Determinants of Effective Leadership in Information Systems Development Teams: An Exploratory Study of Face-to-Face and Virtual Contexts

ABSTRACT In this paper, we identify characteristics/behaviors of effective information systems development (ISD) team leaders/managers. Our exploratory analysis of United States (US)-US face-to-face (FTF) and US-Norway virtual teams reveals that FTF and cross-cultural virtual ISD team-members value different ingredients of leadership in different phases of the ISD project. Further, within virtual ISD teams, national culture plays a role in determining what is considered effective leadership. We conclude that while the behavioral and trait approaches are dominant in explaining effective leadership, other leadership theories must also be considered. The paper concludes with actionable suggestions for guiding leadership in FTF and virtual teams. INTRODUCTION As organizations transition from traditional hierarchical structures to flatter, more team-based structures (Kayworth and Leidner 2002), the role and function of leadership is thought to be changing as well (Nugren and Levine 1995; Zigurs 2003). Prior research reveals that the nature of leadership in team environments is quite complex (Horner 1997). For instance, leadership may rotate among and between team members over time (Lipnack and Stamps 1999). Alternatively, leaders may emerge from within the boundaries of the team over time (Wilson, George, and Wellins 1994; Zigurs 2003) or in some cases may simply be selected a priori. In the context of project teams, the phrases assigned project manager and project leaders have been used interchangeably (Thomas and Pinto 1999; Sotiriou and Wittmer 2001). Researchers argue that "the skills and qualities of leadership" required in project teams are significantly different from the traditional settings. On a similar note, Millikin (1994) argues that, "as more organizations are looking at self-managed work teams as a way of doing business, questions arise [as to] what leadership style is [most] effective. " The uncertainty surrounding team-based leadership becomes even more daunting when one considers virtual teams, which are neither fixed in composition nor static in terms of location of team members (Townsend, DeMarie, and Hendrickson 1997). Traditionally, theories of leadership have been posited and tested within the context of face-to-face environments (Bass 1981). With the movement toward virtual teams in recent years (Townsend, DeMarie, and Hendrickson 1997), especially for ISD projects (Sarker, Sarker, Nicholson, and Joshi 2005; Sarker, Lau, and Sahay 2001), it has become necessary to revisit leadership theories within these new work structures and organizational environments (Powell, Piccoli, and Ives 2004). However, to date, only a handful of studies have been undertaken in the context of information systems (e.g., Bell and Kozlowski 2002; Cascio and Shurygailo 2003; Kayworth and Leidner 2002; Misiolek and Heckman 2005; Zaccaro and Bader 2003; Zigurs 2003). Moreover, with the exception of Kayworth and Leidner (2000), there exists a paucity of research investigating multiple, viable leadership perspectives in the context of virtual teams. This paper attempts to fill this void by exploring four different leadership perspectives - Power-Influence Approach, Trait Approach, Behavior Approach, and Situation Approach - in analyzing effective leadership characteristics of ISD leaders/managers within the context of cross-cultural virtual teams and traditional face-to-face teams. This paper reports the exploratory findings regarding (1) the purported frequencies of four salient leadership perspectives as they relate to effective leadership; and (2) the observed trends regarding the extent to which these leadership perspectives vary across the contexts of face-to-face and cross-cultural virtual ISD teams. Further, given that virtual teams are often composed of members from different cultures, the paper also seeks to compare whether the salient leadership perspectives and their relationship to effective leadership differs across the cultures. …