Managing Conflict Virtually

Part III: Managing Conflict Virtually

Even though your team presented Lauren with an agenda for the kickoff meeting, along with ground rules, she used the agenda below for the kick-off meeting. 

She set expectations for status reporting, the technologies to be used, and performance management. The types of communication the team agreed on included e-mail, instant messaging, and web conferencing.  The team also agreed to use Microsoft SharePoint to report project status and to create a virtual community for team members to build relationships and trust. Lauren asked all team members to upload their pictures and their résumés to jump-start the community.

Lauren’s Agenda:

· Getting-to-Know-You Activity

· Team Goals and Objectives

· Technologies We Will Use (open discussion)

· Virtual Community (pictures and bios)

· Status Reporting

· Team Meetings

· One-on-one meetings

Despite setting ground rules, the following conflicts arose within Lauren’s team:

· Lags in e-mail responses generated mistrust between two team members.

· One team member complained that the other team members tried to use instant messaging to solve complex problems and resolutions are never reached.

· There has been an uneven exchange of project knowledge.

In your assigned groups, you are to:

· Recommend actions Lauren should take now to resolve these conflicts. 

· Discuss what Lauren could have done to prevent the conflicts from occurring in the first place. 

· Recommend actions Lauren can take to minimize team conflict in the future.