The Enigma of Intra-Team Collaboration in the Digital Era: The Contribution of Conflict Management and Leadership Patterns, Choice of Communication Mode, and Work Engagement

This study sought to expand knowledge about the contribution of team processes—conflict management patterns and leadership patterns, the choice of communication mode to deal with various conflicts, and team members' individual and collective work engagement to intra-team collaboration in teams working in a hybrid format. The study employed a qualitative methodology based on grounded theory. Data collection comprised semi-structured interviews with 20 individuals, members of work teams in a government organization that recently transitioned to hybrid work arrangements. The findings present three themes: What and Why? of intra-team conflicts in teams using hybrid communication, addressing feelings of tension and discomfort, issues of cohesiveness and integration among team members, and leadership patterns; How? Choice of communication mode to engage intra-team conflict sheds light on the participants' preference of communication mode (face-to-face versus virtual) to handle different conflicts; What makes me feel good in my team captures team processes that contribute to the participants' individual and collective work engagement. The study shows that teams working in a hybrid format opt for in-person communication when dealing with intra-team conflicts revolving around issues of status, power relations, and interpersonal incompatibilities to mitigate tensions, especially when encountering conflicts with a high likelihood of escalation. Furthermore, adopting cooperative conflict management and shared leadership patterns to handle conflicts benefits effective intra-team collaboration. The study expands Tyler and Blader's Group Engagement Model to teams working in a hybrid format, illuminating team members' beliefs that the sense of meaningfulness and individual motivation to contribute to the team encourages collective teamwork engagement.