Virtual Organizations - Essay Example

Organizing in a virtual world (Business Study Degree) Roll number Submitted to Table of content Introduction 03 Definition of virtual 03 Virtual organization 04 Concept behind virtual organization 05 Reasons of an organization being a virtual 06 Difference between virtual and non virtual organization 07 Structure of a virtual organization 08 Virtual organization and social networking websites 09 Is face book a virtual organization 10 Critically analyze face book 11 Structure and management 15 References 17 Introduction As technology is growing rapidly new terminologies and concepts are being introduced. The concept of vituality is among one of them. This concept is now getting old but new developments in this sector are amazing for example a popular social networking website Face book is going to launch a virtual currency very soon. Isn't it amazing that you will have a virtual currency and you might buy something from this currency These virtual organizations are making a person more globalize that's why we call it a virtual world where we have virtual friends. Modernization in the concept of virtuality will defiantly bring a positive change and we will get to see some new ideas and concepts because of it. Before talking further in this topic let us first define the word virtual. Definition of virtual: According to Nechvatal, Joseph, Origins of Virtualism ", Virtual is something created, simulated or carried on by means of computer or computer network. Philosophers defined virtual as" something that is not real" but it might have salient qualities of something real. Word "virtual" is normally used in computing and information technology, virtual disks and virtual memory are some of its examples. Later on the concept gets modernized and Was started being used for such systems where actual devices were being used by many users or for the coordination of multiple processes. Gradually this concept keeps on growing and became "Virtual world". Normally we call internet a virtual world. Now some people get together and start running an organization on internet which does not exist really and had no central point and such organization is called "Virtual Organization". Following are some of the examples of virtual organizations: Virtual University Google Bebo My space Virtual Organization: Now let us define Virtual organization from the point of view of different experts. According to Rheingold H, The Virtual Community, Minerva, 1995, "Virtual organizations' are a set of organizational that rely on multiparty co-operative relationships between people across structural, temporal and geographic boundaries. Flexibility is brought about in part by reconfigurable networks of computer based communications that allow organizations to co-ordinate their activities and in part by a management philosophy based on collaboration and innovation". More over according to ISACA, "the virtual organizations exist but you can not see it, it is a network and not an office". Lipnack & Stamps (1997) define a virtual team as "a group of people who interact through interdependent tasks guided by common purpose" that "works across space, time, and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technologies" So a virtual organization is a organization which does not exist physically. Concepts behind virtual organization: According to a popular saying need is the mother of invention same happened with virtual organizations. You feel that you should have such an organization where you can save as much money as you car, it might be the cost of an office structure or if you want to get rid of physical barriers so what would be the solution Yes it is a virtual organization. Because of virtual organization you are able to work from any place. You don't have to walk or drive to office. Following is the basic structure of a virtual organization : Reasons of an organization being a virtual: Following are the basic reasons which motivate an organization to be virtual: As the concept of globalization is very common and trendy now, every wants to get an audience or customers globally and cant be a better idea then a virtual organization to get global customers. A virtual organization had an opportunity to quick pool expert resources. It will be more easy to create communities of excellence as you get wide audience You can launch your services or can introduce your product to a large number of people. You can save your expenses and can serve them to make money instead of spending them on office furniture or rent. Difference between a virtual and non virtual organization: Virtual Non virtual Virtual organization does not exist physically It does exist physically You had your employees from different cities or countries working from their places Employees work under one roof You can give different tasks to different people and can run many projects at a time In typical environment you assign a task to your team and wait until that project ends and then plan to work on other It saves your time and extra cost You have to spend on your office decoration, have to pay rent etc You get hold of global audience or customers easily You have to spent a huge amount of money in order to launch a promotional campaign Structure of a virtual organization: Structure or a virtual organization may be a hierarchical one or it might be organized around a central person. It is not necessary that a centralized network have to be hierarchical in terms of degree or levels. Following diagrams will explain the structure of virtual organization in a better way. Following are some of the types of virtual organizations: Virtual team Virtual Laboratory Virtual Office Virtual Shop Virtual organization Virtual organization and social networking websites: Trend of social networking websites in increasing day by day and people are getting into it even some are addicted to these websites. These websites are related to virtuality as they are also virtual organizations. If we look at the ranking of these websites the most popular one is face book: Following is the ranking of top four social websites: But the question arises if the face book is virtual organization or not We have discussed in the above literature about the definition of virtual and virtual organization so now it would be easy to understand if the face book is virtual or not. Is Face book Virtual organization "Face book" is the most famous social networking website among today's virtual organizations. It was founded by a 24 years old Harvard's student Mark Zuckerberg on 4 Feb 2004 Face book is a virtual