Communicating in Virtual Organizations

In her book "Communication in a Virtual Organization," Sandra Collins describes collectivism as a key feature of virtual organizations, because they "recognize the value of collaboration and networking rather than relying on pure authority" or traditional bureaucracies (p. 7). This focuses on human dynamics, and recognizes the need for these dynamics to remain in the forefront of our communication practices, not the technology used to facilitate it. Collectivism also demonstrates the difficulties that may arise in the implementation of the ideal "new" organization, which is flat, flexible, networked, global, and diverse. Such organizations emphasize greater flexibility, speed, and reliance on networked structures and de-emphasize traditional hierarchical structures.

Communication in the virtual form is expected to be rapid and customized in response to specific, ad-hoc demands at any given point in time. This means that communication content and direction are likely to be more temporary, as links between various entities within the organization and outside it are formed and dissolved over time. Consequently, a likely tension in the virtual form will be simultaneous needs for more and richer communication, on the one hand, and pressures for greater transaction efficiencies, on the other.

Learning how to communicate effectively is an important element in technical communication, where there's not just the transmission of information, but the addition of value in interpreting the message and making it comprehensible to a specific target audience. Breaking a message down is a critical step in the communication process, because a simple message facilitates easier and quicker dissemination of information, leading to the ability to make better decisions, ones which are probably more robust due to the fact that there's more visibility to the environment that the decisions impact. I believe that adding this kind of tangible value, particularly in a virtual organizational context where information overload is the norm, is an example of a key success factor in the communication process.