Collaborative Research: Examining E-leadership In Global Virtual Teams Through A Longitudinal Assessment Of The Formation Of Trust, Potency, Commitment And Performance In UNISYS

Advances in information technology have provided a broad platform for anytime-anywhere interactions, creating significant challenges for leaders to lead at a distance and across diverse cultures and settings. Yet, it is not uncommon today for people to relay stories of electronic communication that they misinterpreted or that caused great distress in their relationships with fellow workers. Currently, there is no protocol for technology-mediated leadership in virtual teams. In this two-year field study at UNISYS, we will explore how virtual teams form, develop trust, and lead themselves to higher levels of performance. This study is unique in that most of the literature on virtual teams has ignored leadership, which is one of fundamental drivers of team performance.