[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations

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Creating virtual cultures for global online communities of the information society, virtual organizations, networked communities and home offices have all been touted as the result of the information explosion and the advancements in technology. However, many of these IT-based applications have unlooked-for consequences which relate directly to cultural mismatches between the philosophy of the system application or methodology and the cultural philosophy in which it is expected to operate. ICT innovations generally bring about greater user empowerment and help to promote flatter organizational structures, all of which are now held to be positive outcomes in the North American dominated management literature. The same attitude may not be held true in Southeast Asian societies where high power distance and rigid hierarchies are the preferred organizational model and low individualism but high social interaction is the preferred personal role. The division between subjective culture (referring to values, behavioural norms, attitudes and religion) and objective culture (referring to infrastructure, technology and other material objects) is important since it is the unique combination of the two which defines how information is communicated in a society. The United States and Japan both have access to the latest communication technologies but whereas electronically mediated communication is heavily used in the US. Japan relies more on face-to-face or oral communication than the written or typed mode. In studying the effect on the use of e-mail and fax in Japan, significant differences have been found between Japanese and US knowledge workers in both perception and use of ICT. The determining factor appears not to be the degree of industrialization but whether the country falls into a low-context or high-context culture which will give a relative emphasis to written or oral communication respectively. Boisot (1998) suggests that technology is itself an expression of culture and by institutionalizing an organization through ICT an organization is redefining a culture within certain boundaries. In current times the results are often seen through the repercussions of downsizing and outsourcing. Just as each society strikes a balance between individual separateness and interdependence, between authority and freedom, between achievement and compassion, between rigidity and uncertainty, so the virtual organization must tailor its global systems to reflect cultural values and enhance performance without disrupting societal norms. 227
e-Business Strategies for Virtual Organizations 228 11.2.3 Culture and change Senge (1998) states that ‘the trouble with most business relationships is that they work like dysfunctional families. Everybody is basically concentrating on just pleasing the boss and avoiding getting their ass kicked, rather than on building real relationships’. To survive crises and change there needs to be a deep level of trust and regard, yet change induces stress and under stress people revert to their most primitive behaviours which in an organization means management control, time pressure, do it faster, do it cheaper. The irony is that this is the antithesis of all that is preached about the virtual organization and the development of a change culture. In order to be more adaptable and resilient, faster and more responsive, organizations have to be more reflective and encourage people to really think together. An effective virtual organization needs to be a learning organization and this represents a significant shift in culture over the norm for Western models of management and organizational development. This new mental model permeates through the organization through different leadership styles, community behaviours and individual beliefs. Four core attributes of this new mental model for the ‘individualized’ corporation are: � companies as collectors of people; � developers of horizontal knowledge flows; � builders of a trust-based culture; � the organization as an integrated network. Whereas people are social animals and innately curious, interacting and learning from each other, the modern organization has been constructed in such a way to constrain, impede and sometimes kill this. Unlearning these behaviours and ‘learning to forget’ are perhaps the most difficult challenge that management face. In most organizations the ‘forgetting’ curve is flat and takes an enormous amount of effort to shift. One solution is the adoption of ‘vulnerability management’ approaches and the use of vulnerability audits. For example, during reengineering, vulnerability analysis can be used to predict how cutback of resources will be distributed, what disappears, what survives and what prospers. Organizations may be resilient against spending cuts but be highly vulnerable to staff cuts, marketing strategy, IT adoption or management training. Identifying and learning from these can assist the
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e-Business Strategies for Virtual O
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e-Business Strategies for Virtual O
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Contents Computer Weekly Profession
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Contents 6 Globalization and e-busi
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Contents 11.6 The increasing power
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Computer Weekly Professional Series
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Authors’ Preface There are dozens
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Authors’ Preface model will there
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Authors’ Preface alliances, bette
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1 e-business and the virtual organi
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e-business and the virtual organiza
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Figure 1.2 e-business and the virtu
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1.5 e-business e-business and the v
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Figure 1.3 e-business and the virtu
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Figure 1.4 Virtual objects, Scholz
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Characteristics of the virtual orga
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Figure 2.1 Formation of business al
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� empowerment of staff; Character
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e-business models for virtual organ
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3.4 Models of efficient response e-
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Figure 3.4 Star alliance model e-bu
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Figure 3.6 Market alliance model Fi
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Figure 3.10 Virtual alliance framew
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Figure 3.11 Virtual organizational
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References e-business models for vi
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IS planning strategies for emerging
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Figure 4.1 The evolution of IS/IT p
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Figure 4.3 A framework for SISP (Wa
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Figure 4.4 Planning adopts a busine
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Figure 4.5 Interconnected ecologies
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Figure 4.6 The interrelationships b
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4.8 Conclusion IS planning strategi
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References IS planning strategies f
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Moving from e-business to i-busines
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Globalization and e-business strate
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Adoption and deployment of online i
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Table 6.1 Online business models On
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Figure 6.2 VIM strategy Globalizati
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7 Developing knowledge-based strate
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Developing knowledge-based strategi
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8 Evaluating strategies for e-busin
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Figure 8.2 Fitness landscapes Evalu
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Evaluating strategies for e-busines
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Table 8.1 Information economics - v
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Customer view Whatisour image? Eval
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Page 224 and 225: e-business strategies in the virtua
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Page 244 and 245: 11 Creating virtual cultures for gl
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Page 266 and 267: References Creating virtual culture
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[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations

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