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

Creating virtual cultures for global online communities
corporation to be prepared for the unthinkable. There is a need
for the organization to shift design and culture from one that
suppresses unpalatable news to ones that actively seek different
viewpoints, opinions, and contradictory information.
Nevertheless, culture has become a concept thrown around by
consultants as if it can be changed as easily as donning a new set
of clothes or a radical hair restyle! Culture is not easy to change
and in times of change people will cling to culture for their
stability. The organization must consider whether gradual
change is an acceptable solution or whether a complete culture
change is the only route and possibly accompanied by a
complete change of personnel. Certainly the development of a
one-company culture needs to be closely tied to reward systems
aligned with learning-driven goals and objectives. Frequently
the real target group should be the middle management level
who can effectively act as a sink to prevent upwards and
downwards flows of information.
11.3 Culture and the virtual organization
11.3.1 Virtual culture alliances
In conventional organizations, shared assumptions typically
form around the functional units of the organization, and are
often based on members’ similar educational backgrounds or
experiences. This assumes, however, that we define the boundaries
of the organization as the population of employees – what
if we also include suppliers and customers? Developing a single
culture of reliability in virtual organizations is very much more
difficult because of such extended boundaries (including subcontractors
and other alliance members along the supply and
demand chains) often encompassing several cultures. The
existence of shared deep tacit assumptions and values across all
members of the alliance, or of similar educational backgrounds
or experience, is unlikely in such organizations, particularly if
crossing cultural lines. The various cultures represented in the
different members of the network will almost surely introduce
dysfunctionalities and miscommunications, as communication
and functionality take place across organizations that do not
share common values, assumptions, or perceptions. Japanese
firms, for example, typically exhibit cultures that extend well
beyond the normal legal boundaries of an organization.
Virtual organizational strategies need to meld the varied
cultures that comprise the system into a cohesive whole in
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