Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Virtual Work Place

Powerful Essays
816 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Virtual Work Place
Definition:
A virtual workplace is a workplace that is not located in any one physical space. Rather, several workplaces are technologically connected (via the Internet) without regard to geographic boundaries. A virtual workplace decreases unnecessary costs by integrating technology processes, people processes, and online processes.
History:
With information technology playing a greater role in the daily operations of organizations today, virtual workplaces are beginning to replace the traditional office environment of cubicles and office buildings. International organizations have seen a significant increase in business in the past decade due to the globalization and widespread use of technology.
By 2008, it is estimated that 41 million corporate employees worldwide will work at least one day per week virtually. As well, 65% of virtual team members have said they have never been involved in an effective team-building meeting, and 36% of the team members had never met their coworkers face-to-face.
Types of Virtual Workplaces:
Individual virtual workplaces vary in how they apply existing technology to facilitate team cooperation. Three popular approaches are:
1. Telecommuting: the availability and use of communications technologies, such as the internet, to work in an offsite location.
2. Hot desk environment: Employees are not given individual desks; rather each day employees are allocated to a desk where they can access the internet, email and computer network files. This is similar to hotels: recognizing that employees spend more time at the clients' office rather than at the employer's office, employees are not assigned a permanent desk.
3. Virtual team: the collaboration of employees working closely together and in constant contact but are physically located in different parts of the world.

Virtual Workplace Communication Tools
Conference Calls, NetMeeting, WebEx, VPN, Skype, TelePresence, MPK20
The new workplace dimensions
Organizations must address the new workplace challenges across all dimensions of the enterprise.
●Strategy: The workplace strategy, vision and goals are trans-forming from an afterthought of the business and IT strategy to an imperative of the enterprise’s growth and productivity objectives.

●Processes: The processes, information, and application work-loads are transforming from siloed to cross-functional. Workers will use search and social networks and collaboration tools to find help from the web or repositories or forums or other users. Constant business analytics, historical and predictive, will need to be readily available on mobile and other devices.

●Organization: The organizational structure, roles, responsibility-ties, culture, and management systems are transforming from static to agile. Workers will be able to perform tasks anywhere, anytime.

●Technology: The technology, in particular end-user devices, is transforming from corporate-mandated PCs to a bring-your-own-device model. The underlying technology infrastructures changing from a fixed to a virtual environment creating virtual desktops, with applications and information being hosted at centrally managed locations versus being managed at the desktop.

Benefits

Benefits for enabling a new workplace for your organization fall into three important categories: business growth through innovation reduced costs and increased efficiency and productivity growth via collaboration and interconnection.
Business growth through innovation

●New collaborative capabilities, delivered via the cloud, will allow expansion of the workplace environment to include the contributions of employees, vendors, partners, customers, even analysts and social media influencers. Multichannel, anytime access can help improve the customer experience at every stage of the customer lifecycle. Workers’ enhanced access to real-time and task-relevant information can help increase opportunities for innovative ideas to take shape and be executed.

●Reduced costs and increased efficiency
Network decoupling and cloud deployment can help reduce the costs associated with network management and timely dissemination of information. Cloud deployment can also make implementing updates and patches quicker, easier and more cost-efficient. Providing data via the cloud can make data protection more robust. Increased use of open-source operating
Systems and applications can help drive down purchasing and licensing costs.

Key challenges

For many organizations, enabling and supporting today’s agile and connected workplace comes with a set of important challenges.
●Complexity: More devices mean more systems to coordinate, more applications to support, more connections to be maintained.
●Security and compliance: Organizations now need to assure security of data and intellectual property—and compliance with corporate, regulatory and governmental rules—over a greatly expanded range of network connections. Also of concern are maintaining security and compliance, and separation of personal and enterprise data, on smart devices owned by individual workers, along with collaboration that takes place in online public forums.
●Cost management: As complexity and device choice grows, organizations need to find more cost-effective ways to supply the needed infrastructure.
●Loss of control: Organizations need new ways to maintain and increase service levels, while delivering services to more devices than ever.
●Issues related to different Cultural communications
●Support: Organizations are under increasing pressure to support the devices workers are choosing to work with and the new ways workers expect to access that support, such as self-help, communities and automated support

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Rjct Task 3

    • 1615 Words
    • 7 Pages

    A virtual company is a network of independent companies—suppliers, customers, competitors, that are joined by information technology or intranet to share expertise, labor, costs, & access to each other 's markets. Such companies are normally formed on the basis of joint venture agreement with little or no organizational chart. This fluid style reduces the impact of the agreement on the individual organizations and facilitates adding new players with new skills and resources. Such deals can be temporary and the dissolved once the business objectives are met. A virtual company is rarely associated with a brick and mortar identity of itself.…

    • 1615 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    BIS261 Final Exam Paper

    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The articles from the DeVry University Library: Managing Virtual Teams by LaBrosse; Successfully Transitioning to a Virtual Organization by Lockwood; and Technology Support for Enhanced Productivity in International Virtual Teams by Seilheimer, Ishman, & Seilheimer…

    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: Ahuja, J. (2010). A STudy of Virtuality Impact on Team Performance. IUP Journal of…

    • 1529 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Darlene DeRosa conducted a study to uncover potential obstacles, competencies and challenges that may occur when dealing with virtual teams. During the study, the teams “were assessed on six dimensions of virtual team performance: results, communication, team motivation, interpersonal relationships, collaboration, and purpose and roles” (DeRosa, 2009, p. 9). The study uncovered that effective leadership will ultimately determine the success of the virtual teams (DeRosa, 2009). In addition, the assessment uncovered that communication in a virtual team is also very important probably the most important aspect of building an effective virtual team. DeRosa (2009) explains that effective team leaders should ensure that all goals are clearly communicated to ensure the teams’ success.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A virtual organisation consists of a group of companies, acting as one company which collaborate, share skills, information and services to meet the goal of customer satisfaction (Beranek & Clairborne, 2012)…

