Identification and conflict in virtual teams : a social identity approach
Abstract
Globalisation and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have
extended the capabilities of organisations to alter their team based structures from
traditional to virtual settings. The use of virtual teams has increased rapidly worldwide
because such teams allow geographically dispersed people with common goals to
perform interdependent tasks via the use of ICTs. Virtual teams may experience high
levels of conflict because they work across organisational, geographical, cultural and
time boundaries.
The identification of individual members with their team has been linked to lower levels
of conflict and an increase in behaviours that are congruent with virtual team identity.
Past research has shown that the conflict-reducing effect which results from team
identification is important in virtual settings. Yet there is relatively little empirical
research that investigates conflict within virtual teams in terms of identification. The
current research thus aims to examine how the impacts of the development of identity
influence the emergence and resolution of conflict within virtual teams. It examines first
the process and determinants of identification in the teams and secondly, the effect of
self-enhancement strategies on virtual team members’ inter-group and conflict handling
behaviour.
A combination of a critical view on Social Identity Theory (SIT) and a qualitative case
study methodology was utilised in comprehending the cognitive processes of
identification, its sources of motivation, and employees’ inter-group relations within
virtual teams. An empirical study of seven virtual teams drawn from four companies
was undertaken. This study extends SIT into virtual settings. It suggests that examining
identification processes in virtual teams provides an understanding of the inter-group
relations in such teams. The findings reveal that employees’ intrinsic needs drive their
identification with a particular virtual team and the fulfilment of such needs is
influenced by the team’s contextual and situational factors. Additionally, the
identification processes have an impact on the team members’ inter-group and conflict
handling behaviour. This study contributes to SIT by drawing attention to directions for
growth of contextual and longitudinal dimensions in research which examines the
identification process and conflict of virtual teams.