Leading from a Distance: Advancements in Virtual Leadership Research

Although leadership has long been recognized as critical in virtual environments, observers have noted that a surprisingly small number of studies have focused on virtual leadership. In the current chapter we examine what we currently know about virtual leadership and identify promising future research directions. We begin by examining changes in the leadership context, most notably advances in technology and the growing adoption of virtual work arrangements. We then trace the evolution of the research that has examined virtual leadership at both the dyadic and team levels, highlighting key conceptual and empirical advances. Finally, we conclude the chapter by discussing future research directions that have the potential to make important contributions to both theory and practice in the area of virtual leadership

Filling the Holes: Work Schedulers as Job Crafters of Employment Practice in Long-Term Health Care

Although work schedulers serve an organizational role influencing decisions about balancing conflicting stakeholder interests over schedules and staffing, scheduling has primarily been described as an objective activity or individual job characteristic. The authors use the lens of job crafting to examine how schedulers in 26 health care facilities enact their roles as they “fill holes” to schedule workers. Qualitative analysis of interview data suggests that schedulers expand their formal scope and influence to meet their interpretations of how to manage stakeholders (employers, workers, and patients). The authors analyze variations in the extent of job crafting (cognitive, physical, relational) to broaden role repertoires. They find evidence that some schedulers engage in rule-bound interpretation to avoid role expansion. They also identify four types of schedulers: enforcers, patient-focused schedulers, employee-focused schedulers, and balancers. The article adds to the job-crafting literature by showing that job crafting is conducted not only to create meaningful work but also to manage conflicting demands and to mediate among the competing labor interests of workers, clients, and employers

Leading from a Distance: Advancements in Virtual Leadership Research

Although leadership has long been recognized as critical in virtual environments, observers have noted that a surprisingly small number of studies have focused on virtual leadership. In the current chapter we examine what we currently know about virtual leadership and identify promising future research directions. We begin by examining changes in the leadership context, most notably advances in technology and the growing adoption of virtual work arrangements. We then trace the evolution of the research that has examined virtual leadership at both the dyadic and team levels, highlighting key conceptual and empirical advances. Finally, we conclude the chapter by discussing future research directions that have the potential to make important contributions to both theory and practice in the area of virtual leadership.Bell106_Leading_from_a_distance.pdf: 855 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020