Digitale Mitarbeiterführung

Digital leadership has gained new attention in the course of the COVID 19 pandemic. The research made in this field is mainly descriptive and focus either on the perspective of employees or supervisors. In difference to that, this paper compares the specific challenges of digital leadership and practices of dealing with them as seen by supervisors and employees from different companies and industries. For this purpose, qualitative interviews with a total of 23 persons who hold positions in administration, customer service, department or organization management were conducted and analysed. The results show that the views of supervisors and employees are very similar with regard to the challenges of digital leadership: Both actors identify technology, communication as well as guiding and motivating employees as main problem areas. Yet, possible solutions are mainly discussed by the supervisors and include more intensive communication, regular exchange and feedback.

Practical Relevance

Supervisors and employees strongly agree when it comes to identifying the problems associated with digital leadership. However, they differ in their approaches to solving them: managers tackle them with the help of more intensive communication and feedback, whereas employees are rather reluctant to come up with solutions. In order to increase the acceptance of such solutions among employees, managers should communicate the purpose of these solutions more strongly and hereby refer to the common challenges of digital leadership.