Empirical Classification of Advanced Information Technology Towards Their Support of Leadership Behaviors in Virtual Project Management Settings

Abstract

In times of globalization and societal change on the topic of working remotely, virtual collaboration of project teams has a high relevance. The continuous improvement of advanced information technology makes it possible to work globally distributed and in home office. This paper focuses on the usage of communication tools to support leadership behaviors and on the behavior's requirements of media richness and media synchronicity. Managers (N=10) name in qualitative interviews communication tools, they are using for the communication with their employees concerning different leadership topics. These tools are classified in a theoretical model of leadership behavior. Building upon these results, a second study with project managers (N=75) who work in virtual teams rate these communication tools according to their usage for different leadership behaviors. Results show, that the demand on advanced information technology and their media richness and media synchronicity depends on the displayed leadership behavior. The results give implications for future investigations on the role of communication tools for the leadership of virtual teams.

Authors 3

1. Christina Mayer Aachen Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

2. Susanne Mütze‐Niewöhner Aachen Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

3. Verena Nitsch Aachen Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany