Purpose: The purpose of the study is to make a survey of virtual leadership. Theresults are expected to serve as a tool for leaders that switch into virtualleadership.Method: A qualitative study with a deductive method approach. The primarysources of data collection are produced through semi-structuredinterviews.Conclusion: The study has resulted in that in order to achieve successful virtualleadership, the virtual distance must be reduced, that is, the feeling that weare separated from each other. To reduce a perceived virtual distance,functional tools such as communication and division of responsibilities arerequired. Through these tools, an increased trust and belonging will beachieved, which reduces the virtual distance. Based on the situation andthe individual, the collaboration between the various tools has not alwaysbeen important, but instead finding a balance where the leader becomesaware of what is most applicable.

Leaders of the U.S. government and U.S. organizations continue to seek information to mitigate risk and improve project deliverables in virtual environments. The problem addressed in this study was the rapid growth of technology in virtual workplaces that causes organizational leaders to concentrate on infrastructure and technology. The purpose of the exploratory case study was to understand the challenges virtual leaders encounter in the government environment that affect project delivery. The research questions were designed to examine the challenges virtual team leaders encounter while maintaining their roles and responsibilities to complete a project successfully in a timely manner. The theory of constraints was the framework used to address the problem of virtual leaders who struggle to complete project deliverables. Data were collected from 11 government virtual leaders via an online anonymous questionnaire and were triangulated via a reflective journal and notes from a checklist filled out by the participants who reviewed their own virtual team documents, logs, and recordings that served as firsthand knowledge. Data analysis led to several patterns and themes including communication, trust, and collaboration challenges for virtual leaders. Organizational leaders can use this study's findings to develop efficient and effective ways to engage with virtual leaders to achieve effective project deliverables and impact change in virtual environments in the 21st-century workplace.

Studien undersöker hur ledare på distans upplever sin roll med forskningsfrågan “Hur upplever ledaresin roll på distans?”. Syftet är att bidra till insikter kring ledarrollen och eventuella svårigheter somledare stöter på i samband med distansarbete samt att förstå om och hur ledarskapet på distans harutvecklats med förändringen mot ett digitalt ledarskap på grund av pandemin. Genom att förstå hurledarskap på distans har utvecklats kan studien bidra med ny kunskap och insikter till ledare för att deska kunna förbättra sin roll vad gäller ledarskap på distans. Fem kvalitativa semistruktureradeintervjuer har genomförts över videosamtal med ledare som har sin personal på distans minst tre dagari veckan. Intervjupersonernas utsagor har sedan analyserats med teori om virtuellt ledarskap, tillit,transformativt ledarskap samt situationsanpassat ledarskap. Resultatet visar att ledare på distansupplever sitt arbete som svårt framförallt för att skapa en samhörighetskänsla. Vid ledarskap pådistans behöver ledare anstränga sig för att kommunicera oftare med sina medarbetare. Vidare visarsig ett transformativt ledarskap med fokus på tillit vara mest naturligt vid ledarskap på distans. / This study looks into how leaders experience their role when leading remotely with the researchquestion "How do leaders experience their remote role?". The aim is to contribute insight to remoteleadership and possible difficulties that leaders encounter with remote work as well as to understand ifand how remote leadership has developed with the shift towards a more virtual leadership necessarydue to the recent pandemic. With a better understanding how remote leadership has developed, thisstudy can contribute knowledge and insight to leaders so that they can improve their role at a distance.Five qualitative semi-structured interviews have been conducted with managers who have their teammembers remote at least three days a week. The empirical material has been analyzed with theories ofvirtual leadership, trust, transformative leadership and situational leadership. The results show thatremote leaders experience their work as difficult, especially when it comes to creating a sense ofbelonging with and for team members. When leading remotely, communication becomes even moreimportant than when people share the same workplace and needs to occur often. Furthermore, atransformative leadership with a focus on trust reveals itself to be a necessity when it comes to remoteleadership.

The Covid-19 pandemic contributed to a digital shift where remote work became the new normal in many organizations. This led to more responsibility being put on employees and thereby an increase in self-leadership. Due to the remote work and the communication becoming digital, virtual leadership became highly current as well. The purpose of the paper was therefore twofold. Firstly, we aimed to investigate in what ways leaders could create conditions for self-leadership among their employees. And secondly, we aimed to try to gain a better understanding of how leaders managed the complex crisis situation that the Covid-19 pandemic constituted by integrating motivation and clear communication in their virtual leadership. This was done by trying to answer the following research questions from a leader perspective: (1) In what ways has self-leadership changed due to the pandemic? (2) In what ways can leaders exhort their employees to be more self leading? (3) In what ways are motivation and communication related to self-leadership and virtual leadership (digital leadership)? This was done by conducting eighteen interviews with different leaders within the organization Alleima. Moreover, our findings suggest that relationships are the most important factor for self-leadership and virtual leadership to be effective, especially during a crisis situation. Further, both motivation and communication are of importance for the effectiveness of self-leadership and virtual leadership as well since both self-leadership and virtual leadership is dependent on employee motivation and a clear communication within the team and organization.

In recent years, the use of virtual work has increased due to digitalization and the effects of theCovid-19 pandemic. A growing number of companies have shifted to a hybrid model or anentirely virtual model of work. This trend toward virtual work has created a need for leaders tohave skills applicable to the complexities of communication and connection that can occur ina virtual environment. Since for many leaders and companies this environment may be new,they are presented with the challenge of developing leadership skills that can help them tonavigate their roles. Leadership development is an area that has been studied extensively butnot necessarily within the virtual context. Therefore, in order to face the challenges of virtualleadership, leadership development that considers the complexity of a virtual and globallydistributed context is needed. As such, this thesis aims to investigate whether virtual leadershipprograms can develop leaders, given this complex context, and if so, in what ways. This thesisis a qualitative case study, and the data has been collected with questionnaires from a companythat has completed virtual leadership program. Data were later analyzed in connection with atypology of development to determine how leaders in a virtual and globally distributed contextcan be developed. The findings show that the virtual leadership development program’sefficiency depends on how well different kinds of developments have been included in it.

Leading at a distance has emerged concurrently with complex global changes, resulting in the diverse use of technology, virtual teams, and collaboration as a way of solving problems and growing innovative and successful organizations. Little research has been done to explore the perceptions of individuals who lead virtual organizations. In the absence of such research, little is known about effective leadership processes in virtual environments. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to discover an explanatory theory, derived from data, which facilitates an understanding of effective virtual leadership systems and processes. This study used classic grounded theory methodology involving multiple extant data reviews (> 20) and a purposive sampling group of 77 virtual leaders, dispersed globally, who were interviewed using voice-over Internet protocol, phone contacts, and e-mail as data collection methods. The grand tour research question for this study examined issues leaders faced when leading/working virtually and the processes virtual leaders used to resolve the stated issues. Data were analyzed using open coding, sorting, memoing, constant comparative analysis, selective coding, and theoretical sampling. The key finding of this study was a generated theory of seducing engagement, addressing participants' main concern: the process of cultivating success in the virtual worker-learner. Engagement is viewed as a significant variable in successful virtual working, virtual leading, and organizational/company success. The results from this study might be used by global organizations to inform infrastructure and planning for virtual leading; to enhance the knowledge, training, and preparedness of virtual leaders; and to spur further research in a rapidly growing field.

Abstract   Title: Work to home- Home to work        - A qualitative study of the changes that has taken place in communication between                      managers and employees after reorganization to teleworking.    Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Malardalen University Level: Bachelor thesis in Business Administration, 15 credits Authors: Mahsa Shirkhan (920617), Henrik Snell (910618) & Sara Wadii (910304) Tutor: Kerstin Nilsson Date: 2021-06-03   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create an understanding of the leadership role and to research how leaders and employees compensate for the lost physical contact that the forced teleworking has entailed and how it has affected the communication between leader and employee. Through interviews, we intend to create an understanding of how leadership and communication play out with forced teleworking seen from the leader's and employees' perspective.   Research Questions: How can leaders and employees compensate for the lack of physical and social contact so that no information is lost through teleworking.    Method: Qualitative research method   Conclusion: The pandemic has meant that leaders and employees have been forced to work remotely. This comes with several challenges for companies and working groups that manifest themselves primarily in communication. From face-to-face communication in an office landscape to being spread out and only communicating digitally. Leaders and employees need to adapt to continue to be productive in the virtual work environment. The loss of body language that one could previously rely on and the rapid communication that could take place in the office needs to be compensated for. This study shows that leadership fulfils an important function for working remotely and by using the various digital communication solutions, one can compensate for the loss of the physical interactions so that productivity is maintained. In terms of work, efficiency and productivity can continue to be at levels like before in the office landscape. The study concludes that the biggest challenge lies in individuals' social and emotional needs.   Keywords: Communication, leadership, virtual teams, virtual leadership, teleworking

