Global virtual team leaders: unexplored opportunities for multicultural management
This project is about team leaders of global virtual multicultural teams. My purpose is to carry out analysis of collected data and write an article to present the results. Earlier research has shown that in collocated teams the incoming leader is judged by the team on visible attributes, which has an impact on the leader's possibility to lead the group. In interviews with virtual global team leaders I found that women and non-white men were positively surprised at their ability to lead the teams, while the white men were disappointed as their leadership did not lead to anticipated outcomes. Is it possible that organizing work in global virtual teams opens up to unexplored opportunities for multicultural management? And if so how did the successful team leaders organize work virtually across national, cultural, linguistic and time zone borders? To address these questions data has been collected during two years and includes interviews, questionnaires and focus groups together with an external jury's evaluation of the team outcomes. A sabbatical in Singapore and Hong Kong would enable me to learn new statistical methods, receive feedback on my work, and good advice on publishing from internationally acclaimed well-published researchers. The results from this project will increase our understanding of organizing work in global virtual teams and importantly what leadership opportunities that this could entail.
Final report
THE RESEARCH SABBATICAL
The funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond provided me with the highly appreciated opportunity to spend my sabbatical year at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2016-2017) and Singapore Management University for two weeks (2018). It enabled me to pursue my research on global virtual team leadership, to engage in inspiring discussions with, and learn from, highly competent colleagues at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Hong Kong Baptist University, as well as at Singapore Management University. I participated in workshops on method and transforming papers into impactful articles, and as a speaker I contributed to research workshops, seminars, and gave guest lectures to students (see details after the publication list).
As to the academic outcomes, the sabbatical has hitherto generated three articles in peer-reviewed international journals, one book chapter, one academic-practitioner bridge journal article, three conference papers (whereof one paper is a revision of another conference paper), and one conference panel. Two papers, both presented at conferences, are together with a book chapter currently under revision. To be noted is, that, as serious health issues delayed it, this report includes both an account of the sabbatical and the subsequent development of emerging research questions. All publications and conference presentations are listed in the publication list.
RESEARCH PROJECT AND OUTCOMES
Leadership of global virtual teams had, at the time of my sabbatical, interestingly received quite limited attention given the increased use of virtual teams as a way of organising work in global organizations. Global virtual teams are by nature multicultural, and leadership has by necessity to be carried out in a digital context. Separately, and together, cultural diversity and a virtual-based work environment pose increased and novel type of demands on global team leaders. For a more informed understanding, I thought it important to revisit task-oriented and relational aspects of interpersonal leadership by carrying out a historical review (Zander, 2020). Despite increased claims that leadership expectations, preferences, and ideals are globally converging, the insights from my review underscore that differences across countries and cultures remain. It is well-known that global team leaders face a multiplicity of culturally-based expectations, but are female leaders evaluated by who they are, as in earlier studies on female leaders, or by what they do when they lead virtual teams? In other words, I query whether leading global virtual teams opens up new leadership opportunities for women.
I presented preliminary findings from the research project on leading global virtual teams at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2017. My research team, Audra Mockaitis (Maynooth University), Peter Zettinig (University of Turku), Stephan Gerschewski (Edinburgh Business School) and I had collected both quantitative and qualitative data in a multi-year project. The project’s most important contribution is that female leaders of global virtual teams are recognised for what they do, rather than being stereotyped for who they are, and thus have the same degrees of freedom in their leadership choices as male team leaders. To develop comprehensive theoretical explanations, I embarked on a reading journey crossing disciplines, while keeping track of the global virtual team literature. I engaged in scholarly exchange of ideas in inspiring discussions with my colleagues in Hong Kong. In-depth data-analysis was carried out with my research team and a paper finalised, but the conference presentation was delayed until 2021, with a revised version presented in 2022 (Zander et al., 2021 and 2022). Following constructive and positive feedback, and to support our findings, we decided that a replication study was to be included in the ongoing revision of our paper.
