What are Virtual Organizations?

Virtual Organizations... A term that has been widely used for many years now – but which is becoming even more prevalent following the impact of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, is Virtual Organization.

But what exactly is a Virtual Organization? Let’s discuss.

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The Nature of Organizations
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This video is part of course module number 6.1.2
Program 6: Managing within Organizations
Course 1: The Nature of Organizations
Section 2: Organizational Models


Other videos in this section include:
🎬 Edgar Schein's Two Organizational Cultures -    • What are Edgar Schein's Two Organizational...  
🎬 Henry Mintzberg's 4 plus 2 Organizational Types -    • Henry Mintzberg's 4 plus 2 Organizational ...  
🎬 Charles Handy's Gods of Management -    • What are Charles Handy's Gods of Management?  
🎬 Charles Handy's Shamrock Organization -    • What is Charles Handy's Shamrock Organizat...  
🎬 Charles Handy's Federal Organization Model -    • What is Charles Handy's Federal Organizati...  
🎬 Charles Handy's Triple-I Company -    • What is Charles Handy's Triple-I Company?  
🎬 The Matrix Organization Model -    • What is the Matrix Organization Model?  
🎬 Peter Senge's Learning Organization -    • What is Peter Senge's Learning Organization?  
🎬 Adhocracy -    • What is the Adhocracy Organizational Model?  
🎬 The Agile Organization -    • What is The Agile Organization?  
🎬 Brian Robertson's Holacracy -    • What is Brian Robertson's Holacracy Organi...  

LESSON NOTES
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Simple form
An organization that uses IT and communications technology to coordinate the work of people across different locations around the globe.

More sophisticated
An amorphous organization with few or any fixed organizational structures, in which teams come together, do a job, and then disband.

Technology can enable large organizations to do away with large, costly headquarters facilities, linking together smaller satellite offices – or even individual home offices, accommodation suites, and cafés.

Virtual organizations seem less hierarchical – from a matrix into a fully connected network. In truth, virtual organizations can emulate any management structure.

So, what is unique about Virtual Organizations?
Maybe a Virtual Organization is just Charles Handy’s Shamrock Organization, facilitated by technology. Perhaps its constantly reforming teams are an Adhocracy, an Holacracy, or parts of an Agile Organization.

True technology-enabled dispersal needs more than just a catchy buzz-phrase and clever communications software. The real problems of making it work are far harder:

1. Humanity evolved to work in teams that are in close physical proximity. We don’t yet have all the answers to effective communication, motivation, and supervision across cultures, distance and time zones.

2. Corporate IT is still largely seen as a facility: an overhead function and cost center. To make true virtual organization work, It needs to become a strategic function and a core part of governance.

3. While an established senior manager in an affluent country is likely to have suitable space in their home for virtual working, what about a newly promoted junior manager in a less prosperous country?

We may have made a lot of headway over recent years, but there is still a long way to go. And that is even supposing that a Virtual Organization is the right solution for any given endeavor.


RECOMMENDED EXERCISE
======================
1. To what extent is yours a virtual organization? What evidence is there? (2 MC CPD Points)
2. What is the trend and how fast is your organization changing? (2 MC CPD Points)
3. What are the benefits and risks of a more virtual organizational model? (2 MC CPD Points)

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RECOMMENDED READING
=====================
Understanding Organizations https://geni.us/oB774Do
Images of Organization https://geni.us/hrOemEs
Inside Organizations: 21 Ideas for Managers https://geni.us/YwwL
Gods of Management: The Four Cultures of Leadership https://geni.us/bpPeC5


Managers Need a Basic set of kit to do your job well. Here are my top recommendations: https://kit.co/MikeClayton/manager-s-... (the links are affiliated)

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