Effective Leadership in Virtual Teams during the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

The COVID 19 pandemic has brought about an unprecedented economic and social crisis that has affected many businesses. Due to health concerns, many organizations are being managed virtually. This can be challenging, especially for employees and employers that are used to face-to-face interaction and for those who are not tech-savvy. organizational leaders need to develop strategies and methods to maintain business, as well as maintain the productivity levels of employees. This research paper investigates the most effective ways to lead virtual teams during a pandemic to answer the question what challenges did virtual team leaders face during the COVID-19 pandemic and how were they addressed? This paper consists of a study based on a short literature review and the survey responses of a sample size of 42 from working professionals across various job levels. A second survey of an additional 21 managers and leaders was also conducted. The authors identified the key challenges of leading and working in virtual teams from the survey results, including communication hardships and the obstacles with onboarding new employees remotely. Drawing on the team's experiences and knowledge from the related literature review as well, this paper proposes a set of best practices based on the patterns observed in the survey in order to answer the research question. The paper also includes the scope of future work that can be done in this field. © 2022 PICMET.