Virtual organization
Readings and resources
The best textbook that focuses on how virtuality affects teams, though it only covers some of the material that will be discussed and was written when the available technology was much less developed, is still:
Lipnak, J and J Stamps: Virtual teams. Wiley, 2000
While this book remains in print and you can buy it on paper, or for a Kindle, for around £25, you can also download it in its entirety from https://www.netage.com/ along with a lot of much more recent material, and supporting case studies, from the same authors. It should be said that the web supporting material goes up to 2009 so should still be regarded as potentially dated although Jessica Lipnak has some recent blog posts on the relevance of her ideas of virtual work - and still occasionally contributes to her blog through typically only with peripheral relevance to virtual teams.
The best textbook on the broader use of technologies to enable social and organisational change is Social by Social, which is in fact an output from work at Cass.
A readable and enjoyable popular book on the global effects of new technology (though it is very much the work of a journalist and not an academic) is:
Friedman T: The world is flat. Penguin, 2007. You might also consider:
Zuboff S and J Maxmin: The support economy. Penguin, 2002
This looks at some broader social issues which might arise from virtual organisations: there is a useful companion website at https://www.thesupporteconomy.com/ . Zuboff's personal website at https://www.shoshanazuboff.com/ is a useful source of her current ideas which are relevant to the virtual organisation. Significantly she is also using this to publish advance excerpts from her forthcoming book due to be published in 2017.
Tapscott D: Wikinomics. Atlantic Books, 2007
Tapscott D and Williams A: Macrowikinomics - rebooting business and the world. Atlantic Books, 2010
This presents one particular view of future economic structures, but one heavily influenced by ideas about virtual organisations. The original Wikinomics has migrated to Macrowikinomics and there is a companion website at https://www.macrowikinomics.com/
Andrew McAfee is the author or co-author of influential books on the effect of new technologies on organisations is:
McAfee A: Enterprise 2.0. Harvard Business School Press, 2009
Brynjolfson E, McAfee A: The second machine age - work, progress and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies. W W Norton, 2014.
In parallel with textbooks I will also refer to a number of more recent journal articles and web pages which cover issues around virtual work. To start with, I would encourage you to review:
Iris Annukka Humala (2015) Leadership toward creativity in virtual work in a start-up context Journal of Workplace Learning, 27 (6) 426 - 441
This is a contemporary practical discussion of issues originating with virtual work. You can view the paper with your City University credentials at https://0-dx.doi.org.wam.city.ac.uk/10.1108/JWL-08-2014-0059
Coursework
Coursework is in two stages. You may do the coursework individually, with one other student, or as part of a larger team (maximum 4 students) if you agree this with me towards the start of the module. The coursework deadlines are set early in the term partly because of the early timing of the exams after Christmas and also so that we can give you at least some feedback on coursework 1 before you submit coursework 2. Guideline lengths (not limits) for each paper are 1500 words each if you are working individually, and add around another 700 words for each paper for each additional team member. Each paper is worth 50% of the total coursework mark.
1. Technologies: Choose a technology that can be used to enable virtual work. This technology should involve a use of at least one of the five categories listed below, and might well cover more than one. These are discussed in the early part of the module and those who did IT for Business 1 in past years will recognise them:
- Web 2.0
- Mobile Internet
- Apps and hybrids of mobile and conventional devices
- Open source
- Distributed computing
Write a paper on how this technology can be applied to virtual work. You need to identify benefits and risks associated with using the technology, and possible scenarios for its use in the immediate and slightly more distant future.
This assignment must be submitted by midnight on 31st October 2016.
2. Roles: Choose a role in business or a particular type of job - for example ‘chief knowledge officer', or ‘accountant', or ‘field service engineer', or ‘public relations manager' - which might use the technology that you wrote about to facilitate virtual work. Analyse the conditions necessary for somebody to introduce an element of virtual work to that rôle. You should particularly take into account the changing nature of the workforce, and the generational issues that will be discussed during the module.
This assignment must be submitted by midnight on 28th November 2016.
You should receive at least some feedback on the second assignment before Christmas. There will be an exam in January which will include an opportunity to draw on concepts covered in the coursework. An additional revision session will be offered between Christmas and the exam, which will be run as an online session.
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Virtual organisation schedule 2016 (note that this may be revised during the module)
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27/09/2016
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Introductions and definitions (Martin Rich)
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04/10/2016
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Coursework briefing. Digital natives and web 2 technologies; understanding the blogosphere and blogging tools
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11/10/2016
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The virtual office and virtual work (Richard Nissen)
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18/10/2016
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IT development and project management challenges in an innovative organisation
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25/10/2016
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Visit to virtual office
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01/11/2016
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E-learning and open source - using City University, Moodle and VR headsets
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08/11/2016
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Virtual innovation networks
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15/11/2016
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Economic, social and legal context for virtual work (David Barry)
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22/11/2016
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Building an enterprise around virtual communities
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29/11/2016
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Location-based systems
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06/12/2016
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Revision and exam preparation
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Attachment:- Virtual-Organisation-Coursework-1.rar