    • 5957 Words
    • 24 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    A virtual organization can be defined as, “a geographically distributed organization whose members are bound by a long-term common interest or goal, and who communicate and coordinate their work through information technology” (Baack, 2012, Dimensions of Organizational Structure, 10.2). The advent of technology has paved the way for the existence of virtual organizations. The technological devices/concepts described below and others have made it possible to have remote workers and teams collaborate toward a common organizational purpose. Technology has allowed for information to be decentralized and shared across virtual platforms. From the employee perspective, there are a lot of pros to working in a virtual organization. Employees are able to work from the comfort of their homes and avoid commutes as well as stresses of the traditional office environment. However, employers must worry about a lack of employee supervision and an overreliance on technology. If a technical issue were to arise from e-working stations, there would be bigger losses in productivity. Miscommunication may also be greater with the lack of physical presence.…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In today's competitive world, companies are gradually vacating their cubicles and enter into the virtual workforce to increase work efficiency, reduce cost and resolve organizational problems (Ahmed & Ebrahim, 2009). Nowadays, companies are investing a bulk amount of money on virtual teams to enhance their performance since it has become an indispensable prerequisite for companies to stay in competitive in the era of globalization (Ahmed & Ebrahim, 2009). Virtual teams consist of members from different cultural backgrounds who work in various organizations with different set of standards and members of the virtual teams have the least probability to meet in person (Nelson & Quick, 2013, p. 348). The greater percentages (approximately 90%) of people are responsible for both success and failure of the virtual teams whereas technology plays only 10% role (Nelson & Quick, 2013, p. 348). Communication effectiveness and stimulating work are considered two essential human factors in terms of shaping the success and failure of virtual teams (Nelson & Quick, 2013, p. 348). The task can be challenging and stimulating for virtual teams as it is often unsubstantiated and consequently team member's lack of concern on their work might turn into crumble (Nelson & Quick, 2013, p. 348). Volvo has emerged to make the communication system as much effective as possible through emphasizing the concern of communication effectiveness and stimulating work (Nelson & Quick, 2013, p. 348). Volvo assesses the efficiency of virtual teams into four different types which is depicted in a question pattern in the case (Nelson & Quick, 2013, p. 348). Volvo's virtual team are to be evaluated by shared accountability and shared leadership for attaining team's goal (Nelson & Quick, 2013, p. 348).…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Virtual Companies

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A virtual company can be described as an organisation where the employees are geographically dispersed, work from home and use ICT to operate most aspects of the business.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Virtual teams are those in which “team members are geographically distributed, requiring them to work together through electronic means with minimal face-to-face interaction (Malhotra, Majchrzak, & Rosen, 2007).” As more companies become global and are looking for ways to cut costs, virtual teams are starting to become the norm, making it important to understand the dynamics of virtual teams. This paper will discuss the approaches to the creative process, work design, leadership structure, and principles to make virtual teams successful. It will conclude with my personal assessment of the documents covering these elements.…

    • 1860 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mgt508 Virtual Teams Paper

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Virtual teams are becoming more and more common in today’s globally connected world. While virtual teams have unique attributes, they also share many similarities to traditional teams in that they must have an identity, a leadership structure, and continually evaluate their work. In an article for Forbes Magazine, Erin Meyer attributes the differences in four areas: leadership, decision making, building trust and communicating differently as the key to success of virtual teams (Meyer, 2010).…

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Seilheimer, S., Ishman, M., & Seilheimer, P. (2006). Technology Support for the Enhancement of Productivity in International Virtual Teams. Journal of Information Science & Technology, 2(3), 4-17. Retrieved Monday, February 19, 2007 from the Business Source Complete database.…

    • 1788 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Paper

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Duarte, D. L., & Snyder, N. T. (2001). Mastering virtual teams: Strategies, tools and techniques…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Technology has given staff the opportunity to work from the comfort of their homes. Men and women no longer have to go in and work a normal 8 to 5. “I would imagine (the workplace) is going to be very flexible, something that allows both the employer and employee to move around, reconfigure, rearrange, re-team with very little technical difficulty and we are starting to see the beginning of that” (Barker-Benfield, 1997). Companies are becoming more organized and more individuals are working together in teams in cyberspace. Some of these people may never have the opportunity to meet one another. We’re all social butterflies and this is technology’s way of keeping us together. “Collaboration technology sprang up 20 years ago, but we kept acting, behaviorally, like we did when we were meeting face to face” (Burg,…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I think one of the big challenges of virtual workplace that are not mentioned on article is culture as individuality and as an organization. Deal and Kennedy 's (1982) said that Strong cultures can be one of the reasons for a successful organization. There are four important points for that strong culture: values (beliefs and visions), heroes (are people that exemplify an organization’s values) rites and rituals (are the ceremonies to celebrate its values) , and the last, cultural network (newsletters and informal interactions of employees). In the virtual workplace there is not physical contact; this is what makes interactions difficult between employees and employers.…

    • 1455 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    virtual team

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages

    After reading this article, according to the author’s viewpoints, although the virtual technique is convenient and cost-effective, and we are now in the era of rapid development of virtual technology, I believe that face-to-face collaboration will still occupy an important position in future workplace over the next five to ten years.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays