Leading dynamic membership and implications for the virtual project team lifecycle

While the dynamic nature of virtual project team (VPT) membership has been recognized, limited research exists on the implications of this for team performance and leadership. Therefore, our study seeks to understand how leadership can be exercised in order to enhance cohesiveness when new members join and disrupt the ‘normal’ VPT lifecycle. Here, we use preliminary findings from Phase 1 of our study, which involved ten VPT members in the financial services industry. Our findings unpack challenges associated with dynamic membership, and also start to explain what leadership practices might be effective in helping VPTs to adapt in light of the issue of dynamic membership. In Phase 2, we will build on these findings and address our aim above with additional interviews that will allow us to explore the subject in depth. Our expectation is to contribute to the literature on membership-related VPT discontinuities, VPT leadership, and the VPT lifecycle.