Theories for the How to lead virtual teams-guide https://www.thinglink.com/scenariocard/1521767923624968193

1. 1
How to lead
virtual teams?
How to lead virtual teams?
- Counter-depence & fight

2. CONTENT
Overview of the Team development stages
Encourage your team!
• Bringing out the positive effects of diversity
○ cultural diversity (Hofstede, Lewis, Hall)
○ professional diversity
○ linguistic diversity
• Handling conflicts
○ non-violent communication
○ emotional intelligence
Recommendations for the virtual teams at stage 2
References & Suggested readings
2

3. - Getting to know each other
- Finding out and
understanding about - the
team objectives, values and
rules
- Respecting leadership
- Including all team members
in the process
- Forming subgroups
- Competition in teams
- Conflicts are increasing
- Leadership changes
- Aggressive feedback
- Clarity in objectives and tasks
- Understanding how to deal
with the conflicts
- Collaboration in working
- Forming a stronger
relationship with team
members
- Solving problems
collectively in a team
- Decision making is made as
a group
- Constructive feedback
- Safe and secure working
environment
- Clear communication
Stage 1
Dependence &
Inclusion
Stage 2
Counterdependence &
Fight
Stage 3
Trust & Structure
Stage 4
Work & Productivity
OVERVIEW OF THE TEAM DEVELOPMENT STAGES
(Adapted from Wheelan 2005 & Wijaya 2018)

4. ENCOURAGE YOUR TEAM!
Stage 2 is called Counter-dependence and Fight.
At this stage, the team members feel secure enough to
express themselves openly and disagree with each other and
the leader. Conflicts are inevitable. When conflict resolution
occurs, it creates culture and increases consensus which
increases the overall trust and cohesion.
At this stage, the project leader´s most important task is to
develop the team.
Critical factors for the virtual team success at this stage are:
• Understanding cultural & professional & linguistic diversity
• Handling conflicts
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5. CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Working in virtual teams enables people to cooperate without travelling and to open team projects up
to collaboration with members from different countries and cultures.
Working in multicultural virtual teams can also be rewarding. It can help broaden one’s perspectives
and worldviews, expand personal and professional networks, and develop language skills.
Lack of cultural awareness and communication skills can lead to misunderstandings that can also lead
to conflicts and decrease the entire team’s performance.
Some of the most well-known concepts on culture are:
• Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions;
• Edward T. Hall’s High and Low-Context Cultures, and Monochronic and Polychronic Cultures;
• Richard Lewis’ Lewis Model (Dimensions of Behaviour).
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6. HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS (1/3)
Values are assumed to be stable elements that may differ among citizens of different cultures.
It is widely postulated that societies face similar issues concerning the relation to authority, the relation between individual and society, the understanding of
masculinity and femininity, and how we deal with conflicts.
Geert Hofstede, a Dutch Social Psychologist and former IBM employee verified this postulation in his study of over 100,000 IBM employees in the late 1960s. The
results demonstrated that cultural groupings exist between different nations. Hofstede initially presented four cultural dimensions:
(1) Power Distance
(2) Collectivism versus individualism
(3) Femininity versus masculinity
(4) Uncertainty avoidance.
Later, in 1991, a 5th dimension, Long-term versus short-term normative orientation, was added based on a cooperation with a Chinese University studying
students’ values. Finally, in 2010, a 6th dimension, indulgence versus restraint, was added based on World Values Survey data. All dimensions have two
opposite poles.
(Hofstede, Hofstede and Minkov, 2010)
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7. HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS (2/3)
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8. HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS (3/3)
Hofstede’s model has been employed in various organisational contexts, including training design, conflict resolution,
and group work dynamics.
Anyone can view country scores in the six cultural dimensions and read more at: https://www.hofstede-
insights.com/country-comparison/
Despite the wide acceptance, Hofstede’s model has also faced criticism, among which the following are some points to
consider:
• Domestic populations are not homogenous as a whole, and each country also comprises individuals – the country
scores represent only averages;
• Cultures may not be bounded by national borders only but can be fragmented within them;
• Political landscapes and their influence on the cultural dimensions may change over time;
• Data used in Hofstede’s model, especially in the original 4 dimensions, may be considered old. However, many
subsequent studies support that cultures do not change overnight. (Eringa et al., 2015)
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9. HALL’S CONTEXT THEORY (1/3)
Originally introduced by the anthropologist Edward T. Hall in 1959 in his book The Silent
Language.
The theory postulates that messages are communicated and interpreted differently in different
cultures.
Low-context cultures use language primarily to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas as
clearly and logically as possible. The meaning of a statement is in the words spoken or written.
High-context cultures rely heavily on subtle, often nonverbal, cues to convey meaning, save
face, and maintain social harmony. Communicators discover meanings from the context.
Although originally presented as two extremes, the context can be understood as a continuum.
Individuals can also fall anywhere along the continuum regardless of their cultural background,
and the communication styles can deviate from the common patterns (or switch) depending on
the purpose, roles, situation and mode of communication.

