Effective Virtual Project Management Using Multiple E-Leadership Styles

INTRODUCTION The field of organizational behavior defines leadership as " the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals " (Capella, 2005, p. 294). Leadership styles have been well studied and researched. Early leadership studies were developed using traditional, co-located work arrangements in mind. Later studies expanded to include traditional project team environments. In the current business environment, however, nontraditional virtual work arrangements are becoming more popular. Virtual project teams are increasing in business today and will continue to become more common in the future (Martins, Gilson, & Maynard, 2004). Managing nontraditional work involving virtual teams is becoming a necessity in the current business environment. The type of leadership e-managers must demonstrate for successful virtual team management is different from traditional project team management (Konradt & Hoch, 2007). Understanding appropriate leadership styles for virtual project teams and the transition toward new leadership styles is an important part of managing human resources in organizations and successful virtual project management. Emerging e-leadership roles and management concepts for virtual teams include multiple leadership models, and their application is an important part of our evolving virtual organizational behavior. This paper reviews management concepts for virtual teams that include leadership styles such as control-related models, transformational and transactional leadership styles, leadership that empowers team members to self-manage, and situ-ational and contingency leadership styles. In the virtual project environment, the effective manager needs to use as many different styles as needed to bring the project to a successful completion.