TDT4735 Project in Software Engineering

A Study of Virtual Organizations

- in mobile computing environments -

Kristoffer Jacobsen

Advisor: Carl-Fredrik Sørensen

Coordinator: Alf Inge Wang

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Department of Computer and Information Science, NTNU
Fall 2004
 Abstract

Abstract

This project explores the domain of Virtual Organizations (VOs), presenting an

overview of the concept, and describing enabling technologies. An analysis of
dynamic collaborative organizations in mobile computing environments is
provided, along with a comparison between these new organizational forms and
the existing VO taxonomy.

Motivated by the work performed by the MOWAHS project, this report aims to
contribute in understanding VOs, and in continuously assessing and improving the
work processes within these.

The first part of the report addresses several perspectives of the VO, such as key
characteristics, factors of emergence, organizational benefits, knowledge
management, and coordination. Along with an overview of contemporary research
and enabling technologies, this part constitutes the State-of-the-art evaluation.

The second part of the report aims to challenge the way the look at VOs today,
and provides a scenario analysis of dynamic collaborative organizations in mobile
computing environments. The comparison of these organizations to the traditional
VO characteristics, results in an extension of the VO taxonomy to include what we
define as Mobil Ad Hoc VOs (MAHVOs).

MAHVOs are temporary dynamic networks of independent actors with

complementary core competencies, working towards a common goal in a nomadic
environment. The co-operation is based on Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) as the main facilitator for sharing knowledge and fostering trust.

These organizations are enabled through the use of ICT, and the work processes
can be improved by using emerging technologies in ubiquitous and mobile
computing, thus operating in intelligent environments. The latter part of the report
applies the knowledge and experiences from traditional VOs to the future working
environments. This includes extensive use of sensors and actuators serving both
as supporting tools, and as actors in the organization.

Keywords: Virtual Organizations, Strategic Alliances, Knowledge Management,

Mobile Work, Ad hoc Networking, Intelligent environments.

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 Abstract

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 Preface

Preface

This report has been written in the context of the course TDT4735 at IDI, NTNU.
The project description was given by the Mobile Work Across Heterogeneous
Systems (MOWAHS) project. The report is result of the work carried out by
Kristoffer Jacobsen during the autumn 2004.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my supervisor, PhD Fellow Carl-
Fredrik Sørensen, for providing valuable and inspiring guidance and feedback
through all phases of this project.

Trondheim, November 2004

Kristoffer Jacobsen

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 Preface

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 Table of contents

Table of contents

PART I: Introduction

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Motivation .................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Project context ............................................................................................................. 2
1.3 Project objective .......................................................................................................... 2
1.4 Reader’s guide............................................................................................................. 3

2. Research method ............................................................................................................... 7

2.1 Literature study ............................................................................................................ 7
2.2 Scenario analysis......................................................................................................... 7

PART II: State-of-the-art

3. Literature study .................................................................................................................. 9

3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 9
3.2 The concept of Virtual.................................................................................................. 9
3.3 The concept of Virtual Organization .......................................................................... 11
3.4 Definitions .................................................................................................................. 12
3.5 Characteristics ........................................................................................................... 15
3.6 Trends toward Virtual Organizations ......................................................................... 24
3.7 Benefits and Drawbacks ............................................................................................ 25
3.8 Typology of Virtual organizations............................................................................... 27
3.9 Examples of Virtual Organizations............................................................................. 36
3.10 Knowledge Management / Work processes ............................................................ 38
3.11 Modeling of the Virtual organization ........................................................................ 40
3.12 Summary ................................................................................................................. 44

4. VO research initiatives..................................................................................................... 47
4.1 VOmap....................................................................................................................... 47
4.2 TrustCoM ................................................................................................................... 50
4.3 Other research........................................................................................................... 53

5. Enabling technologies ..................................................................................................... 55

5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 55
5.2 Collaborative Engineering Communities.................................................................... 56
5.3 Computer Supported Cooperative Work.................................................................... 59
5.4 Ubiquitous and Mobile computing.............................................................................. 61

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 Table of contents

PART III: Own contribution

6. Problem elaboration......................................................................................................... 65
6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 65
6.2 Scenarios................................................................................................................... 65

7. Scenarios .......................................................................................................................... 67
7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 67
7.2 Traffic accident .......................................................................................................... 67
7.3 Crime scene investigation.......................................................................................... 70
7.4 Voluntary communal work ......................................................................................... 72
7.5 Experts in Team......................................................................................................... 75
7.6 Traffic......................................................................................................................... 77
7.7 Summary ................................................................................................................... 80

8. Extension of the VO taxonomy ....................................................................................... 85

8.1 Ad hoc alliances......................................................................................................... 85
8.2 Characteristics ........................................................................................................... 86

9. Future trends .................................................................................................................... 89

9.1 Technology ................................................................................................................ 89
9.2 Working environments ............................................................................................... 89

PART IV: Evaluation and conclusion

10. Evaluation and discussion ............................................................................................ 91

10.1 Evaluation ................................................................................................................ 91
10.2 Discussion ............................................................................................................... 91

11. Conclusion and further work ........................................................................................ 93

11.1 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 93
11.2 Further work............................................................................................................. 93

PART V: Appendix

Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 95

Appendix A: Projects ......................................................................................................... 103

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 List of figures

List of figures
Figure 1. Virtual objects (Scholz, 1997) ................................................................................. 11

Figure 2. Traditional vs. ad hoc corporate structures ............................................................. 17

Figure 3. Characteristic dispersion of VOs (McKay & Marshall, 2000) .................................. 20

Figure 4. Virtual organization life cycle model (Strader et al., 1998)...................................... 21

Figure 5. The Virtual Face...................................................................................................... 28

Figure 6. Co-alliance Model ................................................................................................... 28

Figure 7. Star-alliance Model ................................................................................................. 29

Figure 8. Value-alliance Model............................................................................................... 29

Figure 9. Market-alliance Model ............................................................................................. 30

Figure 10. Virtual Broker ........................................................................................................ 31

Figure 11. Virtual alliance models (Burn & Ash, 2000)........................................................... 31

Figure 12. Three layers in the VO model (Saabel et al, 2002) ............................................... 35

Figure 13. Model towards a Virtual Organization (Saabel et al., 2002).................................. 36

Figure 14. Modeling viewpoints of a VO (Camarinha-Matos & Abreu, 2003)......................... 41

Figure 15. Positioning of modeling approaches ..................................................................... 43

Figure 16. Interpretation of the VO concept ........................................................................... 45

Figure 17. The VOmap vision (Camarinha-Matos, 2003)....................................................... 48

Figure 18. The VOmap roadmap (Camarinha-Matos, 2003).................................................. 49

Figure 19. The VOmap consortium (www.vomap.org) ........................................................... 50

Figure 20. The TrustCoM framework, conceptual model (www.eu-trustcom.com) ................ 52

Figure 21. The TrustCoM consortium (www.eu-trustcom.com).............................................. 53

Figure 22. Types of online activities ....................................................................................... 55

Figure 23. Differentiation of groups using interaction and identity ......................................... 57

Figure 24. Categorization of collaborative engineering communities..................................... 58

Figure 25. Successful VO collaboration ................................................................................. 60

Figure 26. Decentralized broker ............................................................................................. 86

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 List of tables

List of tables
Table 1. Overview of the report ................................................................................................ 3

Table 2. Sections addressing the research questions.............................................................. 4

Table 3. Concept of Virtual..................................................................................................... 10

Table 4. Authors and their main focus on virtual organization ............................................... 12

Table 5. Selection of organizations in case study (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998).......................... 22

Table 6. Primary and secondary characteristics (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998) ............................ 23

Table 7. Typology of VO in case study (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998) .......................................... 33

Table 8. VO types comparison on multiple dimensions (Palmer & Speier, 1997).................. 34

Table 9. Inter-organizational partnerships vs. VOs (Mertens & Faisst, 1996)........................ 34

Table 10. Experienced problems with SigSys ........................................................................ 37

Table 11. Challenges in concurrent engineering.................................................................... 59

Table 12. Properties of ad hoc networking............................................................................. 62

Table 13. VO characteristics in the scenarios ........................................................................ 81

Table 14. Classification of scenarios...................................................................................... 81

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Part I

Introduction
 Introduction

1. Introduction

This chapter describes the motivation for this project, outlines the report context,
introduces the project objective, including the research questions, and provides a
reading guide.

1.1 Motivation

New ways of organizing businesses are continuously evolving with the Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) as an enabling factor along with increasing
pace and globalization of the market. Individuals and businesses now collaborate
from geographically dispersed locations in a much larger degree than before. The
technology is now enabling individuals to connect to the Internet and carry out
their work anywhere, anytime. This is referred to as nomadic computing by
(LaPorta et al., 1996). As this concept of work matures in organizations, new
challenges and issues emerge related to the computer interfaces and information
systems the users interact with. The explosive growth in the number and type of
devices connected to the Internet requires more flexible frameworks for working
across heterogeneous systems.

The research on Virtual Organizations is considered to be inconsistent in the form

of having lots of contributors proposing their own definitions to the concept, thus
leading to a diversity of terms and descriptions of the phenomenon. The main
focus for the first part of the project has been developed together with a
representative from the organization SINTEF1 and the supervisors at NTNU, to
map the different approaches to the subject and provide an overview that clearly
presents the concept of VOs.

The second part of the project will be related to mobility and how businesses can
utilize mobile technology in VOs to increase the efficiency of their work. This is an
important and interesting issue for many organizations which gives me an extra
motivation towards this project by providing a study that is valuable to various
research establishments.

The own contribution in this project is a creative effort to challenge the way we
look at VOs today. It provides thoughts and suggestions for an extension of the VO
taxonomy. This is carried out by taking the characteristics of a VO into a different
setting, and discuss whether the new scenarios qualify as types of VOs.

1. SINTEF: http://www.sintef.no

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 Introduction

1.2 Project context

The project description for this thesis was developed in co-operation with the
research project MOWAHS1 (MObile Work Across Heterogeneous Systems). The
MOWAHS project is carried out jointly by IDI’s software engineering and database
technology groups. The project is supported by the Norwegian Research Council.

The MOWAHS goals are threefold (www.mowahs.com):

G1) Helping to understand and to continuously assess and improve work

processes in virtual organizations.

G2) Providing a flexible, common work environment to execute and share real
work processes and their artifacts, applicable on a variety of electronic devices
(from big servers to small PDAs).

G3) Disseminating the results to colleagues, students, companies, and the

community at large.

One of the research challenges in MOWAHS is to provide an efficient and user-

friendly environment for helping people in virtual organizations to perform and
coordinate their work at their current location, time and device configurations.

The focus for this thesis will be to assist the MOWAHS project in achieving
primarily the first goal, G1, providing a deeper understanding of what a virtual
organization is and how it is organized, and partly G2 by studying enabling
technologies.

1.3 Project objective

The main task of this project is to examine Virtual Organizations, and give an
overview of the related research presented in the literature. The goal is to present
an explanatory study of the concept of VOs and related discussions, and identify
the work processes in these organizations. The following research questions have
been identified as the foundation for this research:

RQ1) What is a virtual organization?

RQ2) What are the characteristics of a VO?

RQ3) Why do VOs emerge?

RQ4) What are the types of VOs?

1. MOWAHS: http://www.mowahs.com

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 Introduction

RQ5) What are the benefits of adopting the VO?

RQ6) What is the role of information technology in VOs?

RQ7) What is the difference between a VO and an inter-organizational project?

The main part of the contribution is a creative effort to introduce scenarios and
analyze new organizational forms with regards to the existing taxonomy of VOs.
The scenarios are focused on everyday collaborating organizations in mobile
computing environments, and the work processes related to mobile work in such.

The latter part of this report will discuss issues and challenges of mobile work and
mobile collaboration in VOs, and will prepare the ground for a master thesis by
identifying research propositions for further work on VOs and mobile collaboration.

1.4 Reader’s guide

This section is provided for the reader’s convenience and briefly describes what
the report contains and how it should be read. Table 1 outlines the main chapters
in this report and indicates if a chapter is dependent on another. Reading the
table, one can see that e.g. Chapter 3 is dependent on the information found in
Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.

Table 1: Overview of the report

Chapter Chapter overview Chapter Dependency

1 Introduction --
2 Research method --
3 Literature study Chapter 1 and 2
4 VO research initiatives Chapter 3
5 Enabling technologies Chapter 3
6 Problem elaboration Chapter 2, 3
7 Scenarios Chapter 3, 5 and 6
8 Extension of the VO taxonomy Chapter 3, 6 and 7
9 Future trends Chapter 3, 5 and 8
10 Evaluation and discussion All previous chapters
11 Conclusion and further work All previous chapters

Part I - Introduction

Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter contains background information about the project such as
motivation, project context, problem definition and this reader’s guide.

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 Introduction

Chapter 2: Research method

This chapter describes the work process and the methodologies used in the
project. It motivates the choice of research methods, and relates them to
software engineering.

Part II - State-of-the-art

Chapter 3: Literature study

This chapter is the result of an extensive literature study on VOs, and aims to
examine and answer the research questions defined in section 1.3. Table 2
shows which sections in the chapter that address the different research
questions.

Table 2: Sections addressing the research questions

Research
Section
question
RQ1 All sections
RQ2 Section 3.5
RQ3 Section 3.6 and 3.7
RQ4 Section 3.8 and 3.9
RQ5 Section 3.5 and 3.7
RQ6 All sections
RQ7 Section 3.8, 3.9 and 3.10

Chapter 4: VO research initiatives

This chapter describes contemporary research initiatives on VOs, and presents
the vision and roadmap for European research on VOs towards 2015.

Chapter 5: Enabling technologies

This chapter presents different enabling technologies for the type of VOs
depicted in the literature study, and describes challenges to the use of
Information and Communication Technology in such organizations. Emerging
technologies within ubiquitous and mobile computing are also presented, and
related to the context of the report.

Part III - Own Contribution

Chapter 6: Problem elaboration

This chapter elaborates on the problem definition for the contribution of this
report. It describes, in more detail, the work process of relating the concept of
VOs to mobile computing environments.

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 Introduction

Chapter 7: Scenarios
This chapter presents scenarios of collaboration in mobile environments, and
provides an analysis of the work processes to the characteristics of VOs.

Chapter 8: Extension of the VO taxonomy

This chapter presents the results of the scenario analysis, and describes the
observations as an extension of the VO taxonomy, in terms of characteristics
and qualities of such organizations.

Chapter 9: Future trends

This chapter further discusses the results of the analysis applied to future
working environments, and presents opportunities and requirements towards
coordination in intelligent environments.

Part IV - Evaluation and Conclusion

Chapter 10: Evaluation and discussion

This chapter evaluates the work with regards to research method and achieved
results, and discusses possible weaknesses in the context of the research.

Chapter 11: Conclusion and further work

This chapter concludes the work, and presents research propositions for further
work.

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 Introduction

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 Research method

2. Research method

The research activities for this report in the domain of Virtual Organization are
mainly divided in two approaches:

• Literature study

• Scenario analysis

2.1 Literature study

The literature study constitutes the major part of this project. It was chosen as the
best way to get an overview of the domain, and to explore the topics related to the
research questions. The background and resources for this part of the report are
result of an extensive literature study of articles, journals, books, web pages and
forum discussions related to the concept.

The approach to this study has been to find the most cited authors and the most
referred publications. In this way, we have been able to get an insight in which
contributors that are most acknowledged and accepted among other researchers.
We have been able to present a selection of contributions that reflect the research
topics in a reasonably good way, after following innumerable links between the
authors.

We have tried to balance the work of these acknowledged authors with a number
of more specific research contributions in order to make the review of the domain
as complete and consistent as possible, taking into consideration the fairly short
project time period.

This approach to the literature study was chosen after conferring the experiences
with software engineering research methods described in (Glass et al., 2002).

2.2 Scenario analysis

The second part of the research is a scenario analysis of the concept of Virtual
Organizations. It is an effort of bringing a new contribution and thoughts into a
research field that is highly abundant, with the purpose of continuing the respected
and innovative work within the MOWAHS project. The distinct goals of employing
this research method in the project are to:

• Challenge the existing view of the Virtual Organization concept.

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 Research method

• Identify new problem definitions and challenges, creating synergy effects

between the VO research and mobile computing.

• Get a deeper understanding of the subject, by applying the gained knowledge

of VOs in a different setting.

Scenario analysis as a research method in software engineering, is mainly related

to requirements engineering, as described in (Sutcliffe, 1998). However, for the
purpose of visualizing and extracting valuable knowledge of mobile environments,
scenarios are used as the foundation for this approach to VOs. This method of
modeling a domain is a sort of use case modeling. In software engineering,
scenarios are defined in the following way:

“A scenario is a sequence of steps describing an interaction between a user

and a system.” (Fowler, 2000)

The scenarios in this report are textual use cases focusing on describing the
different actors in the organization, their roles and responsibilities, and the rules of
which the organizational entities acts according to. The technology and systems
the users interact with are described both in terms of method, and the role of the
technology in each specific organization.

