Abstract
This chapter considers the intersection of leadership and global virtual team dynamics. We consider four key developments in the science of team effectiveness as they apply to virtual teams: (a) team emergent states, (b) team phases, (c) teamwork processes, and (d) team leadership functions. First, we elaborate the importance of team emergent states, highlighting their relevance to team success and acknowledging that leadership is a prominent force to help facilitate their development. Second, we describe the interaction processes through which teams develop optimal emergent states and achieve their goals over time. Leadership is needed that shapes team processes throughout the team lifecycle, and thereby team emergent states and performance. In closing, we offer specific, research-based strategies to guide today’s virtual team leaders in enabling optimal team processes, illustrating these suggestions using examples drawn from a large-scale study of in global virtual teams.
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The authors wish to acknowledge the following funding sources that contributed to the development of the ideas presented in this chapter: National Science Foundation Grants: SES-1219469 & SBE-1063901.
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Carter, D.R., Seely, P.W., Dagosta, J., DeChurch, L.A., Zaccaro, S.J. (2015). Leadership for Global Virtual Teams: Facilitating Teamwork Processes. In: Wildman, J., Griffith, R. (eds) Leading Global Teams. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2050-1_10
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