談虛擬微政治在網絡中非正式策略的影響

1、 虛擬微政治-在網絡中非正式策略的影響一、簡介應付全球化和科技發(fā)展，在十年之間虛擬組織和網絡應運而生，它作為新的組織結構，繼續(xù)趕超市場的重要性。這點尤其針對網絡自由人和中小型企業(yè)。雖然虛擬網絡已過存在很長時間，但仍需要研究關于他們的在動力以與領導、管理機制。當然，網絡管理是一個有趣的話題，因為網絡組織常以缺乏正規(guī)的層次結構和角色為表達，并沒有任何正式的結構。因此，它是在塑造和治理網絡中切合實際的呈現非正式行為引發(fā)的個人利益所發(fā)揮至關重要作用的地方。在研究中，我們調查的微觀政治概念是有助于解釋虛擬網絡中的行為的?！拔⒄巍币辉~引用的是個人利益攸關者獲得權力和影響組織設置的非正式行動。來自組織科學

2、和心理學，在過去的幾十年中，組織的微政治行為已廣泛分布。我們的論文目的是把微觀政治的概念從組織設置成與各組織間的平行。調查微政治行為是否可行的角度需要在虛擬的網絡上，進行面試定性研究與各種網絡定性，代表質疑他們的看法并考慮行動爭取權力的影響。因此，我們的工作的貢獻是擴大到組織間的微觀政治的概念虛擬網絡，提供結構與權力的這種網絡策略的第一次實證洞察。二、虛擬網絡虛擬組織可以采取各種形式。然而，大多數定義同意虛擬組織是“組織間，跨邊界信通法律上獨立的實體，通常與一個特定的經濟目標之間的協作”的形式。超出這些基本的屬性，虛擬組織可以相差很多，例如有關成員資格、參與和持續(xù)時間的穩(wěn)定性等條目。在研究中，

3、我們考慮的虛擬組織作為獨立的企業(yè)或企業(yè)家網絡。成員 (或成員組織)分別從事這種形式的合作，以他們預期的經濟優(yōu)勢發(fā)展，例如以擴大客戶群或共同開發(fā)新的產品和服務。另一方面，網絡成員還經常作為個人在市場上的競爭對手。因此，虛擬企業(yè)網絡中的協作也被稱作“合作競爭”類似常任理事國間微妙的平衡行為之間的合作與競爭。我們所研究的虛擬網絡大多是多中心網絡，即高度分布式和其成員的高度自治的松散耦合的關聯。這意味著通常是有特殊權限或優(yōu)于其他成員沒有正式的權力。在我們的調查中，小型和中型企業(yè)或自由職業(yè)者組成了主要的網絡。在這樣的網絡中，典型的元素虛擬組織變得尤為明顯，如缺乏正規(guī)的層次結構和規(guī)則以與信息、通信技術的嚴

4、重依賴。此外，面對上文“合作競爭”一定量的成員之間的信任是關鍵處理的不安全感和不拘形式的情況。特點有網絡成員之間的個人關系（或代表的成員企業(yè)）分別發(fā)揮著至關重要的作用。基于這種特性，我們將使用術語“虛擬網絡”和組織間網絡互換在此文件中。三、微政治組織的概念微政治組織的概念包括個體角色不斷進行交互。微政治進程中組織科學視為個人談判其利益的過程，在與他人交往和獲得權力并施加影響的策略。盡管這些進程包含非正式的性質和非組織的認可，但不會影響組織的權力結構。3.1 組織微政治進程在過去的幾十年里由于理論刊物的快速增長和實證研究集中的影響以與政治組織設置的組織科學和心理學的影響。微政治進程已被廣泛討論的