When describing the scenarios, we used qualitative methods to provide correct

information and to secure consistency of our interpretation of the domain. These
studies were carried out in good software engineering practice, as described in
(Seaman, 1999).

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Part II

State-of-the-art
 Literature study

3. Literature study

This chapter gives an overview of the literature that describes the concept of
Virtual Organizations (VO). We take a broad approach to the subject and try to
cover most of the topics that are relevant to answer the presented research
questions.

3.1 Introduction

(Mowshowitz, 1986) used the term Virtual Organization for the first time in 1986.
Since then, there has been a lot of research on this type of networked
organizations and how they will revolutionize the way we work in the 21st Century.
There are numerous definitions of a VO because many authors and research
groups use their own definition for their work. In the book "The Virtual
Corporation", (Davidow & Malone, 1992) presented one of the first extensive
approaches to the subject. The focus for their conception of a Virtual Corporation
relates to the concept of a Virtual Product. The ideal virtual product according to
them, was a product or service that "is produced instantaneously and customized
in response to customer demand."

Throughout this chapter, we will present different approaches to the subject based
on the literature, and try to give an overview of the characteristics of a Virtual
Organization.

In the literature, there exist various synonyms to the term Virtual Organization:
Virtual Corporation (VC), Virtual Enterprise (VE) and Virtual Company (VCo) are
all related to the same concept of co-operation between different organizations or
individuals.

3.2 The concept of Virtual

According to Oxford Concise Dictionary the term “virtual” is defined as: “that is
such for practical purposes, though not in name or according to a strict definition.”
Related to this definition, (Fairchild, 2004) says that “an organization may be
thought of as a number of individuals systematically united for some end or work”.
He proposes that a virtual organization may be viewed as “a number of individuals
united with a practical purpose, or a practical purpose for the 21st century”.

(Bultje & van Wijk, 1998) claim that the different definitions of a VO partly depend
on the view the authors have on the concept of "virtual". Table 3 presents four
different views that describe the meaning of “virtual”:

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 Literature study

Table 3: Concept of Virtual

Interpretation Example
View of “Virtual”
(Bultje & van Wijk, 1998) (Franke, 2000)

Unreal, looking real Originated from optics. Discrimination between a real Virtual reality
picture and a virtual picture. Both pictures look the
same, but as opposed to a real picture, a virtual picture
can’t be caught on a photographic paper.

Immaterial, Used in expressions like virtual library, virtual Virtual

supported by ICT classroom, etc. In this view, functions that are often shopping mall
performed by people are replaced by the use of ICT.

Potentially present Only active if a certain opportunity comes along. It can Virtual memory
directly unfold new activities if a new project is initiated.

Existing, but Something exists, but the composition is temporary and Virtual
changing is possibly changing every day. corporation

(Bultje & van Wijk, 1998) analyzed different definitions of a VO, and concluded
that all four views on virtuality presented in Table 3 could be found among the
definitions.

The examples given by Franke on the different views of the term virtual are based
on a model presented in (Scholz, 1997) of virtual objects. Figure 1 shows how
Scholz divides a virtual organization into an intra- and inter-organizational
perspective, where the concept Virtual Corporation is considered inter-
organizational.

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 Literature study

Virtual
Objects

Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual

Memory Reality Virtual Holidays Product
Organisation

Inter-organisational Intra-organisational

Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual

Markets Corporation Department Office

Figure 1: Virtual objects (Scholz, 1997)

The term virtualness was introduced by (Venkatraman & Henderson, 1996) and
related to what the concept of virtuality mean for organizations. They proposed
that:

“Virtualness is the ability of the organization to consistently obtain and

coordinate critical competencies through its design of value-adding business
processes and governance mechanisms involving external and internal
constituencies to deliver differential, superior value in the market place.”

This emphasizes that an organization does not become virtual simply by using ICT
and nominating themselves as a VO, but as a result of how the organization is
managed.

3.3 The concept of Virtual Organization

Virtual organizations are given attention by researchers within a wide range of

fields, from social anthropology and organizational theory to computer science.
They have not yet agreed on a mutual definition of the concept, and there is no
theoretical framework available to give a better understanding of the concept.

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 Literature study

There are a lot of different contributions to the subject, and many of them are
related to functional aspects, such as the role of information technology in VOs,
legal issues, socio-economic issues, and so on.

Other authors relate the concept to business concepts such as knowledge

management, flexible or dynamic networking, agile competition, business process
redesign and supply webs.

The focus on VOs can be divided into two main categories:

• Structure perspective.

• Process perspective.

Contributions from different authors are mainly within one of these categories. The
structure perspective focuses on the building blocks of the VO and its properties,
while the process perspective focuses on behavior and operation.

Table 4 from (Saabel et al., 2002) shows how the literature reflects the two views.

Table 4: Authors and their main focus on virtual organization

Perspective Author Terminology

Structure Byrne (1993) Network

Aken et al. (1998) Network
Strader et al. (1998) Network
Wildeman (1998) Alliance
Grenier and Metes (1995) Alliance
Wütrich and Phillips (1998) Form of co-operation
Mertens et al. (1998) Form of co-operation
Goldman et al. (1995) Combination of core-competencies
Davidow and Malone (1992) Combination of activities

Process Hale and Whitlaw (1997) Continuous or institutionalized change

Venkatraman and Henderson (1998) Strategic approach
Mowshowitz (1997) Management approach
Katzy (1998) Action or ability

3.4 Definitions

Analysis of the definitions of a VO provided by authors and scholars is a

reasonable way to determine the attributes of a VO. This section presents different
views on what defines this type of organization.

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 Literature study

(Grimshaw and Kwok, 1998) presents five major attributes of a VO:

• Alliance for a common goal

• Underlying Information and Communication Technology

• Vertical Integration

• Globalization

• Collaboration

The presented attributes are based on definitions in the literature:

"In a virtual organization, complementary resources existing in a number of

co-operating companies are left in place, but are integrated to support a
particular product effort for as long as it is justifiable to do so." (Goldman et
al., 1995)

"Virtual organizations are distributed 'business processes'. These processes

may be 'owned' by one or more organizations acting in partnership. For a
specific project, resources are assembled to perform a business process on
behalf of the project owner(s), and then disassembled on completion of the
contract." (Wolff, 1995)

These definitions characterize the VO as an alliance for a common goal. The

authors describe the co-operation between the companies as a sort of partnership
or joint venture where all members contribute their core-competencies. It is
interesting to note that they do not mention the role of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) to support co-operation. ICT as a facilitating
mechanism for VOs is emphasized by other authors:

"The key to understanding the virtual corporation is the profound effect that
information technology has as it distorts traditional relationships of
management and work to time and space." (Coates, 1994)

"The conjunctional grouping, based on the Net, of companies, individuals,

and organizations to create a business." (Tapscott, 1996)

"Increasingly, executives are turning to alliances, partnerships and joint

ventures, often formed to produce particular products and then disbanded.
These enable costs to be shared, development times to be shortened and
effective use to be made of design, manufacturing and marketing skills inside

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 Literature study

and outside the company. Such linkages - variously described as virtual

corporations or agile enterprises - are made easier by computer technology."
(Fisher, 1993)

Vertical integration as an attribute to VO was introduced by (Pastore, 1993) and

(Klein, 1994), and was based on the suggestion that the companies in a VO
should include both suppliers and long-term customers into the VO to increase the
efficiency of their value-chain.

"In order to have a rapid response to the market (customers), companies

have to reorganize themselves around response to customer demand,
forging tight relational and technological bonds with core suppliers and long-
term customers. That is the shape of the corporation of the future, a virtual
corporation." (Pastore, 1993)

"Virtual corporation consists of the company that faces the customer and a
network of other companies that co-operate to achieve what none of them
could achieve alone. This arrangement permits each participant to
concentrate on what each does best and to limit its risks and investments to
its core competencies." (Klein, 1994)

Globalization of the VO was mentioned in (Wolff, 1995) and (Coates, 1994) and
describes how various departments of an organization could be spread over
several countries. The authors also discuss potential benefits from distributing the
operations globally.

"To achieve maximum benefits for the project owners, the majority of the
resources are independent sub-contractors working from home or local
centres. They could be distributed globally." (Wolff, 1995)

"The virtual corporation can be taken to be one with a relatively small

headquarters operating with many different internal units, alliances and
subcontractors. The largest of them will operate on a global scale." (Coates,
1994)

The last attribute discussed by (Grimshaw and Kwok, 1998) is collaboration. This
is one of the most important features of the VO, and is highlighted by (Dubinskas,
1993).

"The terms 'virtual team' and 'virtual organization' evoke the special status of
groups created through the use of groupware such as computer
conferencing. Virtual organization… is important in shaping organizational

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 Literature study

outcomes. Virtual teams become part of the ongoing process of structuration,

while also providing a new tool for organizational design. Virtual team exists
through the use of groupware, but it appears to the user to have attributes
and functions of a conventional social group. Virtual organization is the larger
scale ordering and linking of virtual groups." (Dubinskas, 1993)

From all these definitions, we observe the different attributes of the VO and these
make the foundation to start talking about the formal characteristics of a VO.
(Byrne, 1993) provide the most widely accepted and cited definition of the term
Virtual Corporation within the academic literature:

"A virtual corporation is a temporary network of independent companies -

suppliers, customers, and even rivals - linked by information technology to
share skills, costs, and access to one another's markets. This corporate
model is fluid and flexible - a group of collaborators that quickly unite to
exploit a specific opportunity. Once the opportunity is met, the venture will,
more often than not, disband. In the concept's purest form, each company
that links up with others to create a virtual corporation contributes only what it
regards as its core competencies. Technology plays a central role in the
development of the virtual corporation. Teams of people in different
companies work together, concurrently rather than sequentially, via computer
networks in real time." (Byrne, 1993)

This definition has clearly a structural perspective, and gives a detailed picture of
the building blocks of a virtual organization. (Hale & Whitlaw, 1997) on the other
side provide a definition from a process perspective within the subject of
organizational development.

"The virtual organization is the name given to any organization which is

continually evolving, redefining and reinventing itself for practical business
purposes." (Hale & Whitlaw, 1997)

They emphasize that the concept is not so much about “managing in the sense of
planning, controlling, directing and organizing, but more concerned with the notion
of continuous or institutionalized change”.

3.5 Characteristics

To answer the question “What is a Virtual Organization?”, it is important to review

the different characteristics of a VO. The selection of characteristics discussed in
this section is based on the work of (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998). They performed an
extensive literature research to map the different properties that constitute a VO.

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 Literature study

The characteristics in section 3.5.1 are, according to several authors, key factors
of a VO. The characteristics described in section 3.5.1 and section 3.5.2 are a mix
of proven properties of companies referred to as VOs in the literature and different
author’s view of a VO. Therefore, the list of characteristics has to be evaluated by
performing further empirical studies, and can for the time being be considered to
be a sort of proposition.

3.5.1 Key characteristics

The characteristics presented in this section are considered key factors for a VO
by several authors.

KC1 Based on core competencies

Each partner in the VO contributes with its core competencies. The initiator
determines the most suitable business process related to the complementary skills
provided by the different companies in the VO. The synergy effect that is the result
of combining all the core competencies enables the organization with a flexible
way of meeting the customer demands. The goal is to produce a sort of all-star
team.

KC2 Network of independent organizations

The designation of a VO as a network of independent organizations is widely
accepted in the literature. This means that we focus on the VO from an inter-
organizational perspective (see Figure 1), and that we discuss the concept Virtual
Corporation when we talk about VOs according to the model provided by (Scholz,
1997).

KC3 One identity

According to (Aken et al., 1998), the VO must have its own identity. If the identity
of the partners remains visible in addition to the VOs identity, it is considered a
“Soft VO”. A “Hard VO” looks from the outside like one common organization.

KC4 Based on Information Technology

Different authors have their own view on Information and Communication
Technology as a factor in VOs. (Mowshowitz, 1994) regards the advances in
transportation, communication and computing as important for a VO. (Byrne,
1993) considers an information network as essential for companies to link up and
work together. The vision of VOs presented by (Davidow & Malone, 1992) is
strongly based on ICT.

KC5 No hierarchy
The equality of the partners in a VO leads to an organization without hierarchy. It is
called an egalitarian structure by (Sieber, 1998). Other authors also state that

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there is no hierarchy in a VO. The positive effects of this structure would be

enhancing the efficiency and the responsiveness of the organization, and
decreasing the overhead (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998). The term “adhocracies” was
introduced in (Toffler, 1970) as part of his predictions for the future, and later
acknowledged in (Malone & Rockart, 1993) as a description of the management
structure in networked organizations. It is the large amount of unpredictable lateral
communication that makes this organizational structure extremely coordination-
intensive. Figure 2, inspired by (Malone & Rockart, 1993), shows a comparison
between the traditional hierarchy and the notion of an adhocracy.

Figure 2: Traditional vs. ad hoc corporate structures

KC6 Distinction between strategical and operational level (~ separability)

According to (Mowshowitz, 1999), the logical separation of need from need-
fulfillment is the foundation of VO. He emphasizes that there, on a managerial
level, is a clear distinction between the abstract requirements and the concrete
implementation to reach the organizational goals. This is called the “switching
principle”.

3.5.2 Other characteristics

The characteristics presented in this section are considered characteristics of a

VO by several authors, but is not regarded as essential to define a VO.

OC1 Small sized partners: Small companies and/or parts of large companies
The core competencies of a partner are usually not the whole company, unless it
is a small company that has specialized its operations within a niche. The smaller
size of partners leads to more flexibility and makes it easier for the organization to
take advantage of opportunities in the market. Several authors point to the fact
that larger companies often are slower in decision making and innovation, which
are essential factors in responding to opportunities.

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OC2 Vague/fluid boundaries

It is not easy to determine where one organization begins and another ends when
talking about VOs. This is the result of more co-operation among competitors,
customers, suppliers, designers, etc. (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998). The boundaries of
the traditional organizations are redefined by the VO. (Mowshowitz, 1994)
distinguishes internal and external boundaries, where the latter is between the VO
and the outside world as opposed to boundaries between the internal partners
(units) in the VO.

OC3 Semi-stable relations

According to (Byrne, 1993), the relations in a VO are less formal and less
permanent. The relations create dependencies among the partners, but the
partners can also survive without them (Aken et al., 1998).

OC4 Dependent on opportunism

Part of the most widely accepted definition of a VO by (Byrne, 1993), describes
how companies band together to meet a special market opportunity, and are most
likely to fall apart once the need disappear. When a company partners with others
in a VO, they enlarge their scope and scale of opportunities available. Small
organizations, limited by size and lack of capital, often cannot take advantage of
emerging business opportunities alone.

OC5 Shared risks

As described above, VOs respond to opportunities in the market, and risks are
shared by every partner in the VO. (Chesbrough & Teece, 1996) provided
informative lessons on how to analyze risks within networked organizations. The
authors present a framework to help managers when to innovate by going virtual,
when to form alliances, and when to rely on internal development. They state that
“as market-based incentives become greater, the risk-taking will increase”.

OC6 Based on trust

Since VOs are based on sharing information and knowledge, there must be a high
amount of trust among the partners. Especially since each partner contribute with
their core competencies. The most important contribution on the subject of trust
within VOs was provided in (Handy, 1995).

“Virtuality requires trust to make it work: Technology on its own is not

enough.” (Handy, 1995)

Handy discusses how you can manage people whom you do not see, and defines
the rules of trust, based on common sense. An interesting comment on working in
a VO is that a shared commitment still requires personal contact to make it real.

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“Paradoxically, the more virtual the organization, the more its people need to
meet in person.” (Handy, 1995)

Related to trust is also co-destiny discussed by (Byrne, 1993), which means that
the fate of each partner is dependent on the fate of other partners.

OC7 Shared ownership

This characteristic is related to the fact that every independent partner has its own
interests in the VO, and that parts of the VO can be owned by different partners
(Bultje & van Wijk, 1998). (Aken et al., 1998) state that a partner will, or can, step
out of the VO once its goals have been met.

OC8 Shared leadership

According to (Aken et al., 1998), every partner controls its own resources but not
automatically the resources of the whole VO.

OC9 Shared loyalty

Along with shared ownership comes shared loyalty. Every employee of every
partner in the VO must identify themselves with the VO, and at the same time with
their own company. It is important to build a culture within the organization. As
Sieber puts it:

“People determine the success of a VO.” (Sieber, 1998)

The concept of a Virtual Culture is discussed by (Ash & Burn, 2000), who describe
it as a perception of the entire VO held by its stakeholder community. In other
words, it is the feeling of collectivity with respect to value sharing and time-space
arrangement. For example, each client’s expectations are satisfied in the product
accessed, and each partner has the feeling of a continuous access to the
organization and its products.

OC10 Dynamic network

The description of a VO as a dynamic network is related to the fact that
organizations or individuals can enter and leave the network at any time.

