Arousal levels in moments of conflict: An exploratory study of individual's negative verbal behavior in the context of multi- and mono-cultural agile teams

This thesis looked at four Dutch and five multicultural teams at a large Dutch institution that implements an agile way of working. This thesis explored how conflict episodes, defined according to their duration (i.e., macro, meso, and micro level) and typology (i.e., relation, task and process conflict), are associated with team members' skin conductance responses (SCRs), and how these conflicts may vary between multicultural and monocultural teams. The teams were observed during regular planning, refinement, and retrospective meetings. During these meetings, conflict episodes have been minutely analyzed using a video observation method and are identified by relations-oriented behavior and task-oriented behavior: defending own position, providing negative feedback, correcting, and disagreeing. The SCRs of each team member was measured using electrodermal measurement devices and has been linked to the specific behavior using event-related electrodermal activity analysis. Findings showed that overall conflict was observed most frequently in multicultural teams. Additionally, cultural teams exhibited more relationship and process conflict, while fewer task conflicts than monocultural teams. Furthermore, the mean SCRs before, after, and all combined were not significantly different in the respective teams. Yet, the mean SCRs during a conflict was significantly different in the monocultural and multicultural teams.