A virtual community can be seen as an online space where employees working in a team, for a common purpose, can participate and interact, leading to computer supported cooperative work (CSCW). This blog will present how recent CSCW related innovations have changed the importance of virtual communities in organizational behavior, in addition exploring the effect this change will have information management as a profession.
IBM, a leading software corporation created the social software of Lotus Connections with the purpose of providing a capability for organizations to establish work networks and communities, by means of functionalities, such as: Blogs, community-space, social networking, forums, file sharing, wikis, etc.
Moving one step further up the line of innovation, other tools such as SL meetings, designed to support meetings and event on second life, allow for even richer messages to be transmitted through an online communication channel. The media richness model, as described by Daft and Lengel (as cited in Miller, 1999), describes rich media as having: instant feedback, multiple cues, natural language and a personal focus on the medium. Where, Face-to-face communication is the richest of all communication channels.
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| Scene from Second Life |
The recent evolution of the use of virtual communities in organizations. Has taken the capabilities of using tools such as those offered by Lotus Connection, which are limited to sending and receiving textually based information in a synchronous or asynchronous manner, to the possibility of including vocal and physical cues in online communication. Virtual worlds and tools such as SL meetings, eliminates the previously necessary constraints of being in the same place at the same time to use a rich communication channel.
The change of the term community within organizations has taken community from being a geographically defined traditional community, where inclusion or exclusion were defined according to physical location of offices or location of headquarters, to the idea of online communities where membership is according to purpose, cause, etc.
This change in community has derived from organizations slowly adapting to globalization. Globalization has forced organizations to have an 'international' mindset when selecting communication channels, as globalization is according to Flew (2008), amongst other things, the “rise of multinational corporations; international production, trade and financial systems; international communication flows; global movements of people...” (p. 26). Internal communication increasingly includes communication transcending national boundaries.
This elimination of time and space constraints create what McLuhan refers to as a the 'global village. McLuhan (in Symes, 1995) further said ‘Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned’ (p. 3)
Work teams within organizations, are to a larger extent existing and interacting purely on virtual worlds, leading to the idea that offline communication may replace as main communication channel. This is because, the richness of the communication channel online will be equal to face-to-face communication channel, as well as being more convenient.
The task of the information manager, to manage new technological innovations in terms of communication, with organizational capabilities and needs, becomes increasingly challenging. In this knowledge economy, information is being retrieved, stored, shared through an online medium, making access, security and participation new focal points for the profession.
In conclusion, globalization, are changing geographically formed organizational communities, to ideological communities driven by common purpose, interest, etc. allowing communities to exist in the online environment. Continuous innovations in software for CSCW, means that communication in online communities will become the main communication channel between organizational members worldwide.
References
Flew, T. (2008). New Media: An Introduction (3rd). Sydney: Oxford University Press.
Symes, B. 1995. Marshall Mcluhan’s ‘Global Village’. Retrieved November 2010. From http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/bas9401.html
Miller, Katherine, 1999 Organizational communication : approaches and processes / Katherine Miller Wadsworth, Belmont, Calif. ; London
Webpages
Lotus connections - social software for business. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/connections/
Meetings and events in second life. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://work.secondlife.com/en-US/worksolutions/meetings/
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