Emergent leader detection and identification in a virtual team environment: A grounded theory study

One challenge facing organizations using virtual teams
is the inability to detect, identify, select, and develop emergent
leaders working in the virtual team environment, which might increase
the organizational risk of a shortage in leadership resources. The
purpose of the qualitative, grounded theory research study was to define
a theory about the emergent leader detection and identification process
in a virtual team environment, using data systematically obtained and
analyzed through the constant comparative method. Twenty-four virtual
team members, virtual team leaders, and virtual team managers
participated in semi-structured telephone interviews. The data analysis
produced 74 themes and subthemes to provide a deeper understanding of
the phenomena. Five common themes emerged to group 69 subthemes:
responsibility, characteristics, constraints, facilitation, and
outcomes. The theory provided information about the individuals
responsible for the detection and identification of emergent leaders in a
virtual team environment, characteristics useful to help detect and
identify emergent leaders, areas of constraint in identification, areas
facilitating identification, and risks and opportunities resulting from
the organizational ability or inability to detect emergent leaders in a
virtual team environment. Future research could provide support for the
findings of this study by replicating the study using traditional teams,
larger teams, or teams with more diverse backgrounds and compositions.