10. HALL’S CONTEXT THEORY (2/3)
Practical applications of Hall’s theory have been employed in numerous multicultural working contexts
to address challenges where clashes of communication styles occur.
Challenges usually derive from misinterpretations, which may occur, for example:
• When low-context people make bold and blunt statements, whose communication style may be
perceived impolite by those associated with high-context cultures, or;
• When high-context people use non-verbal cues or their communication style is ambiguous or
indirect, the intended meanings of their messages maybe difficult to interpret for people from low-
context cultures.
These challenges exist also in virtual teams and can be more prominent for high-context people the
more asynchronous the mode for communication and collaboration becomes. For example, nonverbal
cues are difficult to convey via email.
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11. HALL’S CONTEXT THEORY (3/3)
Culturally-attuned behaviours may show up differently in different decision-making stages in asynchronous virtual
communication.
At the problem identification stage:
• High-context people prefer avoiding words like ‘problems’ and prevaricate expressing concerns;
• Low-context people tend to jump straight to the point and clearly state the problems upfront.
At the proposal-making stage:
• High-context people begin their proposals formally, for example, by writing “Dear all…”, and they prefer to use indirect
phrases before expressing their views;
• Low-context people often begin their proposals with a succinct and clear goal statement.
At the solution stage:
• High-context people care for presenting their decisions appreciatively and courteously;
• Low-context people tend to inform others of their decisions directly and precisely.
(Zakaria, 2017)
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HALL’S TIME DIMENSION
Hall also made discoveries of cultural factors relating to time. differences in time perception influence how we organise time and behaviour. Those culturally attuned to monochronic
behaviour may find it challenging to work with polychronic people, vice versa.
Monochronic cultures are mostly found in North America and
Northern Europe. They often:
• plan one thing at a time
• concentrate on the job
• take time commitments like schedules and deadlines
seriously
• are low-context and need information
• are committed to the job
• adhere religiously to plans
• are concerned about not disturbing others; follow rules of
privacy and consideration
• emphasize promptness, and
• wre accustomed to short-term relationships.
Polychronic cultures are, for example, Latin, American, Arab
and African cultures. They often:
• do many things at once
• are highly distractible and subject to interruptions
• consider time commitments to be achieved if possible
• are high-context and already have information
• are committed to people and human relationships;
• change plan often and easily
• are more concerned with those who are closely (like family,
friends, close business associates) related than privacy
• base promptness on the relationship, and
• have strong tendency to build lifetime relationships.
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13. THE LEWIS MODEL (1/2)
The Lewis Model (Dimensions of Behaviour) is rooted in Edward T. Hall’s concepts of monochronic
and polychronic cultures. Richard Lewis developed these concepts in the 1990s into the broader
dimensions of linear-active and multi-active, and added the new concept of reactive, following a
period immersed in Japanese culture.
“Linear-actives are task-oriented, highly-organised planners, who complete action chains by doing
one thing at a time, in accordance with a linear agenda.”
“Multi-actives are emotional, loquacious and impulsive people who attach great importance to family,
feelings, relationships. They like to do things at the same time and are poor followers of agendas.”
“Reactives are good listeners, who rarely initiate action or discussion, preferring to listen to and
establish the other’s position then react to it.”
(Lewis, 2019)
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THE LEWIS MODEL (2/2)
The image on the right illustrates how various countries
have traditionally been situated in Lewis’ tripartite
model.
Lewis has recently postulated that the information age,
globalisation, and the influence of the Internet are
changing the way we think about cultures.
The Western culture and economic power that have
dominated the world through international business,
international relations and social trends are in decline in
terms of the linear-active cultural dominance in the 21st
century and are getting balanced by values of the new
great powers.
The key cultural values coming to the forefront are
Asianisation and feminine values.
(Lewis, 2019)
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15. LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY (1/2)
Virtual teams often use English as a lingua franca (ELF) in communication (=use of
English as a common means of communication for speakers of different native languages).
Having the necessary language skills is very important both for the efficiency of the team
communication and enhancing the trust within the team.
Coping with the diversity is facilitated by the ability to operate not only with language but
also with body language and facial expressions.
Employees adopt three different strategies to deal with problems in the knowledge-sharing
process caused using a non-native language. (Ahmad 2018):
● discourse adjustment,
● language adjustment and
● media adjustment
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16. LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY (2/2)
Challenges
• a language barrier that may hinder individuals from sharing their task-related knowledge
• some local word meanings can cause misunderstandings
Opportunities
• due to high awareness of linguistic differences, team members put in extra effort during interactions, leading
to positive knowledge-sharing outcomes.
The importance of media choice is emphasized
• verbal communication is not always more beneficial than written communication.
• a team with poor language skills will choose a textual communication tool, as this will give the members the
chance to rethink and correct mistakes.
• in addition to text-based and spoken communication, visualization comprehension in VTs increases (e.g.
Varhelahti & al 2021).
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17. PROFESSIONAL DIVERSITY
Team members in virtual teams often represent different disciplinary backgrounds.
Diverse professional knowledge resources add value to innovation outcomes because of the
different knowledge, skills, and abilities that they bring to the team
Challenges
• team members may fear that sharing knowledge may reduce their job security
• team members are defending their existing professional boundaries (e.g. Sidora & al. 2020)
and communicating knowledge and integrating knowledge in the teamwork is not as
effective as it could
• communication challenges may also be caused by meanings within professional language
that are not commonly understood
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18. HANDLING CONFLICTS
“Conflict is the
beginning of
consciousness”
M. Esther Harding
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19. WHAT ARE CONFLICTS?
A Sociology meaning
● “Conflict in sociology is a process or situation
in which two or more human beings or groups
seek actively to threat each other’s purposes,
to prevent each other’s interests, even to the
extent of injuring or destroying the other” –
Fairchild.
● “Conflict is the social process in which
individuals or groups seek their ends by
directly challenging the antagonist by violence
or threat of violence.” – Gillin & Gillin
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A Psychology meaning
● Intrapersonal or goals conflicts: Are the conflicts
caused within the individual. These conflicts
arise as a result of two or more motives or goals
to be achieved at a time.
• Interpersonal conflicts: Are caused between
individuals and they can be resolved through
some strategies such as avoiding, smoothing,
forcing, confronting and compromising.
Conflict is a broad term, that suggests a state of disagreement or opposition. The term carries different
connotations depending on how it is experienced and who experiences it.