During my sabbatical, I reflected on distance leadership in a virtual work context, as well as what role virtual teams can play for global organizations. As to the challenges of digital-based distance-leadership, my reflections were published in a Swedish academia-practitioner bridging journal (Zander, 2017). I noted that regardless of the promises of digital-based communication’s ease of use, and despite access to a robot-type of construction to allow for a physical representation, virtual team leaders face a difficult to navigate leadership situation. Given this and that virtual teams have become modus operandi, Audra Mockaitis, Helen De Cieri (Monash University) and I queried what benefits global teams bring and their implications for human resource management. A topic that we reviewed and addressed in a special issue, which we co-edited for International Journal of Human Research Management (Mockaitis et al., 2018).
EMERGING NEW RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Leading global virtual teams also involves communication in a multicultural and multilingual environment. Reflecting on the communication challenges, Betina Szkudlarek (University of Sydney), Joyce Osland (San Jose State University), Luciara Nardon (Carleton University) and I worked on a perspectives article to examine the sorely neglected topic of communication linked to culture in the field of international business, while also guest editing a special issue on the topic for Journal of World Business (Szkudlarek et al., 2020). One of the insights that can be drawn from our review is the importance of examining how team leaders’ predispositions could affect the communication process and possibly influence team member perceptions. In collaboration with Jakob Lauring (Aarhus University), and my earlier mentioned colleagues Audra Mockaitis and Peter Zettinig, we studied highly English language proficient team leaders (many of whom are mother tongue speakers) in the multilingual context of global virtual teams, where English is not the first language for most team members but is used as the working language. Preliminary findings suggest that these team leaders have an inflated view of information-sharing in the team with implications for team work and outcomes (Zander, Lauring, Mockaitis & Zettinig, 2022). This idea was presented at a conference directed towards language scholars in international business, yielding constructive feedback helpful to our current development of the paper.
Other research questions emerging from my sabbatical took on a more serious note as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe and had countries and work places in its clutches. Work life had abruptly, especially difficult for those who were not used to working digitally, changed to working at a distance from home. We had in an earlier examination of global virtual team leaders found that trust formation could take on two different types of processes in creative teams. Based on our research findings, we discuss how global team leaders can be supportive in times of crisis. In a book chapter, we propose that team leaders do not only need to offset any negative impact of a longer-term crisis, such as the pandemic, but also to engage in a broad range of leadership support to reach sought-after creative outcomes in global virtual teams (Zander, Kang, Mockaitis & Zettinig, 2021). The need for supportive global virtual team leadership in times of crisis is a topic that Audra Mockaitis and I treat in more detail in a forthcoming book chapter. We review articles on leadership in crisis and leadership of teams under extreme conditions, to identify demands on leadership under stressful and anxiety ridden circumstances. We combine these findings with contemporary research results for a better understanding of supportive team leadership in times of crisis. This invited book chapter is currently under development (Zander & Mockaitis, forthcoming).
During my sabbatical I also initiated a new research project on shared leadership in teams together with Christina Sue-Chan and Yik Kiu Lee (City University of Hong Kong) and Audra Mockaitis. We collected data from Chinese executives in Hong Kong, and engaged in discussions about the challenges of teaching team leadership, especially shared leadership (Zander & Sue-Chan, 2017). However, due to unforeseen happenings in Hong Kong followed by the pandemic, this project is currently on hold.
RESEARCH DISSEMINATION TO THE LARGER SOCIETY
Interviews with me about my sabbatical research project have been the topic of eight articles published in daily newspapers and the business press in 2018 and 2020. Additionally, there is one interview from 2015 published on the “Riksbankens Jubileumsfond for the Advancement of Humanities and Social Sciences” website. My research project has been mentioned in twelve outlets of the daily press and media, including blogs, between 2017-2020. For details see an account after the publication list. Upon my return to Sweden, I was invited to give research presentations to the following audiences; Network for European Female Leaders in Public Organizations (host The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency), The Academy of Management Accounting and Control in Central Government (host Stockholm University), and National REDI -Travel-free digital project supporting the public sector with digital meetings (host Regional Energy Agency in West Sweden).
