Introduction
The emerging technologies are reshaping the way in which organizations are run across the world. Massive advancements witnessed in the field of information technology have completely transformed the way employees and managers interact in organizational settings. Information technology is currently playing a very critical role in organizations that are going global in their operations.
Managers of these global organizations now rely on technology to provide leadership and share information with employees overseas. A chief executive officer in an office in Manhattan can easily monitor and guide operations of his or her firm’s overseas branches in Dubai, Beijing, Tokyo, Berlin, and Cape Town in real-time using emerging technologies in the field of information technology. It has led to the emergence of online leadership (Avoloi & Kahai, 2002, p. 334).
Leaders are increasingly relying on technology to share information with their junior officers, to issue guidance, and to ensure that everything runs as per the expectations. Online leadership is specifically important for large companies with several branches either locally or at global level. It limits the need to travel and ensures that information is made available in real-time. According to some scholars, there are pros and cons of online leadership (Sivunen, 2008, p. 48). This form of leadership has brought a massive change in the manner in which leaders interact with the employees. Although the benefits it has brought are clear, it is also important to note that a number of weaknesses are associated with this form of leadership. In this paper, the researcher seeks to identify the advantages and disadvantages of online leadership. The paper will provide a proper guide for those planning to embrace online leadership within their organizations.
Understanding the Concept of Online Leadership
Leadership
According to some scholars, leadership is the art of providing guidance to others on the path that should be followed towards greater organizational success (Roy, 2012, p. 58). Whenever a group of people gathers to work on something, they need a leader that can help in coordinating their activities and organizing them as they try to achieve success. Leadership goes beyond management. It goes beyond issuing orders and expecting everyone to obey the orders. It goes beyond coming up with punitive measures for people who fail to obey the set instructions. It is a conviction that one has to work closely with others to realize an organizational goal.
A leader must be capable of understanding the capabilities of his or her people and what affects them. A leader must always be at the forefront in dealing with and managing challenges that his or her team may encounter from time to time. A leader must be capable of listening and understanding the team members (Snellman, 2014, p. 1252). It is a misconception that a leader should always issue instructions, and followers must obey. However, some scholars argue that before issuing an instruction, a leader must listen to what the followers have to say and their suggestions about how an issue must be addressed (Jawadi, 2013, p. 19).
A leader must be very tolerant and able to work with people who have varying opinions over specific issues. Instead of forcing personal beliefs and convictions on people, a leader should be capable of debating with followers with the view of identifying and embracing the best practices.
Leadership entails making very difficult decisions that may sometimes be unfavorable even to the leader. It is common for a leader to be faced with a dilemma when working with his or her team. The approach that one takes to address such a dilemma defines the kind of a leader he or she is. Some people prefer the easy way out when faced with a dilemma. Such people lack leadership skills (Snellman, 2014, p. 1255).
A good leader should be ready and capable of choosing the most difficult or longest of the paths if it will yield the best result for the team. Leadership requires one to think, not just on the basis of personal benefits, but on how everyone else will benefit. It means that he or she must be ready to sacrifice personal benefits for the greater good of the group. In leadership, what is important is to ensure that the goals and objectives of the team are achieved in the best way possible.
A leader should always strive to motivate team members to achieve greater success for the team. He or she should identify the personal limits of every team member and be able to challenge those limits positively with the view of making them perform better. A leader should not use fear. Instead, he or she should use motivation as a way of making team members achieve greater success. The team members should always be reminded that they should all benefit if they remain committed to the organizational goals.
In modern society, organizations are facing new challenges that require proper leadership to help in managing them. The emerging threat of cyber attack, diversity in the workplace, increasingly empowered employees, stiff market competition, changing external environment are just some of the unique challenges that leaders have to deal with currently. The use of threats and dictatorship is no longer an option in the modern workplace environment. Leaders have to embrace transformational leadership qualities to achieve success in such a turbulent environment. These emerging challenges require a leader to be capable of embracing dialogue instead of threats and ultimatums (Roy, 2012, p. 60). That is why scholars have developed a keen interest in expanding knowledge about leadership in the modern organizational setting.
