virtual storage In order to create what appears to be a larger storage capacity, blocks of information

from the internal memory are temporarily stored and outsourced.

A distinct currency, such as digital money, is represented by virtual money, which is also referred to
as cybercash in the economy. For banking transactions, virtual banking eliminates the need for
physical bank machines; Instead, services are delivered electronically. Similarly, in virtual
shopping, a cyberstore is consulted and used to make purchases.
What does it mean to say that a traditional business without a virtual company has the same
potential as a virtual one?
having a similar institutional structure. A company of this kind operates "as if" In terms of their
potential, virtual businesses surpass the real thing. They break down company walls, both internal
and external. Customers no longer know which full or partial companies are involved in product
marketing and development. These businesses try to get a lot of customers to use them and make
the most of the value they create.
Partnerships that are limited in time like a network are formed by virtual organizations. Based on a
shared business interest and a culture of trust, the cooperating partners—individuals, institutions,
specialist teams, and companies—make their core competencies available.
The following are some of the characteristics of virtual organizations:
of virtual organizations • Consistent bundling of core competencies • Control over a common
business goal • Consistent use of information and communications technologies • Voluntary
cooperation among several independent network partners 10.2.
Demarcation of For instance, strategic alliances involve virtual companies working together for an
indefinite amount of time, which limits the partners' ability to communicate with one another.
However, fractal organizations are self-organizing and not temporary networks of cooperation; In a
fractal organization, there is no contractual bundling of competencies with a third party. In order to
outsource essential company functions, a long-term relationship with a chosen partner is required.
10.2 Changing Organizational and Work Structures 189 Economic cooperation to generate time,
cost, and know-how advantages Similar structures for increasing efficiency Outsourcing and
delegating specific tasks to a third party Objective • Long-term cooperation with mutual
participation • Use of the entire value chain • Similar organizational units • Self-organization •
Internal company • Concentration on own core competencies • Contractual, not cultural connection
• Assignment of individual creation of value sections Constituent Characteristics • Cooperation with
a few partners conceived on a long- 10.2: Wüthrich et al.'s comparison of related forms of alliance
10.2.2 Organization of Work in eTeams Take into Account Traditional Company Obligations Work-
divided task management occurs in hierarchically structured organizations, and this is coordinated
through planning, assignment, and control. Business webs, on the other hand, displace conventional
organizational forms and rely on long-term contracts for personnel. Companies, on the other hand,
are looking for external network variants and organization structures that work well with the
Internet. The emergence of spider webs (Sect. 2.3), as well as the emergence of virtual
organizations, contribute to this development. Teleworking and mobile working are becoming
increasingly popular in addition to evolving organizational structures.
Numerous studies have been conducted on the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking and the
various forms of telecooperation. Companies that offer teleworking opportunities have been shown
to improve employee potential and increase work productivity significantly. Employees who chose
teleworking cited increased motivation and creative freedom as their top priorities. However, the
involved parties also observed flaws. For instance, opportunities for career advancement and
development were frequently negatively correlated with the disconnection of team and business
processes. It is interesting that certain types of teleworking should result in strong rejections,
particularly from management of the company. Middle management encounters resistance
frequently because it criticizes unequal treatment of employees and appears to have lost control.
The importance of mobile forms of teleworking and, more specifically, mobile working has
increased with the advent of the Internet and suitable means of communication. For a difficult task
or an important project, some companies virtualize the recruitment of suitable workers, regardless
of location or time zone.
As a result, an eTeam is a group of geographically dispersed individuals who work together on a
common project and utilize information and communication systems. 190 10 eSociety Description
of empirically derived advantages of eTeams Advantages in keywords Area of responsibility
Electronically networked teams recognize the dimensions of the task and their freedom of activity
better than conventional teams. They also use electronic means to plan and coordinate their tasks.
understanding one's own area of responsibility Blocking Because everyone can speak up in
asynchronous computer meetings, fewer ideas are lost and more new ideas are generated.
Coordination with less blocking Electronically networked teams organize and coordinate. Time
and/or location dependencies are irrelevant for a significant portion of the work, making
coordination simpler.
optimal coordination Criticism Differences are discussed with caution in synchronous meetings out
of politeness. These are clearly stated in asynchronous meetings.
sharper criticism Performance Electronic networking makes it possible to work together more and
inspires each team member to perform better.
Memory Synchronous and asynchronous computer meetings can be stored for performance
enhancement. Individual passages may be revisited for study.
improved memory 10.3: Hodel asserts that cooperation in eTeams is necessary to produce the
desired services. The eTeam members can be in different time zones and locations. They cooperate
electronically in both synchronous and asynchronous ways to organize themselves.
Figure 10.3 depicts some of the findings of an eTeams survey on motivation. It should be noted that
members of eTeams typically possess high levels of motivation. They want to investigate the
boundaries and possibilities of these kinds of cooperation. They overcome difficulties and conflict
during their first production. Because of these factors, the majority of studies on eTeams tend to
portray them positively in comparison to experiences with other, more conventional workforms.
Synchronous It is interesting that eTeams choose to collaborate in both synchronous and
asynchronous ways, with asynchronous activities occurring simultaneously. They begin by
providing a summary of the degree of difficulty and complexity involved in achieving a goal, as
well as an explanation of each component of the assignment as a whole. Individual or partial results
are made available to each member in a shared electronic archive, and task coordination is assigned.
Since everyone on the team has access to all of the documents and work data at any time (central
memory), this encourages transparency and makes it possible to improve quality.
Advantages of It has been discovered that individual team members block less in virtual team
meetings and discussions within eTeams, despite their tendency to express themselves more bluntly.
This favorable assessment of eTeams' cooperation should hopefully continue in the future.
10.3 The Worker of Knowledge in a Knowledge Society 191 10.3 The Worker of Knowledge in a
Knowledge Society