Lena Zander’s webpage at Uppsala University, link:
https://www.katalog.uu.se/profile/?id=N9-836
The research project was selected for presentation on Uppsala University's webpage, link:
https://www.uu.se/en/research/projects/selected-project/?researchId=SAB15-1019:1_RJ
Please note that the sabbatical was moved to the academic year of 2016-2017, starting in July 2016.
The funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond provided me with the highly appreciated opportunity to spend my sabbatical year at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2016-2017) and Singapore Management University for two weeks (2018). It enabled me to pursue my research on global virtual team leadership, to engage in inspiring discussions with, and learn from, highly competent colleagues at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Hong Kong Baptist University, as well as at Singapore Management University. I participated in workshops on method and transforming papers into impactful articles, and as a speaker I contributed to research workshops, seminars, and gave guest lectures to students (see details after the publication list).
As to the academic outcomes, the sabbatical has hitherto generated three articles in peer-reviewed international journals, one book chapter, one academic-practitioner bridge journal article, three conference papers (whereof one paper is a revision of another conference paper), and one conference panel. Two papers, both presented at conferences, are together with a book chapter currently under revision. To be noted is, that, as serious health issues delayed it, this report includes both an account of the sabbatical and the subsequent development of emerging research questions. All publications and conference presentations are listed in the publication list.
RESEARCH PROJECT AND OUTCOMES
Leadership of global virtual teams had, at the time of my sabbatical, interestingly received quite limited attention given the increased use of virtual teams as a way of organising work in global organizations. Global virtual teams are by nature multicultural, and leadership has by necessity to be carried out in a digital context. Separately, and together, cultural diversity and a virtual-based work environment pose increased and novel type of demands on global team leaders. For a more informed understanding, I thought it important to revisit task-oriented and relational aspects of interpersonal leadership by carrying out a historical review (Zander, 2020). Despite increased claims that leadership expectations, preferences, and ideals are globally converging, the insights from my review underscore that differences across countries and cultures remain. It is well-known that global team leaders face a multiplicity of culturally-based expectations, but are female leaders evaluated by who they are, as in earlier studies on female leaders, or by what they do when they lead virtual teams? In other words, I query whether leading global virtual teams opens up new leadership opportunities for women.
I presented preliminary findings from the research project on leading global virtual teams at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2017. My research team, Audra Mockaitis (Maynooth University), Peter Zettinig (University of Turku), Stephan Gerschewski (Edinburgh Business School) and I had collected both quantitative and qualitative data in a multi-year project. The project’s most important contribution is that female leaders of global virtual teams are recognised for what they do, rather than being stereotyped for who they are, and thus have the same degrees of freedom in their leadership choices as male team leaders. To develop comprehensive theoretical explanations, I embarked on a reading journey crossing disciplines, while keeping track of the global virtual team literature. I engaged in scholarly exchange of ideas in inspiring discussions with my colleagues in Hong Kong. In-depth data-analysis was carried out with my research team and a paper finalised, but the conference presentation was delayed until 2021, with a revised version presented in 2022 (Zander et al., 2021 and 2022). Following constructive and positive feedback, and to support our findings, we decided that a replication study was to be included in the ongoing revision of our paper.
During my sabbatical, I reflected on distance leadership in a virtual work context, as well as what role virtual teams can play for global organizations. As to the challenges of digital-based distance-leadership, my reflections were published in a Swedish academia-practitioner bridging journal (Zander, 2017). I noted that regardless of the promises of digital-based communication’s ease of use, and despite access to a robot-type of construction to allow for a physical representation, virtual team leaders face a difficult to navigate leadership situation. Given this and that virtual teams have become modus operandi, Audra Mockaitis, Helen De Cieri (Monash University) and I queried what benefits global teams bring and their implications for human resource management. A topic that we reviewed and addressed in a special issue, which we co-edited for International Journal of Human Research Management (Mockaitis et al., 2018).