OC11 Dependent on innovation

As described earlier, the VO is often based on market opportunities, and the
essential element is the corresponding responsiveness. (Chesbrough & Teece,
1996) state that the adequate way to react to a market-based incentive, is through
innovative products and services. This is not necessarily only in a technical
perspective, and could for instance be related to innovation in organizational
design.

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OC12 Geographical dispersed

Several authors state that the partners in a VO are geographically dispersed. The
definition of “geographical dispersed” in the work of (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998) is
that “a company is geographical dispersed if the buildings are separated”. Figure 3
shows a classification of geographical dispersion related to business alliances.

Figure 3: Characteristic dispersion of VOs (McKay & Marshall, 2000)

This factor is one of the most important for the use of ICT in VOs. Technology
enables the companies to collaborate independently of location and time, and
could give the members of a virtual team a sense of presence and connectivity
even though they are miles apart.

OC13 No organization chart and meta-organization

The VO can be looked upon as some sort of umbrella organization, a meta-
organization. There are all kinds of organizational structures within the
cooperating companies, which make it difficult to draw an organization chart.
Another implication is the dynamic characteristics of the VO, where the
stakeholders in some instances come and go dependent on whether their goals
for the co-operation have been met.

OC14 Customer based and mass-customization

Mass-customization is related to individual services and products to satisfy the
particular needs and wishes of the customers. A concretization of this is the
concept of the Virtual Product introduced by (Davidow & Malone, 1992) based on
strong interaction with the customer.

OC15 Lifespan of co-operation: temporary vs. permanent

The lifetime of a VO is widely discussed in the literature, but most of the authors
are focusing their definition towards VO as a temporary network of independent
companies as stated by (Byrne, 1993). The underlying notion is that they unite

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quickly, exploit an opportunity and disband afterwards. Other research uses the
interpretation of VO as a temporary organization that also can exist on a long-
lasting base (Aken et al., 1998). Van Aken introduces the concepts “Project” for
temporary organization, and “Program” for the long-lasting organization. As an
example, a VO can be disbanded in the event of project completion, but can also
have an undetermined duration in the case of the organization remaining
functional for as long as customer demands exist and/or the participants find their
collaboration to be beneficial (Jägers et al., 1998).

The life cycle of a VO has been discussed in more detail by (Strader et al., 1998),
and they proposed a model of the life cycle of a VO as presented in Figure 4.

Identification Formation Operation Termination

Partner
Identification
Design
Opportunity Operation
Identification Marketing Termination

Partner Financial
Selection Management

Opportunity Manufacturing Asset

Selection Dispersal
Distribution
Partnership
formation

Figure 4: Virtual organization life cycle model (Strader et al., 1998)

The authors define two or more major decision processes for each of the four
stages of the life cycle; Identification, Formation, Operation and Termination. The
identification phase involves opportunity identification and opportunity evaluation
and selection. These decisions are sequentially related. Once the best available
market opportunity has been selected to be pursued, the formation phase of the
VO begins by partner identification followed by selecting the most suitable
partners for partnership. Once the organization has been formed, it can begin its
operation phase. Important decisions are categorized into five functional areas of
design, marketing, financial management, manufacturing, and distribution. When
the market opportunity is fulfilled or has ceased to exist, the VO will be terminated
by two major decision processes in the termination phase; operation termination
and asset dispersal.

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OC16 Balance of power: equality of partners vs. core-partners

Because of the high dependency between the partners in a VO, the participant
relations become more equal. (Jägers et al., 1998) state that the former culture of
control is replaced by a culture based on the desire to share skills and information.
On the contrary, (Aken et al., 1998) make a distinction between a VO with or
without a core-partner. They state that “a core-partner is some sort of ‘leader’ of a
VO to which the other partners have to comply”. Worth noting here is that since
members of a virtual alliance may be partners in one venture but competitors in
others, they have less incentive to be open and share data than within hierarchical
organizations or within their alliance with suppliers and customers.

OC17 Mission-overlap: partial vs. complete

Partners that do business outside the context of the VO, in addition to the work
within the alliance, are considered having partial mission-overlap. While partners
performing all business within the organizational context, have complete mission-
overlap. The literature describes both kinds of VOs (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998).

3.5.3 Case Study

(Bultje & van Wijk, 1998) have performed an empirical study on the selection of
characteristics. The sample source for their case study was six existing
companies, described in literature as VOs and differing on three points; small
versus large, Dutch versus international, and ICT based versus non-ICT based.
The companies are listed in Table 5, where “Company X” and “Company Y”
denote the columns for the criteria comparison.

Table 5: Selection of organizations in case study (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998)

Criteria Company X Company Y

Small VOs vs. Large VOs Prolion Nike
Dutch VOs vs. International VOs ING Airbus
ICT-based VOs vs. no ICT-based VOs Amazon.com TMG

The case studies were performed by mapping the characteristics on each

company, conducting interviews with employees. An analysis of the results was
performed to distinguish different levels in the list of characteristics. Three levels
were defined: “primary”, “secondary”, and “no” characteristic. Based on the
selection of companies, characteristics that fit all VOs were considered primary
characteristics, while the ones that fit four or five VOs were considered secondary
characteristics. Characteristics that met less than four organizations were ruled
out of the list. The results of this level analysis are shown in Table 6.

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Table 6: Primary and secondary characteristics (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998)

Primary characteristics Secondary characteristics

Partial mission overlap One identity
Customer based & mass-customization Based on trust
Network of independent organizations Shared loyalty
Semi-stable relations Based on information technology
Geographical dispersed Distinction between a strategical and
operational level
Based on core competencies
Dependent on innovation

The analysis divides the list into seven primary and five secondary characteristics,
where only two of the key factors mentioned in section 3.5.1 (Based on core
competencies and Network of independent organizations) are considered primary
characteristics. Out of the four other key factors, only (No hierarchy) does not
comply to the secondary characteristics condition, matching only three
companies.

To enhance the readability of their study, (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998) formulated their
definition of a VO, divided in two parts according to the two levels of
characteristics:

“A Virtual Organization is primarily characterized as being a network of

independent, geographically dispersed organizations with a partial mission
overlap. Within the network, all partners provide their own core competencies
and the co-operation is based on semi-stable relations. The products and
services provided by a Virtual Organization are dependent on innovation and
are strongly customer-based.” (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998)

“Further, a Virtual Organization is secondarily characterized by a single

identity with loyalty being shared among the partners and the co-operation
based on trust and information technology. In addition, there is also a clear
distinction between a strategic and an operational level.” (Bultje & van Wijk,
1998)

3.5.4 Summary

Although the study carried out by (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998) gives a good overview
on how the characteristics of a VO discussed in the literature maps to the reality
and existing organizations, it can be questioned whether all of the companies
investigated in this study really are VOs. This study should also be supplemented
with other empirical studies of the domain. Some of the characteristics do not fit

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the general definitions of a VO used by authors and researchers throughout the

world, and it is therefore interesting to deduce a typology of the concept of virtual
organizations. This view has captured the attention from several authors and
some of this research is discussed in section 3.8.

3.6 Trends toward Virtual Organizations

One of the interesting things about VOs is that the factors causing them to form,
existed long before the age of computers. In the construction industry, groups of
independent operators formed organizations to build houses and buildings. The
same applies for the movie industry when producing films. What has changed is
according to (Fairchild, 2004), that the trends that leads to VO have increased.
The trends towards VOs are reviewed by (Bleeker, 1994) and are widely cited in
the literature. Bleeker proposes that the four key trends are:

• Pace

• Cost

• Personalization

• Globalization

3.6.1 Pace

(Bleeker, 1994) comments on Alvin Toffler’s predictions in (Toffler, 1970), about

businesses running at warp speeds, demanding immediate responses -
anywhere, anytime. Toffler predicted that the business market would turn into
“survival of the fastest, not the fittest”. Today, this can be witnessed by the
compressed life cycles for all activities in the value chain, and hierarchical
organizations that cannot respond to new demands (Fairchild, 2004).

3.6.2 Cost

The second trend (Bleeker, 1994) points to, is the decreasing cost of market entry,
particularly in the information services and other technology-driven industries. In
these industries, “even small undercapitalized startups can have an enormous
impact on innovation” (Bleeker, 1994), “far beyond the apparent limits of their size”
(Fairchild, 2004).

3.6.3 Personalization

Personalization, or customization, is made possible in a higher degree by

computerized manufacturing, which has made it “economical to produce
assembly-line product runs of a few dozen items instead of a few thousand”

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(Bleeker, 1994). Not only do organizations save money by not needing large
manufacturing facilities, customization also allows organizations to produce
tailored products for a wider group of customers. Corporations are now driven
more by customer demands than by internal needs. “Today, customers get what
they want or go elsewhere” (Bleeker, 1994).

3.6.4 Globalization

Competition includes companies all over the world, rather than only with their
nearest located rivals.

“Taken together, these factors in many instances have made a hierarchical

organization an inappropriate solution to the market’s needs and have made
Virtual Organizations viable options”. (Fairchild, 2004)

Underlying all these trends is Information Technology, which enables an

organization to quickly gather, integrate and analyze large amounts of information,
and disseminate it accurately to consumers throughout the world. VOs could
probably exist without ICT, like general contractors have existed in the building
industry for generations. However, “its scope and the areas in which it operates
would be limited by time and space constraints” (Fairchild, 2004). This is also
reviewed by (Bleeker, 1994), who talks about the “unwired society” and how
employees will work independently of time and space constraints.

“It’s the age of emancipation. Time and space will collapse, and the barriers
to communications will fall away.” (Bleeker, 1994)

3.7 Benefits and Drawbacks

There are several reasons why VOs emerge, as depicted in the previous section.
The benefits of adopting the VO model have become more noticeable. This
section presents benefits and drawbacks identified by (Grimshaw & Kwok, 1998)
from a case study of established VOs. A discussion of strategic reasons for
organizing the business as a VO is also provided here.

3.7.1 Benefits

VOs extend the strategic reach of an organization. This involves extending the
scope and scale of opportunities that are available to the organization, quantified
by the factors size, time and space. A VO can help the companies within the
partnership to take advantage of emerging business opportunities they could not
have done alone because of limited size or lack of capital. As part of a VO, the
company could also respond more quickly and mobilize to take advantage of

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market opportunities. By strategically teaming up with other companies around the

world, a company can enter previously closed markets.

All the examples described above show how a VO breaks the size, time and
space constraints, broadens the strategic horizon and thereby offers great benefits
for the organizations.

The results of the case study by (Grimshaw & Kwok, 1998), identify the following
benefits within the investigated VOs:

• Increasing competitive capabilities

• Flexibility

• Greater responsiveness to market (customers)

• Improving customer service

• Cost benefits

• Improving communication and internal control

3.7.2 Drawbacks

The complexity of a VO has some implications for the organization, and brings the
following challenges according to the case studies in (Grimshaw & Kwok, 1998).

High costs
The main costs are related to investment in ICT and the subsequently high
operational costs, including training and maintenance. Looking at the general
trends in technology costs, this issue is likely to be of reducing significance.

Legal problems
VOs are established fast and efficiently to respond to market opportunities or
tackle specific projects. This can result in complex legal problems as the
boundaries between the organizations become vague or fluid. For instance, there
may be discussions on which partner holding the copyrights to the final design or
products.

Trust and respect issues

Trust and respect are one of the most important factors for a successful VO. This
applies both for knowledge sharing and the group dynamics for collaboration.
Again, the pace of VO establishment and geographical dispersion can imply
serious trust and respect issues. Empirical studies reveal that many companies
abandon co-operative arrangements due to problems with trust and control.

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Cultural issues
Co-operation in VOs may involve working across cultures. This is a big challenge
to many managers, and requires them to transfer their business policies and
culture to work with dispersed business teams - spanning organization,
geography, and cultures.

3.7.3 Discussion

According to (Goldman et al., 1995), the benefits offered by the VO concept

outclass the drawbacks. They suggest that the VO “is dramatically better than
business as usual for a network of companies sharing a business opportunity” and
propose six strategic reasons for adopting the VO model:

1. Sharing infrastructure, R&D, risk and costs

2. Linking complementary core competencies

3. Reducing concept to cash time through sharing

4. Increasing facilities and apparent size

5. Gaining access to markets, and sharing market or customer loyalty

6. Migrating from selling products to selling solutions

3.8 Typology of Virtual organizations

The list of characteristics provided in section 3.5 does not comply to every
organization referred to as a VO in the literature or in the industry and commerce.
It is therefore reasonable to think that VOs exist in many different forms of
business models. This section aims to provide an overview of the different kind of
VOs, describes the distinctions between them, and questions whether all of these
concept models really refer to what the “most common” interpretation of a VO is.
During the 1990’s the term Virtual Organization became a buzzword, possibly
resulting in businesses calling themselves VOs for marketing purposes.

3.8.1 Models of virtuality

Organizations denoted as VOs can be related to one of the six models of virtuality
suggested by (Burn et al., 1999).

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The Virtual Face

An easy way to describe a virtual face is that it is a cyberspace incarnation of a
non-virtual organization. These kinds of VOs are usually created to add value by
providing the same transactions and services to the customers over the Internet.
For instance, web shops or newspapers on the web. Figure 5 shows a model of
the virtual face, inspired by (Burn & Ash, 2000).

Figure 5: The Virtual Face

Co-alliance model
Shared partnerships where each partner brings approximately equal amounts of
commitment to the VO are denoted as the Co-alliance model. The partners form a
consortium, where the composition may change in order to reflect market
opportunities or the core competencies of each member. The links within the co-
alliance are usually contractual for permanent alliances, or by mutual convenience
on a project by project basis. Figure 6 shows a model of the co-alliance, inspired
by (Burn & Ash, 2000).

Figure 6: Co-alliance Model

Star-alliance model
Coordinated networks of interconnected members, where each member reflects a
core surrounded by satellite organizations, is the definition of a star-alliance model
(Burn & Ash, 2000). The core is normally a leading actor (star) in the market and

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supplies the members of the alliance with competency or expertise. Figure 7

shows a model of the star-alliance, inspired by (Burn & Ash, 2000).

Figure 7: Star-alliance Model

Value-alliance model
Based on the value or supply chain, the value-alliance model gathers a range of
products, services and facilities into one package. The coordination is normally
provided by the general contractor, but participants may also come together on a
project by project basis. In cases where longer term relationships have been
developed, the value alliance tends to adopt the form of constellations, with
complex strategic relations between the suppliers and the companies in the value
chain. Figure 8 shows a model of the value-alliance, inspired by (Burn & Ash,
2000).

Figure 8: Value-alliance Model

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Market-alliance model
Like the value-alliance model, the market-alliance also brings together a range of
products and services and facilities into one package. In this case, they may be
offered separately by individual organizations, and the market-alliance exists
primarily in cyberspace. The concept of virtual communities could also be related
to this model. Figure 9 shows a model of the market-alliance, inspired by (Burn &
Ash, 2000).

Figure 9: Market-alliance Model

Virtual broker
The virtual broker can be described as a designer of dynamic networks. Virtual
brokers seek strategic opportunities either as third-party value-added suppliers or
as a kind of information broker of specific business information services. This is
the most flexible purpose-built VO that is actually created to fill a window of
opportunity and is dissolved when that window is closed. When (Miles & Snow,
1986) introduced the concept of dynamic networks, they suggested that this kind
of network needed a coordinator, a net-broker. In (Snow et al., 1992), three net-
broker roles; architect, lead operator and caretaker have been identified.
Responsible for respectively the selection of suitable partners and web members,
the overall project management and maintenance, and supporting the process of
“learning to cooperate and cooperate to learn”. Figure 10 shows a model of the
virtual broker, inspired by (Burn & Ash, 2000).

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Figure 10: Virtual Broker

Summary of the virtual alliance models

Each of the presented alliances has a different degree of virtuality based on the
tensions related to autonomy and interdependence within the organization. A
measure of flexibility is the substitutability of the virtual links within the
organization to allow the creation of new competencies. (Burn & Ash, 2000)
present an overview of the different models with regards to the degree of virtuality.
This overview is shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11: Virtual alliance models (Burn & Ash, 2000)

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3.8.2 Types of VOs

The background for this section is the VO typology studies of (Bultje & van Wijk,
1998) and (Palmer & Speier, 1997), which have been widely adopted by
researchers. They are approaches towards classifying the organizations specified
as VOs in the literature.

The study by (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998) is based on previous work in (Campbell,
1997), and proposes a typology of VOs divided into four concepts; internal VO,
stable VO, dynamic VO and web-company.

Internal VO
This kind of VO could be described as one organization that aims at operating with
internal teams. The VO consists of several business units that are composed of
autonomous groups and teams. Management tasks are performed in a
decentralized manner, and the availability of employees from different places is
the key factor for the flexible structure of the organization.

Stable VO
The foundation for this kind of VO is the co-operation between different
organizations and it aims contracting non core-competencies out by a core
partner. The committed suppliers of core-competencies are closely related to the
core partner.

Dynamic VO
The dynamic VO co-operates on a large scale basis with other organizations.
Opportunism and temporality are the foundation for the relations between them.
Co-operation in these VOs are dependent on the occurrences of market
incentives, offering a great deal of flexibility to the organization.

