VOSS: Toward a Context Adaptive Theory of the Relationship Between Structural Fluidity and Virtual Organization Performance

虚拟组织的一个主要优势是成员和参与的灵活性。在许多VOS中，成员可以随意加入和离开，并可以在任何时间点更改他们的协作对象。这种灵活性可以提高效率，因为VO结构能够更容易地适应突发事件，并且VO领导力可以在VO的生命周期中发展。这个项目考察了结构流动性、VO领导力和VO绩效之间的关系。调查人员将检查在四种不同类型的VO(软件工程、救灾、在线学习和公共话语社区)中用于协调和信息共享的技术系统生成的日志数据，将约谈VO参与者，并将以特定于背景的方式衡量VO绩效。该项目将：(1)开发衡量组织流动性的工具，并使VO参与者看到这种流动性；(2)检查虚拟组织中组织绩效、小组成员流动性和领导层流动性之间的关系。这项提案中首创的技术将增加对如何使用技术系统日志数据来更快地确定志愿人员中最有效的社会结构和领导战略的理解。在项目过程中开发的成果和工具将对那些寻求改善科学、工业和政府组织的虚拟组织绩效的人具有实用价值，这些组织的成功越来越依赖于虚拟组织。一些本科生和研究生将参与该项目，进一步加强他们在跨学科研究方面的培训和教育。

A major advantage of virtual organizations (VOs) is flexible membership and participation. In many VOs, members are able to join and leave at will, and can change whom they collaborate with at any point in time. This flexibility can be a source of increased effectiveness as VO structures are more readily able to adapt to contingencies and VO leadership can evolve over the course of a VO's lifecycle. This project examines the relationship between structural fluidity, VO leadership, and VO performance. The investigators will examine the log data generated by the technical systems used for coordination and information sharing in four different types of VOs (software engineering, disaster relief, online learning, and public discourse communities), will interview VO participants, and will measure VO performance in context-specific ways. The project will: (1) develop tools to measure organizational fluidity and make that fluidity visible to VO participants; (2) examine the relationship between organizational performance, the fluidity of group membership and fluidity of leadership in virtual organizations. The techniques pioneered in this proposal will increase understanding of how to use technical system log data to more quickly identify the most effective social structures and leadership strategies in VOs. The results and tools developed in the course of the project will have practical value for those seeking to improve VO performance for science, industry and government organizations that increasingly rely on virtual organizations for their success. A number of undergraduate and graduate students will participate in the project, furthering their training and education in interdisciplinary research.