Managing communicative conflicts and relational challenges in virtual teams

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Mokline, Bechir^*

Affiliations: Faculty of Economics and Management of Sfax, Tunisia

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Bechir Mokline, Faculty of Economics and Management of Sfax, 17, rue du 1er Mai, 8020, Tunisia. Tel.: +21698756391; E-mail: bechir.mokline@gmail.com.

Abstract: The phenomenon of virtual teams has enabled working relationships to take place at a distance: the spatial and temporal boundaries of enterprises are thus eliminated. The introduction of distance and appropriate technology inevitably change the communication and the relationships both among and within these teams. The fact that virtual teams have fewer opportunities to communicate seems to make them lack social presence, which tends to impede communication and create conflicts. Several conflicting risk factors are associated with virtual teams: limited modes of communication, social and cultural divergences, and difficulty in identifying conflicts. Faced with this new situation, the management of communication conflicts becomes a strategic activity to ensure the sustainability of the virtual team. The purposefulness of this research is to explore the management of communicative conflicts in virtual teams. In order to do this, this research will attempt to present briefly the different types of communication conflicts in the virtual teams, as well as the solutions to overcome them. It will also expose the study’s methodology, analyze and discuss the main results. Finally, the research concludes with a reminder of the main results and contributions and indication some possible avenues for future research and practice.

Keywords: Virtual teams, conflict management, relational, social and cultural

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-171755

Journal: Human Systems Management, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 115-127, 2017