but it's not a "virtual organization". In order to understand let us have a look at the definition of the word "virtual". As Face book was created and generated via computer so it is a virtual. Well it might seem ironic that the above discussion was all about virtual world and virtual organizations and the one we target i.e. "Face book" is not a virtual organization itself. We have mentioned definition of virtual organization in the beginning according to which a virtual organization is such company or organization that only exist "Solely" through internet and didn't had any central location where as Face book had its international head quarters in Ireland. Secondly the employees of virtual organizations coordinate through emails, online conferencing, video conferencing, and internet or group ware where as Face book have more then 500 employees working in an office under one roof. It is structured like an organization. Face book is ranked at number 1 in social networking websites but experts should also consider that though it is a social networking website but it is not a virtual organization any more. All the points mentioned above prove that Face book is not a virtual organization. Analyzing Facebook: According to some senior bloggers and business professionals Facebook has lost its charm. Following are some of there comments: "Face book IS the internet portal of 2007." - Jeff Pulver "Face book could easily become the Microsoft Windows of tomorrow." - Duncan Riley "There's a chance that someday, Face book will be the preferred place to read this blog because of all the social apps that will be built around it." - Fred Wilson According to Google news," over the past thirty days My Space has been mentioned in about more then 15,000 news stories as compared to Face book with about 6000 stories. Further, Google Trends says search volume for "my space" absolutely crushes that of "Face book." Problems faced by Face book: Third party application: Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant says," "One of the problems is that Face book allows anybody to write an application and third party applications are not vetted before they are released to the public. Even as Face book stamps out one malignant application, it can pop up in another place," Third party application is also creating problems for users as few days back two applications were downloaded by Face book users include Face book closing down and 'Error Check System'. When the user downloads the application, hackers get access to the profile and personal information of the user, and also forward fake messages to their friends including encourage them to download the programs. Money Making: Making money is another important problem now a day faced by Face book, In March Valley Wag reported that," Face book adds performed dismally for a number of media buyers, averaging a terrible 0.04 % click-through rate". Another option for Face book is that they can charge access to their plat form but it obviously will make its users move to other platforms and social networks. So let's see what will be the earning strategy for Face book. Crime Face book is open to anyone with an email address. And anyone can sign up for a free email account these days. Once signed up, it only takes a cell phone to access the site. So people are posting through out the world, you never know whom are you talking to. He might be a criminal or any other suspicious person. Perhaps he can make friends with Leon Craig Rams den, the man who reportedly posted on Face book that he felt like "killing some1" before going to a bar and doing exactly that. If Face book really aims to connect everyone in the world, it's going to get the Grahams and Rams dens, too. As Face book grows up; things are just going to get less and less pleasant. Problems faced by students: As said basically Face book was founded to make a connection between university and college students. So let us have the look at problems faced by college students because of Face book: Unless you specify only friends any one can see your profile You never know who has visited your page so privacy is compromised People can use information against you via: 1. stalkers 2. practical jokers 3. Thieves 4. Con artists Besides this different universities have started using Face book in order to: 1. Backgrounds check 2. Judicial sanctioning 3. general information gathering Now let us have a look at how stuff in Face book is running. (Q: Face book organization structure and management) Face book Organization and structure: The company relies on around 200 me cached (memory catching, a method of temporarily data storing) servers for production and a few more for development purposes. How me cached works: A memcached server saves the data temporarily in server's memory, reducing a need to reduce a search of data base which help it decrease the amount of time taken between a request for information and the delivery of that data. Besides memcached servers Facebook also use custom-built servers for back end operations and a monitoring system in order to keep track of all servers. As mentioned above face book gets financial support by private investors and through advertisements. Working in face book as compare to other virtual organizations is different as employees of face book are working under one roof. They got a team leader who is always there for them in order to guide them. They have the whole staff which can help them technically and in any other aspect immediately where as in virtual organization you have to communicate through email or any other source. Working in virtual organization is difficult in a sense that you get to under stand things more easily by talking face to face with a person. Secondly you have to wait for a reply when you send a message to a person through any source but in face book you can get your work done in seconds or minutes. In virtual organization you don't know that a person whom you are sending a mail will get access to net in how much time but when you are working in an organization you can call a person immediately and can give him or her the orders. It is difficult in a virtual to deal with any technical issue as it will disturb the whole network if you are working through networking whereas there won't be any such issue in a simple organization and if it happens you can get access to your technical department immediately. Face book is now planning to launch a universal virtual currency and it will help make a sense of face book. References Bartle, Richard A. 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