Chapter 2: HR Strategy in Virtual Organizations

Information technology has led to the development of virtual organizations and workplaces in the last ten years. The virtual workplace is as different from the industrial workplace as the latter was from the family farm it replaced a century ago. This chapter explores human resources strategics necessary to make the virtual workplace work. First we discuss how we got to virtual organizations and workplaces. We will show how advances in information technology have created demands for changes in organizational structure, process and culture. Next, we define three successive models of the virtual workplace, telecommuting, front-line, and cyberlink, showing how they work and what they require. Third, we will explore how the virtual workplace differs from more traditional organizational arrangements. Finally, we will provide recommendations for getting to the virtual workplace.