Web-company
The web-company, or agile organizations, is a temporary network of specialized
organizations based on the use of Internet (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998). The Internet
is enabling the organization to offer their products and services on a global scale,
and the key factors for a well functioning organization are knowledge management
and knowledge sharing.

From the case study performed by (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998), the six companies
(also listed in Table 5) are distributed among the VO types as shown in Table 7.

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Table 7: Typology of VO in case study (Bultje & van Wijk, 1998)

Type Researched organizations

Internal VO -
Stable VO Nike, ING, Airbus
Dynamic VO TMG, Prolion
Web-company Amazon.com

The study by (Palmer & Speier, 1997) is a survey of 55 organizations employing

the virtual model. Through survey responses and additional background
information supplied by the organizations, they developed a typology of VOs
divided into four concepts; virtual teams, virtual projects, temporary VOs and
permanent VOs.

Virtual teams
The concept of virtual teams is generated by the internal organizational use of the
virtual concept, and is in use in a large variety of organizations. The virtual teams
normally come from specific functional, process or strategic business units within
a larger organization. This notion is strongly related to the concept of an internal
VO discussed previously.

Virtual projects
The concept of virtual projects is based on organizations that form alliances or
consortiums to bring complementary organizations together to meet market
opportunities. It is most common that the partnering organizations are based
around similar industries or company types.

Temporary VOs
The concept of temporary VOs is an extension of the virtual project design,
established to take on multiple projects and develop responses to a specific
market opportunity. This is in other words similar to the initial virtual organizational
model proposed by (Byrne, 1993) among others.

Permanent VO
The concept of permanent VOs is that the VO, from its inception, is designed to
bring together market players and respond to opportunities for both improved
revenue-generating activities as well as cost savings (Palmer & Speier, 1997).

During the case study performed by (Palmer & Speier, 1997), the respondents
identified the scope of their work, the projected length of time spent in virtual work,
types of projects, the range of involvement and the number of personnel involved.

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These criteria suggested the distinct VO types presented above, and Table 8 gives
a comparison of the VO types on the dimensions discussed.

Table 8: VO types comparison on multiple dimensions (Palmer & Speier, 1997)

Virtual teams Virtual projects Temporary VOs Permanent VOs

Range of Internal to an Across functions Across Across
involvement organizational and organizations Organizations
function or organizations
departmental
unit
Membership Small, local Indeterminate Typically larger Typically
smaller, but
scalable
Mission Teams on Multiple Multiple All functions and
specific, ongoing organizational functions full functionality
tasks representatives responding to a as a working
working on market organization
specific projects opportunity
Length of Membership Temporary Temporary Permanent
project varies, but form
is permanent
Use of IT Connectivity, Repository of Shared Channel for
sharing shared data infrastructure marketing and
embedded (databases, (groupware, distribution,
knowledge (e- groupware) WANs, remote replacing
mail, groupware) computing) physical
infrastructure
(Web, Intranet)

3.8.3 Inter-organizational partnerships vs. VOs

Table 9 presents the major differences between the VO concept (with the notion of
VO as a temporary network of complementary organizations) and other forms of
inter-organizational partnerships from organizational theory.

Table 9: Inter-organizational partnerships vs. VOs (Mertens & Faisst, 1996)

Difference in characteristics compared

Inter-organizational partnership
to a VO
Strategic Alliance - a less closed relationship
- hardly any virtual added value processes
- mainly formed by large corporations
- existence beside the core business
Conglomerate - dependency agreement
Cartel - aims to limit competition
Consortium - existence of formal agreements
Franchise - long lasting dependency agreement
Joint Venture - establishment of a new business
Keiretsu - stable membership of partners

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 Literature study

3.8.4 Summary of VO typology

The study of the VO typology shows that there are many different incarnations of
VOs. They all have a certain set of characteristics in common, and some that are
emphasized in that specific type of VO. For the rest of the study the focus will be
set on the dynamic view of VOs, with the interpretation of a VO as a temporary
network of modules: organizations, companies or individuals.

Figure 12 shows the concept of the dynamic organization, presented in the VO

model approach by (Saabel et al., 2002). It depicts three layers: a universe of
modules, a dynamic web of modules with common purpose, and a dynamic
organization within the dynamic web responding to a market opportunity or
demand.

Figure 12: Three layers in the VO model (Saabel et al, 2002)

Furthermore, (Saabel et al., 2002) provides an integrated model of the structure

and process perspective of a VO, presented in Figure 13. It transfers the module
view into the concept of VOs, denoting information technology as an essential part
of the organization. The model also defines the level of ownership among the
participants, in the three layers, to respectively: actors, members and partners.

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 Literature study

Figure 13: Model towards a Virtual Organization (Saabel et al., 2002)

3.9 Examples of Virtual Organizations

There are many different examples of VOs depicted in the literature, and some of
the most discussed VOs are:

• Rosenbluth International Alliance (cf. Miller et al., 1993)

• Virtuelle Fabrik (cf. Katzy et al., 1996)

• Sigma

The latter will be described in this section, along with a short discussion of issues
and experiences related to it. The example is included here because it relates the
concepts of project and VO, and it is easy to map the VO characteristics to this
organization.

Sigma is a training and consulting company operating nationwide in Germany. It

consists of freelancing consultants and trainers who build small or large teams to

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 Literature study

work on projects. The organization is considered what (Picot et al., 1996) describe
as a team-oriented VO. The partners in Sigma work geographical dispersed from
their home offices. Some work full-time or nearly full-time for Sigma, and others
are appointed temporarily if their core competencies are needed on a project.
Project managers staff a new project by recruiting from Sigma partners via
acquaintance or recommendation. The work processes within Sigma are further
described in section 3.10.

The organization applies to many of the VO characteristics. Projects are carried

out by legally independent freelancers, combining their core competencies for a
temporary project and selling the end-product to a customer under the label of
Sigma. The VO has a flat hierarchy, and communication and co-operation is
based on Information and Communication Technology, through a system called
SigSys.

(Rittenbruch et al., 1998) provide an empirical study of the organization, sharing

the experiences and suggestions to the design of technology extracted from their
in-depth interviews with Sigma partners. The problems identified during the
empirical studies are organized in two problem categories: lack of support with
regard to organizational requirements, and general problems regarding the use of
SigSys. Table 10 presents an overview of the problems related to the use of
SigSys.

Table 10: Experienced problems with SigSys

Problem category Problems Causing factors

Lack of support with Provision of internal Visibility of activities, decisions, and

regard to organizational information organization structure.
requirements
Establishment of teams Availability of skill information.

Coordination of No direct support for coordination,

activities except e-mail and discussion groups.

Availability of Independent freelancers, thus not

organizational obliged to provide general resources
resources to the rest of the organization.

General problems Motivational factors Acceptance of the system, and lack

regarding the use of of participation. Subjective system
SigSys relevance.

Heterogeneity of use Variety of how the partners used the

system. Request for appointments
only gave a few responses.

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 Literature study

The experiences from this study serve as a model for designing ICT for these
kinds of VOs today. Many of these problems are also discussed as challenges to
concurrent engineering in section 5.2.

3.10 Knowledge Management / Work processes

Knowledge Management (KM) is closely related to the concept of VOs. The widely
accepted working definition of KM is available from the WWW Virtual Library on
Knowledge Management1:

"Knowledge Management caters to the critical issues of organizational

adaptation, survival, and competence in face of increasingly discontinuous
environmental change... Essentially, it embodies organizational processes
that seek synergistic combination of data and information processing capacity
of information technologies, and the creative and innovative capacity of
human beings." (www.kmnetwork.com)

3.10.1 Knowledge Management and VOs

The founder of this library, Dr. Yogesh Malhotra, provides discussions on different
issues related to KM and VOs in (Malhotra, 2000). The core competencies in VOs
are mostly human capital, or the knowledge the partners bring into the
organization. KM is about making the best use of the knowledge that is available
to an organization, and creating new knowledge in the process.

(Lemken et al., 2000) describe VOs as typical knowledge organizations, and

present a list of reasons why these organizations depend heavily on effective KM:

• They are competitive by bundling capabilities and competencies, and selling

their know-how.

• The knowledge resources of participants are unknown at the start of

collaboration.

• People leave the organization and take their knowledge with them.

• Recently acquired know-how is difficult to preserve at the end of collaboration.

• Different viewpoints and requirements of partners make it difficult to represent

knowledge.

1. WWW Virtual Library on Knowledge Management: http://www.kmnetwork.com

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 Literature study

Further, (Lemken et al., 2000) point out reasons why KM in VOs is difficult:

• Work is carried out under high time pressure.

• The dynamic and organizational structure inhibits establishing an infrastructure

for knowledge sharing.

• For each partner, knowledge sharing is coupled with the risk of losing
competitive advantages.

• Temporally limited co-operation leads to knowledge lost at the end of a work

relation.

Storing the knowledge in the organization can be thought of as a kind of

organizational memory. This term was introduced by (Stein & Zwass, 1995), and
later discussed in (Schwartz et al., 2000) regarding VOs.

3.10.2 Knowledge sharing in Sigma

Sigma, the team-based VO presented in section 3.9, is discussed as a case study

in (Lemken et al., 2000) with regards to KM, describing the work processes of this
VO in more detail.

The organization started as a small network of people who knew each other
personally, and gathered in person, by phone or fax to share ideas about
collaboration and working practices. The expert network grew, and newcomers
made their way into the organization by personal acquaintance with a Sigma
member, who guided them and served as their primary contacts. The increasing
growth and geographic distribution gradually made it more difficult to rely on
personal acquaintance for all members. This resulted in the establishment of
regional branches driven by the same goals and ideas as the whole organization.
However, this separation led to different cultures emerging in the branches,
requiring a system to control the information flow in the organization. The bulletin
board system SigSys was introduced to provide the members with discussion
groups to exchange information.

The knowledge sharing are mostly performed by members pulling information and
know-how of other members. The tools for information transfer are mostly phone
calls or internet-based e-mail. This mutual exchange of information and
knowledge works twofold according to (Lemken et al., 2000), because the
communication partners receive as much information as they provide, and the
personal relationship between the partners is enforced.

Sigma later introduced an Internet knowledge base for the whole organization by
the name “Ariadne’s Thread”, where all the partners can pull digitized information
and knowledge. While SigSys serves for every day group communication, the

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 Literature study

knowledge base serves as an information repository. Together they improve the

communication and coordination in the VO, and arrange for a more effective
sharing of knowledge.

One of the enabling factors are according to (Lemken et al., 2000), the ability to
build flexible teams. They point out two factors essential to support the
establishment of teams, namely providing information about skills and experience,
and providing support mechanisms to negotiate the appointment of a partner.

The most interesting experiences with this organization are to see how a living
tradition of oral and personal information distribution cannot simply be replaced by
introducing computer-mediated communication and information systems. Mutual
information exchange is not granted as the technical systems provide a more
anonymous access. (Lemken et al, 2000) conclude that “to achieve sustained
knowledge management, all members and levels of the organization must
cooperate”. This is made possible if everyone is participating in a process of
developing common goals, values and procedures. They emphasize that
knowledge sharing requires mutual trust, and further state that “by providing
transparency about ongoing activities and openness for participation from all
members, a trustful environment is created”.

3.11 Modeling of the Virtual organization

To improve the understanding of the VO concept, models can be developed that

describe the different aspects to this type of networked organizations. There are
certain assumptions made in traditional organizational modeling, especially with
regards to interoperability, which do not hold in the case of VO modeling. For
instance, same infrastructure, standards, environment, networking reliability,
meaning of roles, are such assumptions.

3.11.1 Situation today

Europe is leading the research on the topic, and there is a growing awareness that
the VO developments should be based on contributions of a multidisciplinary
nature, from information and communication technologies, socio-economic,
operations research, organizational, business management, legal, social security,
and ethical area, among others.

The situation of VO modeling is summarized in (Camarinha-Matos & Abreu,

2003):

• The lack of rigorous and well-founded methods for collaborative networks,

collaborative decision-making and collaborative behavior modeling. The focus
on short term results and lack of recognition of VO modeling as a scientific
discipline in its own right have had a negative effect in effectiveness of results.

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 Literature study

• There are few VO reference models that have achieved wide acceptance.

• Most available modeling methods and tools were developed with single
(potentially distributed enterprises) in mind and are not suitable for VO.

• Methods for integrating different models that offer partial solutions are missing.

• Existing approaches to model the social and human capital aspects in

collaborative networks (soft modeling) are of poor quality.

• There is little support for dynamic ontology creation and maintenance in a

networked environment.

3.11.2 Modeling viewpoints

(Camarinha-Matos & Abreu, 2003) identify and characterize different modeling

viewpoints of a VO. This work was performed to partition the VO modeling
problem in more tractable sub-problems. Figure 14 visualizes four complementary
modeling viewpoints of a VO: relationships model, roles model, process model
and deontic/values model.

Figure 14: Modeling viewpoints of a VO (Camarinha-Matos & Abreu, 2003)

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 Literature study

Relationship model
This model describes the inter-relationship that can occur between components
within a network. For instance, the following relationships can be identified: control
relationships (identify the authority structure within a network), dependence
relationships (identify the topologic dependences between agents), ownership
relationships (define the boundaries of each agent), and peer relationships
(identify agents at the same level).

Roles model
This model describes all roles and their positioning within the network structure. A
role model implicitly defines a topology of interactions and can describe a network
structure in terms of “master role” and “slave role”.

Process model
This model focuses in dynamic courses of events. Some generic concepts such as
activity and actor, time dependencies such as equal, during, starts, finishes, and
resource-related perspectives such as necessary, sufficient, have to exist.

Deontic/values model
This model defines constraints for all agents within a network at different levels,
such as: computational level (interoperability constraints), organizational level
(behavior constraints), economic level (financial constraints), and operational level
(dependencies among tasks).

3.11.3 VO reference models

There are numerous existing modeling approaches available today, and they
mostly include a definition of a reference model. The reference models support the
full range of needs from strategic business management to organizational design,
Enterprise Software implementation and software development. The following four
models were pointed out by (Katzy & Sung, 2003) as potentially useful reference
examples:

• The St. Gallen Management Model - general management model.

• Value System Designer - organizational process development.

• GERAM and related initiatives (e.g. VERAM, CIMOSA) - enterprise integration

and system design/enactment.

• Rosettanet - information system integration.

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 Literature study

Figure 15 shows the positioning of the modeling approaches with regard to their
inherent modeling purposes.

Figure 15: Positioning of modeling approaches

It is a matrix with one dimension being target user (human actors versus computer
systems), and the other domain being the type of usage (understanding the
enterprise versus enacting it). The model can be viewed as the lower and further
left the objective for modeling is positioned, the simpler and easier the models are
considered. On the other hand, if the objective is placed in the upper right corner,
the more detailed and accurate the models need to be.

The St. Gallen Management Model

The St. Gallen Management Model was first presented in (Ulrich & Krieg, 1974)
and later refined by (Rüegg-Stürm, 2001). The model structures the organization
into different important elements, distinguishing configuration from process and
evolutionary views of VO modeling. It takes consideration of the context, main
stakeholders and their interactions of relevance for the VO (resources, norms and
values, concerns and interests) or the environment (society, nature, technology,
economy).

Value System Designer

The Value System Designer (VSD) is an approach to management-oriented
business process modeling. It was developed as part of the EU-project TELEflow
for designing the processes for new businesses, such as VOs. The model serves
as a reference model towards educating the users about typical process flows and
to provide a type of checklist of important process elements when modeling the
business.

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 Literature study

GERAM
Generalized Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology (GERAM) was
developed by the IFIP-IFAC task force on Enterprise Integration, analyzing the
reference models: CIMOSA, PERA and GRAI-GIM. The model is most recently
described in (Bernus, 2002), and it is a generalization of existing architectures and
other necessary elements. It facilitates the unification of methods of several
disciplines, such as methods of industrial engineering, management science,
control engineering, communication and information technology. The important
characteristic of GERAM is that it has support for network of enterprises, and its
scope can be either part of an enterprise, a single enterprise or a network of
enterprises.

Rosettanet
Rosettanet1 is a non-profit consortium of more than 500 organizations working on
developing and implementing open e-business standards and services. It
comprises world-leading companies in electronic components, information
technology, logistics, semiconductor manufacturing, solution provider and
telecommunications. The project delivers definitions called partner interface
processes (PIP), which define standards for data exchange between companies,
covering all business to business processes. The reference models are Internet-
enabled and based on XML, and are according to (Katzy & Sung, 2003) an
interesting approach to modeling open VOs.

3.12 Summary

This chapter has presented an overview of the literature related to VOs, and has
given answers to the research questions presented in section 1.3. It is not the
intention of this literature study to provide yet another definition of the concept.
However, as guidance to the reader, our interpretation of the core concepts of this
domain is presented below.

