In the age of the smart machine: the future of work and power
In the age of the smart machine: the future of work and power
Inventing accuracy: a historical sociology of nuclear missile guidance
Inventing accuracy: a historical sociology of nuclear missile guidance
Connections: new ways of working in the networked organization
Connections: new ways of working in the networked organization
Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams
Organization Science
Bridging Space Over Time: Global Virtual Team Dynamics and Effectiveness
Organization Science
The Mutual Knowledge Problem and Its Consequences for Dispersed Collaboration
Organization Science
Developing Trust in Virtual Teams
HICSS '97 Proceedings of the 30th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences: Information Systems Track-Collaboration Systems and Technology - Volume 2
Coordinating Expertise in Software Development Teams
Management Science
Out of Sight, Out of Sync: Understanding Conflict in Distributed Teams
Organization Science
From Organization Design to Organization Designing
Organization Science
Owning the Code: Status Closure in Distributed Groups
Organization Science
Expertise and Collaboration in the Geographically Dispersed Organization
Organization Science
Course In General Linguistics
Simulation and Its Discontents: Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life
Simulation and Its Discontents: Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life
IEEE Spectrum
Computers in Human Behavior
Organizing for Innovation in the Digitized World
Organization Science
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Although organizational scholars have begun to study virtual work, they have yet to fully grapple with its diversity. We draw on semiotics to distinguish among three types of virtual work (virtual teams, remote control, and simulations) based on what it is that a technology makes virtual and whether work is done with oron, through, or within representations. Of the three types, simulations have been least studied, yet they have the greatest potential to change work's historically tight coupling to physical objects. Through a case study of an automobile manufacturer, we show how digital simulation technologies prompted a shift from symbolic to iconic representation of vehicle performance. The increasing verisimilitude of iconic simulation models altered workers' dependence on each other and on physical objects, leading management to confound operating within representations with operating with oron representations. With this mistaken understanding, and lured by the virtual, managers organized simulation work in virtual teams, thereby distancing workers from the physical referents of their models and making it difficult to empirically validate models. From this case study, we draw implications for the study of virtual work by examining how changes to work organization vary by type of virtual work.