Respond to…
It seems that the virtual organization wasn’t recognized until the 1990’s. I like to think that the beginning of the virtual organization started long before regular computers were in use. Although our text states that “Virtual organizations work across space, time, and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication,” I would like to consider that the use of technology is what started the emergence. The use of radios and telephones allowed for businesses to communicate with each other, customers, and vendors long before the Internet was born. We could go back even further to the use of telegrams. Although the Internet allowed organizations to communicate instantly, the barriers that constricted operations were breaking down little by little as technology developed. This provides one of the biggest pros to a virtual organization. A major con would be the impersonalization of communication.
Three devices/concepts I believe have had the greatest impact are computers, email, and cloud storage. Computers provide organizations with a communication channel as well as a work station that saves time and money. However, a computer could crash or a user may not know how to best use it causing a loss. Email allows for instant communication as well as a paper trail of all correspondence that may be referenced back to at any time, this also saves time and money; as stated earlier, this may become impersonal. Cloud storage reduces and sometimes eliminates the need for keeping hard copies of any documents and paperwork an organization needs to keep on hand. A major con of using cloud storage would be if the information stored were to be compromised or an organization couldn’t access it.