ONLINE LEADERSHIP OF VIRTUAL TEAMS AND DEVELOPMENT OF CORPORATE CULTURE OF THE ORGANIZATION

Summary

The article explores the characteristics of online leadership in modern virtual teams and its significance for the evolution of corporate culture in the context of digital transformation. With the rapid spread of remote work formats, this leads to a change in the nature of managerial interaction for better or worse, as well as new challenges in managing team relationships and motivating employees. Since most such models of leadership and establishing corporate culture are based on face-to-face meetings, the article notes that they are unable to take into account the specifics of the digital environment, since in such conditions informal contacts tend to decrease in intensity, information gaps are possible, and it becomes more difficult to establish trust among people working in a team. This element requires a theoretical rethinking of the role of the leader and the study of the processes by which managerial practices occur in a virtual environment. In particular, the article considers recent ways of conceptualizing online leadership and digital organizational culture and motivation in virtual teams. It is determined that the success of digital leadership is shaped not only by the technical basis of virtual environments and communication, but also by the leader providing a psychologically safe environment, transparency in conversations, building trust and harmonizing people's value orientations. The article considers that digital tools (for example, communication channels, project management platforms and online rituals) become carriers of cultural infrastructure and influence attitudes and forms of practices in organizational behavior. The general model of online leadership and its impact on the corporate culture of the organization is described, in which the logic of the transition from the leader's managerial actions to the construction of cultural results arises from the interaction of communication, socio-psychological and value mechanisms and the dynamics of trust, psychological safety and involvement, which is the main means of mediating cultural changes of group members in a virtual team. Separately, factors that can positively or negatively affect the power and impact of these processes are identified in terms of the level of digital literacy of personnel, technical infrastructure and organizational environment factors. SWOT analysis of online leadership also confirms that online leadership is a very powerful factor for the development of corporate culture, provided that it is based on values, integrates and supports the characteristics of work in the digital space and is consistent with the motivational needs of employees. The results of the study provide a basis for developing a comprehensive management approach to the development of corporate culture in virtual teams, using a systemic and adaptive approach to digital communication, which promotes cultural practices, develops the competences of the leader as a basis for further research in the field of personnel management in the digital environment