research. However, as VTs are formed for a short span of time and re-integration of the
team members often takes place based on market demands, careful disbanding
becomes important. A careful and constructive disbanding helps to keep the morale of
the team high and the members’ feel motivated enough for further re-integration in the
near future. Leaders’ cognitive and social skills and capabilities play an important role
at this stage. The leader has to recognize the achievements of the individual members
without undermining the group as a whole. Specific social capabilities like being
considerate to individual/group needs, being able to create interest in individuals and
groups, being able to reflect the role of human relations might make the disbanding
smoother, which can be otherwise a period of emotional fluctuations (Bouas and
Arrow, 1996). The process of disbanding needs to be implemented carefully so that in
the future VT members can re-integrate if needed. In addition, VT leader’s cognitive
capabilities with regard to future VT member selection may also be important.
In sum, we propose:
P5. VT leader’s cognitive and social capabilities will be more strongly related
with the disbanding stage than behavioral capabilities will be.
Discussion and implications
Research implications
The theoretical analysis presented in our paper is an initial attempt at examining the
skills and capabilities of VT leaders in a model of VT development cycle. Specifically,
we analyze these capabilities from the perspective of transactional and
transformational theories of leadership. Future research can extend our model using
other theories of leadership i.e. contingent reward, initiating structure or consideration,
goal setting theory and leader-member exchange perspective.
Further, future research could also examine the relative efficacies of the three skills
(i.e. cognitive, social and behavioral) emanating from transactional and transformation
theories of leadership on the different stages of team development. It is plausible that
cognitive capabilities like setting standards, setting goals (emanating from
transactional leadership context) are important only during the preparation stages
and skills focused on inspiring and motivating followers (emanating from
transformation leadership context) are more relevant during performance and
training stages of VT development. The insights gained from such a comparative
study will help strengthen our understanding about effectiveness different leadership
styles in the context of VTs.
Finally, our paper emphasizes the need to test the models of VT leadership
effectiveness by employing a longitudinal research design. The theoretical
underpinnings of our analysis shed light on the importance of examining leadership
from a holistic perspective. As suggested in our paper, different skills and capabilities
of leaders are vital during different stages of team development phases. We sincerely
hope that this fine grained approach will help promote systematic research endeavors
in this particular field.
Managerial implications
Given that VTs are relatively new phenomenon, organizations and team leaders have
relatively limited experience in this area. Improving our understanding of specific
leadership capabilities in the context of VT stages has the potential to benefit both
organizations and VT leaders. Thus, at this juncture, it is important to highlight the