Title: How virtuality affects knowledge work: points on performance and knowledge management

Authors: Jussi Okkonen

Addresses: Institute of Business Information Management, Tampere University of Technology, PO Box 541, FIN-33101 Tampere, Finland

Abstract: The idea of organising tasks virtually arises from a lack of resources, such as time, money and competent people. As its name suggests, the virtual organisation is more dependent on the people working in it than the physical location or structure of an organisation. The concept of virtuality is approached from the organisational and professional viewpoint and the problems of working virtually are discussed in general. Thus, the results are applicable in avoiding the problems discovered. The concepts analysed are mostly from a managerial viewpoint, the theoretical framework emphasises the transformation of the economic landscape and working environment. The case exploration consists of results from a performance measurement system implementation process and participant observation and theme interviews, which aim to enlighten us as to the nature of knowledge work and performance in a virtual organisation.

Keywords: performance management; knowledge management; tacit knowledge; social networks; virtual organisations; performance measurement; virtual enterprise.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2004.005136

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2004 Vol.2 No.2, pp.153 - 161

Published online: 04 Sep 2004 *

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