Motivations

managing it in government, business & communities
Chapter 15 - Virtual Organization: Duality of Human Identities in Consciousness and Entity
Managing IT in Government, Business & Communities
by Gerry Gingrich (ed) 
Idea Group Publishing 2003
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Given that e-business is imperative in the modern business world, the definition or the dimension of virtual organization is necessary to set up competitive strategies in e-business. However, this is a very challenging task for many companies due to the ever-emerging, nebulous interpretations currently in existence. Many new business models have been created, experimented upon, and abandoned in the e-business area. E-business is still a fledgling field in terms of organizational strategies, structure, and behavior, which is indicative of the fact that virtual organization is not yet firmly defined within the dimensions of time and space (Ahuja and Carley, 1999).

Metaphors play a very powerful role in structuring virtual organizations because terms like "virtual space" and "virtual organization" originate from symbolic languages (Faucheux, 1997). These metaphors provide the meaning of existence, thus we can treat the organization like a real organization in virtual space. Continuous analogical processes between virtual and real organizations explain the existence of virtual organizations because there exist similarities and discrepancies in them (Ahuja and Carley, 1999). A virtual organization, operating within virtual space imagery, exists in our consciousness, while an actual organization physically exists in various forms (more tangible or definable manner) such as culture, politics, resources, etc. (Morgan, 1986). Although a virtual organization exists in our consciousness, it is associated with its physical counterpart in the "real" world. Allcorn (1997) described this counterpart as a parallel virtual organization and bureaucratic hierarchical organization counterpart. However, there is a possibility that in the near future a "real" organization will exist only when its virtual counterpart exists in virtual space. Mowshowitz (1994) described this as "a dominant paradigm" of virtual organization due to its unique advantages in the efficiency, cost, and effectiveness of goal-oriented activity. Surprisingly, human actors manage to control these two opposing ideas of real and virtual worlds thus, it becomes obvious that humans possess duality of existence in both the real and the virtual world.

This research discloses the social aspects of a virtual organization and identifies the role of human actors in a virtual organization (or "consciousness") (Faucheux, 1997). This consciousness exists in the perceptual world that we create beyond the limits of time and space (Allcorn, 1997). However, its counterparts exist in various forms (entities) in the real world. To bridge the gaps between the consciousnesses and the entities, there exists dual identities in both virtual and real worlds. This research provides the meaning of virtual organization, and proceeds to explain the relationship between the consciousnesses (virtual organizations) and entities (real organizations) with human intervention (human players).

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Managing IT in Government, Business & Communities
Managing IT in Government, Business & Communities
ISBN: 1931777403
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 188

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