5、一種方法側重于組織成員的政治行為。在這方面，微政治被認為是一組常規(guī)的具有社會性為且能作出貢獻的組織基本運作的一部分。因此，微政治進程有經常調查的方式觀察員工的影響策略。在工作中使用此類影響策略可以針對不同的目標或以自我中心，以與組織集中。在這一領域的工作已導致各種類型的影響策略，以與他們前因后果的可能性。3.2 組織間的微政治進程我們認為，在微政治治理的一個有用的概念和領會關系中，特別是治理的多中心網絡，是沒有正式的結構和規(guī)則的，然而非正式的流程和策略的影響以與談判方式，也會引發(fā)關于“政治”行為重要性的行為者意識。在虛擬的網絡中，領導模式的正式結構丟失，組成聯盟，并建立一個有影響力的位置，并從

6、合作中受益的個別活動應有特別的效果。此外，信息和通信技術(ICT)的使用，虛擬網絡可能有助于，甚至構成微政治進程，若技術有助于使現有的流程和結構更加明確，既帶來新的角色和規(guī)則，信息和通信技術的使用中的經驗非常豐富的網絡成員就可能使用他們的知識來獲得掌控力。因此，我們在研究中需要研究以下問題：1什么微政治進程可以在組織間被網絡標識？他們是不同類型的策略，在組織的上下文中可識別嗎？2如何識別微政治行為的組織間設置成功與否？它是如何影響虛擬網絡的？3微政治進程是如何通過虛擬網絡中的技術實現的？四、方法研究是在 2009 年春季與有關治理與創(chuàng)新中組織間提與的研究項目的一部分。依靠互聯網探究，我們招聘對

7、網絡組織有興趣的成員去定性的研究會談。需要滿足以下條件列入研究網絡： a)水平成員/成員組織b)多中心治理和c)最低的三個成員/成員組織之間的關系?？傮w而言，我們對來自不同的部門和行業(yè)（包括媒體設計、海運業(yè)、房地產業(yè)務、咨詢業(yè)務、貼標工業(yè)醫(yī)學、農業(yè))的虛擬網絡成員進行了半結構化的深入訪談。企業(yè)規(guī)模達30名與中小企不從單身企業(yè)等。介乎3至12個成員/成員組織的網絡規(guī)模。我們所采訪人的年齡在28到61歲之間，其中有6名女性和9名男性。經濟目標像是聯合客戶的項目或是銷售被命名的網絡主體13/15的網絡代理。稍有不同，醫(yī)療網絡的目的是促進溝通和交流，跨不同的醫(yī)療機構，并訂定條文，改善病人的醫(yī)療服務。農

8、民作為農業(yè)合作社的網絡，所有網絡長期存在，并安排他們的合作，主要是通過信息和通信技術的使用。技術應用先進的通信和群件平臺，從通過電子和交換不等。要獲得全面和有效的數據，對人際關系的影響過程，我們專注于個人的網絡位置是否允許積極的相互作用，并且可否與其他網絡伙伴合作交流，或換言之誰是可能的對源目標影響的測試。因此，我們專注于自由職業(yè)者和代表的小型和中型的企業(yè)，作為在網絡的各組織的邊界“扳手”。面試伙伴被問與他們的經驗影響、政治覺悟、領導能力以與網絡知識，即哪些策略他們一直在使用或其他網絡成員的行為一直在使用，這些問題包含著他們在網絡的利益與如何使事件成功的方法，當然這些方式已經被落實了。為引出這

9、些經驗，我們請來描述所謂的關鍵事件被訪者或關鍵的影響嘗試已經發(fā)生的人物，微政治后的通用過程并記錄研究情況。關于微政治行為的有效性，沒有固定的標準，成功的決心事先確認，而被訪者被要求為他們的主觀判斷是否應用策略并代表他們或其他的網絡成員。此標準，作為只需“獲取的方式”成功的通過其他研究微觀政治來獲取信息。此外，被訪者被問與有關網絡、競爭和信任的問題同時對項目過程的創(chuàng)新與使用信息、通信技術等方面的問題。同時搜集了正式的方面，例如網絡大小、持續(xù)時間、 地域分布等方面的數據。面試(30-90分鐘），轉錄就是為了根據一套固定的轉錄方式與預先定義的規(guī)則。使用組合先驗，事后利用方法進行定性的容分析：第一步，

