Recommend actions Lauren can take to minimize team conflict in the future . Laur
ID: 352578 • Letter: R
Question
Recommend actions Lauren can take to minimize team conflict in the future.
Lauren is assigned team leader of a cross-functional team for a very important project to the company. Lauren reviews the profiles of the six team members her boss gave her. She is both intrigued and anxious when she sees that team members are geographically dispersed.
Lauren works in the Atlanta office. One team member is in India; another is in Germany; and the rest live in the United States, but in different time zones. Two staff members are in the eastern time zone (Virginia and North Carolina) and two staff members are in the central time zone (Texas and Louisiana).
Lauren has never managed a virtual team and is unsure what special skills it will take to be successful. She begins to wonder what competencies are necessary for virtual team leaders and members. She studies the team member profiles and creates a matrix to evaluate each member’s strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of working virtually. She includes herself because she realizes she needs to evaluate her own strengths and weaknesses. Lauren thinks about the challenges and opportunities she will face managing this virtual team.
Team Member Matrix
Team Member
Location (Time Zone)
CommunicationPreferences
Virtual experience
Strengths
Weaknesses
Lauren (Team Manager)
Atlanta, GA (Eastern)
No
Building and maintaining trust.
Performance management and coaching.
Networking.
Appropriate use of information technology.
Developing and adapting standard team processes.
Managing across cultures.
Santosh
Pune, India (GMT+05:30)
Instant messaging
Yes
Interpersonal awareness.
Use of technology.
Self-management.
Project management.
John
Wilmington, NC (Eastern)
Telephone
No
Networking face-to-face.
Use of technology.
Spanning boundaries.
Joyce
Norfolk, VA (Eastern)
Yes
Self-management.
Project management.
Networking.
Helga
Berlin, Germany (Central European)
SharePoint; Webconferencing (with video)
Yes
Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Project management.
Adam
Dallas, TX (Central)
Instant messaging, discussion boards
No
Networking via technology.
Spanning boundaries.
Use of technology.
Brenda
New Orleans, LA (Central)
Instant messaging; blogs; SharePoint; e-mail
Yes
Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Networking.
Spanning boundaries.
Self-management.
Team Member
Location (Time Zone)
CommunicationPreferences
Virtual experience
Strengths
Weaknesses
Lauren (Team Manager)
Atlanta, GA (Eastern)
No
Building and maintaining trust.
Performance management and coaching.
Networking.
Appropriate use of information technology.
Developing and adapting standard team processes.
Managing across cultures.
Santosh
Pune, India (GMT+05:30)
Instant messaging
Yes
Interpersonal awareness.
Use of technology.
Self-management.
Project management.
John
Wilmington, NC (Eastern)
Telephone
No
Networking face-to-face.
Use of technology.
Spanning boundaries.
Joyce
Norfolk, VA (Eastern)
Yes
Self-management.
Project management.
Networking.
Helga
Berlin, Germany (Central European)
SharePoint; Webconferencing (with video)
Yes
Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Project management.
Adam
Dallas, TX (Central)
Instant messaging, discussion boards
No
Networking via technology.
Spanning boundaries.
Use of technology.
Brenda
New Orleans, LA (Central)
Instant messaging; blogs; SharePoint; e-mail
Yes
Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Networking.
Spanning boundaries.
Self-management.
Explanation / Answer
Minimizing conflict management in a virtual team can be achieved as follows:
Some part of the conflict is inevitable in all work based relationship due to the difference in opinions, work styles, ideas, and strategies. Healthy conflict of a minimum level is good for achieving the organizational goals but the continuous conflict which impacts the organization's goals and can create a toxic and hostile work environment.
Virtual teams have the advantage of interacting only on the professional front with limited personal interaction but the disadvantage is due to lack of face to face interpersonal discussions the conflict can increase hence reducing productivity, lack of team bonding and hindering work.
Lauren can ensure minimal conflict as follows:
To sum it up she needs to address her skill sets and upgrade them according to the team leader profile challenges. She must arrange training for the team to reduce their weakness and use their strengths to improve the productivity of the team. She has to review at regular intervals signs of potential conflict and plan accordingly.
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