EMERGING NEW RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Leading global virtual teams also involves communication in a multicultural and multilingual environment. Reflecting on the communication challenges, Betina Szkudlarek (University of Sydney), Joyce Osland (San Jose State University), Luciara Nardon (Carleton University) and I worked on a perspectives article to examine the sorely neglected topic of communication linked to culture in the field of international business, while also guest editing a special issue on the topic for Journal of World Business (Szkudlarek et al., 2020). One of the insights that can be drawn from our review is the importance of examining how team leaders’ predispositions could affect the communication process and possibly influence team member perceptions. In collaboration with Jakob Lauring (Aarhus University), and my earlier mentioned colleagues Audra Mockaitis and Peter Zettinig, we studied highly English language proficient team leaders (many of whom are mother tongue speakers) in the multilingual context of global virtual teams, where English is not the first language for most team members but is used as the working language. Preliminary findings suggest that these team leaders have an inflated view of information-sharing in the team with implications for team work and outcomes (Zander, Lauring, Mockaitis & Zettinig, 2022). This idea was presented at a conference directed towards language scholars in international business, yielding constructive feedback helpful to our current development of the paper.
Other research questions emerging from my sabbatical took on a more serious note as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe and had countries and work places in its clutches. Work life had abruptly, especially difficult for those who were not used to working digitally, changed to working at a distance from home. We had in an earlier examination of global virtual team leaders found that trust formation could take on two different types of processes in creative teams. Based on our research findings, we discuss how global team leaders can be supportive in times of crisis. In a book chapter, we propose that team leaders do not only need to offset any negative impact of a longer-term crisis, such as the pandemic, but also to engage in a broad range of leadership support to reach sought-after creative outcomes in global virtual teams (Zander, Kang, Mockaitis & Zettinig, 2021). The need for supportive global virtual team leadership in times of crisis is a topic that Audra Mockaitis and I treat in more detail in a forthcoming book chapter. We review articles on leadership in crisis and leadership of teams under extreme conditions, to identify demands on leadership under stressful and anxiety ridden circumstances. We combine these findings with contemporary research results for a better understanding of supportive team leadership in times of crisis. This invited book chapter is currently under development (Zander & Mockaitis, forthcoming).
During my sabbatical I also initiated a new research project on shared leadership in teams together with Christina Sue-Chan and Yik Kiu Lee (City University of Hong Kong) and Audra Mockaitis. We collected data from Chinese executives in Hong Kong, and engaged in discussions about the challenges of teaching team leadership, especially shared leadership (Zander & Sue-Chan, 2017). However, due to unforeseen happenings in Hong Kong followed by the pandemic, this project is currently on hold.
RESEARCH DISSEMINATION TO THE LARGER SOCIETY
Interviews with me about my sabbatical research project have been the topic of eight articles published in daily newspapers and the business press in 2018 and 2020. Additionally, there is one interview from 2015 published on the “Riksbankens Jubileumsfond for the Advancement of Humanities and Social Sciences” website. My research project has been mentioned in twelve outlets of the daily press and media, including blogs, between 2017-2020. For details see an account after the publication list. Upon my return to Sweden, I was invited to give research presentations to the following audiences; Network for European Female Leaders in Public Organizations (host The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency), The Academy of Management Accounting and Control in Central Government (host Stockholm University), and National REDI -Travel-free digital project supporting the public sector with digital meetings (host Regional Energy Agency in West Sweden).
Lena Zander’s webpage at Uppsala University, link:
https://www.katalog.uu.se/profile/?id=N9-836
The research project was selected for presentation on Uppsala University's webpage, link:
https://www.uu.se/en/research/projects/selected-project/?researchId=SAB15-1019:1_RJ
Please note that the sabbatical was moved to the academic year of 2016-2017, starting in July 2016.