How to transform a network organization into a virtual organization : six factors to be aware of before implementing ICT

Virtual organizations are needed for several purposes and are justified by several reasons. New products, the globalization and internalization of businesses create new kinds of challenges for the management of work processes and practices. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has enabled a decentralization of work and by evolving technologies it has created pressures for new organizational structures and job contents. Future mobile and wireless technologies will revolutionize the working life completely by increasing possibilities to work whenever in any place. It is clear that organizations in both the private and public sector have to redesign themselves to fully utilize these new technologies if they are to survive in the dawning spatially and temporally compressed world. Therefore, the number of virtual organizations increases. This study shows six factors an organization’s management should be aware of before implementing ICT in a network to become a virtual organization. Without considering these factors, there is a large risk that the implementation of the new technique will be a wasted effort or irrelevant since the management hasn’t been conscious of the important factors that explain why the company and its employees like and would prefer to use ICT. This should be illuminated before an implementation since it is a very sensitive phase and an expensive investment.
Validerat; 20101217 (root)