Chapter 3: Fairness in a Virtual World: The Implications of Communication Media on Employees’ Justice and Trust Perceptions

Major changes in the nature of work have impacted the methods organizations use for communication. For example, interdependent employees, members of teams who must coordinate to accomplish the work of their organizations, have become more geographically dispersed than ever (e.g., Mohrman, 1999). Such geographic separation can occur for a number of reasons, including organizations utilizing global talent to create teams of experts (e.g., Boh, Ren, Kiesler, & Bussjaeger, 2007), companies locating operations globally to be closer to resources and contingencies of customers (e.g., Mohrman, 1999), and employees seeking telework and other alternative working arrangements (e.g., ITAC, 2009) to accommodate a balance between work and family demands or because of local office closures.