Open Access ISSN: 2169-026X Journal of Entrepreneurship & Organization Management Hypothesis Volume 10:2, 2021 Leadership Effectiveness for Professional Growth of Virtual Teams in the Software Industry: The Case of Pakistan Abstract The software industry is a multi-billion industry and millions of people associated with this business. The beauty of this industry is it requires minimal infrastructure and special equipment which include software and hardware to run the business. Virtual working environment and practices originated in the 1980s with the birth of the internet. Virtual teams or individuals work online with mutual agreement and defined objectives. There are a lot of challenges which the leadership faces while dealing with virtual teams. These challenges include the availability of high-quality internet connection, diminished focus and productivity, management of employees virtually and their accountability, task management, maintaining a smooth and well-disciplined relationship with all team members, keeping the morale high of a virtual team, and security of assets (hardware, software, and data). Therefore, leadership must transform their way of management. Shared leadership style provides the distribution of powers and roles, which help to increase productivity and performance. The country like Pakistan where internet connection and availability of copyrighted software & pre-requisite hardware are few of the major challenges, leadership may face different challenges as compared to virtual teams operating in different countries. This study will try to identify the challenges which leadership may face while functioning with virtual teams in Pakistan, and the effect of shared leadership if applied on productivity and efficiency to meet the organizational objectives. Aseem Marwaha 1 , Abbott J Haron 2 * and Dalia Habil 3 1 Master of Business Research Student, Excelsia College, Sydney, Australia 2 Deputy Director of Research, Excelsia College, Sydney, Australia 3 Master of Business Research Supervisor, Excelsia College, Sydney, Australia *Address for Correspondence: Abbott J Haron, Deputy Director of Research, Excelsia College, Sydney Australia; Tel: +6104824367568, E-mail: abbott.haron@ excelsia.edu.au Copyright: © 2021 Abbott J Haron, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Received 14 January 2021; Accepted 17 February 2021; Published 24 February 2021 Introduction Shared leadership occurs when two or more members engage in the leadership of a team to influence and direct fellow members to maximize team effectiveness. The early roots of shared leadership be early as the Roman Empire, whereby a group of individuals shared power through the Senate. However, the concept of sharing power and influence among several individuals emerged through organizational efforts to manage individuals in teams and through a focus on self-leadership whereby individuals ‘lead others to lead themselves’. It is important to distinguish shared leadership from team leadership because shared leadership describes how team members influence each other and share responsibility for tasks, rather than the concept of a team being led by a specific leader. Shared leadership occurs when a group of individuals lead each other to achieve successful outcomes [1]. The concept of shared leadership focuses on the distribution of leadership role across multiple team memberswith mutual influence on interaction among team members and their performance [1]. Matrix organization structure is followed, where organization has more than one boss. Matrix team model can work in multiple dimensions, which include Cross function matrix teams, Functional matrix teams, Global matrix teams, Extended matrix teams, and multiple teams working. Cross functional matrix team is developed by engaging team members from different functional areas of the company and operate under one leader. Functional matrix teams in which people from same domain as HR domain work under different functional departments of a company. Global matrix teams work from different countries, time zones and cultures, work together to achieve common objective. Extended matrix teams in which people from different organization come under one platform to solve widespread problem. Multiple team working where several teams work under same platform to achieve broader objective (Schnetler, Steyn& Van Staden, 2015) [2]. Interventions to encourage shared leadership are most effective when organizations are utilizing teams to achieve organizational objectives [1]. Organizations can utilize shared leadership principles within teams, either with a designated formal leader or in teams without a designated leader [1]. Vertical leadership does not need to be discarded and shared leadership can improve the internal processes within a team [1]. Shared leadership works best when teams have a cohesive environment, well-understood goals, and strong inter- team social support. If there are multiple bosses for employees then conflicts emerge, and difficult to improve performance. Working hierarchy becomes more complex, difficult to monitor and control the projects, though software solutions are available to lessen the complexity but people adoption and absorption to the shared leadership is still problematic. Complex channel of communication also becomes difficult to follow sometimes, as erroneous communication may exist. They size of organization is also a problem in following correct communication channel. If size of organization is large, and there are multiple channels of communication, then mistakes and miscommunication may occur [3]. Pakistan IT and Software industry has generated the revenue of 1.23 Billion dollars in FY 2019-20. Government has set target of annual revenue through IT sector by $5 billion till 2023 [4]. Furthermore, Pakistan has also been ranked as 4 in online labor index in 2017 for having maximum number of freelancers. Due to low cost and high expertise demand, international giants in IT industry have started outsourcing IT projects to developing countries, to generate more revenue and hire more expert individuals, for which internet technologies have produced a lot of help in removing the barriers and taking remote people on board. Leadership is a key factor for success of any organization, by influencing people to achieve organizational and professional goals, and personal growth [5]. Shared leadership is one of the most effective style of leadership, which helps the individuals to equally contribute to organization’s decision-making process, results in quick and effective decision making. It allows employees the right for decision making based on their expertise, which provides quick and effective decision making by the experts rather than decisions by top level management [6]. Though the technology has enabled organizations to work remotely, engage technical / non-technical resources virtually and growing