Designing virtual organizations? Themes and trends in political and organizational discourses

Kym Thorne

40 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Management Development

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Cultural Studies and Postmodernism Management and Organizational Studies Collaboration in agile enterprises

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to explore the contemporary fascination with seemingly new, benign and transcendent virtual organizations. Design/methodology/approach The paper extends Gerlach and Hamilton's investigations and critique into virtuality within the genres of business restructuring and science fiction. Findings The paper unravels a purposeful, enveloping consciousness that masks both neo‐liberal fictions and postmodern fantasies dominating the virtual organization discourse. This paper finds that practical examples of de‐physicalized, technologically transcendent virtual organizations, crucial to this virtual consciousness, do not exist or are fundamentally different from expectations. The paper finds that the presumed new epoch of global capitalism, based on the productivity unleashed by virtual organizations, is illusory. The paper concludes that once virtual consciousness is penetrated not only are the material and ideological aspects of virtual organizations unmasked but it is possible to locate a pragmatic, conjoint, physicalized type of “virtualized” organization that is not new, benign or transcendental. This type of co‐destiny, virtual organization (such as terrorist organizations and organized crime), is more reflective of enduring concerns and contemporary purposes fundamental to what organizations make visible or render invisible. Originality/value This paper presents an innovative and critical examination of the collusion between neo‐liberal and postmodern thought and the practicalities, or otherwise, of designing virtual organizations. This paper should also be valuable to those concerned with the “virtuality” of terrorist and criminal organizations and the relationship between the visible and invisible aspects of organization.

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References

1991The fifth discipline, the art and practice of the learning organization 1984The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge 1997The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order 1991The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change 2009Managing Across Borders: The Transnational Solution 1989In The Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power.1976Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century.1999Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams

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