ABSTRACT
Information technology (IT) is rapidly changing the context for leadership. Due to the growth and ubiquity of both traditional computer-mediated communication systems (e.g., email, instant messaging, and video-conferencing) and new Web 2.0-based social media (e.g., blogs, wikis, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube), leaders today touch a worldwide audience, which not only includes immediate and remote workers but also other stakeholders such as customers and the general population. Unlike in the past, the communication with these stakeholders is two-way; these stakeholders often provide almost immediate feedback and are engaging in a dialog with business leaders via a variety of internet-based media. As a consequence of this two-way dialog, hierarchies that separated the leaders from various stakeholders are becoming less relevant and organizations are becoming flatter. Additionally, leaders are now in charge of workers who are increasingly communicating via electronic media and are engaged in virtual work.
