of need, and
supportive communications.
However some of our project managers stated that such activities were not possible in short time
projects. Though our research and survey we found out that due to lack of personal touch and
very formal environment teams could not make social bonds which a the end created distances
and differences within the teams. It also resulted in lack of trust.
We tried to ask question in our survey and the interview in accordance to the frame work but
respondents answered differently. Which lead to ignoring the significance of trust building and
individual factors that are very important to see how project members saw trust and how they
approached it.
03: Leadership behavior different in E-Leadership project Compared to other normal projects?
The research works from previous researchers that we went through declare that leadership
roles both task and relationship style of leaderships become important in a virtual setting.
Through our research we confirm that task related leadership for short term project is important
where as in long term projects initially task related whereas with the projects life increasing
relationship oriented leadership style becomes more useful and important.
We also found out through our research that leadership behavior depends upon the team
members, project situations and organizations condition.
We found that the most important things in leading virtual teams were the effective
management of expectations, change management and motivation and empowerment of
48
members. Although all these factors mentioned above were equally important when managing
a face to face project but because in a virtual setup due to challenges in communication/ cultural
differences the importance of such steps increases.
CONTRIBUTIONS
There was already enough literature related to e-Leadership available.
We as researchers took one step ahead and tried to identify challenges and their effects on
different virtually working environments.
We came to a conclusion that technology is ine of the key challenges for the creativity and
productivity of a virtual setting. Through our interviews we found out that cultural differences
were not the biggest hurdles maybe that’s because the group of people we interviewed were all
from Pakistan and their team members had the same culture with very little differences, that’s
why it must not have been considered a big issue. And we also found out that work related
conflicts were beneficial for the growth and learning of a team.
Different Leadership styles have different impacts in a Virtual setup. We after our research
contributed by identifying that if a project is short term task related behavior is important where
as if the project life is long term relationship oriented behavior is important.
Our research supports previous findings on shared leadership. It’s very important in a virtual
team to shared leadership to get done with complex tasks. Shared leadership is very beneficial
to coordinate better to get tasks done. But major decision making lies in the hands of executive
managers.
PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
After our conclusions and Contributions we now discuss recommendations and implications of
our research.
To overcome the challenges, managers should first be aware of challenges they face in a virtual
setup. Once they know what they are going to face they need to plan solutions for instance the
49
communication barrier where computer mediated technology becomes hurdle they need to
support and train team members on the use of updated technology which will help in minimizing
miscommunication, and enhance social presence and interaction.
Project Managers in virtual setting must focus on cultural differences of members and other
differences if any (language/religion/sects etc.) to increase efficiency build trust, and empower
members within the team. Knowing abilities and backgrounds of the team will also help managers
in task distribution, leadership diffusion and work related group making within the project team
to increase productivity.
An organizations working environment plays a big role in its growth and productivity. We as
researchers recommend that managers/organization must lay down rules and regulations
regarding engagement and communication within the team to avoid unnecessary conflicts and
misunderstanding and provide an environment where team members build trust towards each
other.
Technological advancement is increasing day by day but technology can never replace personal
touch and social/physical presence. It’s important that VT have face to face meetings more often.
Real face time is very important for team members to develop trust towards their team leaders.
Bonuses and rewards and appreciation ceremonies are important too. There for it is
recommended that organizations and team leaders plan such events at least twice a year so that
team members feel owned.
FUTURE RESEARCH
Culture represents an important part to practice leadership virtually, therefore we suggest that
future researchers should try to identify characteristics of VT that can help overcome cultural
differences and be universal for leading any team virtually.
We also found out that home based and office based virtual setups are very different which might
affect or influence the leadership role, as working from home isn’t very easy it would be
interesting to see how this issue could be handled and how would it impact leadership role and
trust building.
In our research shared leadership came up as one of the most important factors to a project
success, it would be very interesting to see this issue in a deeper insight exploring other
dimensions and possibilities and to what areas of a Virtual setting would shred leadership be
more appropriate for a project success and also find ways to facilitate shared leadership in virtual
projects.
50
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