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

Comments

Research was part of the doctoral dissertation of Dr. Edsall.

ORCID ID

orcid.org/0000-0003-4832-5253

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Jan 12th, 11:45 AM Jan 12th, 12:05 PM

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.