Communicating for Advantage in the Virtual Organization      

This paper looks at the virtual organization in an electronic market environment and the different models of communication and management that may be required. The authors begin by providing some clear definitions of virtual cultures and different models of virtuality that can exist within the electronic market. Degrees of virtuality can be seriously constrained by the extent to which organizations have predefined communication linkages in the marketplace and the extent to which these can be substituted by virtual ones, but also by the intensity of virtual linkages which support the virtual model. Six virtual organizational models are proposed within a dynamic framework of change. In order to realize strategic advantage, virtual organizations must align their management models and communication processes with their virtual culture.

Burn, Janice and Martin Barnett. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (1988). Careers>Management>Online

Performance Support in Internet Time: The State of the Practice  

Discussion between Gloria Gery, Stan Malcolm, Janet Cichelli, Hal Christensen, Barry Raybould, and Marc J. Rosenberg.

Dickelman, Gary J. EPSScentral (2000). Careers>Management>Online>EPSS

Using E-Mail as a Management Tool

We’ve all heard stories about people who clicked “send” too soon. But here’s a story you may not have heard. One of our clients described an e-mail message he recently received from upper management at his company. The message had some information about how to request annual leave and plans to landscape the building. The message ended with these words: “By the way, you have a new boss. The product development team’s new director will be James Yang. Margie Esposito, the former director, left last Friday.” Obviously, the cardinal rule of using e-mail as a management tool is “know when to use e-mail.” Some messages, like a sudden change in upper management, should be delivered in person.

Rudick, Marilynne and Leslie O'Flahavan. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Careers>Management>Online>Email