Virtuality
The emerging technologies, especially in the field of information communication technology, have completely transformed the manner in which organizations are run in modern society. According to some scholars, information is one of the most critical aspects of management (Avoloi & Kahai, 2002, p. 329).
Information is the engine that drives organizations. The top managers need information about how various departments are fairing, the progress made in achieving the set goals and objectives, and factors that hinder success. These top managers use that information to formulate new policies that will address the identified weaknesses and promote greater success. On the other hand, junior employees need information from the top managers on how to undertake their duties, especially in the face of new challenges that keep emerging in the workplace. Virtuality, as defined by some scholars, refers to the use of computer technology to create a virtual reality in a given setting (Shwarts-Asher, 2012, p. 69).
Virtual reality involves creating an environment that resembles an actual ideal environment but in an imaginary setting. However, virtuality is currently going beyond imagination. The new technology is now making it possible to make virtuality a possible way of planning and communicating the plan to employees. It enables the planners to visualize what the plan is capable of achieving and the steps that are needed at each stage. It has made communication easy in organizational settings both for the top leaders and junior employees. Virtuality is redefining leadership in modern society.
Online Leadership
According to some scholars, online leadership refers to the use emerging technologies in the field of information and communication technology to guide and control people who may not be in same physically environment as the leader (Avoloi & Kahai, 2002, p. 333).
Technology is changing rapidly and leaders are finding it necessary to use it as a way of enhancing their ability to control their organizations even when they cannot be physically present at all times. Companies in the modern society are facing stiff competition in the market and one of the ways that they have is to expand their operations to the global market to increase their market share. Companies such as Daimler, Adidas, Volkswagen, and DHL are operating in the global market.
There are also large non-governmental organizations such as Transparency International, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund which also operate globally. All these organizations operating at global level- whether they are for profit or non-profit making organizations- have a leader who sits at the headquarters. In the past, such a chief executive officer would only need to issue instructions to be carried out by regional heads. However, the new challenges emerging in the modern society require presence of these top leaders at the local level of management in these overseas branches.
The top leaders need to be physically present in different locations where their organizations operate so that they can see for themselves the challenges that their employees face during their normal operations.
This is critical to ensure that when making policies, the local forces that affect operations of the organization in different countries are taken into consideration. However, says that it may not be practically possible for a leader to be physically present regularly in all the regions where his or her organization operates (Snellman, 2014, p. 1256).
Such a leader is often needed in the boardrooms on a regular basis to come up with new policies or to help negotiate good deals for their organizations. The boardroom meetings are just as important as getting on the ground and understanding the local forces. That is why it has become critical for the leaders to rely on information technology. The emerging technologies have now made it possible for leaders to engage in boardroom meetings not only by being physically present but sometimes using modern means of communication.
For instance, a leader- while travelling on a plane from Munich to New York- can hold a meeting of the board of directors using video conferencing technologies. In fact, the new virtual reality technologies has come up with new software that makes it possible for such conferences to be more real as they give a more realistic image of the person. Online leadership is apparently going to define how future organizations are run.
Advantages of Online Leadership
In a recent study, online leadership is increasingly becoming a common and very popular concept in the modern society (Hunsaker & Hunsaker, 2008, p. 94). The popularity of this form leadership is a clear indication that it has benefits that have been tried and tested. It is important to look at the specific advantages of online leadership to the modern day organizations.
Distance and Time
The advancements that have been witnessed in the field of transport have helped in eliminating the geographic barrier that existed in the past. It is now possible for one to travel from Europe to North America in just a few hours. It means that top managers can easily move from one overseas brand to another to monitor what is going on and how performance can be improved. However, the truth is that even with the advanced means of transport, it is still time-consuming for these top leaders to move from one place to another. As some scholars argue, the work of a chief executive officer goes beyond that of a supervisor (Sivunen, 2008, p. 55).
