For instance, we all have different opinions and personalities, but we need to use it to our advantage and not let it hurt us. We need to set aside feelings for a few hours to get the goal accomplished. The team will only be successful if the members can overcome their challenges and use their differences to begin working toward accomplishing their common goal. .
A group experiencing some degree of conflict is a normal part of working within teams. It is a healthy and completely normal occurrence when different people, from all kinds of backgrounds, come together to work towards a common goal (Levi, 2014). Without conflict, "complacency can rule and the development of the team and/or the team member can be seriously impeded"" (Capozzoli, 1995). However, it is not normal to have excessive problems and it should be avoided at all costs. After analyzing the case study mentioned above, a few potential problems can be seen and should be addressed quickly before the team could no longer complete their common goal. The time difference and breakdown of communication, group norm development, differences in rank, and cultural variances all play a role in the breakdown of this team. These four issues will only continue to tear apart this group if not fixed quickly. .
Within this team, the most evident issue is the fact that they have not been able to find a way to effectively communicate because of the time difference. These team members are not able to find a period of time that fits within the three time zones that California, New York, and Hong Kong provide. As a result, the only way they are able to talk to each other is through email. "Miscommunications are more common in virtual teams; they create more problems because virtual teams have a difficult time identifying and correcting communication problems"" (Levi, 2014, p. 297). It is not uncommon for the text in an email to be taken out of context or misunderstood.