Leadership Behaviors to Engage Virtual Team Members Based in India - Thesis Proposal Example

Research Proposal Leadership Behaviors to Engage Virtual Team Members Based in India Intended Research Area The intended research area for this project is the communication skills required by virtual team leaders based in western countries to engage with team members in India. It will explore the leadership styles, approaches to motivation, and communication techniques that need to be implemented when interacting with virtual team members in India. As the following section shows, the existing research has addressed the influence of leadership, motivation, communication and conflict resolution approaches in virtual team leadership. However, a gap exists in the literature about leadership approaches required when dealing with team members from distinct cultural backgrounds. The cultural norms, orientations and values of the country are expected to influence the manner in which flexible team leaders need to engage with team members. The outsourcing trend has resulted in a growth of virtual teams, particularly in the software development industry with India emerging as a popular destination for virtually outsourced work. The distinct differences such as geographical distance, time zones, religious beliefs, customs, work ethic, communication styles, etc. between Indian team members and western team leaders necessitate considerable flexibility on the part of team leaders. This research project will explore aspects that virtual team leaders should manage flexibly. Present Research on Virtual Team Leadership Research on Leadership Communication Hambley, O’Neill & Kline (2007) have discussed the influence of communication styles on the quality of interaction in virtual teams. They have found that videoconferencing does not result in a significant decline in team interaction over face-to-face communication, implying that transactional or transformational leadership styles are not influenced considerably by the virtual team environment. On the other hand, research by Ruggieri (2009) has shown that transformational leadership is more effective than transactional leadership in a virtual team environment. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (2010), leaders need to develop a more flexible approach to communication in a virtual team environment, including communicating at different times throughout the day and using culturally appropriate feedback mechanisms. Maintaining corporate identity is another leadership challenge in virtual teams. Lee (2014) explains that leadership needs to adopt an appropriate multicultural approach towards communication with team members dispersed in various countries of the world. Fan et al. (2014) have elaborated on the impact of instructions sent by virtual team leaders through email to team members. They explain that leaders need to balance the directive feedback approach with the emphatic feedback approach to stimulate creativity among virtual team members. Research on Goal-Setting and Conflict Resolution Barnwell et al. (2014) have discussed the role of virtual team leadership in setting unambiguous goals and cultural norms for the team and to communicate through rich media to maintain team morale and to avoid the isolating influence of physical distance. Kayworth & Leidner (2002) have addressed the communication skills of virtual team leaders and have discovered that a mentoring approach and empathetic attitude are conducive to effective virtual team leadership. Clear articulation of role responsibilities and regular communication are also essential aspects of leadership. Addressing role conflicts also assumes greater importance in virtual team leadership. The role of leadership effectiveness has been analyzed in the light of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory by Jawadi et al. (2013) who propose the human relations approach for better leader-member relations in virtual teams. Wakefield, Leidner & Garrison (2008) approach the role of leadership in conflict resolution in virtual teams, which is vital to maintain team cohesion. Once again, effective communication is vital to resolve conflicts in the team, requiring the leader to assume various roles including monitor and coordinator roles. Research on leader-Member Relationships Goh & Wasko (2012) have also used LMX theory to argue that leaders need to build relational capital with members by ensuring equitable distribution of resources among virtual team members. Tuffley (2012) has studied project management in virtual teams and has prescribed a process reference model (PRM), consisting of several stages from team formation to balancing team and organizational culture, for virtual team leadership. Basically, Tuffley (2012) argues that practicing leadership as a process can lead to effective leadership of virtual teams. Shuffler et al. (2010) have explained the need for shared leadership in virtual teams, arguing that shared leadership is effective in moderately dispersed virtual teams than in highly dispersed virtual teams. Ocker et al. (2011) have argued that where distance between subgroups of the virtual team are large emergent leadership is more likely to be effective than designated leadership. Cogliser et al. (2012) have identified that agreeableness and conscientiousness assume greater importance in virtual team leadership compared to emotional stability. Eissa et al. (2012) have proposed a training and development model for virtual team leadership that aims to develop the psychological and personality aspects of virtual team leaders. Central Research Question What approaches to communication and motivation should be employed by virtual team leaders to engage