He or she needs to provide leadership and negotiate terms and conditions on behalf of the company in a way that would be most beneficial to the company. It means that most of the time these top leaders are needed in the boardroom meetings. However, knowing what is happening in local and overseas branches is equality important for such a leader because it will inform the kind or decision he or she makes.
Online leadership helps in addressing the distance and time problems (Caulat, 2006, p. 6). It allows the leader to take just a few hours to visit, in a virtual world, various local and overseas branches and get a clear picture of what is going on. He is able to share with the overseas managers and supervisors about local forces that affect their operations and what can be done to address them. Using video conferencing, a leader is able to bring together all the regional heads into a common conference where they can discuss fundamental issues about growth and development of the organization. It not only saves time for the top leader of the organization but also the regional heads. Instead of traveling to the headquarters, such leaders will only need to sit in their respective offices and with the help of technology they can have a platform where they can communicate.
Bringing Out the Qualities of a Leader
Leadership qualities often have a significant impact on the productivity of the employees. When junior officers realize that their leaders are not concerned about their welfare, they can become less motivated at work. Online leadership makes it easy for a leader to interact with employees. Employees can directly send messages to the top leaders using various technological platforms and the leader can respond to their messages.
That would be a reminder that the leader cares and is able to listen to the junior employees. It will motivate such employees to deliver better results than before in their respective areas of work. Online communication also helps in building trust. It creates a platform where any major issue within the organization can be addressed through proper communication. Regular and effective communication creates trust (Jawadi, 2013, p. 22).
When issues that bring about suspicions are eliminated, stakeholders become more trusting and committed to their duties. Through online leadership, it is possible to create online teams that can enhance chances of achieving the desired success.
Line managers from different countries can form virtual teams where they interact regularly, share information about successes and challenges, and try to come up with ways of delivering the best performance for the organization in their respective countries. The top leadership of an organization may help in developing such teams. A solution that worked for a marketing manager in Berlin may not be the solution that will deliver the same results in Chicago (Wang, 2011, p. 52).
These are two different markets are the local culture in the two countries also differ. However, the approach that was used by a marketing manager in Berlin can be adjusted by the marketing manager in Chicago to fit the local context. A unique idea that is developed by a finance manager in Japan can be used by another finance manager in London for the greater success of the organization. Constant sharing makes it possible for the followers to understand their leader in a better way, understand his vision, approaches, and commitment to the organization.
Ease of Communication and Satisfaction of Various Stakeholders
Online leadership eases communication within an organizational setting. According to some scholars, embracing modern communication technologies is unavoidable in the modern organizational setting (Hunsaker & Hunsaker, 2008, p. 99). Top managers currently find themselves faced with numerous issues that need their attention and as such, time is of essence. Online leadership makes it easy to communicate with various stakeholders without spending a lot of time. Using emerging technological tools for communication, it is now possible for leaders to interact with employees, customers, suppliers, and partners. Their grievances can be addressed with ease, helping to create a harmonious business environment.
Online leadership creates a sense of satisfaction in different ways and for different stakeholders. For the top leadership of an organization, the fact that he or she can interact with as many of the mid-managers and junior employees as possible creates some sense of satisfaction. The leader no longer has to travel to various parts of the world to monitor the progress. He or she can easily monitor the progress at the comfort of his or her office in the company’s headquarters.
It creates a satisfaction for these leaders that a lot can be done with very minimal effort (Sivunen, 2008, p. 52). It is also satisfying that they can easily know what is going on in other branches from junior employees in case the regional heads try to hide the truth. The ability of the chief executive officer to interact with junior employees through the social media platforms or other internal communication systems means that they can always have additional eye on the operations overseas. It increases the number of possible whistleblowers just in case any clandestine activities may be going on without the knowledge of the top manager.
