COEUR - BCM Business Creativity Module “Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building” Andrew Turnbull, Aberdeen Business School, Aberdeen, Scotland

Group dynamics, leadership and network building Learning Outcomes 1.Understanding group dynamics in (virtual) teams and how to optimise your (virtual) group 2.Exercising shared leadership 3.Network building

Group dynamics, leadership and network building Suggested Outputs 1.Hard: an A4 sheet with your group Code of Conduct (norms and rules established for the performance of the group); 2.Soft: effective group work

1. Group dynamics The rationale for the growth of (virtual) teams Demanding factors: Complexity of the environment (Remote) locations New colleagues Enabling factors: Internet Skype/Wimba/MSN Common language – English!? Group dynamics, leadership and network building

A (Virtual) Team is.... Made up of people working on interdependent tasks; they interact mainly face to face and (sometimes exclusively) through communication technologies to accomplish a common goal without concerns of time and space.

Group dynamics, leadership and network building Specific challenges associated to (virtual) teams: (1).. cultural/personal differences (2).. geographic dispersion (3).. communication restrictions (4).. time (differences)

Group dynamics, leadership and network building Cultural/personal differences.. Consider... People are all the same, what changes is their habits/attitudes/behaviour/ personalities Look for commonalities/complementarities instead of differences It is more important what unites than what separates us i.e. the whole is greater...

Group dynamics, leadership and network building Geographic dispersion.. implies... Different social structures (e.g. different relationships with lecturers...) Different organisational cultures Different priorities Implications for meeting Time differences

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building Computer-mediated communication.. (CMC) implies... Absence of face-to-face interaction therefore... Provide full-cue communication (give continuous feedback) Communicate very frequently task contributions

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building Optimizing performance of your virtual team Develop trust and liking Trust: refers to an expectancy held by an individual or a group that the word, promise, or verbal or written statement of another individual or group can be relied upon

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building Optimizing performance of your virtual team (2) Trust: refers to the knowledge that what I can do for you, you will do for me; it is a two-way construct: trust implies trustworthiness

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building Optimizing performance of your virtual team (3) Develop norms, rules and establish routines: –Task-related rules; –Communication-related rules.

1.1.. Optimizing performance of your virtual team (4) Task-related rules: # 1. Do not stall #2. Juggle #3. Set deadlines and stick to them Communication/related rules # 4. Keep a frequent flow of communication #5. Promply acknowlege you read others`messages #6. Promptly and explicitly inform what you are thinking and doing Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building

2.. Leadership in Virtual Teams To be effective, virtual teams must be: Deliberately managed towards sharing and being very aware of common objectives at all times &feature=related

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building 2.. Leadership refers to.. “.. the influence processes involving determination of the group’s objectives, motivating task behaviour in pursuit of those objectives and influencing group maintenance and culture”. E8&feature=related

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building Shared leadership is.. 1.“.. a dynamic, interactive influence process among individuals in groups for which the objective is to lead one another to the achievement of group goals”; 2. the concept that best fits the nature of virtual teams such as COEUR CVT (Creative Venture Teams)

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building Why shared leadership? 1.Cross-functionality; 2.Role-switching; 3.Different combinations of unique knowledge; 4.Dynamic exchange of lateral influence among peers.

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building Antecedents of shared leadership 1.Emergent leadership; 2.Participative decision making; 3.Empowerment; 4.Shared cognition in teams; 5.Self-managed teams

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building Exercising shared leadership 1.Any individual within the group may take the initiative to lead the group from one step to another towards the common goal; 2. Take rescue in lower-level processes: –Establish a Code of Conduct with norms and rules and integrate them into routines

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building Shared leadership requires.. A strong sense of individual commitment, that is: 1.A member‘s strong belief in the goals of the group; 2.A strong desire to maintain membership in the group; 3.Willingness to work on behalf of the group.

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building Tips.. –Talk nicely –Talk tough –Reflect –Generate

2.7.. Likely hurdles.. Obstacles People do not like the idea (of sharing leadership) Perceived status differences Preconceived ideas on what leadership is and is not Facilitators Your task requires role differentiation but not status differentiation; You must engage in multiple relationship exchanges You need everyone to do a good job Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building

3. Building networks A network refers to a group of people who are connected together by a socially meaningful set of relationships

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building The virtual group network model MembersLinks Purpose

Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building Characteristics of networks –Density –Tightness –Diversity –Accessibility –Value

3.3.. Strong ties and weak ties: You need both Strong ties are: Frequent Reciprocal Companionable Supportive Multiple they get the work done.. Weak ties are: Casual Reciprocal or not, but: Are useful for new, ad- hoc information Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building

3.4.. (Computer Mediated Communication) CMC and social networks (1) CMC is good for giving and receiving: –Information, opinions and suggestions but: –Not good to show emotions

3.5.. CMC and social networks (2) –In CMC there is more equality of participation –Interaction is more convenient –It may display emotional support and sociability but: There are new coordination problems (e.g. information overload); In many aspects online relationships are similar to those off-line: they vary in strength, are specialized and intermittent Virtual group dynamics, leadership and network building

Expect to make friends !