20. HANDLING CONFLICTS: INGREDIENTS OF THE
NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION
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Straight from the heart
Articulate what that message or action
makes us feel.
The key to identifying, expressing, and
connecting with needs is to focus on
words that describe shared human
experience rather than words that
describe the particular strategies to
meet those needs.
Free of evaluations and judgements
Typically, we observe the happenings, and
quickly judge or evaluate — “do I like/dislike
this message/action?”
The key to making an observation is to
separate our own judgments, evaluations or
interpretations from our description of what
happened. With NVC, we observe without
judgment.
Values and longings that causes/creates
feelings
Identify what we need in response to that message
or action.
The key to identifying and expressing feelings is to
focus on words that describe our inner experience
rather than words that describe our interpretations
of people’s actions.
Expressed clearly in positive action language
The concrete actions we request in order to enrich
our lives.
The spirit of requests relies on our willingness to
hear a “no” and to continue to work with ourselves or
others to find ways to meet everyone’s needs.

21. USING NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION FOR CONFLICT
RESOLUTION
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DR.ROSENBERG’S FIVE STEPS PROCESS

22. HANDLING CONFLICTS: EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
Components of Emotional Intelligence - Daniel Goleman’s Theory
● Self-awareness: Self-awareness is, being aware of both our mood
and our thoughts about mood. Self-awareness leads to knowing
and being comfortable with oneself. It also helps in knowing when
to seek help, from whom to achieve an outcome
● Self-management (or self-regulation): The ability to manage one’s
actions, thoughts, and feelings in flexible ways to get the desired
results. An emotionally charged environment is usually fraught with
unresolved conflict. By practising self-regulation one becomes
approachable, able to deal with conflict and creates a nurturing
environment and leads by example.
● Social Awareness: Is the ability to accurately notice the emotions
of others and “read” situations appropriately. It is about sensing
what other people are thinking and feeling to be able to take their
perspective using your capacity for empathy.
● Relationship Management: The ability to take into account one’s
own emotions, the emotions of others, and the context to manage
social interactions successfully.
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Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage emotions and feelings of self as
well as others. Emotional intelligence is also referred to as eq.

