Dah, Immanuel 
ORCID: 0000-0001-6235-7206
(2021)
Action Research on Barriers and Success Factors in Leading Virtualisation in a Small Enterprise.
Doctor of Business Administration thesis, University of Liverpool.
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Abstract
The research context is a small private TV station with about fifteen employees in a developing country. The organisation is undergoing virtualisation in that on both the strategic level and on the operational level, communication and working processes increasingly rely on the possibilities the internet offers. The research objective is to arrive at a systematic understanding of the factors that influence virtual teamwork and determine how virtual leaders can act on these factors. The action research thesis builds on four propositions put forward by Snellman (2014). According to these propositions, leaders who improve trust and cohesion in a virtual team and at the same time mitigate the adverse effects of virtuality and diversity contribute towards team success and organisational value creation. The framework established in this study is based on these four propositions. The framework was used as a guideline for the literature review, for action in the ongoing virtualisation process and finally as the source for the research questions used for the data analysis. The data on which this study is based stems from chat protocols of communication on both the strategical and operational levels, on interviews done after the analysis of the chat protocols and on personal observations gathered in journal notes and meeting records. The qualitative thematic analysis was done using NVivo, a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS). A narrative of the ongoing business development project immerses the reader is into the context. Elements from the narrative are later analysed against the framework. There is evidence in the data of an increase in trust, cohesion and virtuality following the interventions proposed by Snellman (2014). There is also evidence of actions geared toward mitigating the effects of diversity and their impact on the virtualisation process. However, this research does not yield clear evidence for the causal links between the framework’s proposed actions and the expected outcomes. Andriessen’s (2002) Dynamic Group Interaction model is more precise than the proposed framework, but it is too complex to be actionable in practice. A weakness of the framework is its failure to address dynamic factors of change and development over time. In the context of this action research project, the framework was deemed to be actionable in simultaneously understanding the context and in leading transformation. In the thesis, I reflect on how academic literature and trade literature contributed in different ways towards creating actionable knowledge. There is also a reflection on how the action research process extended my understanding and use of theoretical models; moreover, I became aware of myself transferring knowledge on business theories to others involved in the project through analogies.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctor of Business Administration) |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Management |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Nov 2021 11:45 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Jan 2023 21:25 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03142935 |
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| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3142935 |
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