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=Summary =

This Wiki intends to give an overview of the main considerations and implications that are particular to the most recent dynamic and evolving Virtual Organisations. Like most traditional organisations, a virtual organisation will face the same issues of structure, leadership, knowledge transfer, value creation, communication and Information Technology and future direction, but some areas will require greater focus and emphasis. As globalisation moves into another dimension with the aid of improved technologies, organisations have moved to a more decentralised and non-hierarchical structure making further use of their 'core competencies' and improving links with global partners. The requirement for effective leadership and employee motivation is at its greatest within virtual teams, the necessity for inspiring leaders that can encourage employee self motivation through the best use of computer mediated communication.

=Virtual Organizations: An Introduction =

'It is widely alleged that the business organisation of the future will be virtual. But precise definitions of what it means to be a virtual organisation are hard to find. The origin of the phrase, though, is clear. It comes from the expression “virtual reality”, an experience in which electronically created sounds and images are made to resemble reality. A virtual company resembles a normal traditional company in its inputs and its outputs. It differs in the way in which it adds value during the journey in between.' [|The Economist]


 * There are a number of definitions of [|virtual organisations]: **

Byrne (1993) defines the virtual corporation (organisation) as: A Virtual Corporation is a temporary network of independent companies–suppliers, customers, and even rivals–linked by information technology to share skills, costs, and access to one another’s markets. This corporate model is fluid and flexible–a group of collaborators that quickly unite to exploit a specific opportunity. Once the opportunity is met, the venture will, more often than not, disband. In the concept’s purest form, each company that links up with others to create a virtual corporation contributes only what it regards as its core competencies.

Shao, Y. et al., (1998) says a virtual organisation is where activities are outsourced and virtual alliances are created, by integrating several companies, linked by IT, in order to utilise their core competencies and resources.

Shao, Y. et al., (1998, P306), also defines the virtual organisation as 'Employees who are not co-located in the same physical space, but work together as if they were to become part of a virtual office.'

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Virtual Organisation Variables
**Connectivity - ** The creation of unity or linkage through structural change, breaking of constraints or overcoming previously existing barriers **Purpose - ** The objective that provides the incentive for creating the new organisation and which serves as the cohesive force to hold the virtual organisation components at least temporarily together **Technology - **<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> The enabling factor that allows the break-through and makes the virtual form possible **<span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px;">Boundary - **<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> The separation of those who are part of the virtual organisation and those who are not, in the absence of any clearly visible physical border lines. It defines who can share its activities and who receives benefits. <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Shao, Y., Liao, S., Wang, H., (1998).

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 1.5;">References:
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Economist: Virtual organisation]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Virtual organisations - a summary]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|http://ecoggins.hubpages.com/hub/HubPages-Profile-in-Vitual-Organizations#]

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