CASE #$2-$ A RELATIONSHIP CONFLICT ON A VIRTUAL TEAM

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You have just been assigned to lead a new team at your company that is going to integrate some of the product labeling functions for the US and European divisions of the marketing and quality control departments. This will be a virtual team made up of team members who are in Ireland, Finland, California, and Minnesota. All the work is being done in English and everyone on the team is fluent in both writing and speaking. The US team is all female and the Euro team is all male. All of the team members have been with the company for at least one year. None of these individuals are part of your former team and they will after this project go back to reporting to their regular bosses. For now they are dual reporting, and you provide work direction. Because of the diversity in time zones, the Euro team members meet together virtually more frequently than the US team or the whole team. There$$s no travel budget and no money for swag so you just had to get by with minimal onboarding and socialization of the team. They know one another and they know how to reach one another. There$$s a detailed project management chart with tasks, a RACI matrix, and deadlines outlined as well as KPI$$s$.$

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Things haven$$t been going great, but you expected some of that because this is a new team, and they have and never will meet in person. This week your email is blowing up because there$$s so much conflict. You decide to start with the biggest problem and then hopefully the others may resolve themselves.

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Lars in Finland and Jane in Minnesota are going back and forth about the labeling of the widget which requires some regulatory information on the Euro products. Jane was actually crying when she called you by phone yesterday. She claims Lars is rude, condescending, and he calls her stupid. She$$s an engineer with a master$$s degree and she says all he has is an advertising degree from some university that no one has ever heard of$.$ She$$s refusing to communicate with him in any way. Rachel in California is trying to be a go between since she$$s a marketing person and Lars seems to like her. This is inefficient and when each sub$-$group $($Euro or US$)$ meets with you all they talk about is the tension and they gripe about the others. The Euro staff complain that the girls from the US are too sensitive$,$ and the US team would like to file a discrimination claim with HR$.$ This is a nightmare and the work is suffering. You need to do something and soon.

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Things haven$$t been going great, but you expected some of that because this is a new team, and they have and never will meet in person. This week your email is blowing up because there$$s so much conflict. You decide to start with the biggest problem and then hopefully the others may resolve themselves.

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Lars in Finland and Jane in Minnesota are going back and forth about the labeling of the widget which requires some regulatory information on the Euro products. Jane was actually crying when she called you by phone yesterday. She claims Lars is rude, condescending, and he calls her stupid. She$$s an engineer with a master$$s degree and she says all he has is an advertising degree from some university that no one has ever heard of$.$ She$$s refusing to communicate with him in any way. Rachel in California is trying to be a go between since she$$s a marketing person and Lars seems to like her. This is inefficient and when each sub$-$group $($Euro or US$)$ meets with you all they talk about is the tension and they gripe about the others. The Euro staff complain that the girls from the US are too sensitive$,$ and the US team would like to file a discrimination claim with HR$.$ This is a nightmare and the work is suffering. You need to do something and soon.

CASE $2$ QUESTIONS

$1.$ You have already determined that this is not a task conflict, it must be relationship oriented. So$,$ how will you figure out what is really going on$?$

a$.$ Tell us about the steps you will take, in what order, and who will be involved?

$2.$ Let$$s assume you have done your investigative work, and you have a better understanding of the situation, now how will you change the situation?

a$.$ Make sure to describe your steps in the process and who you will have involved.

What would the likely next steps be if the relationships on the team don$$t improve with the process you implemented?