Assignment

Of
E business

Submitted to : MR.kunal
Submitted by : Janvi verma
18411108
Sem 4 sec B
 Virtual existence

Meaning :

This new form of organisation, i.e., ‘virtual

organisation’ emerged in 1990 and is also known
as digital organisation, network organisation or
modular organisation. Simply speaking, a virtual
organisation is a network of cooperation made
possible by, what is called ICT, i.e. Information
and Communication Technology, which is flexible
and comes to meet the dynamics of the market.

Alterna-tively speaking, the virtual organisation is

a social network in which all the horizontal and
vertical boundaries are removed. In this sense, it
is a boundary less organisation. It consists of
individual’s working out of physically dispersed
work places, or even individuals working from
mobile devices and not tied to any particular
workspace. The ICT is the backbone of virtual
organisation.
It is the ICT that coordinates the activities,
combines the workers’ skills and resources with
an objective to achieve the common goal set by a
virtual organisation. Managers in these
organisations coordinate and control external
relations with the help of computer network links.
The virtual form of organisation is increasing in
India also. Nike, Reebok, Puma, Dell Computers,
HLL, etc., are the prominent companies working
virtually.

While considering the issue of flexibility,

organisations may have several options like flexi-
time, part-time work, job-sharing, and home-
based working. Here, one of the most important
issues in-volved is attaining flexibility to respond
to changes – both internal and external – is
determining the extent of control or the amount
of autonomy the virtual organisations will impose
on their members.
Characterstics:

1. Flat organisation

2.Dynamic

3.Informal communication

4.Power flexibility

5.Multi-disciplinary (virtual) teams

6.Vague organisational boundaries

7.Goal orientation

8.Customer orientation

9.Home-work

10.Absence of apparent structure

11.Sharing of information

12.Staffed by knowledge workers.

Types of virtual existence:

Depending on the degree or spectrum of

virtuality, virtual organisations can be classified
into three broad types as follows:

1.Telecommuters
2.Outsourcing employees/competencies
3.Completely virtual

A brief description of these follows in turn.

Telecommuters:

These companies have employees who work from

their homes. They interact with the work-place via
personal computers connected with a modem to
the phone lines. Examples of compa-nies using
some form of telecommuting are Dow Chemicals,
Xerox, Coherent Technologies Inc., etc.

Outsourcing employees:

These companies are characterised by the

outsourcing of all/most core competencies. Areas
for outsourcing include marketing and sales,
human resources, finance, research and
development, engi-neering, manufacturing,
information system, etc. In such case, virtual
organisation does its own on one or two core
areas of competence but with excellence. For
example, Nike performs in product design and
marketing very well and relies on outsources for
information technology as a means for
maintaining inter-organisational coordination.

Completely virtual :

These companies metaphorically described as

companies without walls that are tightly linked to
a large network of suppliers, distributors, retailers
and customers as well as to strategic and joint
venture partners. Atlanta Committee for the
Olympic Games (ACOG) in 1996 and the
development efforts of the PC by the IBM are the
examples of completely virtual organisations.
Advantages:

1. It saves time, travel expenses and eliminates

lack of access to experts.

2. Virtual teams can be organised whether or

not members are in reasonable proximity to
each other.

3. Use of outside experts without incurring

expenses for travel, logging and downtime.

4. Dynamic team membership allows people to

move from one project to another.

5. Employee can be assigned to multiple,

concurrent teams.

6. Teams communication and work reports are

available online to facilitate swift responses to
the demands of the (global) market.
7. Employees can accommodate both personal
and professional lives.

8. Virtual teams allow firms to expand their

potential labour markets enabling them to
hire and retain the best people regardless of
their physical locations.
Disadvantages :

1. The lack of physical interactions with its

associated verbal and non-verbal cues and
also the synergies that often accompany face-
to-face interaction

2. Non-availability of paraverbal and non-verbal

cues such as voice, eye movement, facial
expression, and body language which help in
better communication.

3. Ability to work even if the virtual teams are

miles apart and the members have never or
rarely met each other face-to-face.

But the fact remains that despite these

drawbacks; virtual organisations have become a
reality and are growing in popularity. By now,
several successful cases of virtual organisations
abound in our country. It is the explicitly designed
‘Group Ware’, computer based system to support
virtual groups, enables the virtual organisations to
work in order to achieve a common goal.
Features of virtual Organization:

Information is power. The absence of information

and knowledge renders virtual teams to
emas-culate and ineffective. Information
technology, i.e., seamless web electronic
communication media does not allow happening
this and keeps the organisation going. Following
are the salient features of virtual organisations:

Tenchology :

New technology has transformed the traditional

ways of working. In particular, the worlds of
computing and telephony are coming together to
open up a whole new range of responsi-bilities.
Computer Telephony Integrations (CTI) will usher
in a new revolution to the desktop. The CTI has
traditionally been used in all call center
applications.
E mail integration

Integrating Short Message Service (SMS) into the

existing e-mail infrastruc-ture allows the whole
organisation to take advantages of SMS products
such as ‘Express Way’.

Office system integration:

SMS technology can greatly enhance the existing

or new office systems, e. g., phone messages can
be sent via SMS rather than returning it in a
message book.

Voice mail alert ::

SMS technology added to the existing voice mail

system builds an effective method of receiving
voice mail alerts.

Mobile data :

This enables a laptop to retrieve information

anywhere through the mobile phone network.
Mobile data communications revolutionize where
and how work is done. In the past, corpo-rate
information has been inaccessible from many
places where it is needed. One’s ability to link
laptop to mobile phone keeps one connected to
his/her virtual organisation from anywhere.
Human Resource issues in virtual
organisations

Recruitment, development and socialization

processes are designed to ensure right person for
right job. These processes also regulate and
control the antecedent condition as of job
performance. A virtual organization is staffed by
knowledge workers who are brought together
under short-term market relationships. These
highly proficient employees are left to do their
own things in order to provide world class
products and service. Jobs in virtual organizations
are knowledge-based. Such jobs are assumed to
require greater skills, have greater varie4ty and
offer better quality of working life (QWL).
Virtual organiazation has both positive and
negative implications for human resources.
Main HR issues in Virtual Organization

1. Recruitment is conducted under time pressure

and requires high performance expectations.

2. Both human capital (knowing one’s job) and

social capital (knowing each other) become
linked.

3. Social relationships do not require much

stability.

4. Workplace is variable because there is high

need for readiness
to be mobilized at any moment.

5. Value of idleness is shown in terms of learning

by watching what others do.

6. Master apprentice relationships and craft based

learning become significant.

7. Job status and project feedback is short-term.

Therefore, virtual organizations require a heavy
investment to create systems and staffing
structure.
 Conclusion

-Virtual organization is often associated with

such terms as virtual office, virtual teams, and
virtual leadership.

- The ultimate goal of the virtual organization is

to provide innovative, high-quality products
or services instantaneously in response to
customer demands.
Thank you .