The mid managers will also get a form of relief and satisfaction with online leadership. According to some studies, mid-managers often find themselves under pressure from both their top managers and junior employees (Hunsaker & Hunsaker 2008, p. 98). The top managers constantly want to see better results registered irrespective of the status of the systems and structures on the ground. On the other hand, junior employees want their workplace environment to be as sustainable as possible and any challenges addressed within the shortest time. Through online leadership, mid-managers can let the top managers have access to the realities on the ground.
These top managers will be able to understand the kind of challenges that these mid-managers go through. It will be easier for the recommendations that the mid-managers make to the top managers to be implemented hence their burden will be lessened. The junior employees will also get some form of satisfaction. The barrier that existed between them and the top managers will be eliminated. They will be able to communicate directly with the top managers and share with them the most troubling issues in their workplace. It will create motivation among these employees knowing that their interests will always be put into consideration by the top leaders.
Case Study: Google’s Distributed Leadership
Google Inc. is one of the largest companies operating in various countries around the world. The company’s success has been attributed to its unique leadership approach (Lussier & Achua, 2015, p. 398). The company has been keen on hiring highly skilled employees and then empowering them to make decisions in their respective areas of work. At this company, everyone is considered a leader in his or her jurisdiction of work.
A closely knit community is created based on the emerging communication technologies. Junior employees can easily interact with senior leaders in platforms created by VR and AR technologies. A recent study shows that Google Inc. has a team of highly satisfied and very committed employees because the system makes them feel valued (Lussier & Achua, 2015, p. 406). The junior officers can easily reach out to the top managers and vice versa in an attempt to have a close working relationship. The firm has remained highly innovative and successful because of the communication approach that the firm has embraced. It has been able to overcome stiff competition from rival firms in the industry.
Disadvantages of Online Leadership
Online leadership is very important in the modern communication age and some scholars believe it will define the future of leadership (DasGupta, 2011, p. 36). However, it is important to appreciate that a number of factors that may make it appear undesirable to the relevant stakeholders. It is important to look at the disadvantages of online leadership and if possible, how each can be mitigated.
Cost of Initial Investment in the Modern Technology
According to some recent studies, sometimes the nature of technology needed to embrace fully online leadership may be very highly (Chang & Lee, 2013, p. 990). New technologies such as hologram may require substantial initial investments that may be too high for some organizations, especially the non-profit making entities that rely on donations. Maintaining these systems is also costly in terms of having the expert to operate and repair them. Large corporations such as Daimler may not have much problem investing in such a technology. However, it may find it challenging finding experts who can properly manage the systems once it becomes operational.
This is so because the new technologies still lack proper experts to manage them in organizational settings. For small-sized organizations with tight budgets, these technologies may remain pipe dream. However, it is expected that with time the problem will be resolved. More experts will be available as these technologies become more relevant in the society. The cost of purchasing and maintaining these technological systems is also expected to drop.
Overreliance on Trust and Creation of Laxity in Leadership
According to some studies, online leadership heavily relies on trust (Wang, 2011, p. 58). The leader believes that whatever information that he or she received from the regional heads is the truth. It is natural for people to try and create self defense using any means possible when faced with a problem. As such, regional head may hide a problem to the top managers when communicating in the online platform. Knowing that the leader is not physically present to assess every project, they can overestimate or underestimate facts for their own benefits. Without trust, online leadership cannot lead to the desired success. Lack of physical presence makes one’s authority to be less significant. People can act in a manner they desire knowing that they can always manipulate their way out by providing the leader with information that would be favorable to them.
According to some recent studies, online leadership also creates laxity among the leaders (Carte et al., 2006, p. 332). Sometimes it becomes necessary for a leader to make surprise visits to local and overseas branches to see what goes on in their absence. However, the emerging technologies create the impression that they can make these visits in virtual platforms without having to travel. They end up taking very limited time to visit these branches, making it possible for the regional heads to manipulate the system in their favor. The management that has opted to embrace online leadership should be ready to address this problem. Leaders should remember that although virtual reality and augmented technologies makes their work of interacting with various stakeholders easy and less time consuming, sometimes they need to be physically present to ensure that what they gather is what is reflected on the ground.