The interpretation of a VO, as a result of this literature study, is presented in Figure

16. The model is an extension of the “relations of core concepts of Virtual
Enterprise” model in (Camarinha-Matos et al., 2003). The new features are the
core concepts of a contract, represented by a collection of documents, information
and communication technology as a separate core concept, and the dynamic
characterization of the network. The reason for including the concept of a contract
is based on the contemporary research on VOs described in the next chapter. It
also serves as an abstract collaboration agreement between actors in a mobile
environment, which will be examined in the latter part of this report.

1. Rosettanet: http://www.rosettanet.org

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 Literature study

Figure 16: Interpretation of the VO concept

The core concepts of the model are: Organization or individual, Dynamic network,
Virtual Organization, Information and Communication Technology, Product or
service, and Customer. The concept of Contract is modeled as a set of documents
describing the concept as an abstract collection of “documents” that constitute the
rules and standards for the co-operation in the VO.

The circuit of the model aims to describe the life cycle of the organization, from the
customer (representing the market opportunity) interacting with the individual or
organization, initiating the dynamic network that forms the VO, which again uses
ICT to support the delivery of a product or service to the customer.

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 Literature study

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 VO research initiatives

4. VO research initiatives

This chapter is meant to give an insight in which challenges and issues that have
presently caught researchers attention within the field of Virtual Organizations, by
presenting an overview of actual research consortiums and their work.

4.1 VOmap

To continue the development in the research on virtual organizations there has

been created a European consortium called VOmap1 with the aim at identifying
and characterizing the key research challenges needed to fulfill their vision,
required constituency, and the implementation model for a comprehensive
European initiative on dynamic collaborative virtual organizations. The VOmap
project had the objective of establishing a strategic research roadmap for
advanced virtual organizations. This section gives a short overview of the vision
and the roadmap for the future advanced VOs.

4.1.1 Vision

The VOmap vision statement is developed to create new opportunities for

businesses to become more competitive in the future global market, and more
innovative and risk taking.

“In 2015 the majority of organizations and individuals will be part of

sustainable collaborative networks that will act as breeding environments for
the formation of dynamic virtual organizations, in response to fast changing
economic and social conditions.” (Camarinha-Matos, 2003)

The vision further focuses on providing:

• Well-founded models of collaboration.

• Management systems for breeding environments replicable to a large variety of

sectors.

• Generic and invisible infrastructure and re-utilizable service toolbox, based on

interoperability standardization.

• Extensive use of pervasive computing.

• VO management principles adapted to emerging behavior in complex

networks.

1. VOmap: http://www.vomap.org

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 VO research initiatives

• Accepted mechanisms to handle innovation and new value systems.

• Social responsibility, including “life maintenance”.

• Better understanding and handling of VO-related cultural/regional issues.

• Definition of moral/ethical code for VOs.

• Comprehensive (international) legal frameworks for VOs.

“As a result, a strong and cohesive social fabric is built in response to

turbulence and uncertainty.” (Camarinha-Matos, 2003)

The consortium has instantiated their vision into five main contributing areas: the
socio-economic, the business model, the ICT infrastructure, the support services,
and the formal theories and models (see Figure 17).

Figure 17: The VOmap vision (Camarinha-Matos, 2003)

4.1.2 The roadmap

The implementation of the roadmap is divided in three phases:

• Research and Development (R&D)

• Trials

• Broad deployment

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 VO research initiatives

The phases do not happen in a strict sequential order, but partially overlap. The
schedule of implementation is presented in Figure 18.

Figure 18: The VOmap roadmap (Camarinha-Matos, 2003)

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 VO research initiatives

This figure gives an overview of which issues and tasks that will occupy the VO
research in the future, and is included in this report to describe the status of VO
research today.

4.1.3 The consortium

The VOmap consortium consists of a set of core partners and a large support
group composed of enterprises (SMEs1 and large companies), sector
associations, governmental and non-governmental organizations and other
entities with a strong interest in VO development in Europe. An overview is
presented in Figure 19.

Figure 19: The VOmap consortium (www.vomap.org)

4.2 TrustCoM

The project TrustCoM2 was established as a European consortium in the end of

2003 to provide dynamically evolving virtual organizations with a framework for
trust, security and contract management,

4.2.1 The mission

The mission of the TrustCoM integrated project is to:

1. SMEs: Small and Medium Enterprises

2. TrustCoM: http://www.eu-trustcom.com

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 VO research initiatives

“provide a trust and contract management framework enabling the definition

and secure enactment of collaborative business processes within Virtual
Organizations that are formed on-demand, self-managing and evolve
dynamically, sharing computation, data, information and knowledge across
enterprise boundaries, in order to tackle collaborative projects that their
participants could not undertake individually or to collectively offer services to
customers that could not be provided by the individual enterprises.” (www.eu-
trustcom.com)

To achieve this mission, TrustCoM will conduct multidisciplinary research into

complex, adaptive and self-organizing systems.

4.2.2 The objectives

The first objective of the TrustCoM project is to develop the TrustCoM framework
defining the architecture, mechanisms and core elements needed for on-demand
creation of dynamically evolving scalable VOs. The framework will be supporting:

• Establishment of trust relationships.

• Autonomic security (confidentiality/privacy, integrity, availability, accountability).

• Formation, verification, negotiation and amendment of electronic contracts.

• Performance assessment in execution of electronic contracts, and enforcement

of trust and security management policies.

The conceptual model of the TrustCoM framework is presented in Figure 20.

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 VO research initiatives

Figure 20: The TrustCoM framework, conceptual model (www.eu-trustcom.com)

The figure gives an overview of the TrustCoM model, and emphasizes that the
foundations of the system are technology, financial and economic issues, and
social and legal issues. It describes the three architectural levels: computational,
service, and enterprise. On the top, security management, trust management, and
contract management provide the secure collaborative business.

In addition to the development of the framework, the TrustCoM project aims to

develop software tools, and to define and document software engineering
methods and resources to assist systems instantiating the framework. They will
also provide important contributions in the area of trust and security for networked
businesses and governments, and develop new business and socio-economic
models necessary to establish stable VOs.

4.2.3 The consortium

The TrustCoM consortium consists of end-users, technology and service

providers, and experts in computing, economics and law, from industry,
government and academia, who are actively involved in the development of
technology and frameworks related to VOs. An overview is presented in Figure 21.

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 VO research initiatives

Figure 21: The TrustCoM consortium (www.eu-trustcom.com)

4.3 Other research

European research establishments are highly acknowledged on a global scale

within the field of Virtual Organizations and the Networked Organizations domain.
Appendix A contains an overview of the ongoing projects within this domain.

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 VO research initiatives

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 Enabling technologies

5. Enabling technologies

This chapter provides a brief overview of some of the available technologies that
are relevant for enabling collaboration in a VO, and discuss the role of ICT.

5.1 Introduction

Through the last decade, the Internet has brought a new dimension to the way we
communicate and exchange information, and the way we collaborate in work
processes. The Internet has made a remarkable impact on society, and today it is
enabling members in an organization to collaborate independently of time and
space barriers. This can be referred to as e-collaboration (Fong, 2004). People
are adopting the technology and using the online activities enabled by the Internet
in a much larger scale than before. Companies are also looking at the power of the
Internet for e-collaboration to create value (Fong, 2004). The simple illustration in
Figure 22, adapted from (Fong, 2004), shows the types of online activities
undertaken by the Internet users, both adults and children.

Examples:
- Online shopping
Examples:
- Online banking
- Internet telephony
- Online bills payment
- Email
- Teleworking Co - Chatroom
cs so mm
asi cia un
liz ica
B a ti ti o
o n n/

Examples:
- Expression of rights
t
en
tai on/

- Channel for protest

nm

- Feedback
Vo

Examples:
i
en reat
ice

- Pursuing hobbies
ter
c

- Sharing interests
Re

- Casino gaming

Education/
Self-development
Examples:
- Sharing of ideas/knowledge
- School assignment tools
- Teaching aid
- Postings to a newsgroup
- Research
- Reading news

Figure 22: Types of online activities

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 Enabling technologies

The culture of using online activities for collaboration is the foundation for
increased use of e-collaboration in companies and an important factor for the
emerging of VOs.

5.2 Collaborative Engineering Communities

A Virtual Community is good way to organize semi-formal work interactions

between people, dispersed in time and space, collaborating in product
development as a VO. This concept is well-known from open source software
engineering, but is also used to a great extent in commercial engineering.

“Communities can be defined as an association of singles (agents) that share

a common language, values and interests and that communicate with each
other in roles using electronic media.” (Gronau, 2004)

(Gronau, 2004) describes different mechanisms of interaction between people

working in distributed systems, and defines a typology for this kind of
communities.

Communication
Communication is defined as exchange of information, where information is
considered purpose or target oriented data in the field of business information
systems (Gronau, 2004).

Coordination
Coordination is related to the mechanisms that are needed to handle complex
economic systems and to fulfill the system’s purpose. The aim of coordination is to
integrate the actions of elements and subsystems to reach the goals of the whole
system (Gronau, 2004).

Co-operation
Co-operation can be defined as the shared production of goods or services
between distributed agents, organizational units or organizations (Gronau, 2004).

Collaboration
The three described mechanisms of interaction, communication, coordination and
co-operation, are fulfilled by single elements of distributed systems. (Gronau,
2004) relates the term collaboration to the special case of co-operation when
distributed task agents perform a common execution of an action or a set of
actions at the same object. For instance, several people working on the same
document.

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 Enabling technologies

The typology of communities is provided through a differentiation of groups based

on their interaction and their identity. Figure 23, adapted from (Gronau, 2004),
shows an overview of the technologies supporting the different communities.

Intensity
of interaction

collaboration

co-operation
Groupware

coordination Portals

communication Newsgroups

information Homepages Intranets

anonymous nickname known authenticated

Indentity
of participant

Figure 23: Differentiation of groups using interaction and identity

Homepages typically contain static information that can be accessed

anonymously. They provide pure information and have a low degree of interaction.

Intranets are collections of information formatted as web pages for internal

organizational use. Intranets are mostly maintained by content management
systems (CMS). These systems allow categorization and index generation of its
contents.

Portals allow an individual access to different information storage vaults like

electronic mail, groupware, calendaring systems, document management
systems, databases and enterprise resource planning systems. The advantage of
portals is that they allow a unique ubiquitous access for a broad range of different
applications.

Newsgroups are a tool for communication between the community members. The
information, sometimes controlled by a moderator, can be exchanged between
certain or all group members.

Groupware is software that is supporting groups of people working on the same

information independent of time or space. The software connects groups over a

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 Enabling technologies

network, and typically include services for sharing calendars, collective writing, e-
mail handling, shared database access, electronic meetings with each person
able to see and display information to others, and other activities (Gronau, 2004).

Figure 24 shows the categorization of collaborative engineering communities,

adapted from (Gronau, 2004).

Intensity
of interaction
es
u niti
mm
collaboration g Co
rin
ginee
En
co-operation a t ive
or
llab Groupware
Co

coordination Portals

communication Newsgroups

information Homepages Intranets

anonymous nickname known authenticated

Indentity
of participant

Figure 24: Categorization of collaborative engineering communities

In addition to several services provided by standard groupware, a system for

collaborative engineering communities requires functions for dealing with many
different challenges of concurrent engineering in VOs. Table 11 gives an overview
of the challenges identified by (Gronau, 2004).

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 Enabling technologies

Table 11: Challenges in concurrent engineering

Interaction Challenge Description

Communication Information exchange The development engineers need easy access

to all the information needed for their
development task.

Networking and distribution Information has to be exchanged across

company borders. Firewalls, limited bandwidth
and unreliable connections must be covered.

Product Data Model Different tools in different companies may lead

to incompatible models. The semantic of the
models may also vary between the companies.

Semantics Team members may use different ontologies

and terminology for their communication.

Coordination Setting up the team The different competencies and capabilities

must be taken into account when setting up a
virtual team.

Planning and scheduling Dynamic process generation requires project

management tasks to be fulfilled, considering
for instance available resources at what time
and the profiles of the people involved.

Collaboration Collaborative modeling The modeling tools must support multi-user

work in addition to private vaults for individual
work.

Collaborative decision making Reasoning and negotiation must be assisted in

an efficient way, and decisions must be
communicated to all participants.

Teaming and sharing The teams are defined dynamically according

to the requirements of the actual development
phase. The infrastructure for information
exchange must be set up quickly to share and
manipulate design information.

5.3 Computer Supported Cooperative Work

The previous discussion of technologies can be defined under the collective term
Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). While some authors consider
CSCW and groupware as synonyms, others claim that groupware refers to the
real computer-based systems, and that CSCW focuses on the study of tools and

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 Enabling technologies

techniques of groupware as well as their psychological, social and organizational

effects. The differences between these two concepts are expressed in the
following way:

“CSCW is a generic term, which combines the understanding of the way

people work in groups with the enabling technologies of computer
networking, and associated hardware, software, services and techniques.“
(Wilson, 1991)

There is a unity in the literature on the main challenges of CSCW in VOs as

enabling the members to build trust and a shared understanding. These
challenges are related to the concept of social capital, described by (Riemer &
Klein, 2003). While individual excellence, in terms of human intellectual capital, is
the foundation for a VO, social capital is a necessary complement for collaboration
in a VO to succeed. Figure 25 shows how (Riemer & Klein, 2003) see the
requisites for successful collaboration in a VO.
Human capital

Domain knowledge
Individual
training & Management skills Competence
learning
Social skills
Successful
Ability
Collaboration
Social capital

Shared understanding

Group Willingness
Norms, obligations
formation Motivation

Trust

Figure 25: Successful VO collaboration

Individual training and learning form the human capital, and the group formation
constitutes the social capital of the organization. These two concepts complement
each other and form competence, ability and motivation in the organization,
thereby making the conditions for successful collaboration.

Technology for protecting, maintaining and developing the human capital is

available today in many different systems, as described in section 5.2. Social
capital, on the other hand, is a major issue for many researchers. There has been
a lot of different contributions to the topic of trust and staffing in VOs, and among
the most recent and interesting publications are (Kasper-Fuehrer & Ashkanasy,
2001; Harvey et al., 2004; Jarvenpaa & Shaw, 1998; Norman et al, 2004; Panteli,
2002; Panteli, 2003; Shin, 2004; Skyrme, 1999).

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 Enabling technologies

A way to support trust in virtual environments is related to the concept of a

contract. This is discussed by (Perrin, 2004) among others, proposing a model for
contracts in VOs. Trust and contract management are also the key elements of the
framework that is being developed in the TrustCoM project described in section
4.2.

The importance of the social issues is verified by analyzing case studies in the
literature. The results of the empirical studies of (Rittenbruch et al., 1998) and
(Bosch-Sijtsema, 2002) stress the importance of CSCW supporting and covering
the challenges of concurrent engineering presented in Table 11.

As indicated by (Handy, 1995), physical presence of people help foster trust in

organizations. Hence, some of the most valuable technologies in VOs are those
enabling virtual presence of team members, for instance video conferencing,
instant messaging and mobile communication.

5.4 Ubiquitous and Mobile computing

Ubiquitous computing is the term for integrating computation in the environment,

rather than having computers which are distinct objects. The concept was founded
by the late Mark Weiser, who provided his visions of the future (cf. Weiser, 2002).
It is sometimes also referred to as pervasive computing.

One of the ultimate goals of ubiquitous computing is to enable devices to sense

changes in their environment and automatically adapt and act according to these
changes based on our needs and preferences. This future environment is referred
to as proactive computing1, and it is predicted to be the next era of computing. As
the number of devices in our surroundings increase, it will become impossible to
interact directly with each one of them.

The vision of this future scenario requires a lot of developments in technology,

machine learning and artificial intelligence. However, one of the first steps is to
integrate lots of sensors and actuators in the physical environment. This is one of
the main research issues in ubiquitous computing today. It is focused around
providing high bandwidth at any location, and arranging for ad hoc networking.

5.4.1 Ad hoc Networking

A mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a self-configuring network of mobile routers

connected by wireless links. The union of these forms an arbitrary topology, which
may change rapidly and unpredictably. Table 12 shows the properties of ad hoc
networking, adapted from (Thonet, 2004).

1. Intel’s Exploratory Research: http://www.intel.com/research/exploratory

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 Enabling technologies

Table 12: Properties of ad hoc networking

Property Description
Self-organization The network does not rely on a static infrastructure.
Network management is not centralized but distributed
across the nodes.
Co-operation Each node acts like a relay allowing data to be
forwarded on a multi-hop basis. Nodes need to be “fair
with each other”.
Flexibility The network is formed on demand and grows upon
need. Nodes can join and leave the network anytime
and anywhere.
Self-healing Re-routing is automatically performed when the
network topology changes. There should not be any
single point of failure.

These networks either work in a standalone fashion, or may be connected to the

Internet. This configuration is also known as packet radio networks, mesh
networks, parasitic networks, and guerilla networks. (Thonet, 2004)

There are several different small-scale architectures available for ad hoc

networking:

• Low power sensor networks (ZigBee1).

• Small size networks, cable replacement (Bluetooth2).

• Small to medium-size, mobile networks (WLAN3).

Large-scale architectures are being developed to enhance the implementation of

ad hoc networks:

• Ubiquitous sensor networks (“Smart Dust”, cf. Satyanarayanan, 2003)

• Integration of multiple technologies.

5.4.2 Mobile computing

Mobile Computing is, according to (Forman & Zahorjan, 1994), “the use of a
portable computer capable of wireless networking”. When looking at the trends
toward VOs (section 3.6), concepts like pace and globalization are mentioned.
These trends, along with mobility and flexibility, characterize the workplace today.

1. ZigBee: http://www.zigbee.org
2. Bluetooth: http://www.bluetooth.com
3. Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN): http://www.wlan.org

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 Enabling technologies

Mobile computing offers, along with ad hoc networking, the ability to work
anywhere, anytime. Nomadic computing, as this often is referred to, enables more
efficient workers, and creates new work processes. In the literature, these workers
are called mobile workers, road warriors or remote workers.

5.4.3 Summary

Ubiquitous and Mobile computing are important enabling technologies in the

context of this report. Microprocessors, sensors and tags combined with
continuous Internet connectivity, make objects intelligent and interactive, and
enable what is referred to as Silent Commerce1. Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) is the one of the main enablers of an intelligent environment, where
everyday objects are turned into intelligent actors through the use of RFID tags as
a sort of advanced barcode. This technology is expected to revolutionize the way
we collaborate and interact with the environment, and creates new opportunities
and applications for collaborative business environments. Direct or indirect
support to work processes from the surroundings, can make them more efficient,
create a safer work environment, and possibly be a way to interconnect the actors
in VOs.

1. Silent Commerce: http://www.rfida.com/nb/silent.htm

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 Enabling technologies

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Part III

Own contribution
 Problem elaboration

6. Problem elaboration

This chapter contains an elaboration of the problem definition for this research
contribution.

6.1 Introduction

Through a creative analysis of different scenarios, new organizational forms will

be compared to the VO taxonomy. By challenging the way we look at VOs today,
the contribution can make progress in this field of research. The work will be
related to scenarios of everyday collaboration, and features a comparison to the
VOs depicted in the literature, and their characteristics. More precisely, the
analysis is the result of transferring the discussion of VOs from a business
perspective and applying it to more mobile and informal ad hoc collaboration
environments.

6.2 Scenarios

This section elaborates on the problem definition for the latter part of the report,
and describes the work processes of this contribution.

Apply the knowledge of VOs to mobile environments

The overall focus in this contribution is to relate the concept of VOs to the context
of the report, mobile work, and how work processes in mobile computing
environments can be improved and assessed.

Analyze the work processes in these environments

Scenario analysis is used to describe the environments with respect to actors,
activities, roles, and rules for co-operation. This part also evaluates the role of
technology in the environment, and describes how the users interact with the
technological facilities.

Analyze the new organizational forms related to the VO taxonomy

The characteristics of the organizations in these environments are compared to
the VO characteristics extracted from the literature. The analysis is discussed in
relations to the VO taxonomy, and experiences from work in VOs are applied to
mobile computing environments.

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 Problem elaboration

Enabling technologies
The scenarios are analyzed with regards to enabling technologies, and a
discussion of how technology can improve and assess the work processes is
provided. The role of technology is evaluated not only as a supporting tool, but
also as being an actor and part of the organization.

Describe future trends of collaboration

Future trends are discussed according to the results of the scenario analysis, and
enabling technologies. This part focuses on challenges and issues that need to be
further examined in research, and describes opportunities for more efficient work
processes in future mobile computing environments.

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 Scenarios

7. Scenarios

This part of the report presents different scenarios from everyday life, identified for
the discussion of VOs. The selection is a set of scenarios that, at first sight, give a
resemblance to the description of a VO, based on its characteristics.

7.1 Introduction

The scenarios are described with regards to actors, roles, activities and goals. A
discretional comparison between the scenario and the VO characteristics is also
provided, along with a discussion of enabling technologies for each scenario.

When discussing the VO characteristics in the scenarios, a reference to the

specific characteristics are provided in parenthesis. Due to the mobile and
dynamic nature of the scenarios, and the actors for the most part being
individuals, the following characteristic are considered fulfilled and omitted from
the VO discussions: small sized partners (OC1).

The description and analysis of the following scenarios are basically based on our
knowledge of the domains. However, we have performed qualitative studies for
some of the scenarios to provide a better approach to the domain and a credible
and realistic description.

7.2 Traffic accident

This scenario is related to the course of events at the scene of a traffic accident
when organizing a rescue operation.

7.2.1 Description

The organization of the rescue action is initialized either by one of the involved,
possibly injured, an eyewitness, or the first person to arrive the site of the
accident. The line of actions starts when this initializer evaluates the condition of
the patients and performs an emergency phone call. This involves the rescue
party in the organization, and the following procedure of operation is a worked in
line of action.

7.2.2 Participants

The scenario involves the following actors: the injured persons, the rescue
initializer, the coordinator at the emergency call center, the policemen blocking the
road to prevent more accidents and leading the on-site operation, the firemen

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 Scenarios

putting out any fires and helping to release the injured from the car wreck, the
ambulance personnel medically treating the injured, spectators and eyewitnesses.

7.2.3 VO comparison

This organization is working towards a common goal: rescue the injured, bring
them safely to the hospital and save lives. Secondary goals involve: investigating
the accident, clearing the scene, and handling the spectators and news reporters
in a good way (see section 7.3). The life time of this organization is temporary
(OC15), starting with the identification of the scene and ending when the injured
arrives at the hospital. The independent actors (KC2) with core competencies
(KC1) and different areas of responsibility are brought into the organization at the
most sensible time (OC10) to make it run smoothly and achieve their common
goal. The participation of spectators and eyewitnesses make the boundaries of the
organization vague or fluid (OC2).

The line of action in these emergencies is well-known to all the actors in the
organization. All members are aware of their responsibility, and the co-operation is
based on trusting (OC6) that the other actors do their best to complete the
mission. Due to the spontaneous establishment of the emergency organization,
the actors may never have cooperated with one another before, thus having semi-
stable relations (OC3). They all have shared loyalty (OC9) to the desire of saving
lives, and to certain extent shared ownership (OC7) in the organization. Their
attendance in this organization has only partial mission overlap (OC17) with their
normal activities, with the exception of the coordinator at the emergency call
center. Equality of partners (OC16) is not as explicit in this organization as in many
others. Although the actors are highly dependent of each other, the police control
the progress at the site of the accident and decides when to transport the injured
to the hospital in agreement with the ambulance personnel. Since the police,
along with the ambulance personnel, have the highest influence on the outcome of
the situation and the success of the operation, they are considered the core
partners of the organization. Shared leadership (OC8), to a certain extent,
corresponds to this organization as the leadership shifts among the participants
over time. First, the initiator takes control and leads the operation until the
emergency call center takes over the leadership. They request assistance from
the police who take leadership of the operation.

The organization is active from the time that the initiator makes the phone call to
the emergency call center (KC4). Thus, the actors are geographically dispersed
(OC12) for the major part of the time the organization exists. The organization of
the actors also leads to a clear distinction between the strategical and operational
level (KC6). The coordinator has an overview of the needs, while the actors at the
site of the accident fulfill the needs. Through an abstraction, the organization can
be viewed as customer based (OC14) as it changes with the needs of the patient.

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 Scenarios

This type of organization also lacks some of the VO characteristics. It is not

dependent neither on innovation (OC11) nor opportunism (OC4), and the actors
can not directly be considered as having shared risks (OC5) in the organization.
There exists a hierarchy (KC5) in the organization, and due to the formal
composition there is a kind of organization chart (OC13) for this scenario. The
core partners can be referred to by the collective term emergency unit, however
the organization do not have one identity (KC3).

7.2.4 Roles and rules

In this scenario the roles are almost completely defined in advance. The actors
contributing with their core competencies on the site of the accident, are highly
trained personnel with drilled skills for handling this kind of operation. The special
case in this scenario is the role as the initiator. This person is normally expected to
know the procedure of first aid and where to call for assistance. This is an abstract
set of rules that is considered common knowledge. However, the stress related to
this scene, often result in a improvised handling of the situation, and a pragmatic
behavior towards the rules. For instance, in Norway there are three different
emergency phone numbers (110, 112, 113) directed to respectively the fire
department, the police and the ambulance service. When the initiator is reporting
the accident, he often mixes the phone numbers together, possibly calling the
police instead of the ambulance. This requires the technology to provide an easy
transfer to the correct department. In the US, this problem is covered by offering a
single emergency phone number that is common for all departments, 911.

7.2.5 Technology

The fact that the actors are geographically dispersed for the major part of the
operation, require a highly reliable communication system and a comprehensive
use of information and communication technology to enable the coordination of
such an essential operation. Today the coordinators use a system for handling the
phone calls and distribute messages to the other departments that are needed in
the organization. The emergency centers are equipped with a kind of intercom to
the emergency vehicles, to organize the rescue operation and coordinate the
required resources.

Today the emergency phone call from the initiator is usually conducted with a
mobile phone. In the future, the mobile technology arrange for major
improvements and efficiency in handling this kind of scenario. Services for
determining the location of the mobile phone are continuously being developed
with more accuracy, helping the coordinators in determining the actual position of
the accident. Several mobile phones are also equipped with a camera, enabling a
photographic portrayal of the scene, helping the coordinators determine the extent
of the accident. Sensors can provide valuable context information about the
environment, and behave as roadside assistance in case of traffic accidents.

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 Scenarios

7.2.6 Discussion

The organization in this scenario has many similarities with a VO. However, it
lacks two key characteristics (KC3, KC5) in addition to one of the denoted primary
characteristics (OC11). The alliance includes a set of core partners, and in
reference to the models of virtuality it has most resemblance to the star-alliance
model.

7.3 Crime scene investigation

This scenario is related to crime scene investigations, and the work processes and
actors involved in solving a crime or identifying the course of events related to an
accident.

7.3.1 Description

The organization is established when a crime or an accident is identified. This

scenario discuss the events that are part of the investigation towards achieving the
goal of solving the crime, and it starts when the injured are transported away from
scene or the casualties are declared dead. The police are responsible for leading
the operation at the crime scene, and in addition to securing the scene, they have
to handle any spectators or representatives from the media that may show up.
Anything that could disturb, or anyone who can interfere with the investigation
must be taken care of along with important witnesses and the relatives of the
involved. The tasks that are part of the crime scene investigation include
cordoning the scene, combing the ground, examining potential evidence,
interviewing eyewitnesses, clearing the area. According to the extent of the
accident or seriousness of the crime, external resources and partners are brought
into the organization.

7.3.2 Participants

The scenario involves the following actors: the police leading the operation,
criminal investigators combing the area and photographing the scene,
eyewitnesses, spectators, news and media representatives, crane vehicle
personnel to help clearing the site, and a headquarter team of experts analyzing
the details of the investigation.

7.3.3 VO comparison

The life time of this organization is temporary (OC15), from the actual identification
of the crime until the offending party is convicted and the crime is solved. The
organization that is formed at the crime scene is a dynamic network (OC10) of
independent partners (KC2). To a certain extent they all have core competencies

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 Scenarios

(KC1) towards solving the crime, and their participation in this organization has
only partial mission overlap (OC17) with their normal activities. The police and the
criminal investigators are the core partners (OC16) of this organization.

Shared loyalty (OC9) is a complex issue in this organization. The eyewitnesses

can possibly make a false statement, requiring the investigators to take this into
account in their investigations. Thus the issue of trust (OC6) has a special position
in this scenario. The media and news reporters represent the opportunism (OC4)
in this scenario as they are dependent on innovation (OC11) in the form of making
headlines and publish breaking news. This often leads them to smarten up the
story and portray made up stories from the incident, possibly interfering with the
ongoing investigation. This part of the organization is customer based (OC14) as
offering news to the people, while the rest of the organization can be considered
customer based as revealing the truth behind the incident, to the relatives and the
surrounding world.

The organization has vague or fluid boundary (OC2). A question that arises is
whether all of the individuals present at the crime scene are really part of the
organization, as some appear to work against the common goal of solving the
crime. This uncertainty of the partnerships in the organization is a major argument
against the characteristic of the organization having one identity (KC3).

Most crime scene investigations consist of a field team as described above, and
another team of experts working geographically dispersed (OC12) from the scene,
assisting the operation and processing the details from the crime scene. The latter
team can also influence the strategical level of the operation based on the
collected evidence and identifying the essential information required for making
progress in the case. One of their tasks is also to map the situation by creating a
kind of organization chart (OC13). The communication between the distributed
teams is strongly based on Information Technology (KC4). The core partners
therefore have shared leadership (OC8) in the organization, and there is a clear
distinction between the strategical and operational level (KC6).

Some of the core partners may have worked together on many cases. However,
taken into consideration the diversity of the actors in this scenario, the participants
must be considered having semi-stable relations (OC3). The trust issues,
mentioned earlier in this scenario, are handled by following strict routines for
conducting and evaluating the interviews.

This organization does not completely fulfill all the VO characteristics. Shared
risks (OC5) and shared ownership (OC7) are not characteristics of this
organization, due to the diversity of actors and their possibly conflicting interests.

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 Scenarios

7.3.4 Roles and rules

In this scenario the roles can divided in two groups, those who contribute to the
investigation and those who may interfere with the investigation. Like the traffic
accident scenario, this is also a scenario with a set of predefined roles. The role as
operational leader is shared among the entities that are empowered with this
responsibility. The investigators have different roles according to their field of
expertise, although their common task is to gather information about the incident.
The most interesting role is their interaction with eyewitnesses and suspects. This
is usually executed as an interview with strict routines for securing the legal
protection of the interviewee. In some countries, the investigators are allowed to
create setups in order to provoke the suspects into revealing themselves. This is
illegal in Norway, but may occur to some extent in certain heavy crime
environments. It is also considered illegal to interfere with the investigation on any
level. This is advantageous to the work of solving the crime, as people tend to
assist the investigation and contribute with observations and testimonies.

7.3.5 Technology

At the crime scene, the investigators use different technological facilities for
analyzing the course of events leading to the incident, for instance cameras,
measuring instruments, voice recorders, mobile phones and laptop computers
communicating with the geographical dispersed team of experts. This is an
interesting area of technological research, concentrated on equipping the field
investigators with the best tools for examining the ground, and providing a secure
and reliable communication with the headquarters. Sensors can also here provide
valuable context information about the environment, and behave as roadside
assistance in case of traffic incidents, or elsewhere in the case of a crime scene
investigation. This information can possibly describe the course of events, and
solve the crime. For instance, they can determine the exact time of the crime, and
give information about how many persons that were present at the time of the
crime.

7.3.6 Discussion

The organization is this scenario has a lot in common with the previous scenario. It
lacks two key characteristics (KC3, KC5) in addition to one of the denoted primary
characteristics (OC11). This scenario is to a certain extent considered a
continuation of the traffic accident or similar scenarios, and will be discussed
jointly in the end of this chapter.

7.4 Voluntary communal work

This scenario is related to the distinctively Norwegian phenomenon “dugnad”, or

similar to voluntary communal work in English. This kind of collaboration is usually

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 Scenarios

performed in voluntary organizations, for instance school bands or athletic clubs

for children and youths.

7.4.1 Description

The work to be performed can vary to a great extent, for instance painting the
exterior of a building, cleaning and renovation of office space, guard duty or
assembly-line work. The engagement of the volunteers results in a group of
individuals with different core competencies. However, the assignment of tasks is
usually performed in the way that the initiator, normally taking the role as
coordinator, asks the group for volunteers to each specific task. The result is an
efficient distribution of work, but possibly with many participants not finding a use
for their competencies.

7.4.2 Participants

The scenario involves the following actors: the initiator, the voluntary workers and
representatives from the employer. The initiator is a representative from the
voluntary organization, usually a board member. His responsibility is, in the case
of a school band, to send out an inquiry to the parents of the musicians, asking
them to participate in a voluntary effort to earn some money for the school band.
The goal is to get hold of enough income to provide the band with the necessary
resources to continue its voluntary work.

7.4.3 VO comparison

The life cycle of this organization is temporary (OC15), starting with the initiative
and task specification and ending when the job is finished. The organization is
considered having one identity (KC3). However, the participants may have built up
relations over time through the same sort of voluntary work. Their relations with
each other are nevertheless considered semi-stable (OC3). The concept of
voluntary work is interesting in the way that it requires shared loyalty (OC9) among
the participants. The co-operation is based on trust (OC6) even though the actors
are not working geographically apart (OC12), but it is likely to assume that some
of them know each other quite well in advance. As mentioned in the description,
the participants have different core competencies (KC1) that are not always made
the most of in this organization. It is also necessary that each participant share
their qualifications with the group, thus enabling the group to take advantage of
their qualities.

The first part of the life cycle in this organization involves defining the tasks to be
performed and the necessary qualifications. Thus, the organization has a
distinction between a strategical and an operational level (KC6). The process of
requesting volunteers is mostly carried out through the use of ICT (KC4), however
this is not essential.

