Human%20Resource%20Management%20in%20virtual%20organisations

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CHAPTER 15 Human Resource Management in virtual
organisations
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Chapter outcomes

• Define the concept "virtual organisation"
• Identify three forms of virtual work arrangements
• List the advantages and disadvantages for the
  company and employee when implementing the
  telecommuting work arrangement
• List the characteristics which truly identify a
  virtual team
• List three types of virtual teams

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Chapter outcomes (continued)

• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages when
  using technology such as e-mail, bulletin boards,
  audio and video conferencing
• Discuss the role of the HR professional within
  the virtual organisation
• Discuss issues relating to job analysis practices
  within the virtual work environment
• Discuss issues relating to a number of HR
  practices within the virtual work environment
• Explain how the traditional and virtual
  organisation differs

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Technology has

• Prompted changes in company structures (eg.
  virtual organisation)
• Modified work arrangements (eg. virtual team)
• Influenced how people are managed (eg. virtual
  workplace)

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Virtual organisation defined

• Virtual organisations are multi-site,
  multi-organisational and dynamic. At the macro
  level, a virtual organisation consists of a
  grouping of units of different companies (eg.
  other businesses, consultants, contractors) that
  have joined in an alliance to exploit
  complementary skills, in pursuing common
  strategic objectives

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Virtual organisation (continued)

• Virtual organisations are characterised as those
  organisations in which the ongoing relationships
  with partners are salient
• Core business activities are reduced, leaving the
  partners to focus on some of the key business
  functions
• Core (or central organisation) is connected with
  the partners through technology
• Virtual organisations tend to be characterised as
  flexible, and their structure as transitory and
  fluid
• Many definitions of the concept tend to see
  groups as important. Some appear to see virtual
  teams as a sufficient condition for an
  organisation to be called a virtual organisation

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The virtual workplace

• Telecommuting
• Frontline model
• Cyberlink model
• Virtual teams
• Group must have some charter for working together
• Group must be interdependent
• Group must be committed to working together
• Group must be accountable as a unit to someone or
  something in the bigger organisation

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The virtual workplace (continued)

• Cyberlink model (continued)
• Types of virtual teams
• Project teams
• Service teams
• Process teams
• Why virtual teams?
• Cost benefits of implementing virtual teams
• Complexity of virtual teamworking
• Technology for virtual teams

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Factors that contribute to the complexity of
virtual teamworking

• Number of team members
• Number of different languages spoken in the team
• Number or organisations represented in the team
• Number of time zones within the group
• Technical systems implemented

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HRM practices in virtual organisations

• Virtual HR departments
• The role of the HR professional in the virtual
  organisation
• HR practices in virtual organisations
• JA
• Participants
• Methods of data collection
• Types of data and level of analysis

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HRM practices in virtual organisations (continued)

• HR practices in virtual organisations (continued)
• Staffing
• Recruitment
• Selection
• TD
• E-learning
• PA
• Compensation
• Negotiation

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Important skills and competencies needed in
virtual organisations
Shared sense of purpose Operating
guidelines Analysing solving problems Conflict
management etc.
Team level
Dealing with change Flexibility Adaptability Emoti
onal control Willingness to learn etc.
Managing alignment Co-ordinating
activities Encourage continuous learning Managing
through technology etc.
Managers
Individual
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Advantages of e-learning

• Self-paced trainees can proceed on their own
  time
• Is interactive, tapping multiple trainee senses
• Allows for consistency in the delivery of
  training
• Enables scoring of exercises/assessments and the
  appropriate feedback
• Incorporates built-in guidance and help for
  trainees to use when needed
• Is relatively easy for trainers to update content
• Can be used to enhance instructor-led training

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Disadvantages of e-learning

• May cause trainee anxiety
• Not all trainees may be ready for e-learning
• Not all trainees may have easy and uninterrupted
  access to computers
• Not appropriate for all training content (eg.
  leadership, cultural change)
• Requires significant upfront cost and investment
• No significantly greater learning evidenced in
  research studies
• Requires significant top management support to be
  successful

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A model of virtual negotiation characteristics
Possible 3rd party
Party B
Party A
Individual differences Personality,
distributive vs integrative, sensitivity vs
non-verbals, comfort with technology
Individual differences Personality,
distributive vs integrative, sensitivity vs
non-verbals, comfort with technology
Negotiation dynamics Personal disclosure,
entrenchment, flaming, ethics
Negotiation dynamics Personal disclosure,
entrenchment, flaming, ethics
Communication media Synchronicity, message
misinterpretation, message content, information
richness
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Attributes of virtual and traditional
organisations

• Streamlined
• Flexible
• Focused
• Communication
• Hyper time
• Organisation structure

• Management of work workers
• Career path
• Information
• Office building
• Professionalism
• Customer relations

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Summary

• There is a fast-growing interest in another way
  of working which combines changes, in technical
  and organisational systems of choice. This is
  virtual working and by extension virtual teams.
• Different types of teams within the virtual
  organisation can be found namely project,
  service and process teams.
• The key for any company at the outset of a
  virtual teamworking implementation is to be
  technologically aware and open, not
  technologically deterministic and closed.
• Success of virtual teams will not come from tight
  managerial control, this inhibits the extent of
  the interactions within the network.

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Summary

• The team will benefit most from acknowledging the
  fact that they are all individuals, and then
  drawing on their individual strengths to create a
  microcosm within the wider organisation that
  embodies shared culture and operating principle
  that they believe will enable them to deliver the
  best results as a team.
• Virtual organisations will need to adapt their
  recruiting processes to the changing skill base
  and nature of the labour pool from which they are
  recruiting.
• For the virtual organisation with its
  geographically dispersed global labour pools the
  traditional idea of candidates having onsite
  testing batteries and interviews is not practical.

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Summary

• The virtual organisation's geographically
  dispersed supervisors, peers and subordinates
  offer a unique environment for understanding,
  performance evaluation, monitoring the employee's
  outputs may be a way of making performance
  evaluations work under these conditions.
• In the area of compensation the following methods
  may be used in the virtual environment,
  person-based systems, broadbanding and
  classification.
• While the process of negotiation has been written
  about extensively, little has been done regarding
  this activity in the virtual environment. This
  environment will dictate new rules for
  negotiating.