Virtual Organizations: Information Age Organizations

Abstract

One of the most interesting reengineered organizational structures is virtual organization. A virtual organization is an organization composed of several business partners sharing costs and resources for the purpose of manufacturing a products or services. The creation, operation and management of a virtual organization are heavily dependent of Information Technology. This brief paper serves to better introduce the concepts, definitions, types (Spider Web and Interconnected Islands) of virtual organization. Then some advantages and disadvantages of these organizations are described. At the end of this paper, the effects and role of Information Technology in virtualization, supporting them and finally some of thesis supports are implicated.

Keywords

• virtual organization
• information technology
• virtual office
• virtual cooperation
• information management