Check Out This Author Interview on Conflict in Virtual Teams
How often do you and your virtual colleagues encounter conflict in virtual teams? Do you confront or ignore the conflicts? 
What do you do when cross cultural issues arise? Why is it important to deal with and manage conflict?
Differences in opinions are common among teammates, friends, family members, organizations and people, in general. Some level of disagreement is healthy because it can generate ideas and build innovation. When everyone always agrees, it is difficult to come up with creative solutions. Many times conflicts result from misunderstandings or simple mismatches in perception. These misunderstandings can contribute to more serious conflict issues around speed, results, personalities, and they may have reverberations that are felt beyond the immediate department or work unit. When stress levels are high (as they often are in the virtual environment), conflicts are more likely to arise. Sudden changes in organizational policy or company direction can cause confusion and lead to conflict. A quick email can spark conflict, as can a casual comment or suggestion during a telephone conference.
Common reactions to conflict in virtual teams include feelings of betrayal and missed expectations or a simple avoidance of dealing with the issue – all of which may lead to decreased productivity. Virtual employees might avoid a conflict because they do not know how to constructively handle that conflict or they may be afraid of what confronting conflict would do to their reputation. While conflict avoidance seems the easier choice, I’ve seen many negative consequences in the long term when that happens. Sometimes employees become disengaged and don’t speak up or they wait until things escalate to the boiling point. Subtle examples of conflict avoidance include: hitting the mute button and multi-tasking while on a conference call; lack of attention when a question is asked and finally, total disengagement. These actions often result in loss of quality and indifference; however the greatest cost is the ‘human’ cost. Morale and energy are impacted since employees are angry and frustrated. Some may internalize what they hear and start back biting or plotting to ‘one up’ another. What started as a molehill can become an overwhelming mountain.
Last week, I was interviewed by Kyra Cavanaugh at “Life meets Work”, where I discussed some of the challenges of working virtually. A key issue I covered was how to handle the four types of conflict in the virtual work setting: performance; identity; data overload and social conflict.
I also talked about three types of conflict resolution that I call ‘The 3 ‘Ps’: people, process and problems. Based on my research gathered from interviewing 150+ virtual team managers and members, I discussed various tools and techniques for handling misunderstandings and conflicts that interviewees found most helpful. This session on conflict in virtual teams was recorded as a series of free podcasts by the “Life meets Work” consulting network and is now available on their website.
Here are the links:
