Systems of distributed processors connected by a physical network may have a virtual structure imposed on them to facilitate parallel cooperative system actions. This paper describes the Multiple Virtual Rings organization which is an instance of this approach. System processors are partitioned into groups, structured as virtual rings, which operate in parallel to accumulate local information a...

The concept of ‘virtual organization’ was coined about 15 years ago to describe changes in organizational structures and value creation, enabled by the affordances of ICT. Not surprisingly, the Information Systems community has been influential in researching virtual organization phenomena. However, it appears that, since the notion of ‘virtual’ in its most basic connotation only denotes some f...

The growing prominence of virtual organizations, such as Dell and Amazon.Com, has demonstrated the potential for virtual governance structures to achieve greater competitiveness than their more traditional counterparts. The designs of such organizations typically support three important characteristics: virtual customer interaction, virtual sourcing of complementary resources and assets from a ...

Article history: Received 16 July 2009 Received in revised form 5 April 2010 Accepted 26 April 2010

This paper is about electronic services in healthcare. I begin by providing a virtual organisation model that contains four variables: connectivity, purpose, technology and boundary. Based on the model, some predictions for the stability of virtual organisations can be done. The theoretical part is followed by a real-life example of a virtual hospital. The focus is on finding and naming the fou...

One of the major structural changes facing organizations today involves moving from traditional hierarchical work paradigms, beyond teams, to the “virtual” organization. In the virtual organization, “work” is no longer the place you go. It is, rather, “what you do.” These new work paradigms are simultaneously driving new paradigms for the delivery of education. Managers with more flexibility in...

Virtual Organizations enable new forms of collaboration for businesses in a networked society. During their formation business partners are selected on an as-needed basis. We consider the problem of using a reputation system to enhance the member selection in Virtual Organizations. The paper identifies the requirements for and the benefits of using a reputation system for this task. We identify...

Greening of computing processes is an environmental strategy gaining momentum in the 21st century as evidenced by increased virtual communications. Because of the rising cost of fuel to travel to meetings and conferences, corporations are adopting sophisticated technologies that provide a “personal” experience for geographically disbursed colleagues to interact in real time. This article highli...

Virtual space provides more challenges to business organizations than simply its status as a new spatial phenomena. The conceptualization of traditional organizational structures is altered within virtual space. The significance of this observation is compounded when traditional operational forms of organization continue to maintain fixed or inpenetratable boundaries. Virtual space enacts a blu...

There are a variety of challenges in organizing productive virtual collaboration projects. Problems of commitment and co-ordination are all common. Organized use of collaboration technologies with appropriate organization and management of activities can help avoid these obstacles. We have developed and tested a model that is intended to support learning of project management and virtual teamwo...