Leading and Managing People: Virtual Leadership Report Analysis

This report examines the challenges and strategies associated with virtual leadership. It discusses the complexities of managing remote teams, highlighting the importance of effective communication and the use of platforms like web conferencing and social networking. The report emphasizes the need to address cross-cultural misunderstandings, manage time differences, and build trust within diverse teams. It explores the concept of virtual communities, emphasizing the role of communication in achieving common goals and mitigating potential crises. The report references the impact of virtual leadership competencies on team effectiveness and the role of platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter in facilitating communication within virtual teams. It also provides insights into the importance of adapting leadership styles to suit the virtual environment and the use of technology to support remote collaboration. The report stresses the significance of overcoming communication barriers and fostering a sense of community among team members to ensure success in a virtual workplace.

Running head: LEADING AND MANAGING PEOPLE
Leading and Managing People
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1LEADING AND MANAGING PEOPLE
1. Leading a virtual workforce that consists of people that do not work in the traditional
office settings is a very difficult task. The leader manages people who are working at
different places. This kind of workforce is known as virtual workforce and the leadership
is known as virtual leadership. Earlier the concept of virtual leadership would have been
beyond the understanding of traditional leaders. Now with the help of technology virtual
leadership is no more a complex concept. Still there are certain challenges that are faced
by the managers (Ziek and Smulowitz 2014).
With the help of methods like telecommuting and virtual outsourcing people at remote
location can be employed. Web conferencing and social networking are some techniques to
communicate with the employees at different places across the globe. Leaders might face
problems like cross cultural misunderstandings and timing issues. They can select a common
language like English. Timing should be as per the convenience of most people. Building trust in
the diverse employees is very important to lead the team (De Paoli 2015).
2. Yes, virtual world requires that people build communities. Communication is very
important in these communities. Communication is the essence of these communities. If
proper communication were not maintained then it would not be possible to manage the
virtual community. Every community has a purpose and the purpose of the communities
can be achieved if there is harmony between the members of the community. It is the
only way to work towards achieving the goals. Improper channels might lead to crisis
because people are staying at far places. Cross-cultural differences can be reduced with
the help of communication. Coordinating with people of virtual community is very
difficult. Knowledge sharing will become easier if a proper communication channel is
maintained. In recent times, linked in, facebook, twitter, instagram are platforms that

2LEADING AND MANAGING PEOPLE
facilitates people to build communities (Schmidt 2014). If people are from different
countries they can select these platforms to communicate among them. It can be said that
communication is also the purpose of these virtual communities.

3LEADING AND MANAGING PEOPLE
References
De Paoli, D., 2015. Virtual organizations: a call for new leadership. Leadership in Spaces
and Places, p.109.
Schmidt, G.B., 2014. Virtual leadership: An important leadership context. Industrial and
Organizational Psychology, 7(2), pp.182-187.
Ziek, P. and Smulowitz, S., 2014. The impact of emergent virtual leadership
competencies on team effectiveness. Leadership & Organization Development
Journal, 35(2), pp.106-120.