IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v10y1999i6p741-757.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Network Structure in Virtual Organizations

Author

Listed:
  • Manju K. Ahuja

    (Information and Management Sciences, College of Business, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306)

  • Kathleen M. Carley

    (Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

Abstract

Virtual organizations that use e-mail to communicate and coordinate their work toward a common goal are becoming ubiquitous. However, little is known about how these organizations work. Much prior research suggests that virtual organizations, for the most part because they use information technology to communicate, will be decentralized and nonhierarchical. This paper examines the behavior of one such organization. The analysis is based on a case study of the communication structure and content of communications among members of a virtual organization during a four-month period. We empirically measure the structure of a virtual organization and find evidence of hierarchy. The findings imply that the communication structure of a virtual organization may exhibit different properties on different dimensions of structure. We also examine the relationship among task routineness, organizational structure, and performance. Results indicate that the fit between structure and task routineness affects the perception of performance, but may not affect the actual performance of the organization. Thus, this virtual organization is similar to traditional organizations in some ways and dissimilar in other ways. It was similar to traditional organizations in so far as task-structure fit predicted perceived performance. However, it was dissimilar to traditional organizations in so far as fit did not predict objective performance. To the extent that the virtual organizations may be similar to traditional organizations, existing theories can be expanded to study the structure and perceived performance of virtual organizations. New theories may need to be developed to explain objective performance in virtual organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Manju K. Ahuja & Kathleen M. Carley, 1999. "Network Structure in Virtual Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(6), pages 741-757, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:10:y:1999:i:6:p:741-757
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.10.6.741
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.10.6.741
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.10.6.741?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kathleen Carley, 1992. "Organizational Learning and Personnel Turnover," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(1), pages 20-46, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gábor Péli & Bart Nooteboom, 1997. "Simulation of Learning in Supply Partnerships," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 43-66, March.
    2. Connie Zheng & David Lamond, 2010. "Organisational determinants of employee turnover for multinational companies in Asia," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 423-443, September.
    3. Edoardo Mollona & Andrea Marcozzi, 2009. "FirmNet: the scope of firms and the allocation of task in a knowledge-based economy," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 109-126, June.
    4. Edoardo Mollona & Andrea Marcozzi, 2009. "Self-emerging coordination mechanisms for knowledge integration processes," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 8(2), pages 223-241, December.
    5. Brian T. Pentland & Thorvald Hærem & Derek Hillison, 2011. "The (N)Ever-Changing World: Stability and Change in Organizational Routines," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(6), pages 1369-1383, December.
    6. John C. Butler & Jovan Grahovac, 2012. "Learning, Imitation, and the Use of Knowledge: A Comparison of Markets, Hierarchies, and Teams," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(5), pages 1249-1263, October.
    7. Sandra Charreire, 2003. "Les rôles de la migration et de la légitimation des savoirs dans l'apprentissage organisationnel:études de cas," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 6(2), pages 115-153, June.
    8. Kathleen M. Carley & David M. Svoboda, 1996. "Modeling Organizational Adaptation as a Simulated Annealing Process," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 25(1), pages 138-168, August.
    9. Andras Pete & David L. Kleinman & Krishna R. Pattipati, 1993. "Tasks and Organizations: A Signal Detection Model of Organizational Decision Making," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 2(4), pages 289-303, December.
    10. Gerald C. Kane & Maryam Alavi, 2007. "Information Technology and Organizational Learning: An Investigation of Exploration and Exploitation Processes," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(5), pages 796-812, October.
    11. Anita Williams Woolley, 2009. "Means vs. Ends: Implications of Process and Outcome Focus for Team Adaptation and Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 500-515, June.
    12. René Peinl & Ronald Maier, 2011. "SimKnowledge—Analyzing impact of knowledge management measures on team organizations with multi agent-based simulation," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 13(5), pages 621-636, November.
    13. Zhiang Lin & Kathleen Carley, 1993. "Proactive or Reactive: An Analysis of the Effect of Agent Style on Organizational Decision‐making Performance," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 2(4), pages 271-287, December.
    14. Jennifer Kunz, 2011. "Group-Level Exploration and Exploitation: A Computer Simulation-Based Analysis," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 14(4), pages 1-18.
    15. Abhoy K. Ojha & John L. Brown & Nelson Phillips, 1997. "Change and Revolutionary Change: Formalizing and Extending the Punctuated Equilibrium Paradigm," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 91-111, June.
    16. Bill McKelvey, 1999. "Avoiding Complexity Catastrophe in Coevolutionary Pockets: Strategies for Rugged Landscapes," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(3), pages 294-321, June.
    17. Devi Akella, 2007. "Learning Organizations," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 8(1), pages 13-28, February.
    18. Hazhir Rahmandad & John Sterman, 2008. "Heterogeneity and Network Structure in the Dynamics of Diffusion: Comparing Agent-Based and Differential Equation Models," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(5), pages 998-1014, May.
    19. Nigel D. Caldwell & Jens K. Roehrich & Gerard George, 2017. "Social Value Creation and Relational Coordination in Public-Private Collaborations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(6), pages 906-928, September.
    20. Zeynep Ton & Robert S. Huckman, 2008. "Managing the Impact of Employee Turnover on Performance: The Role of Process Conformance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 56-68, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:10:y:1999:i:6:p:741-757. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.