In this era of technology and global competition, an organisation has to undergo changes to sustain its competitive advantage in the market. However, with changes, employees are the ones affected and might be resistant to changes. This is observed in the newly formed accounting team when three firms merged to become "Goldberg, Choo and McKay Associates". Analysis of the team's behaviour from information provided in the case study reveals that the causes of inefficiency and unproductiveness were largely due to adverse team processes, poor communication which led to conflict and frustration amongst team members. Not to mention, due to the scattered locations of the team members, working as a virtual team in different time zones brought its set of challenges. The individualist culture of each team member with different values and expectations made it impossible for the team to develop further in the 'forming' stage under '5 stages of team development' model. The absence of structured roles led to misalignment of activities and a low level of cohesion. .
Moreover, communication issue within this virtual team through electronic communication was due to the lack of proper procedure and agreement which resulted in a loss of energy and time on team development or maintenance rather than focusing on the task. Such issues also fuelled conflict due the longer time needed to complete the work and different time zones. To add on, organisation change brought a significance change in routine and the lack of formal organization process added on to the team's frustrations. On the grounds of Organisational Behaviour theories, alignment of individual values and expectations during the 'norming' stage of team development, strengthening team cohesion and initiating a first face-face session to understand each member's personality to prevent unnecessary conflict in the future are some recommendations made.