10、面試的數據結構是依法推論出來，組織的微政治進程的文獻的分類。第二步，在分類系統(tǒng)改進，進一步增加策略確定通過描述的行為和數據，網絡代理與行為的類。共31種區(qū)別，具體微政治行動分別按15種不同類別。新開發(fā)的分類系統(tǒng)穩(wěn)定性（編碼器可靠性）所測試的重復編碼后首次分析的三個星期里發(fā)現，科恩的卡伯值計算可靠性指標，編碼器可靠性很優(yōu)秀(k =91）。同樣，交互編碼的可靠性（通過編碼由三個獨立的取值測算所得）被證明也是很好的（k = 77）。五、討論我們研究的目的是在虛擬的網絡中的微政治進程的調查。微觀政治組織科學和心理描述非正式的策略，以獲得在傳統(tǒng)組織中的權力和影響工整的概念。通過傳輸從組織的這種做法，組織

11、間的水平，我們旨在揭示發(fā)生、特征、驗收和微政治行為的虛擬網絡中的成功。結果表明盡管受下面討論的一些限制組織微政治行為的概念是確實可行和有助于解釋動力學的虛擬網絡，包括來自不同企業(yè)的行動者。在沒有明確的層次結構、結構和角色時，我們所探討的虛擬網絡的主要特點不準確，微政治行為甚至特別不準確。這導致我們的問題是否在組織間網絡的微政治行為是根本不同于傳統(tǒng)的組織發(fā)現的策略。我們的研究結果顯示虛擬網絡的成員使用微政治策略全匯輯，獲得的影響很廣泛。但是，有一些區(qū)別：第一，就是我們確定的特定于虛擬網絡的組織，即調停是可見的并證明為職位空缺的。第二，我們認為這些結果是新的，因為體廣泛的組織微政治策略研究，所以到

12、目前為止這些特定的策略尚未查明。第三，我們認為在新發(fā)現的策略被根植在非層次結構特征下的虛擬網絡（例如形成和抓?。ㄐ拢┑娜蝿蘸徒巧?，而且在對技術支持的交互上（例如開發(fā)的電子通信網絡中的可見性的可能性）都有所依賴。不過，這是一個有趣的研究觀點，探討如何用微政治進程指導技術在傳統(tǒng)的組織中的應用。措施的成效以與經濟指標包括（大小、 持續(xù)時間）的成員網絡的穩(wěn)定性尤為重要。此外，在今后的研究包括整個網絡（或至少一大批他們的成員）中，也會作為測試的被測人員的微政治進程，收斂性的一種手段，從而幫助驗證結果或進一步深入“虛擬微觀政治”的機制。同時注意結果中描述微政治過程組織間網絡的多中心的結構組成的獨立成員或

13、成員組織和缺乏正規(guī)的層次結構的角色。更正式的虛擬組織的類型可能會遇到其他形式的微政治行為的影響。六、涵義與未來動向在這一節(jié)，我們簡要討論可能影響的結構與治理結構的虛擬網絡，以與設計的技術，用于支持虛擬的合作，并確定該問題的進一步研究價值。6.1 涉與問題的研究與實踐結構與治理結構的虛擬網絡?；谖覀兊难芯渴强尚械募僭O，微政治行為影響是相互的，溝通和決定性的方式處理在虛擬網絡決策中產生了結果。因此，播放“虛擬微政治”的方式可能會影響結果的穩(wěn)定和成功率。這也是未來開放研究所需要闡明的機制問題。研究結果表明不同的網絡發(fā)展特色“組織”文化中的不同級別和微政治行為的策略是可接受和認可的。因此，我們做個假

14、設，個別的微政治策略和首選項的作用成為了過程中的某些網絡成員。如果虛擬網絡管理傳達他們的“微政治文化”理念，他們可就這些(自我)的甄選程序，去創(chuàng)造更大的穩(wěn)定并減少網絡中的沖突。再次，這些影響，需要在今后的研究中加以澄清。對于設計和所用的技術，我們的研究結果也顯示技術是微政治行為的重要載體。因此，作為設計師的組件、其他信息和通信技術，我們應該仔細看如何設計決策促進或收縮微政治行為。對于實際的意義，如上文所述，有許多對結構的含義，虛擬網絡感興趣的研究人員，以與從業(yè)人員的管理人員。例如，選擇新成員、處理沖突、網絡規(guī)則的制定、分配角色，甚至選擇技術等然而，在虛擬的網絡中，微政治進程研究的早期階段，詳細