team members working in India? Proposed Research Methodology The proposed research will be conducted by using the qualitative paradigm which has been used in a number of studies on leadership. Parry (1998) argues that grounded theory is an appropriate research approach for studying leadership because it accommodates the social nature of leadership which other research methodologies do not. The grounded theory approach involves a process of forming and categorizing concepts at increasingly specific levels in order to formulate a defensible theory. Kempster & Parry (2011) have analyzed the potential of the grounded theory approach for understanding leadership phenomena despite the dominant preference for positivism in the field. Jekins (2011) has conducted a study in which he has argued that the grounded theory approach can help to develop critical thinking in leadership studies. Hoflund (2013) explains the results of a network leadership study conducted with the help of grounded theory and argues for its suitability to investigating network phenomena. The grounded theory approach has also been used by Stincelli & Baghurst (2014) to study the emergence of informal leadership in organizations. Grounded theory has also been employed in the exploration of the phenomenon of sense making by leaders in complex and dangerous environments by Baran & Scott (2010). Komives et al. (2005) have also used the grounded theory approach to propose a development process of leadership which emphasizes the collaborative and relational nature of leadership. Singh & Krishnan (2005) have used the grounded theory approach to identify the universal and culture-specific dimensions that influence transformational leadership in India. Principal Issues, Controversies, and Theories Principal Issues Leadership is inextricably linked with communication through which leaders execute their major functions such as delegation, resource allocation, motivation, accountability, supervision, and feedback. Communication in leadership assumes even greater importance in virtual teams because of the time and geographical distance between the team members and leaders, the greater diversity of team membership, and the substitution of impersonal communication channels for rich ones. This aspect of leadership will be addressed in my thesis and the objective will be to contribute to an understanding of the communication challenges that arise in a virtual team structure, with a special focus on the communication challenges with team members working in India. Existing research has identified several issues, e.g. the relationship between communication style and team cohesion and creativity. The proposed thesis will assess the relationship in an Indian context and address the flexible approach for virtual team leaders. Another important issue that will be addressed in the proposed research is the use of motivational techniques by virtual team leaders. Motivation techniques are based on understandings of subordinates’ needs, aspirations, cultural values, and personal preferences. On the basis of these perceptions, leaders select appropriate motivational strategies and rewards for each team member. The issue will be addressed from the perspective of the Indian team members by identifying their needs and preferred rewards to recommend how leaders can adapt their motivational strategies and communication styles with regard to Indian virtual team members. Principal Controversies The major controversy that has been highlighted in the existing research and will also be explored in the proposed thesis will be the effectiveness of transformational and transactional leadership styles. There is ambiguity about whether the transactional or transformational leadership style is preferred in India. As long as this ambiguity continues to persist, it will remain challenging for virtual team leaders to determine which approach to adopt to motivate, instruct and guide virtual team members in India. Thus, it needs to be determined whether the Indian team members are more effectively influenced by transactional and transformational styles so that team leaders can be encouraged to adopt the most effective leadership style. The use of leader-member exchange theory will also help to resolve an important controversy for the proposed thesis. This controversy relates to the need for developing relational capital with team members individually versus creating relationships with the team as a collective unit. It is important to identify the extent to which team members in India expect or appreciate developing individual leader-member relationships compared to having a collective identity. The proposed research will seek to resolve this controversy by identifying the expectations of team members in India. On the basis of these findings, the thesis will be able to propose a clear approach to guide virtual team leadership with regard to interpersonal communication and motivational strategies with team members. This will also help virtual team leaders to adopt appropriate approaches to conflict resolution, supervision and work accountability in the team. Principal Theories The main theories of leadership that will be addressed in the proposed thesis will encompass a wide range. The major types of leadership theories will be applied to the research problem, which will include style based theories (transformational leadership and transactional leadership theories), contingency based theories (exploring situational factors such as education levels, cultural values, technical knowledge, motivation level, etc. of team members), behavioural theories (exploring the role of communication styles and dominant leadership approach) and trait theories (identifying