Sociology as Knowledge: New Perspectives on Systems, Society, Culture, Community

1. Dawn M. Sieh dawnsieh@yahoo.com

Abstract

Contemplate the nature, relevance, and limitations of traditional systems analysis in understanding virtual systems as work communities. Considering herself from the perspective of a system personified, the author, herself a member of many virtual teams, feels drawn to augmenting the body of virtual team knowledge by reflecting on some foundational systems thinkers and relating their ideas to such organizations. She selects a few points from the writings of Durkheim, Parsons, Blau and Scott, and Wilber and tries to apply them to virtual communities. The primary focus originates with Blau and Scott’s Formal Organizations, its content, some concerns, and how it might be relevant on a point-by-point basis to organizations in a virtual world. It is acknowledged that there are many types of virtual groups with different organizational attributes, and any inferences must be made with that in mind. The discussion covers social and formal organizations, psychological processes, organizational attributes, communications, and leadership. Where appropriate, the author proposes some virtual team extensions to the thoughts of Blau and Scott and suggests some ideas for empirical investigations to produce data in support of those modificationsSociology as Knowledge: New Perspectives on Systems, Society, Culture, Community