15、的建議還很難做。作為一般性發(fā)言，從組織微政治進程研究學習開始，組織就不應忽略或設法抑制非正式規(guī)則的行為。微觀政治是現實的組織，也可以產生有益的作用，因為它釋放了員工的創(chuàng)造力和動機的一部分。同樣，虛擬網絡的成員應接受微政治行為作為“游戲”規(guī)則。鑒于消極協會的權力，這可能不是件容易的事：“禁忌的力量仍可能是深深植根于禁忌的現代人的良心中的”。同樣地，以前的研究表明虛擬網絡的成員通常盡量避免競爭，這是無疑的另一個現實的組織間合作的問題。克服這些禁忌是虛擬網絡，可能會在咨詢過程中處理的組織發(fā)展面所臨的挑戰(zhàn)。6.2 將來的工作我們計劃是在自己的研究中，仔細看看技術和虛擬微政治之間的關聯。研究問題，包括如

16、何從不同類型的媒體鼓勵間證明其有效（對于不同的微政治策略）。在這樣做時，我們會特別調查電子工件和虛擬網絡中的通信模式。此外，我們計劃在不同階段的合作中，在虛擬的網絡調查微政治行為：例如，特定的策略可能存在合作（例如假裝擁有一定的資源），稍后可能變得過時或甚至有害的初始階段。此外，進出虛擬網絡化進程將對微政治行為分析。當然也有一些，提示我們的數據應使用不同的策略，取決于他們的年齡、性別與專業(yè)背景或行業(yè)管理部門經驗。但是，我們當前的示例還是太小了，這些差異需要進一步調查。目前，我們正進行額外的采訪，用來解決這些問題我們采訪指南的修訂版本。我們將為這些變量也占在將來定量研究，以探索社會人口因素和專業(yè)

17、背景和微政治行為之間的關系。考慮上述討論，我們計劃進行全面調查所有（或至少一大批）成員的屬于一個虛擬的網絡方法學問題。要這樣做，我們將從社會網絡分析和價值網絡的分析方法著手。從開始所介紹的研究結果，我們現在也正在開發(fā)標準化的工具，以用來獲得關于使用、感知、和“虛擬微觀政治”的影響的可比數據。外文文獻與翻譯文獻、資料題目：Virtual Micro-Politics: Informal Tactics of Influence and Power in Inter-Organizational Networks文獻、資料來源：Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii Inte

18、rn-ational Conference on System Sciences外文文獻：Virtual Micro-Politics: Informal Tactics of Influence and Power in Inter-Organizational Networks1. IntroductionDue to globalization and technological developments, virtual organizations and networks have emerged in the last decade as new organizational st

19、ructures and continue to gain importance on the market. This is especially true for networks of freelancers and small and medium-sized enterprises. Although virtual networks have been studied for quite some time, there is still need for research regarding their inner dynamics and the mechanisms of l

20、eadership and governance. Network governance is an interesting topic because inter-organizational networks are typically characterized by a lack of formal hierarchies and roles and have no formal structure of leadership. Thus, it is sensible to assume that informal actions of individual stakeholders

21、 play a crucial role in shaping and governing the network. In our study, we investigated whether the concept of micro-politics is useful to explain behavior in virtual networks. The term micro-politics refers to informal actions of individual stakeholders to gain power and exert influence within an

22、organizational setting. Originating in organizational science and psychology, micro-political behavior within organizations has been extensively researched in the last decades. The aim of our paper is to transfer the concept of micro-politics from the intra-organizational setting to the inter-organi

23、zational level. To investigate whether micro-political behavior is a feasible perspective on virtual networks, we conducted a qualitative interview study with representatives of various networks, questioning them about their perception and use of actions to gain power and influence. Therefore, the c

