Uniting the Virtual Workforce: Transforming Leadership and Innovation in the Globally Integrated Enterprise

7

Ambassadorial Leadership

In the last chapter, we described a way to reimagine teams as virtual ensembles and how, by doing so, it’s likely that we can significantly increase performance and inject a renewed energy and sense of well-being to those individuals cast as the virtual workforce. In much the same way as teams, the notion of leadership needs to be reimagined as well. First, we consider some of the current views of leadership.

TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP

Perhaps the most traditional view of leadership is that of a manager: one who monitors, controls, and, more importantly, rewards desired behavior and punishes undesired behavior. This kind of leadership views the relationship with followers as a series of transactions. I will reward you with something you want (e.g., money) if you do what I ask you to do. Sometimes called transactional leadership, this approach still prevails. But most scholars make a big distinction between management and leadership. Even though transactional leadership can be effective, most see leadership as something more than a series of transactions. True leadership involves an emotional connection with followers, which can be created differently depending on the style of leadership. Two views of leadership that emphasize this emotional connection are charismatic leadership and transformational leadership.

CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP

Charismatic leaders are people who can make the emotional connection. George Washington, Napoleon, Mao Tse Tung, ...