The digital age is characterized by rapid progress and constantly changing framework conditions, which presents companies with special challenges that can be described with the acronym VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity). A strong booster for drastic changes were lockdowns and pandemic requirements, when many teams had to work from home and their leaders did not see their employees for weeks or longer. Managers were increasingly confronted with sudden and unexpected changes and had to react quickly and flexibly to unforeseen circumstances and their consequences. In order to be able to react to these requirements, companies had to be flexible and constantly orientate themselves to the current framework conditions - they have to be agile. Agility can be focused on the company, the workforce, the team, the leaders or the employees. An agile manager defines and disseminates a guiding vision and is able to lead the team and continuously influence team behavior. Agile leaders should be able to create an innovation-friendly climate in which employees feel safe to experiment, exchange information, help and support one another, and develop creative ideas. The result is high resilience and output, and ideally, a health-promoting work environment.

This Research Topic will focus on the way of working in virtual teams, on smart or agile leadership, distance leading and – consequently – the changes which arise out of the form of working “alone” and the economic and personal benefits of this concept. Research questions therefore could focus on problems which can arise but also positive outputs for the organization and the employees, the best conditions for agile leadership, the requirements for the working environment or the requirements for leaders.

The subjects of this Research Topic include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• Conceptual views of agile and/or smart leadership
• Agile leadership of digital teams in general
• New organizational structures - flat organizational structures
• Self-organized teams, division of tasks, distribution of decision-making authority - power sharing, employee participation
• Effects of agile leadership on the well-being indicators of the workforce (e.g burnout)
• Leadership challenges in times of unexpected changes
• Economic benefits of agile leadership
• Critical aspects of agile leadership and agile teams in the view of psychosocial risks
• Effects of agile leadership on the well-being indicators of the workforce
• Health and beneficial outcomes of agile leadership

Submit your idea

Impact

Frontiers in Psychology

Participating Journals

Impact