virtual organisations
...rtual organisation is, Turban et al (2004) and Crandall and Wallace (1997) state that a virtual organisation does not necessarily need to be temporary. Furthermore, a common core throughout the various definitions available is the importance of information technology, or ICTs, as a characteristic of a virtual organisation – the definition Chaffey (2002) gives shows this, as he defines a virtual organisation as “An organisation which uses information and communications technology…” (pg 262). A common perception of being virtual is that the job or process is no longer constrained by time and place i.e. ICTs can enable the tasks to be done at any time and any location. Pearlson and Saunders (2004) give a definition of a virtual organisation which moves away from the approaches given above which see this as a network of companies (this they term a virtual corporation). They define a virtual organisation as an organisation that has: “…a structure that makes it possible for individuals to work for an organisation and work anywhere. The Internet and corporate intranets create the opportunity for individuals to work from anyplace they can access a computer”. (pg 71) Segil (2000) believes that the main reasons that organisations become virtual is that it allows more flexibility compared to the traditional models of organisations. This means that organisations which a...