Organizations must be focused on their mission. But lots of team work and shorter-term projects often appear at cross purpose. This situation can escalate, when communication activities of the team work are through video conferencing and software platforms.

Further, the use of virtual teams as a methodology, often adds more confusion for tracking scheduling--especially if the software separates teams into specific channels for scheduling and chats, while individuals serve on multiple team projects.

Keep in mind that inter-team challenges are those that occur between different teams, not within the same team. For example, the accounting team wants to acquire a certain financial accounting system but the technology team says they can't support it. Or the sales team wants to customize an order for a customer but the systems team says the customization can't be done for the price the sales team offered.

Questions

• Use an example of team member overlap--found in other experiences you may have had. Describe what you believe were the sources of the problem.
• Describe actions taken after the conflict surfaced (keep in mind that sometimes, nothing happens. It's ok to describe that dynamic, too).
• Who stepped forward to problem-solve? Should this role be a responsibility of the team manager? Or someone from HR?