Effects of Leadership Style and Problem Structure on Work Group Process and Outcomes in an Electronic Meeting System Environment

Organizations are increasingly utilizing electronic meeting systems to enhance work group process and outcomes. Because leadership is a key group attribute, it is important to examine how behaviors of leaders influence work groups using electronic meeting systems. Results of a laboratory experiment indicated that (a) Participants made more supportive remarks under a consultative form of participative leadership than directive leadership; (b) Participants proposed more solutions and made fewer critical remarks for a fairly structured problem than for a moderately structured problem; (c) Participative leadership was more conducive to proposal of solutions for a moderately structured problem, while directive leadership was more conducive for a fairly structured problem; and (d) Frequency of solution proposals in turn affected group productivity and satisfaction. Implications for personnel practitioners and research on leadership in electronic meeting environments are presented.