The advantages of virtual management come at a price

Photo: Bjarke MacCarthy

Virtual management makes it easier to find talented people. You do not have to move people physically, because you can rely on them at a distance. However, virtual management also entails a risk of professional isolation.

Virtual management promotes trust, but trust is also a precondition.

Advantages and drawbacks of the management style virtual management have been studied in a 3-year research project, which is a partnership between the University of Southern Denmark, COWI and CBS, represented by Henrik Holt Larsen, Professor Emeritus. The results were presented at a conference last week. One of the messages from Henrik Holt Larsen was:

"The advantages of virtual management come at a price".

A survey among the staff at DONG, HPE, COWI and the North Denmark Region has been a part of this project, and included two questionnaires with an interval of one year followed up by qualitative interviews. Approximately 400 responses are part of the survey.

The survey shows a tendency that staff generally finds a virtual organisation positive, however, there are also significant reservations, expressed by the fact that a large share of the respondents answers "to some extent" to the question "To which extent do you find the virtual organisation of your department positive?".  The statistics have been broken down by company, and between 13 and 31 per cent of the four companies have answered "to some extent". The researchers' conclusion of these answers is that there are advantages and drawbacks of management at a distance, and that this may be reflected in the answers of the respondents.

Actually, virtual management is not new. Sales persons, craftsmen and consultants work in the field away from their head quarters with their colleagues and managers at a distance.

”The development means that other large and significant professional groups work and are managed and manage others in a virtual manner", says Henrik Holt Larsen and gives the following examples: People work from home, they travel abroad, and their working hours are generally undefined.

Holt Larsen refers to a survey carried out by Lederne (Danish trade union and unemployment insurance fund), which showed that one third of Danish managers practise virtual management today, because not all of their employees are located the same place. The research project which Henrik Holt Larsen takes part in has shown that all generations of the four companies work virtually. So the notion that this management style attracts younger staff does not hold water.

Virtual work and virtual management are becoming more and more popular these years, also because knowledge management work is really suitable for virtual management, explains Henrik Holt Larsen.
”Not only do knowledge workers possess an important core competence, however, they also possess a strong academic and professional identity signified by a sense of responsibility and quality, independence, and a wish for autonomy. This equals a high working morale which is very consistent with management at a distance and a high degree of self-management. For this reason, virtual work presents plenty of opportunities for this group in particular,"  

Read more about the conference and the research project (only in Danish), and contact Henrik Holt Larsen for questions on this matter.

The Danish book ” Virtuel ledelse og arbejdsmiljø - strejftog gennem faglitteraturen” was published in connection with the conference. It is written by Henrik Holt Larsen, Susie Kjær, Project Manager and Corporate Psychologist at COWI, and Anne-Mette Hjalager, Professor at the University of Southern Denmark.