This book examines the capabilities needed to transform a globally distributed organization into a virtual organization (an organization that exists and operates across time and distance with the support of global communications technologies such as the Internet). It introduces techniques for definition of goals for virtualization, for monitoring progress toward virtualization and for studying the impact of virtualization on social uncertainty, knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer, organizational memory, transactive memory, communities of practice and organizational commitment, power and control. These techniques are applied in an extended case study of a development aid organization's attempts to use knowledge management for virtualization over a two year period. The multidisciplinary team of authors examines virtualization from points of view ranging from the organizational to the technological to the sociological and psychological.

Aligning goals, virtuality and capability : a virtual alignment model / Paul Jackson and Jane Klobas -- Envisioning and monitoring the process of becoming virtual / Paul Jackson and Jane Klobas -- The challenge of becoming virtual / Jane Klobas and Stefano Renzi -- Social uncertainty in virtual organizations : a preliminary ontology of the constituent elements / Ivan Jensen and Paul Jackson -- When communities of practice fail : community ties and organizational commitment / Gaela Bernini and Jane Klobas -- An exploratory survey of the structure and components of organizational memory / Paul Jackson -- The organization as a transactive memory system / Paul Jackson and Jane Klobas -- Adoption of technologies for virtual work / Stefano Ranzi, Jane Klobas and Paul Jackson -- Monitoring, control and the performance of virtual work / Paul Jackson, Jane Klobas and Hosein Gharavi -- The challenge of becoming virtual, part 2 / Jane Klobas -- Reflections from the frontline : the journey of a knowledge manager / Louise Kjaer -- The forensics of a challenged initiative / Paul Jackson ... [et al.] -- Tools and capabilities for becoming virtual / Paul Jackson and Jane Klobas.