Effective Leadership: The Power of Interaction

ORGC317 Leadership Essay

By Jacob Fuerst
Over the course of the quarter, my understanding of leadership has transformed

from an indescribable ―it‖ factor to concrete awareness of the tangible things that make

a leader truly effective. I also learned that leading in a virtual setting is even more of a

challenge. That said, I now know a multitude of ways that a leader in a virtual team can

be effective, many of which I saw firsthand in my team. A leader’s willingness to

communicate is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects, as it requires

consistent communication and serves to build overall cognitive trust. One’s ability to be

a transformational leader represents another crucial aspect, particularly to our team in

the Everest Simulation, where meeting self-esteem and self-actualization needs

would’ve improved our team’s performance. Furthermore, a leader’s ability to quell

social loafing – while not necessary a definitive skill – also remains vital to a team’s

overall success. After all, if a leader can promote unmotivated members to participate,

group cohesion improves and so does work output. This class and the group work

within it showed me that a high willingness to communicate, the ability to be a

transformational leader, and the capability to motivate loafing members all make for an

extremely effective leader in a virtual team.

Perhaps one of the most critical pieces of effective leadership in virtual teams I

observed this quarter is the leader’s WTC, or willingness to communicate; without it,

their credibility as a leader is threatened (Yoon). This involves consistent

communication with team members. In virtual teams, there is a reduced amount and
quality of information and less common information as a whole (Yoon). If the leader

maintains communication about group tasks and goals with the team, the lack of

information problem can be circumvented. Our leader did a fantastic job of this during

parts one and two of the paper we wrote. She set and maintained process-related

goals, which is the way goals are accomplished and which include ―frequent and

consistent communication among team members.‖ She first emailed individual

members about what part of the paper they’d do best; she then ―made sure that

everyone had a voice on an issue before moving on,‖ a recommendation of Furst et al

(Furst et al.). She also checked in with all of us via email multiple times a week and

made sure we were on schedule. By doing this, she ―monitored team progress through

technology,‖ one of Malhotra’s suggestions for virtual leaders (Malhotra). Moreover, she

exchanged phone numbers with the team so that we could ―call her anytime‖ with

questions. In this way, our leader’s high WTC promoted cognitive trust in our team.

Cognitive trust is trust that one’s team members are competent, reliable and responsible

(Yoon). Our leader’s reliability was demonstrated through her consistent contact with all

of us, and her responsibility was evident through the work she herself put into the paper.

Leading by example and writing notes within the paper, on what to do next, kept the

whole team organized. Her consistent communication kept everyone in the loop. A high

WTC stands as one of the most important aspects of an effective leader, and our team

leader possessed it in spades.

Another aspect of effective leadership in virtual teams is that of transformational

leadership, something I actually wish our group leader exhibited more of. While

transactional leaders hinge their actions on punishments and rewards, transformational

leaders’ effectiveness is dependent on how much they help team members complete

goals (Burns). Such leaders also satisfy team member needs up to levels four and five

on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Physiological, safety, and belonging needs are met by

transformational leaders; so are self-esteem and self-actualization needs (Yoon). Our

team, particularly during the Everest Simulation, had a few members who felt extremely

lost and confused when they signed on. The situation begged for a strong

transformational leader. While our leader promoted physiological needs and safety

needs, especially regarding the simulation’s structure and rules, she did not encourage

self-esteem or self-actualization. One of our members would have really benefitted from

being told he was competent enough to handle the task – a self-esteem issue. He had a

barrage of concerned questions before and during the simulation that exhibited his

anxiety over his ability to perform the task at hand. Moreover, our leader did not actively

work to bring out everyone’s potential, a self-actualization issue. This is demonstrated

by the fact that she did not evaluate or value individual member’s goals – their potential

– and instead focused on the group goal only. Had our leader ensured that everyone felt

confident and self-assured about their own role in the simulation, our members may

have been more willing to share their unique goals and information (Hinds and

Weisband). The Common Information Effect, where unique information is not shared

within a team, wouldn’t have affected our team so negatively (Furst et al.). Team

member participation would have likely increased as well, because no one would feel

that they risked embarrassment for being wrong or confused. Transformational

leadership is a key element of an effective leader, and a leader that can satisfy all five

levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs will likely have a confident, effective team.
 A last, critically important element of an effective leader in virtual teams is the

leader’s ability to quell social loafing. Social loafing – team member unreliability and

feelings of unimportance – often occurs as a result of the Ringelmann effect, which is

the tendency for individuals to be less productive as a group gets larger (Kidwell).

