VIRTUAL WORK TEAM MEMBERS DESCRIBE COACHING AND MENTORING AS KEY CONTRIBUTORS TO PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Format Type
Plenary
Format Type
Paper
Start Date
12-1-2021 11:45 AM
End Date
12-1-2021 12:05 PM
Abstract
Although investigations of virtual teams continue to increase, the available research has not included findings based on a significant sample of workplace virtual team members and what they consider important in the performance coaching and personal development processes. Participants were members of social network virtual teams who had been members of virtual work teams. The sequential explanatory study data used a sample of 149 virtual team members. The Kruskal-Wallis results for coaching and mentoring indicated perceived positive contributions by performance development efforts on the personal development of individual virtual team members. Neither Kruskal-Wallis nor Mann-Whitney Tests could be computed on the training data so no statistical conclusion could be reached indicated the relationship of training to personal development. The final phase of the analyses was a qualitative analysis of participant comments. Most participants described advantages of virtual teaming to their personal development. Training varied widely across organizations and was often difficult to complete. Training helping employees and leaders acclimate to the virtual environment was helpful. Coaching was more challenging for both leaders and members of virtual teams than in the non-virtual settings. Mentoring for members of virtual teams was positive, establishing close, lasting working relationships with mentors.
Keywords
Virtual teams, coaching, mentoring, personal development, training, mixed methods
ORCID ID
orcid.org/0000-0003-4832-5253
VIRTUAL WORK TEAM MEMBERS DESCRIBE COACHING AND MENTORING AS KEY CONTRIBUTORS TO PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Although investigations of virtual teams continue to increase, the available research has not included findings based on a significant sample of workplace virtual team members and what they consider important in the performance coaching and personal development processes. Participants were members of social network virtual teams who had been members of virtual work teams. The sequential explanatory study data used a sample of 149 virtual team members. The Kruskal-Wallis results for coaching and mentoring indicated perceived positive contributions by performance development efforts on the personal development of individual virtual team members. Neither Kruskal-Wallis nor Mann-Whitney Tests could be computed on the training data so no statistical conclusion could be reached indicated the relationship of training to personal development. The final phase of the analyses was a qualitative analysis of participant comments. Most participants described advantages of virtual teaming to their personal development. Training varied widely across organizations and was often difficult to complete. Training helping employees and leaders acclimate to the virtual environment was helpful. Coaching was more challenging for both leaders and members of virtual teams than in the non-virtual settings. Mentoring for members of virtual teams was positive, establishing close, lasting working relationships with mentors.
Comments
Research was part of the doctoral dissertation of Dr. Edsall.