Influence and Political Processes in Cyberspace

Abstract

The ways team members choose to influence each other and the political processes that take place within the team have important implications for the team’s effectiveness. We present an exploratory investigation of the ways both phenomena occur in global virtual teams. Based on interviews with team members and managers, combined with existing knowledge of these processes, we present a preliminary model that includes familiarity, team centrality and task focus as variables mediating the relationship between the multicultural and virtual aspects of the teams and the use of influence and politics. Our findings also suggest that the use of hard influence tactics and political actions is milder in global virtual teams in relation to collocated teams.

Virtual Teams and International Business Teaching and Learning: The Case of the Global Enterprise Experience (GEE)

“…In addition, physical separation creates social "faultlines" and can result in conflict within teams (Hinds & Bailey, 2003) so that virtual teams may need to negotiate in order to work effectively (Cousins, Robey, & Zigurs, 2007). As such, participation in virtual teams presents challenges for team members in creating and maintaining trust (Elron & Vigoda-Gadot, 2006;Jarvenpaa & Leidner, 1998;Latané, Liu, Nowak, Bonevento, & Zheng, 1995;Smith, 2008) which may be particularly fragile and temporary in this context (Jarvenpaa & Leidner, 1998;Kanawattabachai & Yoo, 2002;Sarker, Ahuja, Sarker, & Kirkeby, 2011).…”

“…Crossing organizational boundaries within a team may create a level of conflict or mistrust (Dani, Burns, Backhouse, & Kochhar, 2006). Political, cultural, and institutional factors must be acknowledged when interacting and establishing rapport in virtual teams (Ahuja & Galvin, 2003;Elron & Vigoda-Gadot, 2006;Kauppilla, Rajala, & Jyrämä, 2011;Martins & Shalley, 2011).…”

Upward Influence Tactics in Virtual Work Settings

“…Only a few studies have analyzed the phenomenon of influence tactics in virtual environments. Elron and Vigoda [5] for example, found that task focus, the centrality of the team, and the familiarity among members were factors that affected the use of influence tactics in virtual teams. Other authors have focused on the process of virtual influence, analyzing this phenomenon as a dynamic process in which the influence strategy is affected by the target perception and their reaction to the influence intent [2].…”

“…• Distance work involves a work between different national cultures, and this variable may impact on the influence choice ( [5], [17], [18]). These structural features of virtual media may impact relationship building and, thus, the upward influence process.…”

Virtual Micro-Politics: Informal Tactics of Influence and Power in Inter-Organizational Networks

“…Micro-political processes are understood in organizational science as strategies of individuals to negotiate their interests in interaction with others and gain and exert influence and power. Even though these processes are typically informal in nature and not organizationally sanctioned, they nevertheless influence power structures within organizations [10,37].…”