#globalleadershipblog

[j-t-u-globalleadershipblog]

Introduction to the Just the Two of Us (JTU) Global Leadership Blog

Global virtual teams (GVTs), global project teams (GPTs), and virtual teams (VTs) all rely on inter-team relational bonds to be productive (Zakaria, Amelinckx, & Wilemon, 2004).  A GVT leader creates an environment that allows the team to reach common goals including timely completion of group projects, and work production that features the strengths of individuals on the team (Manole, 2014).  As a team, Just the Two of Us (JTU) aims to describe and/or demonstrate how virtual closeness can enhance team dynamics that influence productivity and success in reaching GVT goals (Hildebrandt, Jehle, Meister, & Skoruppa, 2013). Thus, the information from the leadership blog will assist leaders who have geographically dispersed teams that experience physical isolation, which creates a lack of virtual closeness.  

The JTU global leadership blog seeks to increase the awareness and importance of virtual closeness as a particularly effective way to increase overall performance of a GVT (Hildebrandt et al., 2013).  An additional goal of the global leadership blog is to feature aspects of virtual closeness and how that dynamic affects GVTs.  The content following this introduction addresses the preferred platform for the JTU global leadership blog in terms of the practical and research problems, the research question and significance followed by the trends and gaps, and the argument of virtual closeness in GVT leadership research.