24、ontribution of our work is to extend the concept of micro-politics to inter-organizational-or virtual-networks and to provide first empirical insights into structures and tactics of power within such networks. The paper is structured as follows: In section 2, we discuss and define virtual networks,

25、as we understand them in our study. In section 3, we introduce the concept of micro-politics within organizations and transfer it to inter-organizational relations. Section 4 describes the methodology of our study. Results are presented and discussed in sections 5 and 6. We conclude the article by d

26、iscussing implications for the design of virtual networks and the supporting ICT from a researchers as well as a practitioners viewpoint and describing prospects for future work.2. Virtual networksVirtual organizations can take various forms. However, most definitions agree that virtual organization

27、s are forms of inter-organizational, crossborder ICT-enabled collaboration between legally independent entities, usually with a specific economic goal.Beyond those basic properties, virtual organizations can vary considerably regarding the stability of membership and participation and also the durat

28、ion and goals of the cooperation.In our research, we take a view of virtual organizations as networks of independent enterprises or entrepreneurs. Members (or member organizations, respectively) engage in this form of cooperation because they expect economic advantages, e.g. to broaden the customer

29、base or develop new products and services together. On the other hand, network members often also act as individual competitors on the market. Thus, collaboration in virtual business networks has also been termed 'coopetition': A permanent and delicate balancing act between cooperation and c

30、ompetition.The virtual networks that we studied are mostly polycentric networks, i.e. highly distributed and loosely coupled associations with high degrees of autonomy of its members. This implies that there is typically no formal leader with special authority or superior to the other members. The n

31、etworks we investigated are constituted predominantly by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or freelancers.In such networks, typical elements of virtual organizations become especially apparent, such as a lack of formal hierarchies and rules and a heavy reliance upon information and communica

32、tion technology.Furthermore, facing the 'coopetition' explained above, a certain amount of trust among members is crucial to deal with the insecurity and informality of the situation: Thus, personal relations between network members (or representatives of member enterprises, respectively) pl

33、ay a vital role.Based on this characterization, we will use the terms 'virtual networks' and 'inter-organizational networks' interchangeably in this paper.3. The concept of micro-politicsOrganizations consist of individual actors who interact constantly. Micro-political processes are

34、 understood in organizational science as strategies of individuals to negotiate their interests in interaction with others and gain and exert influence and power. Even though these processes are typically informal in nature and not organizationally sanctioned, they nevertheless influence power struc

35、tures within organizations.3.1. Intra-organizational micro-politicalprocessesIn the last decades there has been a rapid growth intheoretical publications and empirical studies inorganizational science and psychology that havefocused on influence and politics in intra-organizationalsettings.One appro

36、ach to micro-political processes that hasbeen extensively discussed focuses on theorganizational members political behavior. On thisnote, micro-politics is regarded as part of a general setof social behaviors that can contribute to the basicfunctioning of organizations. Accordingly, micro-political

37、processes have beenfrequently investigated by means of observingemployees influence tactics. Such influence tacticsused at work can be aimed at different goals and selffocusedas well as organization-focused. Work inthis field has led to a variety of typologies of influencetactics as well as their po

38、ssible antecedents andconsequences.3.2. Inter-organizational micro-politicalprocessesIn our view, micro-politics is a useful concept tostudy and understand inter-organizational relations aswell, especially polycentric networks without formalstructures and rules of governance, giving way toinformal p

39、rocesses and tactics of influence andnegotiation and also raising actors consciousnessregarding the importance of politically behavior.As formal structures of leadership are missing,individual activities to form coalitions and build aninfluential position in order to benefit from thecooperation shou

40、ld be especially effective in virtualnetworks.Furthermore, information and communicationtechnology (ICT) used by virtual networks mightcontribute to or even constitute micro-politicalprocesses, as technology serves to both make existingprocesses and structures more explicit as well as bringforth new

41、 roles and rules. Network actors whoare well experienced in the use of ICT might use theirknowledge to gain power.Therefore, in our study we investigated thefollowing main research questions:1. What micro-political processes can beidentified within inter-organizationalnetworks? Are they different fr

