PROBLEM STRUCTURING METHODOLOGY (PSM) IN NETWORK STRUCTURE FOR VIRTUAL ENTERPRISES

摘要

Virtual enterprises that use e-mail to communicate and coordinate their work toward a common goal are becoming ubiquitous. However, little is known about how these enterprises work. Much prior research suggests that virtual enterprises, for the most part, because they use information technology to communicate, will be decentralized and nonhierarchical. This paper examines the behavior of such an organization. The analysis is based on a case study of the communication structure and content of communications among members of a virtual enterprise during a four-month period. rnWe focus on the development and analysis of the Network Structure of this enterprise using the Problem Structuring Methodology (PSM). This systemic analysis considers the problem situations as systems, makes a thorough analysis on these situations and defines them in a very accurate way. We also empirically measure the structure of a virtual enterprise and find evidence of hierarchy. The findings imply that the communication structure of a virtual enterprise may exhibit different properties on different dimensions of structure. In addition, we examine the relationship among task routineness, organizational structure, and performance. Results indicate that the fit between structure and task routineness affects the perception of performance, but may not affect the actual performance of the enterprise. Thus, this virtual enterprise is similar to traditional enterprise in some ways and dissimilar in other ways. It was similar to traditional enterprises in so far as task-structure fit predicted perceived performance. However, it was dissimilar to traditional enterprises in so far as fit did not predict objective performance. To that extent, the virtual enterprises may be similar to traditional enterprises, existing theories can be expanded to study the structure and perceived performance of virtual enterprises. New approaches may need to be developed to explain objective performance in virtual enterprises.