Practicing Organization Development, 5th Edition

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWOSocial Dynamics in Virtual Settings

Cho Hyun Park

As organizations increasingly embrace virtual work, OD practitioners need to focus on virtual interactions where social dynamics differ from face-to-face environments. Heavy reliance on digital communication increases misinterpretation, weakens personal connections and team cohesion, and affects collaboration and decision-making. Flexible work hours and locations also require attention to workforce diversity and inclusion issues in virtual settings. OD practitioners should help virtual group members work together effectively through virtual group coaching, which is a nondirective process coaching approach for virtual workers inspired by Edgar Schein’s (1988) process consultation (Rothwell and Park 2021). This chapter focuses on three aspects of social dynamics that are the main topics of virtual group coaching:

1. Trust
2. Leadership
3. Cultural diversity

TRUST

Trust is the foundation of social dynamics in organizations since it impacts diverse aspects of interactions, such as communication, conflict resolution, knowledge sharing, collaborations, teamwork, and culture creation (Cheng et al. 2021; Pinjani and Palvia 2013). Trust develops through social interactions and the sharing of norms and beliefs. However, in virtual settings, limited opportunities to observe members and lack of a shared face-to-face past and future undermine trust building (Krebs et al. 2006; Peters and Karren 2009). Despite these challenges, ...