Virtual Organizations as Sociotechnical Systems (VOSS)

 
Project Name: Virtual Organizations as Sociotechnical Systems (VOSS)
Summary:  Three critical goals define the project. The first goal is to conduct a comparative mixed-methods meta-analysis of five existing virtual organizations in our sample with data collected using similar instruments. The results of this interdisciplinary meta-analysis will suggest a consensual conceptual model for analyzing, categorizing, and evaluating the effectiveness of virtual organizational structures. This sample of virtual organizations includes numerous types including: corporate; social; behavioral; and economic scientists; transnational civil society; university administrators; and disability advocates. The second goal is to validate the conceptual model that is suggested by the meta-analysis using data from five additional existing organizations, and then re-testing the model on the entire sample to look for model fit variability. Finally, the third goal is to disseminate the results of this model to a broad, interdisciplinary research community. These results will include: a web-based ontology of factors affecting virtual organizations; the meta-analysis results; proposed, tested, and retested model of virtual organization effectiveness; and any interorganizational differences that should be examined for future model refinement. For more information, please see the VOSS Project Portal
Project Purpose:  The purpose of this project is to contribute to an enhanced, interdisciplinary, understanding of the sociotechnical factors and dynamics influencing the effectiveness of virtual organizations. The project uses a stratified purposeful sample of ten virtual organizations, chosen to illustrate a variety of diverse characteristics of organizational type, including: membership composition, size, boundary definition, function, duration, origin, and funding. The sample includes, but goes beyond virtual organizations in science and engineering, to encompass networks of social and behavioral scientists; corporate teams, transnational civil society organizations, and disability advocates.
Team Members: Derrick L. Cogburn (Ph.D.), Alecia Santuzzi (Ph.D), Fatima Espinoza (Doctoral Candidate), Alexia Clincy (M.A. Candidate), David James, Endri Mataj, Janet Marsden, Randy McCarthy, Nouman Qureshi, Brett Wells