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 Scenarios

The organization has equality of partners (OC16) since they are all working on a
voluntary basis, and there is no organization chart (OC13). The participants can
be viewed as independent actors (KC2) with partial mission overlap (OC17) from
their normal work. In the organization, there is no hierarchy (KC5) and the tasks
are performed with shared leadership (OC8) among the participants. In the case of
a school band, the children are members of the organization, while the parents are
participating in the voluntary organization to provide the resources. This type of
work gives the actors shared risks (OC5) and shared ownership (OC7) to the work
that is performed and the organization as a whole.

To a certain extent the organization can be characterized as dependent on

innovation (OC11) and opportunism (OC4) based on the fact that it exploits
opportunities of work to earn money. The tasks are mostly custom defined by the
employer for this kind of organization, thus considered customer based (OC14).
However, this is in an abstracted notion of the characteristics and different from
the product development often related to VOs.

Although the participants may change tasks during work, the organization is not
considered a dynamic network (OC10), since the involved workers just swap tasks
within the same group. Thus, the boundaries of the organization are not
considered vague or fluid (OC2).

7.4.4 Roles and rules

The roles in this scenario are not evident, except from the role as coordinator. This
role involves setting up the organization and defining the tasks. The other
participants are generally self-appointed to tasks based on motivation and
competence. All the actors act in accordance with the rules denoted by the
coordinator. The rules normally exist as an abstract contract within the
organization on how they should work and behave towards the other participants
and the tasks to be performed.

7.4.5 Technology

The process of setting up the organization is the only part of the life cycle where
the actors are geographically dispersed. The requests for voluntary participation
among the parents in the school band are mostly distributed through mail, e-mail
or by phone. These are mainly the technologies used in this scenario. However,
there are possibilities of enabling the organization with several other technological
services. For instance, ICT can be used to register the volunteers automatically
when they respond. Another idea, related to this process, is to employ a system
for distributing a list of tasks to be performed and the required competencies. If the
main task is large with many subtasks, the coordinator can use project
management software to manage the work progress. After the work is done, it is
common to communicate the results to the organization. This can be done by

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 Scenarios

publishing a notice in a newsletter to the members, or via a webpage with internal

member access.

7.4.6 Discussion

The organization in this scenario has all the key characteristics of a VO, and the
only primary characteristic partly fulfilled is (OC12). This organization has many
similarities with the Sigma organization discussed in section 3.9, and can be
considered a VO.

7.5 Experts in Team

This scenario is related to the interdisciplinary course “Experts in Team”1, that is a

mandatory part of the Masters Degree at the Norwegian University of Science and
Technology (NTNU).

7.5.1 Description

The students work in group of five persons towards a goal of their own choice
within their appointed subject. The group is part of a village, consisting of a staff
and other groups sharing the same subject. The course is meant to challenge the
students in collaborating with people with other professions or technical
background, different manners, and contradictory understanding of the subject.

7.5.2 Participants

The scenario involves the following actors: the students performing the tasks, the
course staff coordinating the deliverables, and the partners appointed by the
group.

7.5.3 VO comparison

The life cycle of this organization is temporary (OC15) and is determined by the
scope of the course. The core competencies (KC1) of the students create the
foundation for their effort towards achieving their goal. The group is a network of
independent actors (KC2) with semi-stable relations (OC3) and partial mission
overlap (OC17) from their normal student activities as the course is a fourth of the
education in a semester. The organization appears as one identity (KC3) in the
school environment.

Most groups work on problems related to innovation (OC11) and ideas dependent
on opportunism (OC4), thus in many cases characterizing the organization as

1. Experts in Team: http://www.eit.ntnu.no

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 Scenarios

customer based (OC14). Their work is evaluated both on the innovative results,
and their analysis of the group dynamics. There are several interesting dimension
to view upon in this scenario. One of the most important issues is shared loyalty
(OC9) and trust (OC6). The popularity of this course is very varying among the
students. This results in a wide difference in the level of ambition the students
bring into the organization, and further affects their shared risk (OC5), the
evaluation of their work in terms of a grade. They all have shared ownership
(OC7) to the reports that are prepared as the result of their work. While writing the
report, the students are often geographically dispersed (OC12), requiring ICT to
collaborate and to communicate internally in the organization (KC4). However,
parts of the education and work in this organization are set to a certain day of the
week for the whole village. This means that most of the work is carried out in a co-
located setting, with personal contact among the participants.

The equality of the partners (OC16), here in the sense of having the same
qualifications for accomplishing the course, leads to other interesting properties.
The students have shared leadership (OC8) and most often definitely no hierarchy
(KC5). However, it is normal to create an organization chart describing the roles in
the group (OC13). The composition of the organization is almost made for
conflicts to arise. One of the main intentions of the course is to challenge the
students by establishing organizations with unequal professional background.

The organization has a distinction between the strategical and the operational
level (KC6). Some of the strategic level is given by the course staff and the initial
project description for the village, and the rest is planned by the group to achieve
their goal. The operational level is entirely carried out by the students, and
external experts are occasionally brought in as partners, to some extent making
the organization a dynamic network (OC10). However, the boundaries of the
organization are not considered vague or fluid (OC2).

7.5.4 Roles and rules

The allocation of roles in the organization is worked out by the students in the
initial phase of their work. It is interesting to note that due to the equality of the
partners, and the individual desire not to be too prominent in the group and
accordingly become unpopular among the other participants in the organization, it
is common for the group not to assign a leader. This works very well for some
organizations. However, the majority suffer from vague decision making.

In addition to the rules denoted by the course staff, the group must form an
agreement on co-operation in which they describe how they will work together and
rules for how certain behavior will be dealt with. This kind of contract between the
participants will enhance the collaboration in the group and lead to greater respect
and trust in the group.

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 Scenarios

7.5.5 Technology

In this scenario, ICT is essential for producing the reports, and to a great extent,
the foundation for communication between the participants. The technologies
used in the group are mainly a shared workspace, e-mail, instant messaging and
mobile phones. Because of the flat structure in the organization, and the refusal to
making decisions, it can be helpful to employ decision supporting tools. In
consequence of the extensive use of mobile phones among the students, a
market opportunity emerges for mobile decision support. This is related to the fact
that a great deal of appointments in organizations involving students and youths,
are negotiated through a series of SMS1 messages or phone calls to all
participants. A way to make this procedure more efficient is to send a broadcast
request that the participants can vote over.

7.5.6 Discussion

The organization in this scenario has all the key characteristics of a VO, but does
not complete fulfill the primary characteristics (OC12) as the group is co-located
most of the working time. It is very similar to the previous scenario of voluntary
work, but the fact that the actors are obliged to participate in the organization is an
interesting dimension to the organization. The scenarios will be discussed jointly in
the end of this chapter.

7.6 Traffic

This scenario is related to an arbitrary segment of normal traffic. It contains a

discussion on how each actor behaves and adapt to the traffic.

7.6.1 Description

Describing traffic as an organization is a complex matter. Thus, this scenario

describes a segment of traffic and the possible actors in this organization. The
boundaries can be set by geographically limit area of operation for the scenario. In
that respect, the organization is established when a vehicle enters the area, and
ends when there is no traffic in the area. The superior goal of the participants in
this organization is to get from A to B in a secure and effective way. This requires
each actor to follow a set of rules and cooperate with the other actors in order to
handle any situation that may arise. There are often a great diversity of actors
appearing in this organization, each with a set of individual goals in addition to the
superior organizational goal.

1. SMS: Short Message Service

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 Scenarios

7.6.2 Participants

The scenario involves the following actors: regular drivers, professional transport
workers, pedestrians, cyclists, emergency vehicles, police patrols, public transport
and taxies.

7.6.3 VO comparison

The organization in this scenario is temporary (OC15), based on the geographical

delimitation as initial condition. The organizational boundaries are still considered
vague or fluid (OC2) and there is no organization chart (OC13). It is a highly
dynamic network (OC10) of independent actors (KC2), to a great extent having
core competencies (KC1) towards operating in this organization. There is a
distinction between a strategical and operational level (KC6), respectively
planning the best route and then carrying out the plan. For almost every actor the
strategical planning of the route is a dynamic process changing continuously
according to incidents in the traffic or for instance input from technological facilities
(KC4). The exception is public transport, which usually follows a predetermined
route, and is also the only actor that has complete mission overlap in addition to
the professional transport worker. The rest of the actors are considered having
partial mission overlap (OC17).

Trust (OC6) and shared loyalty (OC9) are main issues in this organization. In
principle, every participant in the organization act according to the general traffic
rules. These rules involve special exceptions and regulations for certain
professional actors, for instance public transport or emergency vehicles. Thus the
organization is characterized as having core partners (OC16). However, the major
part of the organization, consists of regular drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
These are the most unpredictable participants in the organization, and the largest
loyalty issue of this scenario. Many drivers interpret the rules as they want, and
behave inexcusable in the traffic, endangering the other participants. For instance,
driving on a red light or driving in a drunk or intoxicated condition. Thus, they all
have shared risks (OC5) in the traffic.

As each participant should know their rights and responsibilities, the organization
can be considered having shared ownership (OC7) and shared leadership (OC8).
This is more precisely described with analyzing a specific traffic situation:

Consider a road intersection with four perpendicular roads, no traffic light,

and four regular drivers arriving at the same time. They are all planning to
continue straight on, resulting in a situation where all drivers has give away
restrictions.

Adjusting the notion of geographical dispersion from separate buildings, to

separate vehicles, this organization is considered geographical dispersed (OC12).

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 Scenarios

The situation depicted above, requires one of the drivers to take initiative to go on.
While doing so, the group of drivers at the intersection must collaborate and agree
to an abstract contract among them, deciding the course of events. These
decisions are usually made based on experience or convenience, as the group
has semi-stable relations (OC3).

There is a sort of formal hierarchy in this organization. However, if the

geographical area is narrowed, this organization usually consists only of regular
drivers, and with that the organization is characterized in equality of partners
(OC16) and no hierarchy (KC5).

The professional traffic actors are customer based (OC14), of which the taxies are
considered offering mass-customization, and are also dependent on opportunism
(OC4). The VO characteristics, that do not closely fit this organization, are
dependency on innovation (OC11) and the characteristic of one identity (KC3),
although the organization is referred to as traffic in a collective term.

7.6.4 Roles and rules

The is a wide diversity of roles in this scenario, police patrols managing the traffic,
professional actors working in the traffic, and regular drivers more or less casually
present. They all act according to a set of rules, and are expected to know their
rights and responsibilities as a results of their training. However, individuals acting
pragmatic towards the rules, as a results of cultural differences, driving under the
influence of alcohol, or simply by choice, may call for pragmatic actions by the
individuals nearby in order to adapt to the situation and prevent an accident.

7.6.5 Technology

The use of technology in this scenario is mainly related to facilities for providing
the driver with information about the traffic situation. This is used on a strategical
level in determining the best route from A to B, and can typically involve traffic
broadcast messages over the radio, SMS services for locating police patrols along
the road or car computers including road maps and navigation systems. The driver
uses the different technologies as input when making the decision on which route
to choose. There are also car navigation systems providing suggestions on which
way to go based on the shortest route on the map.

In the future one may see computers analyzing the traffic in real time, taken into
account accidents, traffic lights, rush hour traffic, and the density of traffic in
general. This offers individual guidance, as opposed to broadcast messages over
radio that may lead all the traffic to another route, increasing the traffic density at
the suggested available road. Automatic traffic management and control are
available today through traffic lights, and to some extent by using dynamic and
electronic traffic signs.

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 Scenarios

Making intelligent vehicle applications is an active research area nowadays.

Different types of embedded sensors provide a rich set of context information in
these intelligent vehicles, like positioning and obstacles sensors, and sensors
indicating road and weather conditions. Additional driver assistance can be
provided by accident warning, or security distance warning. One of the goals of
providing car-to-car communication is automatic co-operation between the
vehicles to assist the driver in critical situations. It can also provide interaction
between remote cars. These technologies also open for a sort of “black-box”
logging, like we see in airplanes today. This will help the investigations related to
traffic accidents in determining the course of events prior to the incident.

An automatic traffic management and individual route guidance are technologies

that can improve the traffic flow and prevent traffic jams. Thus, making the traffic
more secure and more efficient, and accomplish the superior goal of this scenario.

7.6.6 Discussion

The organization in this scenario has the highest degree of virtuality in the notion
of substitutability and autonomy of virtual links. However, it lacks the key
characteristic (KC3), and the primary characteristic (OC11). This naturally gives a
resemblance to the first two scenarios, which should be correct as they all, to a
certain extent, operate within the same domain.

7.7 Summary

Table 13 presents an overview of how the VO characteristics correspond to each

scenario. X denotes that the characteristic applies for the scenario, with the
exception of OC15, OC16 and OC17 that have a special annotation described in
the table. The primary characteristics (see Table 6) are indicated with bold face.

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 Scenarios

Table 13: VO characteristics in the scenarios

Traffic Crime scene Voluntary Experts

Characteristic Traffic
accident investigation communal work in team
KC1 Based on core competencies X X X X X
KC2 Network of independent X X X X X
organizations
KC3 One identity -- -- X X --
KC4 Based on Information X X X X X
Technology
KC5 No hierarchy -- -- X X X
KC6 Distinction between a strategical X X X X X
and an operational level
OC1 Small sized partners X X X X X
OC2 Vague/fluid boundaries X X -- -- X
OC3 Semi-stable relations X X X X X
OC4 Dependent on opportunism -- -- X X X
OC5 Shared risks -- -- X X X
OC6 Based on trust X X X X X
OC7 Shared ownership X -- X X X
OC8 Shared leadership X X X X X
OC9 Shared loyalty X X X X X
OC10 Dynamic network X X -- X X
OC11 Dependent on innovation -- -- X X --
OC12 Geographical dispersed X X -- -- X
OC13 No organization chart and -- -- X -- X
meta-organization
OC14 Customer based and mass- X X X X X
customization
OC15 Lifespan of co-operation: T T T T T
temporary (T) vs. permanent (P)
OC16 Balance of power: Equality of CP CP EP EP CP
partners (EP) vs. core partners (CP)
OC17 Mission-overlap: partial (PM) PM PM PM PM PM
vs. complete (CM)

Based on the analysis, the five scenarios presented in this chapter can be
grouped into two main categories: structured scenarios, and ad hoc mobile
scenarios. Table 14 shows the classification of the scenarios.

Table 14: Classification of scenarios

Structured scenarios Ad hoc mobile scenarios

Voluntary communal work Traffic accident
Experts in team Crime scene investigation
Traffic

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 Scenarios

7.7.1 Structured scenarios

The structured scenarios distinguish themselves by applying to the VO model in

its traditional form. However, they are special by the fact that the actors participate
voluntarily, and work non-profit to serve the organization. It resembles the
organization of collaborative engineering communities, for instance open source
software development. The organization can be considered a team-based VO,
working on projects. It has equality of partners with partial mission overlap, thus
classifying the organization as a “soft VO”.

Challenges and issues related to enabling technologies for these traditional VOs
are discussed in Chapter 5. See also the description of Sigma in section 3.9.

7.7.2 Ad hoc mobile scenarios

The ad hoc mobile scenarios are the most interesting in the context of this report.
The analysis shows that they are less dependent on innovation and opportunism,
and have a higher degree of dynamic organization. They do not have one
common identity, and the presence of core partners leads to a hierarchical
structure. However, due to the large amount of lateral communication, this
structure relates to the model of an adhocracy presented in section 3.5.1.

The organization can be considered a type of VO, under the definition of a network
of independent partners with complementary core competencies working towards
a common goal, based on ICT and formalized co-operation. This applies to the
integrated VO model presented in Figure 13. The characterization of ad hoc
alliances as VOs is useful in the way that we can employ the mentality of the
traditional VO into the new environment, using the experience to create adequate
solutions and facilities to improve the work processes.

Ad hoc alliances demand more flexible technologies and ubiquitous services, due
to their operation in a nomadic environment. Emerging technologies are
constantly being developed to fit the requirements of these mobile working
environments, mainly focusing on providing high bandwidth and secure
communication from any possible location. In our opinion, the opportunities of
improving the work processes in these organizational environments depends on
developing and employing an adequate knowledge management. The use of
context information and arrangements for ad hoc knowledge sharing are essential
to make these organizations more efficient.

For instance, in the case of the traffic environment and incidents related to it, trust
is established through the social status of the core partners. The uniforms and
prominent vehicles signal authority, and their competencies are printed in the
other actor’s minds through the common comprehension and knowledge of their
responsibilities. This knowledge is the foundation of successful collaboration,
because there is an openness of the intentions and goals of each partner toward

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 Scenarios

their participation in the organization. The challenge is to provide the same

knowledge sharing in alliances where the skills of the partners are not well-known
to the rest of the organization in advance.

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 Scenarios

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 Extension of the VO taxonomy

8. Extension of the VO taxonomy

This chapter contains the results of the creative effort, and presents the extension
of the VO taxonomy based on this contribution.