Loafing members, especially in a group with a transactive memory system in place, like

ours, can seriously inhibit team success. This is because a transactive memory system

divides the cognitive work load between members (Yoon). Therefore, if one member

doesn’t pull their weight, a piece of the group work goes missing. In our team, we

divided pieces of the paper between the six of us. Our leader tried to keep everyone

motivated, but two of our members just did not do much work at all. This forced the rest

of us to do extra work in order to cover for their social loafing. It also affected our group

cohesion negatively. If a leader can maintain communication with all members –

preferably consistent communication – team members will be less likely to ignore their

leader because they feel important. However, our leader used email as a primary

means to communicate with them. Hinds and Weisband state that ―e-mail allows little in

the way of real-time feedback‖ and that it can lead to ―extensive information sharing

without the same level of shared understanding,‖ (Hinds and Weisband). This notion

was reflected in our group – I know this because our leader expressed frustration to me

that her detailed emails were not being read and absorbed by a few loafing team

members. She could have utilized technology more effectively – through phone calls or

Skype, perhaps – and it goes to show that a leader’s ability to limit social loafing will

have a substantial impact on the team’s success.

 To be an effective leader in a virtual team, one must possess a high willingness

to communicate, the capacity to be a transformational leader when necessary and the

ability to limit social loafing. These skills were largely demonstrated to me firsthand

within my team; we wouldn’t have completed the paper so successfully without our

leader and her skills in those areas. Communication builds trust; transformational

leadership boosts self-esteem; a lack of social loafing promotes cohesion. All of these

things lay the foundation for a team to work efficiently and effectively. If there’s one

thing to learn from these skills, it’s that above all, interaction stands as a pivotal

requirement of an effective leader in a virtual team. I’ll carry that knowledge with me as I

move forward and into the job market.

Works Cited
Burns, James MacGregor. Leadership. Open Road Media, 1978. Print.

Furst, Stacie , Benson Rosen, and Richard Blackburn. "Overcoming Barriers to

Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Teams." ScienceDirect, 2007. Web.

<http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy2.lib.depaul.edu/science/article/pii/S00902

61607000265>.

Furst, Stacie , Benson Rosen, and Richard Blackburn. "Managing the life cycle of virtual

teams." Academy of Management Executive, 2004. Web.

<http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy2.lib.depaul.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?

sid=2af7c239-15c1-4d8d

80b6902d023064c9%40sessionmgr198&vid=2&hid=112>
Hinds, Pamela, and Suzanne Weisband. "Knowledge Sharing and Shared

Understanding in Virtual Teams." National Science Foundation, Web.

<https://depaul.ares.atlassys.com/noncas/ares.dll?SessionID=P040012840S&Ac

tion=10&Type=10&Value=443644>.

Kidwell, Roland. "Loafing in the 21st century: Enhanced opportunities—and remedies—

for withholding job effort in the new workplace." ScienceDirect, 2010. Web.

<http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy2.lib.depaul.edu/science/article/pii/S00076

81310000893>.

Malhotra, Arvind, Jeffery Stamps, and Jessica Lipnack. "Can Absence Make a Team

Grow Stronger?." Atlas Systems, Inc. 2004. Web. <https://depaul.ares.atlas-

sys.com/noncas/ares.dll?SessionID=P040012840S&Action=10&Type=10&Value

=443638>.

Yoon, Kay. "Lecturettes." DePaul University, Chicago. 2014. Lecture.