Overview of Methodology
The article discusses the research and data collection methodology used towards leading virtual teams and the 6 leadership practices of the leaders. In their first phase, they talk with the team members to get as much feedback as possible. In the second phase, the researchers explored how the virtual team members communicated with each other and which teams worked the most efficiently out of several hundred teams they analyzed. The researchers found those virtual team leaders that were willing to overcome any barriers, such as cross cultural, feelings of isolation, or time zones, were more likely to do well with virtual teams.
This topic places emphasis in this type of research as organizations are anticipating that leaders in the future will continue to be managing virtual teams and supply training for it.
References
Shuffler, M. L., Wiese, C. W., Salas, E., & Burke, C. (2010). Leading one another across time and space: Exploring shared leadership functions in virtual teams. Revista De Psicologia Del Trabajo Y De Las Organizaciones, 26(1), 3-17.
DQ2:
What one important point did you learn from this course about leadership that you did not already intuitively know from interacting with family, friends, and business associates?
The one important point that I learned was that I did not know there were several different leadership theories. I figured that there would be a few but there are really many, and all can be disputed against each other because it depends on the individuals style and power type.
What is the importance of the interaction between intuition and learning in the context of leadership?
With an intuitive leader, the leader intuitively believes in what is the best way to go about leading from their personal experience whereas with learning, the leader learns new techniques and skills from resources they have derived. The importance between both in leadership is that leaders need each when they are leading. Their followers will follow the leader because of these aspects as it is helpful to have an instinctive knowledge as well as a willingness to learn.