8.1 Ad hoc alliances

The study of the scenarios presented in this report is mainly related to mobile
scenarios and ad hoc alliances. This is done intentionally to challenge the way we
discuss VOs. This approach has a finer granularity than most of the literature
reviewed in the state-of-the-art part, as the focus is on individuals rather than
companies and organizations.

The discussions in the previous chapter conclude that some scenarios of ad hoc
alliances can be considered a type of VO. This interpretation of the VO leads to
some changes in the evaluation of VO characteristics, for instance emphasizing
the dynamic network characteristic, and to some extent de-emphasizing the
importance of organization for innovation and opportunism.

Mobile Ad Hoc VOs (MAHVOs) are temporary dynamic networks of independent

actors with complementary core competencies, working towards a common goal
in a nomadic environment. The co-operation is based on Information and
Communication Technology as the main facilitator for sharing knowledge and
fostering trust.

In the notion of MAHVOs, it is important to distinguish between VOs that operate

in mobile environment e.g. remote workers, and alliances that are formed ad hoc
in a nomadic environment. The latter is the one depicted in this research. The
geographical dispersion of the actors in MAHVOs is limited to almost situated
action. However, it has the same challenges towards trust between the
participants, and uses information and communication technology in the process
of forming an organization with shared loyalty.

These VOs are much more complex than the traditional VOs explored in the
literature. The fact that they emerge and operate in a nomadic environment,
demands for a more flexible coordination of activities. We see a transition from
explicit coordination e.g. traditional management, or even use of information and
communication technology, to organizations with implicit coordination e.g. abstract
contract management in the road intersection described in the traffic scenario
(section 7.6.3). Challenges and issues related to accountability, dependability, and
usability of implicit coordination in MAHVOs will be further examined, and applied
to example working environments, in the next chapter.

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 Extension of the VO taxonomy

8.2 Characteristics

The work of studying VOs has identified a new characteristic that is common for all
VOs depicted in the literature. In our opinion, team-work is essential for a
successful collaboration in VOs, and should be considered a primary
characteristic of these organizations. This result in a definition of virtual teams as
being a subset of a VO dynamically assigned to specific tasks or projects. The
formation can be performed by management or by technology acting as a
decentralized broker, based on knowledge of the competencies of the available
actors.

Decentralized broking is an even more virtual form of alliance than the models of
virtuality presented in section 3.8.1. It is an extension of the Virtual Broker, where
the environment autonomously adapts to multiple users and organizational units,
acting as a broker in terms of forming the organization and coordinating roles and
activities. It is a new way to look at the organizational structure of VOs, adapted to
this type of ad hoc alliances. Figure 26 presents the concept of a decentralized
broker in regards to the models of virtuality previously discussed.

Figure 26: Decentralized broker

This model aims to describe how the environment, with own intelligent sensors or
computers participating as actors, supports coordination of activities in the VO.
The environment partners with known structures of ad hoc alliances, modeled as a
star-alliance, and contributes both as regular actors, and as suppliers in the sense

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 Extension of the VO taxonomy

of supporting formation, knowledge sharing, and coordination. According to the

role and influence of the surroundings in the VO, the environment can also in
some cases be considered a lead actor, possibly taking initiative to the formation
of a VO, e.g. car-to-car communication (section 7.6.5), and the visions of
ubiquitous and proactive computing (section 5.4).

The participation of the technological actors in the organization may also be

disbanded, either because there is no longer a need for technological support, or
possibly due to disrupting signals and loss of connection. The role of each actor
can change from actor to lead actor and back again, and also be disposed when
its intentions and goals have been fulfilled. The different roles may appear again in
the organization as so fits the activities and work processes, like in the traditional
VOs.

This dynamic characteristic of the organization demands for a management of

which actors that are to be included and disbanded from the organization. As
computers in the environment has part of the coordinating responsibility, they have
to take into account the needs of the organization and the competencies of the
available actors. Furthermore, they need to take actions and apply roles based on
an opportunistic model to make the work processes as efficient as possible.

This identifies new challenges to the enabling technologies in VOs, in regards to

co-operation and competition. Two computerized actors are cooperative if they
have complementary roles, which means that they make more profit working
together than by working individually. Conversely, the actors are considered
competitive if they have the same role, which means that the profit created by the
one actor is negatively affected by the appointment of the other actor. An
opportunistic model and machine-learning of behaviors and strategies can
contribute in meeting this proposed challenge.

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 Extension of the VO taxonomy

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 Future trends

9. Future trends

This chapter describes some thoughts about the future of Mobile Ad Hoc VOs, and
applies the discussion to an example business scenario.

9.1 Technology

Emerging technologies are enabling new ways of interacting with our

surroundings, and may foster new ways of creating smart/intelligent environments
that are able to autonomously adapt to multiple users simultaneously based on
user preferences, and information and service needs (both stated and unstated).
Such environments may enable co-operation and coordination between actors in
dynamic environments in new and unpredictable ways. Situated work can be
better supported because of the ability of the environment to sense users, actions,
wishes and requirements.

This affects the work processes in MAHVOs, as objects and software are
becoming actors and part of the organization. The intelligent objects can
contribute with valuable context information to the organization, and possibly take
actions on our behalf. The interaction and team-work in organizations consisting of
both humans and computers, demands an innovative way of coordinating the
activities. A transition from explicit to a more implicit coordination is required to
enable efficient work processes in these environments.

9.2 Working environments

The future working environments have a high demand of trust, and some of the
main challenges are penetration of acceptance and privacy concerns. People
must learn to accept and trust the computer’s position in the organization, and
gradually adapt to this new environment. To foster trust in these intelligent
environments, experiences from work in VOs can be examined and applied to the
organization. The computers take roles previously held by humans, and must be
handled in a similar way.

The computers may take part in the coordination of activities, supporting the
implicit model of coordination as a de-centralized broker. They can help the
process of restructuring the plan of activities, according to unexpected changes in
the course of events. For instance, consider a large construction site with
hundreds of workers and a large amount of activities taking place at the same
time. The time limit of operation is already squeezed, and sudden events,
unexpected or identified during risk analysis, may demand radical change in the
sequence of activities. Computer systems can automatically analyze the situation,
and suggest the best line of action in co-operation with the computers in the

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 Future trends

organization. Subsequently, communicating the changes of activities to all the

involved actors with an individual set of activities to be performed for each actor.

In this process of coordination, the system needs to have focus on accountability,

dependability and usability. The relevance of these issues are further discussed
below.

Accountability
All actors, including computers, must be aware of their responsibilities and roles in
the organization. Communication and understanding of their role and intentions for
participating in the organization are essentials for a successful collaboration.

Dependability
The actors have shared risks in these environments, and are dependent of the
system to not put their safety at risk when performing operations in the
organization. It is also important to ensure that the non-human actors in the
organization have shared loyalty towards the goal of the operation.

Usability
The use of computers in these work environments are only making the work
processes more efficient if the usability is adequately developed for the user and
the environment. Context information can increase the usability by providing
individually adapted information, and arranges for a more customized coordination
approach to each actor in the organization. Blue-collar workers are often not
capable of operating regular mobile units, because their hands and other senses
are focused and involved in carrying out their work. This demand for new and
alternative ways of communicating.

At the construction site or other work environments, there will be a more frequent
formation of MAHVOs. For instance, when new partners enter the organization
e.g. subcontractors, they will participate in several ad hoc VOs to get the
appropriate information about their responsibilities and roles in the organization.
At the same time, their participation in the organization must be communicated to
all actors that will cooperate and interact with them. The same applies to
computers entering the organization.

These complex organizations and working environments need to be further

examined through research and development of prototypes, and the studies of
VOs can hopefully be an important resource in the future research on mobile and
nomadic work.

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Part IV

Evaluation and conclusion

 Evaluation and discussion

10. Evaluation and discussion

This chapter presents an evaluation of this contribution and a discussion of

possible improvements to our work.

10.1 Evaluation

The work of mapping the area of VOs is an extensive task. It has been focused on
gaining an insight into the concept by examining a large variety of issues related to
VOs, and then applying this knowledge to a more specific research contribution
through the use of scenarios. The main reason for this approach was to get an
overview of the contemporary research in order to identify challenges and
research propositions for further work.

The process of exploring the large amount of literature on VOs has been a major
part of this project. The research method, described in section 2.1, has proven to
be efficient in the way of finding the right resources for the study on VOs.
However, this approach continuously identified new contributions to use in our
research, and made the work on state-of-the-art an iterative process. The outline
of this part has thus gone through several iterations to address the research
questions. The large amount of references has been a challenge to deal with, but
has given me valuable experience on mapping a domain like VOs.

The own contribution to this research has created a link between VOs and ad hoc
collaboration. The extension of the VO taxonomy is valuable to the research on
mobile work processes, and will hopefully bring new ideas and synergy effects
between the areas of mobile computing, knowledge management and VOs.

The research method used for the contribution, has proven to be appropriate for
this kind of analysis. The structure of the scenarios is a pragmatic implementation
of the formalized methods for scenario analysis in requirements engineering. In
that way, the scenarios has served as sorts of mind benders, and reference
models for the described environments in the work of comparing them with the VO
characteristics. Due to this use of the scenarios, and the complexity of the
organizational forms, there are not provided models of the scenario alliances.

10.2 Discussion

The extent of the work on this project has been limited by the time constraints and
that it is carried out as an individual report. However, we consider the work to be
consistent and in accordance with good research practice. The selection of
characteristics could have been narrowed down or modified by performing
empirical studies on contemporary VOs, but this was not prioritized due to the

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 Evaluation and discussion

project constraints. The discussion of enabling technologies could also have been
more in depth, however this was intentionally de-emphasized. We wanted to focus
on the issues and work processes of this type of organization rather than just on
the technologies supporting them, as this is heavily covered by the other project
reports within our research community. In this way, we could present an interesting
view on the concept to complement the contributions of the fellow students and
researchers.

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 Conclusion and further work

11. Conclusion and further work

This concludes the study of VOs and the contribution on mobile work processes.
The challenges and research propositions identified throughout the project are
described as further work.

11.1 Conclusion

The objective of this report was to map the state-of-the-art situation of the
research on Virtual Organization, and provide an analysis of mobile scenarios in
relation to the concept of VOs.

State-of-the-art
First, the research questions, that were the foundation of our work on VOs have
been addressed and answered throughout the presentation of the literature study.
Furthermore, we have identified challenges to these organizations by conferring
contemporary research initiatives and discussion forums available on the Internet.
We have also provided an overview of enabling technologies as a result of the
description of work processes and trends towards VOs, and a discussion of
challenges towards the use of technology in VOs.

Own contribution
Second, the report provides a scenario analysis with the goal of extending our
notion of VOs, and contribute to the MOWAHS project on mobile work processes.
This work resulted in an extension of the VO taxonomy, including mobile ad hoc
alliances in our notion of virtual collaborative networks. These results will serve as
a springboard for further work in this domain.

11.2 Further work

The further work in regards to this report can be aimed in several directions. This
section presents research propositions to continue the study of VOs as mobile ad
hoc organizations.

Intelligent work environments

Further exploration of technologies enabling intelligent environments are needed
in research. It is interesting to evaluate the opportunities of creating value in
mobile work environments, and discuss in more detail the impact of intelligent
objects as actors in work environments.

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 Conclusion and further work

Activity theory
The study of MAHVOs can be further discussed in regards to activity theory,
resulting in models of ad hoc collaboration, and a better understanding of the
actors and roles in such organizations.

Evaluation of emerging technologies

This report can be supplemented with an evaluation of the emerging technologies
in ubiquitous and mobile computing, and a more detailed discussion on the role of
each technology in MAHVOs.

Empirical studies of work environments

Empirical studies of different work environments are natural continuations of this
report. Analysis of specific business organizations and work environments can
identify new opportunities for employing intelligent objects and computers as
cooperative actors in the organization. This work can result in a requirements
specification for the use of technology in ad hoc collaborative organizations.

Knowledge sharing in nomadic environments

The study of MAHVOs can be further discussed in regards to knowledge sharing
and knowledge management, and develop adequate procedures of maintaining
efficient information flow in ad hoc organizations operating in nomadic
environments.

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Part V

Appendix
 Bibliography

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 Bibliography

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 Projects

Appendix A: Projects

This appendix gives an overview of ongoing projects in the Networked

Organizations Domain. The list provides the project acronym, title and homepage.

ALIVE
Working group on Advanced Legal Issues in Virtual Enterprise.
http://www.vive-ig.net/projects/alive

BAP
Business Architect Project.
http://www.business-architect.de/

BIDSAVER
Business Integrator Dynamic Support Agents for Virtual Enterprise.
http://www.ceconsulting.it/ve/bidsaver.html

CE-NET
Concurrent Enterprise Network of Excellence.
http://www.ce-net.org/

CIMOSA
CIM Open System Architecture.
http://www.cimosa.de

COVE
CO-operation infrastructure for Virtual Enterprises and electronic business.
http://www.uninova.pt/~cove

e-COGNOS
Methodology, tools and architectures for electronic COnsistent knowledGe
maNagement across prOjects and between enterpriSes in the construction
domain.
http://www.e-cognos.org/

E-COLLEG
Advanced Infrastructure for Pan-European Collaborative Engineering.
http://alfa.iele.polsl.gliwice.pl/~pawlak/E-Colleg/E-Colleg-index.htm

eLEGAL
Specifying Legal Terms of Contract in ICT Environment.
http://cic.vtt.fi/projects/elegal/

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 Projects

EU-projects
Links to 200++ projects.
http://cic.vtt.fi/links/euproj/

EXTERNAL
Extended Enterprise Resources, Network Architectures and Learning.
http://research.dnv.com/external

FETISH-ETF
Federate European Tourism Information System Harmonization - Engineering
Task Force.
http://fetish.t-6.it

GENESIS
Global Enterprise Network Support for the Innovation Process.
http://www.cetim.org/genesis.html

GLOBEMEN
Global Engineering and Manufacturing in Enterprise Networks.
http://cic.vtt.fi/projects/globemen/

GNOSIS
GNOSIS Virtual Factory: model-based distributed manufacturing.
http://www.vtt.fi/aut/tau/gnosis/

ICCI
Innovation co-ordination, transfer and deployment through networked Co-
operation in the Construction Industry.
http://cic.vtt.fi/projects/icci/

ICSS
Integrated Client-Server System for a Virtual Enterprise in the Building Industry.
http://cib.bau.tu-dresden.de/icss/

inteliGrid
Interoperability of Virtual Organizations on Complex Semantic Grid.
http://www.inteligrid.com/

ISTforCE
Intelligent Services and Tools for Concurrent Engineering.
http://www.istforce.com/

KM Forum
The European Knowledge Management Forum.
http://www.knowledgeboard.com/

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 Projects

MASSYVE
Multi-Agent Manufacturing Agile Scheduling Systems for Virtual Enterprises.
http://www.gsigma-grucon.ufsc.br/massyve/

NGMS
Next Generation Manufacturing Systems.
http://www.cam-i.org/ngms.html

NIMCube
New-use and Innovation Management and Measurement Methodology for
R&D.
http://www.nimcube.com/

OSMOS
Open System for Inter-enterprise Information Management in Dynamic Virtual
Environments.
http://cic.vtt.fi/projects/osmos/

ProDAEC
European Network for Product and Project Data Exchange, e-Work and e-
Business in Architecture, Engineering and Construction.
http://www.prodaec.com/

PRODCHAIN
Development of a decision support methodology to improve logistics
performance in production networks.
http://www.prodchain.net/

PRODNET II
Production Planning and Management in an Extended Enterprise.
http://www.uninova.pt/~prodnet/

PROMINENCE
Promoting Inter-European Networks of Collaborating Extended Enterprise.
http://www.eu-prominence.net/

PSIB
Process and System Innovation in the Dutch Construction Industry.
http://www.psib.nl/

SARA
Value networks in construction.
http://akseli.tekes.fi/Resource.phx/rapu/sara/en/index.htx

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 Projects

satine
Semantic-based Interoperability Infrastructure for Integrating Web Service
Platforms to Peer-to-Peer Networks.
http://www.srdc.metu.edu.tr/webpage/projects/satine/index.html

SPIDER-WIN
Supply Information Dynamic Exchange and Control by Web-based Interaction
Network.
http://www.spider-win.de/

SYMPHONY
A Dynamic Management Methodology with Modular and Integrated Methods
and Tools for Knowledge Based, Adaptive SMEs.
http://www.symphony-village.com/

THINKcreative
Thinking network of experts on emerging smart organizations.
http://www.thinkcreative.org/

TrustCoM
A Trust and Contract Management framework enabling secure collaborative
business processing in on-demand created, self-managed, scalable, and highly
dynamic Virtual Organisations.
http://www.eu-trustcom.com/

VDA
Virtual Destination Application.
http://www.cetim.org/vda.html

VL
Virtual Laboratory.
http://carol.wins.uva.nl/~netpeer/projects/VirtualLaboratory/VirtualLaboratory.ht
ml

VOSTER
Virtual Organisations Cluster.
http://voster.vtt.fi/

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