Team Conflict Case - Term Paper Example

Two of our number – Tanu and Cyndy (me!) - also excelled at research, which meant that we had little trouble acquiring the information we needed. Writing was also another one of our collective strengths courtesy of John, and both Powerpoint and video presentations were equally achievable for our group due to the presence of Vishal and Venkat, our leader. Even Nader, the one among us who, at first glance, had no overt specialties, more than pulled his weight by assisting the rest of the group at whatever needed to be done.

Overall, our group could be said to be very well-balanced, which meant that our objectives could be achieved with little to no difficulty, at least in theory. However, as we quickly found out, what is theoretical does not always match up with the actual results. Various difficulties did in fact get in our way, and will be elaborated upon in the following anecdotes. For instance, the very first obstacle our group had to get around was the calendar. Since ours was a virtual team, our members all hailed from different backgrounds and territories, and by extension, different time zones.

This meant that, for instance, if it was daytime where I was, it may not necessarily follow for my teammates. And conversely, ‘daytime’ for my teammates could mean differently for me, ranging from ‘sunrise’ to ‘sundown’ and even to ‘midnight’. Needless to say, scheduling our work hours and online conferences proved to be quite a chore in the beginning. When it comes to groups, each member is usually given his or her own tasks and/or roles to perform. In this case, tasks and responsibilities can either be assigned 1) all at once, from the very beginning of the project; or 2) every step of the way.

In a group such as ours, where each member had a different sleeping and waking schedule, the former would have been the intuitive and therefore most