Communication Processes for Virtual Organizations
Citation: Gerardine DeSanctis, Peter Monge (2006) Communication Processes for Virtual Organizations. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (RSS)
DOI (original publisher): 10.1111/j.1083-6101.1998.tb00083.x
Semantic Scholar (metadata): 10.1111/j.1083-6101.1998.tb00083.x
Sci-Hub (fulltext): 10.1111/j.1083-6101.1998.tb00083.x
Internet Archive Scholar (search for fulltext): Communication Processes for Virtual Organizations
Download: https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/4584413
Tagged: Psychology
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Summary
This article takes up the notion of the virtual organization as an emerging form (characterized by geographically distributed components, functionally or culturally diverse members, electronic links, and connected via lateral relationships). The article uses a literature review format to identify what communication research might suggest about how such an organization may communicate, for what tasks might this virtual nature promote success and where might it be a drawback. DeSanctis and Monge examine 6 areas, which are described below along with a comment on their findings. 1) Communication volume and efficiency: research predicts communication volume will increase and that efficiency gain may not follow. 2) Message understanding: research predicts high potential, especially if shared context is constructed. 3) Virtual tasks: Empirical results do not seem to support early beliefs that a loss in channel capacity diminishes media richness. However, consensus seems more difficult to reach electronically while divergent thinking activities may be more effective. 4) Lateral communication: many studies predict that electronic communication is more lateral than it was in pre-electronic communication. 5) Norms of technology use: social norms still hold sway in how we use technology, and organizations should cultivate the norms they want to see. 6) Evolutionary effects: uses and patterns seem likely to evolve, and organizations should think carefully about which cases they will intervene in to reshape the pattern of usage versus letting it evolve.
Theoretical and Practical Relevance
This article is a good example of why systemizations of knowledge are important contributions and offers a model structure for evaluating a trend prospectively.