42、om typicaltactics found in the intra-organizationalcontext?2. How successful is micro-political behavior inan inter-organizational setting? How does itaffect the virtual network?3. How are micro-political processes enactedthrough technology in virtual networks?4. MethodThe study was conducted in the

43、 spring of 2009 aspart of a larger research project concerned withgovernance and innovation in inter-organizationalnetworks1. By means of a systematic Internet researchwe recruited members of inter-organizational networksfor a qualitative interview study. The networks neededto fulfill the following

44、criteria to be included in thestudy: a) horizontal relationships betweenmembers/member organizations, b) polycentricgovernance, and c) a minimum of threemembers/member organizations.Overall, we conducted 15 semi-structured in-depthinterviewswith members of virtual networksfrom different sectors and

45、industries (IT, media design,shipping industry, real estate business, consultingbusiness, labeling industry medicine, farming). Theenterprise size ranged from single-person enterprises toSMEs with up to thirty members. The network sizeranged from three to twelve members/memberorganizations. Our inte

46、rview partners were betweenages 28 and 61, six were female, nine male.Economic goals such as joint customer projects orsales orders were named as the networks primaryobjective by 13 of the 15 network representatives.Slightly different, the medical networks aim was tofacilitate communication and exch

47、ange across differentmedical sectors and, therewith, to improve patientsmedical treatment. The network of farmers acted as anagricultural cooperative. All networks were aimed atlong-term existence and arranged their collaborationmainly through the use of information andcommunication technologies. Th

48、e technologies appliedranged from exchange via and telephone tosophisticated communication and groupware platforms.To obtain comprehensive and valid data on interpersonal influence processes, we focused on individuals whose network positions allowed for lively interactions and exchange with the othe

49、r network partners, or-in other words-who were likely to beboth the source and aim of influence attempts. Therefore we concentrated on freelancers and representatives of small and middle-sized enterprises, acting as the organizations' boundary spanners within the network.The interview partners w

50、ere asked about their experiences with influence and politics, leadership, and power within their networks, i.e. what tactics and behaviors they had either been using themselves or other network members had been using to push their interests within the network, and how successful these tactics had p

51、roven. To elicit these experiences, we asked the interviewees to describe so-called 'criticalIncidents' or key situations in which influence attempts had occurred, following the common procedure of prior research on micro-politics. Concerning the effectiveness of micro-political behavior, no

52、 fixed criteria for success were determined beforehand; instead the interviewees were asked for their subjective judgment whether the tactics applied had worked out for them or other network members. This open criterion of success as simply 'getting ones way' has been commonly used in other

53、studies on micro-politics as well.Furthermore, the interviewees were asked about the emergence of the network, the issue of competition and trust, processes of innovation, and the use of ICT. Data on formal aspects such as network size, duration, geographical distribution etc. was alsoollected. The

54、interviews (30-90 minutes duration) were audiotaped and transcribed literally according to a fixed set of transcription rules that had been defined beforehand. A qualitative content analysis was conducted using a combined a-priori/post-hoc approach: In a first step, the interview data was structured

55、 according to a category system deduced from the literature on micro-political processes within organizations. In a second step, the category system was refined by adding further categories of tactics identified through the described behaviors and actions of network agents in the data. A total of 31

56、 distinguishable concrete micro-political actions in 15 different categories were identified.The stability (intra-coder reliability) of the newly developed category system was tested by repeated coding three weeks after the first analysis. Cohens Kappa wasalculated as reliability index. Intra-coder

57、reliability was excellent (k=.91). Likewise, the inter-coder reliability (tested by having the material coded by three independentaters) proved to be very good (k=.77).6. DiscussionThe aim of our study was to investigate micro-political processes in virtual networks. Icro-politics is a well-research

58、ed concept in organizational science andsychology describing informal tactics to gain influence and power in traditionalrganizations. By transferring this approach from the intra-organizational to thenter-organizational level, we aimed to shed light on the occurrence, characteristics, acceptance, and success of micro-political behavior in virtual networks. Resultsndicate-despite some limitations