Virtual Leadership and Management

The Covid 19 pandemic has brought about managerial difficulties associated with remote
monitoring and coordination of teams across virtual networks. Of note herein is that virtual
networks may not enable managers to directly monitor employees as effectively as they can
in physical offices, hence virtual management teams are likely to shift to a results-focused
assessment of employee performance (Vandenberghe et al., 2019). The impersonal nature of
virtual manager-employee interactions may eventually lead to reduced opportunities for
workers to seek or receive feedback from their leaders, thereby limiting the learning
opportunities available to subordinates in the long run. This, according to Williams may lead
to lower employee commitment to organizational goals and its associated high risk of
turnover (2018). In response to these challenges, organizations ought to explore various ways
through which manager-employee trust can be built remotely through online communications
to enhance employee performance, even in the event that situational difficulties –such as
Covid 19 pandemic- render face-to-face interactions with managers impossible (Murray,
2020).

Drawing from the managerial difficulties brought about by the pandemic, Bapuji, Ertug &
Shaw suggests that remote managers in the post-Covid period be more persuasive to their
virtual teams (2020). They will need to clearly define organizational values that will guide
specific actions; understand and clear communicate the ambitions and difficulties faced by
the organization. Additionally, the manager will have to clearly communicate the
organizational vision to the employees, including how the vision will be achieved; and
demonstrate confidence that the organization will achieve its goals (Murray, 2020). These
actions have been described by Kegan & Lahey as amounting to charisma and require
organizations to invest in leadership training (2009). Further, Kniffin et al. (2021), observe
that crisis often leads to changes in managerial styles, hence business organization need to
invest in professional development in order to be better prepared for unforeseen situational
difficulties in the post-Covid period.