Von Miriam Müthel, Martin Högl

Leading dispersed teams poses critical challenges in respect of the team members being separated, and the tasks dynamic and complex. "Hands-on" influencing attempts by vertical formal or informal team leaders are largely ineffective in this context, leading to a naturally arising leadership vacuum in dispersed teams. Focusing on this domain, we adapt the concept of shared leadership to the context of dispersed teams. Moreover, we extend this concept by specifying the contributions that vertical leaders could make to the effectiveness of shared leadership in dispersed projects.

What are the upsides and downsides of dispersed collaboration?

Dispersed teams cross several boundaries, such as geographic, temporal, and organizational boundaries [1], primarily employing telecommunication and information technologies to accomplish a common task [2]. Their work and task context can be described along four key characteristics [3]: geographical dispersion [4], technology use [5], diversity [6], and task uncertainty [7]. Geographical dispersion, which is often mentioned as a key characteristic, is, however, a matter of degree (i. e., dispersed team are more or less virtual), rather than a dichotomous distinction between so-called co-located and virtual teams [8].

With today's business environment being characterized by increasing globalization, a shift from hierarchical to flat or horizontal organizational structures, interorganizational cooperation, and the growing importance of knowledge-intensive products, dispersed collaboration offers fundamental advantages [2]. By creating dispersed teams, firms can leverage superior knowledge residing at different locations (e. g., technical knowledge, local market knowledge) by exploiting the advantages of information technology. Companies are also staffing projects with individuals at different sites to capture favorable labor costs [9] and to save travel costs [10]. However, it may prove highly difficult to capitalize on such potential benefits, as the four characteristics of dispersed teams (geographical dispersion [4], technology use, diversity, and task uncertainty) challenge the project team's effectiveness (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Challenging boundary conditions; © WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management

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