An analysis of the impact of ‘Distributed Leadership’ on employee satisfaction in a remote work setting in the IT- and Business Consultancy sector, Final degree project

Abstract

The literature analysis reveals that many studies have been conducted on how ‘Distributed Leadership’ affects the efficiency of schools and companies, as well as employee satisfaction. However, most academic texts or books on this topic date a few years back. Especially over the past five years, a lot has changed, and many people work differently than they used to. In recent years remote work has become more popular due to the Corona pandemic. This also requires leadership styles to adapt and change. The objective of this work is to analyze how ‘Distributed Leadership’ influences the job motivation of team members in digital teams in the IT- and Business Consultancy sector, which ultimately can lead to enhanced employee satisfaction. To find answers there has been sent a questionnaire to two companies, specifically to their teams that work almost completely remotely. The first company Metafinanz Informationssysteme GmbH implemented ‘Distributed Leadership’ in 2017. The second company, Cosileon Business Consultancy GmbH follows the more “traditional”, hierarchical leadership approach and serves as a reference group. In total, 54 employees have answered the questionnaire. The employees were classified into two groups, as they represented a digital team with ‘Distributed Leadership’ and a digital team without ‘Distributed Leadership’. The findings indicate that employees in digital teams with ‘Distributed Leadership’ exhibit higher levels of all six indicators that lead to intrinsic motivation and employee satisfaction compared to those without such a leadership style. Notably, all of them showed statistical significance and the findings were further supported by the answers given to the open questions. Given these insights, we recommend that companies with ‘Distributed Leadership’ styles consider regular team coaching, assisting in tough decisions and regular meetings on-site or teambuilding activities to foster the interconnectedness of the teams. This contributes to enhancing employee satisfaction and facilitates a smoother integration of ‘Distributed Leadership’ in a remote work setting.

The literature analysis reveals that many studies have been conducted on how ‘Distributed Leadership’ affects the efficiency of schools and companies, as well as employee satisfaction. However, most academic texts or books on this topic date a few years back. Especially over the past five years, a lot has changed, and many people work differently than they used to. In recent years remote work has become more popular due to the Corona pandemic. This also requires leadership styles to adapt and change. The objective of this work is to analyze how ‘Distributed Leadership’ influences the job motivation of team members in digital teams in the IT- and Business Consultancy sector, which ultimately can lead to enhanced employee satisfaction. To find answers there has been sent a questionnaire to two companies, specifically to their teams that work almost completely remotely. The first company Metafinanz Informationssysteme GmbH implemented ‘Distributed Leadership’ in 2017. The second company, Cosileon Business Consultancy GmbH follows the more “traditional”, hierarchical leadership approach and serves as a reference group. In total, 54 employees have answered the questionnaire. The employees were classified into two groups, as they represented a digital team with ‘Distributed Leadership’ and a digital team without ‘Distributed Leadership’. The findings indicate that employees in digital teams with ‘Distributed Leadership’ exhibit higher levels of all six indicators that lead to intrinsic motivation and employee satisfaction compared to those without such a leadership style. Notably, all of them showed statistical significance and the findings were further supported by the answers given to the open questions. Given these insights, we recommend that companies with ‘Distributed Leadership’ styles consider regular team coaching, assisting in tough decisions and regular meetings on-site or teambuilding activities to foster the interconnectedness of the teams. This contributes to enhancing employee satisfaction and facilitates a smoother integration of ‘Distributed Leadership’ in a remote work setting.