EFFECT OF VIRTUAL MANAGEMENT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF TELECOMMUNICATION FIRMS

1.1 Introduction

Virtual management is the supervision, leadership and maintenance of virtual teams (dispersed work groups that rarely, if ever, meet face to face). As the number of virtual teams has grown, brought about by the rise of the internet, globalization, outsourcing, telecommuting, the need to manage them has also grown. Telecommunication infrastructure however have made it possible for the teams to communicate virtually through meetings and discussions, while also conduct innovative research focused on their projects (Swati et al., 2017). Bergie (2015) posits that virtual management is significantly different from traditional management. In the traditional management, the members work next to one another, while in virtual management they work in different locations.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

The world has become smaller since the introduction of the world wide web and communication tools such as e-mails, webcams, teleconferences, web seminars, skype, instant messaging that have bridged the gap of distance, time and space (Verbung, Bosch-Sijtema and Vartiaine, 2011). Using ICTs, business leaders have been able to harness the diverse talents and skills of employees from different parts of the world who work remotely as part of virtual teams, in what is called virtual management (Berry, 2011; DSouza and Colarell, 2010). In traditional management, the coordination of tasks is straightforward and performed by the members of the team together while in virtual management, tasks must be much more highly structured. Also, virtual management relies on electronic communication, as opposed to face-to-face communication in traditional management.

Virtual management has been associated with a number of important benefits and advantages. They have been found to facilitate increased participation as the nature of the communication technology used allows members to contribute based on their own schedules (Shen, 2014). Virtual management is noted for providing firms with advantages such as increased utilization of employees time, round the clock workforce availability and the opportunity to leverage knowledge and expertise around the world (Clear and MacDonell, 2016). At the individual level, potential advantages of high virtuality include higher flexibility and time control, together with higher responsibilities, work motivation and empowerment of team members (Hertel, 2015).

Zykova and Maussymbe (2021) believed that remote working may be difficult to adopt in small organizations where employee compensation is low because it requires the use of some technology resources such as good internet connection and strong telecommunication facilities that will bridge the distance among the team members, and where these are missing, providing practical demonstration of sensitive projects to the team lead becomes impossible, which may result in project failure.

Lack of management practice that involves coordinating tasks in the cyberspace as well as lack of ICT skills among employees is another criticism facing telecommunication, and Ipsen et al., (2021) argued that working distance away from the office may create unnecessary confusion in the task to be undertaken by the team members due to inadequate information from the office, and the practice also has the tendency to reduce interpersonal relationship among workers, reduce knowledge sharing and create difficulty in managing talents in the organization (Bolisani et al., 2020).

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to examine the Effect of Virtual Management on the Performance of Telecommunication Firms.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that the inevitable consequence of not adopting virtual management for a large organization with a dispersed workforce is decline in the profitability of the organization. Virtual teams consist of people in different geographical regions working for a common goal with the aid of information and communication technologies ICTs. If virtual management is not adopted in making this dispersed workforce, it could lead to a decline in the profitability of the organization.

Another consequence of not managing an organization with a dispersed workforce virtually is decline in the quality of service of the organization. This could be as a result of lack of virtual collaboration among the workforce. When there is lack of virtual collaboration, the workers will find it difficult to work together as a team and the consequence is a decline in the quality of service of the organization.

Furthermore, inability to adopt virtual management in an organization with a dispersed workforce is lack of competitive advantage. The telecommunication industry is a highly competitive and dynamic industry and for a multination company with a dispersed work group, it is even more competitive. Hence, when an organization does not adopt virtual management it could result to lack of competitive advantage.

Finally, another consequence of not adopting virtual management for an organization with a dispersed workforce is increase in labour turnover. When there is lack of training and development of employed due to inability to adopt virtual management, it could result in increase in labour turnover.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to scrutinize the Effect of Virtual Management on the Performance of Telecommunication Firms in Nigeria State using Mobile Telecommunication Network as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To ascertain the extent to which virtual leadership affects the profitability of telecommunication firms in Delta State.
2. To determine the effect of virtual collaboration on the quality of service of telecommunication firms in Delta State
3. To evaluate the effect of virtual communication on competitive advantage of telecommunication firms in Delta State.
4. To identify the effect of virtual training and development of employees on labour turnover of telecommunication firms in Delta State.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• To what extent does virtual leadership affect the profitability of telecommunication firms in Delta State?
• What is the effect of virtual collaboration on the quality of service of telecommunication firms in Delta State?
• What is the effect of virtual communication on competitive advantage of telecommunication firms in Delta State?
• What is the effect of virtual training and development of employees on labour turnover of telecommunication firms in Delta State?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: Virtual leadership does not affect the profitability of telecommunication firms in Delta State to a large extent.
• H1: Virtual leadership affects the profitability of telecommunication firms in Delta State to a large extent.

Hypothesis Two

• H0: Virtual collaboration does not have a positive and significant effect on the quality of service of telecommunication firms in Delta State.
• H1: Virtual collaboration have a positive and significant effect on the quality of service of telecommunication firms in Delta State.

Hypothesis Three

• H0: Virtual communication does not have a positive and significant effect on competitive advantage of telecommunication firms in Delta State.
• H1: Virtual communication has a positive and significant effect on competitive advantage of telecommunication firms in Delta State.

Hypothesis Four

• H0: Virtual training and development of employees does not have a positive and significant effect on labour turnover of telecommunication firms in Delta State.
• H1: Virtual training and development of employees have a positive and significant effect on labour turnover of telecommunication firms in Delta State.

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1.7 Significance of Study

The study will be of immense benefit to the management of multinational companies, the host and parent countries of the multinational companies, the researcher, the university and for future reference material. The management of multinational companies will benefit from this study as the findings of this study will help them to understand that the age of virtual management is becoming a reality.

The implications of this have to be dealt with urgently in this new millennium as the adoption of ever newer technologies and emerging trends will continue to manifest at an exponential rate. The host and parent countries of multinational companies will benefit as the findings of this study will enhance economic development.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Effect of Virtual Management on the Performance of Telecommunication Firms in Nigeria State using Mobile Telecommunication Network as a case study.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Operational Definition of Terms

Virtual Management: This is the coordination of groups of distributed people working together to achieve a common goal and solve a shared problem through the use of computer-mediated communication technologies, linking them across time, space and cultural barriers.

Virtual Training: This is a training process which aims to provide training contents through any medium of modern communication mechanisms like computers and the internet to overcome geographical differences between the trainer and the trainee.

Virtual Collaboration: This is the method of collaboration among employees that is carried out through technology-mediated communication.

Virtual Leadership: This is a social influence process mediated by advanced information technologies to produce changes in attitudes, feelings, thinking, behaviour and/or performance of individuals, groups and/or organizations.