Overreliance on Internet Mediated Communication Technologies
Online leadership entirely relies on internet mediated communication technologies (Sivunen, 2008, p. 59). It is true that internet mediated communication technologies are increasingly getting sophisticated and very efficient. However, it also comes with a number of challenges that cannot be ignored. One of the biggest threats of this form of communication is susceptibility to cyber attack and theft. It takes a lot of time and resources for a firm to come up with an idea and develop it into a plan that can be implemented to give a firm a competitive edge over market rivals. Such unique knowledge gives a firm an ability to outperform top competitors. However, that can only be so if the information is not leaked to rival companies.
When the information is shared in the online platforms, it becomes possible for rival companies to hack the system and steal the information. Some cyber criminals even end up manipulating the information in a way that it becomes either useless or dangerous if implemented in the manipulated form. There have been cases where some criminals even demand for payments after illegally gaining access to important information that should not be accessible to the public. According to recent studies, when information is shared in the online platform, a leader may find it difficult knowing whether his or her own employees are directly involved in leaking important details (Chang & Lee, 2013, p. 998).
Sometimes the problem may not be caused by external stakeholders hacking into the system but internal employees who may be selfish enough to sell the information to third parties. The management will, therefore, end up spending resources addressing a problem that do not really exist.
Addressing this problem requires a firm to have top experts that can put a firewall on the firm’s communication system and constantly monitor and address any attempts of terror attack. Extremely sensitive information should not be made available in the online platform because of the high risks, unless it is very necessary to do so (Nance, 2016, p. 19). The management should have a backup system where information can be retrieved from in case the one in the system is corrupted. The IT department should also be capable of determining whether an information leak was caused by internal stakeholders or external stakeholders. When using online leadership, it is important to take care of the nature of knowledge shared by the stakeholders. The management should remember to ensure that very critical information is only shared with trusted stakeholders to protect the firm.
Case Study: IBM
International Business Machines Corporation, popularly known as IBM is an American technology company that has its headquarters in Armonk, New York. Founded in 1911, the company’s global operations have always been coordinated from its headquarters in New York. However, in 2006 the company decided to move John Paterson, the company’s Chief Procurement Officer, to Shenzhen in China (Santos, 2013, p. 5).
This decision was meant to ease the procurement. However, it meant that the firm had to rely fully on online leadership to coordinate its activities at the top level. Massive investment had to be made to ensure that the top officers in China could work closely with their counterparts in the United States (Santos, 2013, p. 5). Although procurement activities were conducted more efficiently, the personal relationship that these top managers had before faded. In such an environment, the leaders may have varying views towards some issues that need consensus, making the decision-making process more complex and time consuming. Difference in the environment makes them have varying opinions towards the management issues.
Conclusion
Online leadership is increasingly becoming relevant in the modern society. The emerging technologies in the field of information and communication are making it possible for leaders to coordinate and guide their followers using online platforms. It is becoming easy to use new technologies such as the social media or other new communication tools such as hologram and video-conferencing technologies to interact with stakeholders irrespective of their physical locations. Online leadership is very beneficial not only to the leaders but also the followers. It creates a platform where information can flow freely and be shared easily for the benefit of everyone. It empowers the junior stakeholders by enabling them to engage their top leaders with ease. However, it is also important to appreciate that online leadership has a number of challenges that cannot be ignored. The biggest challenge is cyber attacks. When information is shared in the online platform, it is easy for external stakeholders who are highly skilled in information technology to hack the system and steal or manipulate information for their own benefit. Sometimes it may not be easy to know whether the attack is external or facilitated by internal stakeholders.
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