the influence of personality traits on leadership effectiveness in virtual team leadership). The leadership theories identified above will support the exploration of the major issues and controversies identified in preceding paragraphs. For instance, the style based theories of transformational and transactional leadership will enable the identification of the dominant or preferred leadership style after analysis of the characteristics of team members. This will be supported by the trait theories where the scope for utilizing personality traits such as personal charisma and agreeableness will enrich the discussion of transformational leadership styles in the virtual team environment. At the same time, behavioral theories which support the discussion of communication styles will address the demands for role clarification, cultural identity and conflict resolution in the virtual team. Thus, all the major leadership theories will be employed to elucidate on the topic of the proposed research. The outcome of this analysis will be the recommendation of a desired approach towards leading Indian members of a virtual project team. Types of Sources The following types of sources will be consulted for the proposed research: Research articles on virtual team leadership published in peer-reviewed academic journals within the last five years Scholarly books on leadership published within the last five years Relevant newspaper articles Proceedings of leadership conferences or webinars Bibliography BARAN, B. E. & SCOTT, C. W. (2010). Organizing ambiguity: A grounded theory of leadership and sensemaking within dangerous contexts. Military Psychology, 22. p. 42-69. BARNWELL, D., NEDRICK, S., RUDOLPH, E., SESAY, M. & WELLEN, W. (2014). Leadership of international and virtual project teams. International Journal of Global Business, 7 (2). p. 1-8. COGLISER, C. C., GARDNER, W. L., GAVIN, M. B. & BROBERG, J. C. (2012). Big five personality factors and leader emergence in virtual teams: Relationships with team trustworthiness, member performance contributions, and team performance. Group & Organization Management, 37 (6). p. 752-784. EISSA, G., FOX, C., WEBSTER, B. D. & KIM, J. (2012). A framework for leader effectiveness in virtual teams. Journal of Leadership, Accountability & Ethics, 9 (2). p. 11-22. FAN, K-T., CHEN, Y-H., WANG, C-W. & CHEN, M. (2014). E-leadership effectiveness in virtual teams: Motivating language perspective. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 114 (3). p. 421-437. GOH, S. & WASKO, M. (2012). The effects of leader-member exchange on member performance in virtual world teams. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 13 (10). P. 861-885. HAMBLEY, L. A., O’NEILL, T. A. & KLINE, T. J. B. (2007). Virtual team leadership: The effects of leadership style and communication medium on team interaction styles and outcomes. Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes, 103 (1). p. 1-20. HOFLUND, A. B. (2013). Exploring the use of grounded theory as a methodological approach to examine the ‘black box’ of network leadership in the national quality forum. Journal of Health and Human Services Administration, 35 (4). p. 469-504. JAWADI, N., DAASSI, M., FAVIER, M. & KALIKA, M. (2013). Relationship building in virtual teams: A leadership behavioral complexity perspective. Human Systems Management, 32 (3). p. 199-211. JENKINS, D. M. (2011). Leading critically: A grounded theory of applied critical thinking in leadership studies. Journal of Leadership Education, 10 (2). p. 1-21. KAYWORTH, T. R. & LEIDNER, D. (2002). Leadership effectiveness in global virtual teams. Journal of Management Information Systems, 18 (3). p. 7-40. KEMPSTER, S. & PARRY, K. W. (2011). Grounded theory and leadership research: A critical realist perspective. Leadership Quarterly, 22 (1). p. 106-120. KOMIVES, S. R., OWEN, J. E., LONGERBEAM, S. D., MAINELLA, F. C. & OSTEEN, L. (2005). Developing a leadership identity: A grounded theory. Journal of College Student Development, 46 (6). p. 593-611. LEE, M. (2014). Leading virtual project teams: Adapting leadership theories and communications techniques to 21st century organizations. Auerbach Publications. OCKER, R., HUANG, H., BENBUNAN-FICH, R. & HILTZ, S. (2011). Leadership dynamics in partially distributed teams: An exploratory study of the effects of configuration and distance. Group Decision & Negotiation, 20 (3). p. 273-292. PARRY, K. W. (1998). Grounded theory and social process: A new direction for leadership research. Leadership Quarterly, 9 (1). p. 85-106. RUGGIERI, S. (2009). Leadership in virtual teams: A comparison of transformational and transactional leaders. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 37 (8). p. 1017-1021. SHUFFLER, M. L., WIESE, C. W., SALAS, E. & BURKE, C. S. (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). p. 3-17. SINGH, N. & KRISHNAN, V. R. (2005). Towards understanding transformational leadership in India: A grounded theory approach. Vision, 9 (2). p. 5-17. STINCELLI, E. & BAGHURST, T. (2014). A grounded theory explanation of informal leadership qualities as perceived by employees and managers in small organizations. International Journal of Business Management & Economic Research, 5 (1). p. 1-8. STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. (2010). Successfully Transitioning to a Virtual Organization: Challenges, Impact and Technology. HR Magazine, 55 (4). p. 1-9. TUFFLEY, D. (2012). Optimising virtual team leadership in Global Software Development. IET Software, 6 (3). p. 176-184. WAKEFIELD, R. L., LEIDNER, D. E. & GARRISON, G. (2008). A model of conflict, leadership and performance in virtual teams. Information Systems Research, 19 (4). p. 435-455. Read More