Improving the Communicational Effectiveness of Virtual Organizations Through Workflow Automation
Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews (RGC: 21, 22, 62) › 21_Publication in refereed journal › Not applicable › peer-review
Author(s)
Detail(s)
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 49-69 |
Journal / Publication | International Journal of Electronic Commerce |
Volume | 3 |
Issue number | 1 |
State | Published - Sep 1998 |
Externally published | Yes |
Link(s)
Abstract
Virtual teams are increasingly used for a wide variety of tasks to achieve organizational flexibility and reduce administrative overhead. Such teams are versatile and adaptive in many ways but often at the expense of high communication and coordination costs. This paper explores the communicational effectiveness of virtual teams for performing complex structured tasks with high coordination requirements. It investigates the communicational patterns of a virtual team created for the purpose of managing special events at a public university. An analysis of the e-mail messages between team members shows that the team adopted a "hub-and-spoke" communicational structure. This created bottlenecks, thereby impairing the team's communicational effectiveness. The findings underpin a proposed set of workflow-based solutions for improving the functioning of the team. This research highlights the need for a better understanding of the theoretical implications of workflow and related technologies for corporate communication, especially communication in virtual teams.
Research Area(s)
- Communications, E-mail, Virtual teams, Workflow automation
Citation Format(s)
Improving the Communicational Effectiveness of Virtual Organizations Through Workflow Automation. / Sengupta, Kishore; Zhao, J. Leon.
In: International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 3, No. 1, 09.1998, p. 49-69.Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews (RGC: 21, 22, 62) › 21_Publication in refereed journal › Not applicable › peer-review