Lesson 4: Resolution of Team Divergence

Types of Conflict (continued)

Identity. An example of this on a GV team would be a team member who does not follow team protocols and procedures established by the team at the beginning of the project. This may manifest itself as not having regular contact with other team members through instant messaging or video conference. One may not respond to e-mails in a prompt manner or at all. Finally, a virtual meeting is set up and one member does not attend. Each of these may be cause for relationship conflict. It requires one to better understand the other's perspective to be able to resolve the conflict.

It manifests itself by one member sending e-mail requests on days that are holidays or religious days for some team members and expecting a response. Conflict could also arise if one member is constantly correcting another's second language pronunciation. In other cases there is a difference in how one person speaks to another who is considered of a lower cultural status. In some cases it may include issues of profession, age or social class. For example, some native cultures allow elders to speak first and junior members remain silent until asked to speak. If they are never asked to speak, the junior member does not speak. This could cause considerable conflict if the junior member has a potential solution.

In other cases one may need to draw out or ask for a team member's opinion as the culture they come from may consider it rude to simply blurt out ideas and suggestions, while another culture encourages such behavior as a way to build on other's ideas and suggestions. This may also include social class status that continues to have an impact on how people in one culture interact with each other.

On a GV team those involved in the conversation need to explicitly ask for other team member's opinion. This is especially true if the person follows cultural traditions above. While some may commonly use the phrase, "Is there anything else anyone would like to add?", it is better to specifically ask individuals for their input. Since the virtual technologies limit who can talk when, care also needs to be taken to balance those from aggressive, outspoken cultures and those from more quiet reserved cultures.