The world is becoming increasingly digitized, where rapid changeovers at companies are a must to continue competing. Technological development has shown the possibilities for flexible workplaces without requirements to be at a specific physical location. Leading hybrid teams and making decisions can be challenging when they are not dependent on time and space. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how decision-making is affected by hybrid work. The study assumes leadership and decision theories such as E-leadership, strategic decision-making, and decision processes. The study has applied a qualitative case study through semi-structured interviews with eight leaders at a Swedish telecom company. The results showed that the decision-making process looks different in physical and virtual contexts. The results indicate that informal conversations and cross-examination in a physical office environment are significant for overall decision-making. This type of communication does not exist in virtual contexts, and the decision-makers have a risk of omitting important information. At the same time, there is higher efficiency in virtual decision-making meetings.

In a world that is getting more and more globalized and dependent of the progress within the sphere of technology, there is a need for organizations to keep up with this development. Virtual Teams are a developing area, where there is a strive and a consistent desire to evolve and reach a higher level of efficiency. There is also a development when it comes to communication and is a consequence of a world that is increasingly globalized, and creating global competition is facilitated by a wider use of information and communication technology This leads to higher demands on the Virtual Leader in order to make sure that the team reaches its full potential, and being able to tackle the challenges that comes with leading an in a Virtual Environment. Since it is a subject that is still going through a phase of evolution, there is a knowledge gap in both a theoretical and practical view. The creation of Virtual Teams and the Virtual Leader encounters several aggravating challenges compared to traditionally collocated teams. There is a need for a clear definition of a Virtual Leader as well how to handle upcoming challenges. This study suggests a suitable definition for a Virtual Leader, where the result was drawn from a literature review and qualitative data from ten different companies and twenty respondents. A connection is drawn to the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation model (FIRO) made by Will Schutz in 1958. The main objectives of a leader are still the same, it is rather the context that has changed, and therefore an expansion of the model is presented. This reinforces the purpose of this study which is to investigate how a Virtual Leader can overcome the aforementioned challenges and ensure that everyone in the team are heading in the same direction.

This study aims to recognize how virtual teams should be coordinated and led in organizations that operate at multiple sites. To fulfill the purpose of the study, a literature review on previous research on virtual teams was implemented. Further, a qualitative study including interviews with leaders at different levels at Ericsson was conducted to gain empirical data on how leadership in virtual teams works. The interviews were semi-structured with the purpose of not directing the leaders towards only bringing up the challenges that emerged in the literature review but to also bring up new perspectives. The major challenges that virtual teams face, thus challenges that the leaders must somehow address, can be divided into three areas: communication, coordination and location. Concerning communication, it is important that leaders of virtual teams set the means for communications, define ground rules and make sure that the right kind of communication is used for the right purpose. Further, it is important to communicate more often than if the team would have been co-located and actively try to build trust and cohesion within the team by being transparent and honest. To meet face to face with the team members, especially in the beginning when the team is created, is important both for understanding (virtual communication becomes easier afterward) and for the building of trust and cohesion. In the area coordination it is important for the leader to clearly define the roles of each team member and how the roles as well as the team efforts contribute to a larger picture. There is no perfect distribution that is applicable to all virtual teams, each team must find their balance concerning how many team members that should be positioned at each site. In general, to push responsibilities down in the hierarchy is a suitable role structure for virtual teams. The location area includes challenges such as different languages, cultures and collaboration across different time zones. It is important to have an operative language that all team members understand and master. When creating a new team, it is important that the leader or the person creating it, is aware of how cultural differences impact, so that the challenges can be addressed properly, and the benefits of diversity as well as the expanded labor pool, can be utilized. Working across different time zones brings benefits such as more hours of the day can be used, but it also includes challenges, such as limited real-time communication. Thus, the optimal time overlap is difficult to define, but generally, leaders prefer involving fewer time zones and large time overlaps.