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Communication Processes for Virtual Organizations

  1. Gerardine DeSanctis1,*,
  2. Peter Monge2,*

Article first published online: 23 JUN 2006

DOI: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.1998.tb00083.x

Issue

Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

Volume 3, Issue 4, page 0, June 1998

Additional Information

How to Cite

DeSanctis, G. and Monge, P. (1998), Communication Processes for Virtual Organizations. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3: 0. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.1998.tb00083.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California. He has published Communicating and Organizing (with Vince Farace and Hamish Russell), Multivariate Techniques in Human Communication Research (with Joe Cappella), and Policing Hawthorne (with Janet Fulk and Greg Patton). His research on organizational communication networks, collaborative information systems, participative communication processes, and research methods has been published in numerous leading communication and organizational journals, handbooks, and book chapters. He served as editor of Communication Research from 1986 to 1993. He is currently president of the International Communication Association.

  2. 2

    Professor of Management in the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Prior to joining Fuqua, she was a Professor of Business Administration at the University of Minnesota. She received her Ph.D. degree in 1982 from Texas Tech University. Her interests are in the general areas of organizational computing, computer supported cooperative work, and management of information technology. Her current work focuses on the design and impacts of electronic communication systems and groupware on teams. She is studying the ways in which information technology enables change in how individuals and groups organize work tasks, communicate, learn, and make decisions.

*Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089 USA.
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Box 90120, Durham, NC 27708 USA

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 23 JUN 2006
  2. Article first published online: 23 JUN 2006

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Abstract

Communication is fundamental to any form of organizing but is preeminent in virtual organizations. Virtual organizations are characterized by (a) highly dynamic processes, (b) contractual relationships among entities, (c) edgeless, permeable boundaries, and (d) reconfigurable structures. Relative to more traditional settings, communication processes that occur in virtual contexts are expected to be rapid, customized, temporary, greater in volume, more formal, and more relationship-based. To glean insight into communication processes for virtual organizations, we draw on the rich body of literature on synchronous and asynchronous electronic organizational communication. The vast set of empirical findings regarding mediated communication can foreshadow how communication will change as firms “go virtual.” Six areas of electronic communication research provide implications for the major aspects of virtual organization design: (1) communication volume and efficiency, (2) message understanding, (3) virtual tasks, (4) lateral communication, (5) norms of technology use, and (6) evolutionary effects.

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