Department of Strategy and Innovation
Virtual Leadership under Corona Crisis
Why do we need more research on virtual leadership?
For the past decade, researchers have showed increasing attention towards virtual working - work performed outside spatial and temporal organizational boundaries and enabled by information and communication technologies. A variety of terms, like remote work, telecommuting, telework, and remote work arrangements have been used, often interchangeably or with slight differences in meaning, to indicate ways of working in places that are different from traditional office spaces. However, till now virtual work has been seen as an innovative work arrangement that is complementary to the traditional work place organization and often taken up voluntarily or on a temporary basis by limited numbers of employees. None of the previous research on virtual work actually dealt with the situation we are experiencing now: it is everyone, its mandatory, there is no face-to-face supplement and we don’t know how long this is going to last.
Even the “before-corona-crisis” research pointed out at one crucial antecedent for virtual work: leadership. Researchers agreed that it is more challenging to lead virtually than traditionally (face-to-face). In addition to ensuring task performance, virtual leaders need to proactively guide the relationship building process and hence expected to invest more time and effort to help coordinate virtual team tasks and facilitate team processes. However, it is not clear how exactly this should be done. Research and practice experience significant gaps in understanding of leadership in the context of virtual work. Furthermore, the gap is broadening when virtual leadership is put in the context of crisis situation. Unpredictability, ambiguity and insecurity of the crisis cause irrational and inappropriate reactions as diverse in nature as in-fighting, panic and apathy. People become tired, passive and disillusioned, and these create even more pressure on mental resources. This in turn will stimulate creation of hostile environment with low trust and cooperation, which makes any leadership attempt towards relationship building useless. So how does a leader get around these challenges in order to reach the desired results — both in terms of task and relationship-building? What are the best practices for leading virtual work? How can a leader sustain employee well-being and at the same time achieve an equal (if not higher) level of employee engagement when working virtually?
On the 15th of April 2020 we launched a new research project with the immediate goal is to explore answers to the above questions and in longer terms increase our understanding the antecedents of virtual leadership that make it effective in managing people in crisis situation. The project is carried out by the Department of Strategy and Innovation at Copenhagen Business School and the Employment Relations Research Center (FAOS) at University of Copenhagen, in cooperation with the Confederation of Danish Industries (DI). The project is financed by the Innovation Fund Denmark. Please follow our LinkedIn Group to get live updates and learn the most recent findings.
Questions can be directed to Professor Dana Minbaeva dm.si@cbs.dk.
Research output (in Danish):
Formidling af resultater fra forskningsprojektet:
Præsentation fra webinar 1 om de kvalitative resultater- Rapport 1: De kvalitative studier
- Præsentation fra webinar 2 om de kvantitative resultater
- Virtuel ledelse 7 blogindlæg fra et forskningsprojekt
- Afsluttende rapport fra forskningsprojektet Virtuel Ledelse under Corona-krisen
Kronikker
31. august i Altinget: Forskere: Coronakrisen kan revolutionere vores arbejdsliv
https://www.altinget.dk/arbejdsmarked/artikel/forskere-coronakrisen-kan-revolutionere-vores-arbejdsliv
Artikler i aviser etc.
14. maj: 3F-bladet: Forskere undersøger, om corona ændrer arbejdslivet permanent.
https://fagbladet3f.dk/artikel/forskere-undersoeger-om-corona-aendrer-arbejdslivet-permanent
8. juni, Gymnasieskolen: Arbejdslivet kan ændre sig efter corona: Flere møder online og hjemmearbejde
https://gymnasieskolen.dk/arbejdslivet-kan-aendre-sig-efter-corona-flere-moeder-online-og-hjemmearbejde
12. juni, CBS Wire: “I’ve never done research like this before. It’s like laying the tracks while the train is in motion“
https://cbswire.dk/cbs-is-coping-with-coronavirus-starting-this-project-helped-me-over-my-low-point/
13. august, Djøf-bladet: Corona-hjemmearbejde gjorde ansatte mere produktive og glade
https://www.djoefbladet.dk/artikler/2020/8/hjemmearbejde-overrasker-danske-ledere.aspx
24. august: djøf.dks ledersektion: Corona kan forandre ledelse fundamentalt
https://www.djoef.dk/r-aa-dgivning/netv-ae-rkogkarriere/ledelse/artikler/2020/corona-kan-forandre-ledelse-fundamentalt.aspx?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MN_2020_Uge35%20(2)&utm_content=&spMailingID=10335324&spUserID=MjM0MjU1Njk5MDg5S0&spJobID=1575226051&spReportId=MTU3NTIyNjA1MQS2
15. september Djøfbladet: Efter corona vil vi ikke undvære hjemmearbejdet.
https://www.djoefbladet.dk/artikler/2020/9/vi-vil-ikke-slippe-hjemmearbejdet.aspx
4. oktober, Berlingske Tidende: Corona kan ende som en gave til HR – for krisen har vist, at stabsfunktioner faktisk har en berettigelse.
»Corona kan ende som en gave til HR – for krisen har vist, at stabsfunktioner faktisk har en berettigelse« (berlingske.dk)
22. Oktober, Jyllands-Posten: Stærk vækst i jobopslag med tilbud om hjemmearbejde
3. november Magisterbladet: Lederne har været pressede under Coronakrisen
https://www.akademikerbladet.dk/aktuelt/2020/november/lederne-har-vaeret-pressede-under-coronakrisen
23. November: Berlingske Tidende: Forsikringskæmpe gør hjemmearbejde permanent - vil fremover kun have kontorplads til hver anden medarbejder
Forsikringskæmpe gør hjemmearbejde permanent – vil fremover kun have kontorplads til hver anden medarbejder (berlingske.dk)
23. November Børsen Finans: Codan flytter ud af ikonisk hovedsæde og dropper kontorpladser til halvdelen af medarbejderne
27. November: Debat: Er hjemmearbejde en skjult arbejdsforøgelse?
Debatindlæg på Solidaritet. Omtalt: Steen E. Navrbjerg og Dana Minbaeva.
Debat: Er hjemmearbejde en skjult arbejdsforøgelse? (solidaritet.dk)
18. December: Nyt studie: Hjemmearbejde har givet mere produktive medarbejdere. Artikel på FinansWatch.
Nyt studie: Hjemmearbejde har givet mere produktive medarbejdere (finanswatch.dk)
18. December: Hjemmearbejde har positive effekter. Artikel i Jyllands-Posten, 18. december