Conflicts and Conflict Resolution Mechanisms in Remote Collaboration via Videoconferencing

Abstract

Globally active organizations and many virtual team based work structures are facing the challenge of a physically distributed workplace despite the necessity to closely interact among team members. While videoconferencing (VC) promises to replace the need for face-to-face meetings, this new medium also implies new cultural challenges. But what are the problems inherent to the social dynamics of videoconferencing usage in remote collaboration and what are mechanisms to overcome such conflicts? Based on an intense review of literature as well as a total of three case studies with multinational enterprises we identify nine major problems in VC and propose an adopted conflict management method for videoconferencing