Abstract:

In today’s fast-paced business environment, the Agile way of working grounded in self-managing teams is increasingly implemented by organisations to adapt to the competitive landscape. At the same time, remote working practices, including online meetings, have become more common. Just like any other team, members of self-managing teams can experience different types of conflicts. However, little is still known about how these conflicts may then differ between virtual and in-person Agile teams, how they manifest through team members’ verbal behaviours, and how the combination of multiple data sources can offer a more holistic and objective understanding of the conflict phenomenon. Hence, using a mixed-methods design with innovative and objective measures, like video observations, eight Agile teams from a large Dutch financial organisation were analysed. Findings reveal fresh insights on how situations of conflict may vary between (in)effective online and face-to-face team meetings in terms of team members’ triggering behaviours, nature of the conflict, conflict resolution, and team members’ roles. This study thus contributes to the literature on conflict management and team dynamics by offering a novel starting point, grounded in video observations and triangulation of multiple data sources, to investigate conflict. Ultimately, we derive practical implications for how organisations and leaders should adapt their conflict management strategies to these different contexts.

Please choose your submission type: Full Paper

Primary Track: Organisational Psychology

Keywords: Employee Attitudes and Motivations   ;Management Development   ;Creativity in teams and at work    ;Individual differences in organisations   

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Ms. Judith Hamhuis