February 1, 2001 - Virtual Organizations, Part II OK. We now have some ideas about how to communicate within the virtual organization and a glimpse at how motivation works in new types of organizations.
What about leadership? Is it the same as in traditional organizations or does it require a specific skill set in the virtual organization?
Also, because many virtual organizations, for example, the start-up dot coms, have experienced problems recently--and many have failed before making any profits--it becomes important to be able to evaluate their performance. For example, some veterans of failed dot coms have reflected that the basic problems were a lack of traditional management techniques combined with the expectation that customer demand could be created instead of fulfilled. So, aside from not making money, how do we know whether a virtual organization works effectively? How do we know if the design and management of a virtual organization is adequate to reach its goals?
Finally, virtual organizations are the result of radical changes in the way organizations are thought about and put together. Given that they represent significant change, do virtual organizations still have to change from time to time? If so, what does it take to change a virtual organization? Or, is change irrelevant to virtual organizations because the very nature of virtual organizations is change?
Web Exercise
Using the Web Sites listed below and others that you locate explore the areas of leadership, organizational evaluation, and organizational change. One important issue is to determine ways that traditional organizations and virtual organizations vary in these important areas.
Leadership in Virtual Organizations
Does the virtual organization require different leadership than traditional organizations? For example, are members of virtual organizations expected to manage themselves because they are highly skilled in technical areas? If not, what type of leadership is effective in the virtual environment?
- www.qpi.com/virtualmanagement.html
This is the site of an organization devoted to "Quality, Productivity and Innovation." The position paper "Virtual Management" may be of interest.
- www.leadersdirect.com
This site contains several links to other leadership sites.Evaluating Virtual Organizations
An important issue is determining how an organization is functioning and what, if anything, needs change.
- www.cmg-results.com
This Web Site quotes Albert Einstein--"There is only one constant in the universe, and that constant is...change." It provides an introduction to some of the issues that can be evaluated or diagnosed in the organizational change process.
- www.andersonconsulting.com
This site offers consulting services and assessment tools for "Organizational Behavior: Evaluation - Change - Development.Changing Virtual Organizations
Traditional organizations are difficult to change because they develop customs, routines, and histories that anchor them to the past. But for all practical purposes virtual organizations have no past. How does this affect their prospects for change?
- www.managementofchange.com
The Homepage of Creative Developments Limited, a consulting group, provides an exploration of resources available for the management of organizational change.
- www.nara.gov/alic/trainvid/bprtitl.html
This is an annotated bibliography containing various topics on organizational change.
[ I N T E R N E T E X E R C I S E S | U P D A T E S | F E E D B A C K | S A L E S C A T A L O G U E ]
© 2002 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
A Pearson Education Company
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
Legal Statement