23. HANDLING CONFLICTS USING EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
Let us understand the process of handling conflicts by applying the knowledge of Emotional Intelligence
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24. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR VIRTUAL TEAMS
• establish common ground and develop strategies to communicate diverse perspectives
• the team leader should be aware that individuals tend to communicate more frequently with those from similar cultures. In groups, they may
become harmful if certain stereotypes of superiority are created, which may affect the entire team’s performance
• most importantly, intercultural virtual teams benefit from cultural diversity and effective intercultural communication as they can enhance the
team’s creativity and innovation. (Dumitrascu-Baldau and Dumitrascu, 2019)
• choose the media for knowledge sharing processes keeping in mind the differences in language skills and communication preferences
• functioning in a multicultural environment necessitates the ability to adjust and be flexible; One’s openness determines much of the success
in intercultural interaction (Rozkwitalska et al., 2016)
• in the absence of media supporting nonverbal cues, people subscribing to high-context cultures may find it useful to express the level of
commitment or participation using symbols such as “like” or “smiley face” or “thumbs up” that indicate approval or agreement. (Zakaria, 2017)
• video-conferencing tools that offer a great extent of means to communicate such as video, chat and desktop and filesharing are
recommended
• ensure regular social interactions by team members
• ensure good communication via regular meetings
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25. REFERENCES & SUGGESTED READINGS
•Ahmad, F. Knowledge sharing in multinational organizations, The impact of language,Ph.D. dissertation, Fac. Soc. Sci., Bus. Econ. Abo Akademi Univ., Abo, Finland, 2018.
•Dumitrascu-Baldau, I. and Dumitrascu, D. D. (2019). Intercultural Communication and its Challenges Within the International Virtual Project Team, MATEC Web of Conferences, 290. doi:
10.1051/matecconf/201929007005
•Duranti, G. and Di Prata, O. (2009)E. verything is about time: does it have the same meaning all over the world?, in Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 200. Amsterdam: PA:
Project Management Institute. Available at: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/everything-time-monochronism-polychronism-orientation-6902.
•Eringa, K. et al. (2015). How relevant are Hofstede’ s dimensions for inter-cultural studies? A replication of Hofstede’s research among current international business students, Research in
Hospitality Management, 5(2). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2989/RHM.2015.5.2.10.1283.
•Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
•Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. & McKee, A. (2002). Primal Leadership: Realizing the Importance of Emotional Intelligence, Harvard Business School Press: Boston
•Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J. and Minkov, M. (2010). Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind. 3rd edn, International Studies of Management & Organization. 3rd edn. New York:
Mc Graw Hill. doi: 10.1080/00208825.1980.11656300.
•Klitmøller, A., Schneider, S. C. and Jonsen, K. (2015). Speaking of global virtual teams: Language differences, social categorization and media choice. Pers. Rev., vol. 44, no. 2,270– 285.
•Lewis, R. D. (2019). The cultural imperative: Global trends in the 21st century. Training, Language and Culture, 3(3), 8–20. doi: 10.29366/2019tlc.3.3.1.
•Liao, C. (2017). Leadership in virtual teams: A multilevel perspective. Human Resource Management Review, 27(4), 648-659.
•Mayer, J.D. & Salovey, P. (1997). What is emotional intelligence? In P. Salovey and D. Sluyter (eds.): Emotional development and emotional intelligence: educational implications (pp. 3-
31). New York: Basic Books.
•Mayer, J.D., Salovey, P. & Caruso, D. (2000). Models of emotional intelligence. In R.J. Sternberg (ed.): Handbook of human intelligence (pp. 396-420). New York: Cambridge University
Press.
•Memon, A. B. & Meyer, K. (2017). Why We Need Dedicated Web-based Collaboration Platforms for Inter-organizational Connectivity? A Research Synthesis. International journal of
information technology and computer science, 9(11), 1-11. doi:10.5815/ijitcs.2017.11.01.
•Rozkwitalska, M. et al. (2016). Intercultural Interactions At Multinational Corporations’ Workplace: Grounded Theory. Journal of Positive Management, 7(1), 3. doi: 10.12775/jpm.2016.001.
•Rosenberg. M.B. Ph.D. Nonviolent Communication - A Language of Life (2015). Puddledancer Press.
•Varhelahti, M. & Turnquist, T. (2021). Diversity and Communication in Virtual Project Teams. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 64(2), 201-214.
•Wheelan, S.s: (2005). Group Processes: A Developmental Perspective. Boston, MA, USA: Allyn Bacon.
•Zakaria, N. (2017). Emergent Patterns of Switching Behaviors and Intercultural Communication Styles of Global Virtual Teams During Distributed Decision Making. Journal of International
Management, 23(4), 350–366. doi: 10.1016/j.intman.2016.09.002.
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THANK YOU!
Visit our interactive guide “How to Lead Virtual Teams” to learn
more!
The guide is available at too4to.eu
This presentation is part of TOO4TO-project. This project has been funded with
support from the European Commission. This content reflects the views only of the
authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be
made of the information contained therein.