Leadership Challenges in Virtual Teams
Iugina, Natalia (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025060520649
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025060520649
Tiivistelmä
The main goal of the thesis is to identify practices of leadership in virtual teams to overcome the unique challenges inherent in virtual teams in order to increase the effectiveness of leadership.
This study uses a qualitative research approach. The research methods applied are literature review and semi-structured interviews. Four virtual teams leaders representing different industries were selected for interviews. Thus, the research is a multiple case study. The results gathered from the interviews were compared with the theoretical findings from the literature review.
The research identifies key characteristics of virtual teams, defines the leadership challenges that arise in connection with these characteristics, and, on this basis, examines practices of overcoming challenges for effective leadership in virtual teams. It was found that the absence of face-to-face contact is the fundamental characteristic of all virtual teams. This leads to reliance on electronic communication, which causes communication barriers. Barriers, in turn, determine leadership challenges that contribute to reduced team effectiveness. Thus, the team performance depends on how effectively the leader drives the team through these challenges. While examining practices of overcoming challenges of leader-ship in virtual teams, it was concluded that no universal strategy of effective virtual teams leadership exists due to the diversity of team characteristics and environment. The conclusion is made that the strategy of effective leadership in virtual teams is not rigid but adaptive and tailored to specific conditions. While adaptation is necessary, the research identified key components of effective leadership strategies that are common to all virtual teams. The components list and characteristics are presented in the thesis. Findings from the theoretical part are confirmed by interviews results.
This study uses a qualitative research approach. The research methods applied are literature review and semi-structured interviews. Four virtual teams leaders representing different industries were selected for interviews. Thus, the research is a multiple case study. The results gathered from the interviews were compared with the theoretical findings from the literature review.
The research identifies key characteristics of virtual teams, defines the leadership challenges that arise in connection with these characteristics, and, on this basis, examines practices of overcoming challenges for effective leadership in virtual teams. It was found that the absence of face-to-face contact is the fundamental characteristic of all virtual teams. This leads to reliance on electronic communication, which causes communication barriers. Barriers, in turn, determine leadership challenges that contribute to reduced team effectiveness. Thus, the team performance depends on how effectively the leader drives the team through these challenges. While examining practices of overcoming challenges of leader-ship in virtual teams, it was concluded that no universal strategy of effective virtual teams leadership exists due to the diversity of team characteristics and environment. The conclusion is made that the strategy of effective leadership in virtual teams is not rigid but adaptive and tailored to specific conditions. While adaptation is necessary, the research identified key components of effective leadership strategies that are common to all virtual teams. The components list and characteristics are presented in the thesis. Findings from the theoretical part are confirmed by interviews results.