The communication of leaders in virtual teams: expectations and their realisation in leaders' computer- mediated communication

Virtual team leaders have to face several challenges when leading a distributed team. In the literature on the communication of leaders, various features of competent communication practices have been presented, ranging from information seeking and networking skills to negotiating ability. However, the qualities needed in leading a virtual team have not been studied extensively in organizational virtual teams, but studies have focused rather on groups in laboratory settings or ad hoc groups, such as groups of students. In virtual teams group processes and tasks have to be handled from a distance, through computer-mediated communication. Thus, the virtual team leader may need different kinds of discursive skills from those needed by leaders of traditional teams for setting goals, giving support and feedback, and motivating team members. Furthermore, team members in virtual teams may find different characteristics of leaders important. This paper investigates the leadership expectations that members of four virtual teams express about their leaders, and analyzes the communication of the four leaders in these teams. The participants in the study were virtual team members and leaders from four virtual teams (N=35) in four international organizations. Two methods of data collection were used: interviewing, and observation of the computer-mediated communication of the team members and leaders. The data gathered were analyzed qualitatively. The findings show that the team members of virtual teams expect their team leader to 1) motivate team members, 2) give support, 3) give instructions for the use of communication technology and about computer-mediated communication practices in general and 4) set clear goals for the future. Leaders seem to live up to these expectations fairly well in the first three cases, but setting goals for the future seems to be especially challenging in virtual teams. This challenge stems from the fact that the team tasks in virtual teams are often