Understanding Conflict in Virtual Teams: An Experimental Investigation using Content Analysis

Virtual teams are temporally and geographically dispersed groups, which may have members from varied cultures and backgrounds. Such diversity may cause intra-group conflicts in virtual teams. We analyzed the contents of the transcripts of GSS-based virtual teams and identified the conflict episodes and the approaches followed to resolve intra-group conflicts. The conflict episodes that occurred in the early phases of decisionmaking were separated from those taking place in the choice phase. The results revealed that conflicts in the choice phase of decision-making were detrimental to global virtual teams. We also found that groups following an integrative conflict resolution style had better performance than those following other conflict resolution approaches, such as a distributive style. While the results contribute towards the understanding of conflict in groups, the area warrants further research.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: HICSS
• Authors: Souren Paul, Priya Seetharaman, Imad Samarah, Peter Mykytyn
• Keywords: Biometrics, Conflict Episodes, HICSS 2005, Intra-group Conflicts, System Sciences, Virtual Teams