Becoming Virtual

This book examines the capabilities needed to transform a globally distributed organization into a virtual organization (an organization that exists and operates across time and distance with the support of global communications technologies such as the Internet). It introduces techniques for definition of goals for virtualization, for monitoring progress toward virtualization and for studying the impact of virtualization on social uncertainty, knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer, organizational memory, transactive memory, communities of practice and organizational commitment, power and control. These techniques are applied in an extended case study of a development aid organization's attempts to use knowledge management for virtualization over a two year period. The multidisciplinary team of authors examines virtualization from points of view ranging from the organizational to the technological to the sociological and psychological.

Résumé
The editors and research team would like to thank the management and staff of TPC, who must remain anonymous. Without their enthusiastic - volvement, openness and patience, this project would not have been pos- ble. We hope that the outcomes are useful to them and any others wishing to understand the complexities and implications of becoming virtual. June 2007 Jane Klobas Paul Jackson Contents Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Part 1 Envisioning and Planning for Virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1 Aligning Goals, Virtuality and Capability: A Virtual Alignment Model Paul Jackson and Jane Klobas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2 Envisioning and Monitoring the Process of Becoming Virtual Paul Jackson and Jane Klobas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3 The Challenge of Becoming Virtual Jane Klobas and Stefano Renzi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Part 2 New Insights intoKnowledge Management and Virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 4 Social Uncertainty in Virtual Organizations: A Preliminary Ontology of the Constituent Elements Ivan Jensen and Paul Jackson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 5 When Communities of Practice Fail: Community Ties and Organizational Commitment Gaela Bernini and Jane Klobas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 6 An Exploratory Survey of the Structure and Components of Organizational Memory Paul Jackson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 viii Contents 7 The Organization as a Transactive Memory System Paul Jackson and Jane Klobas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 8 Adoption of Technologies for Virtual Work Stefano Renzi, Jane Klobas and Paul Jackson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 9 Monitoring, Control and the Performance of Virtual Work Paul Jackson, Jane Klobas and Hosein Gharavi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Part 3 Understanding Virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 10 The Challenge of Becoming Virtual, Part 2 Jane Klobas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Contenu
Envisioning and Planning for Virtualization.- Aligning Goals, Virtuality and Capability: A Virtual Alignment Model.- Envisioning and Monitoring the Process of Becoming Virtual.- The Challenge of Becoming Virtual.- New Insights into Knowledge Management and Virtualization.- Social Uncertainty in Virtual Organizations: A Preliminary Ontology of the Constituent Elements.- When Communities of Practice Fail: Community Ties and Organizational Commitment.- An Exploratory Survey of the Structure and Components of Organizational Memory.- The Organization as a Transactive Memory System.- Adoption of Technologies for Virtual Work.- Monitoring, Control and the Performance of Virtual Work.- Understanding Virtualization.- The Challenge of Becoming Virtual, Part 2.- Reflections from the Frontline: The Journey of a Knowledge Manager.- The Forensics of a Challenged Initiative.- Tools and Capabilities for Becoming Virtual.