Virtuality and the Reality of It All

Abstract

Virtuality has had a deep impact on every facet of an individual’s life, be it personal, professional or social. At an organizational level, it has fundamentally redefined how businesses work. It has made an impact on different organizations and institutions in different ways, which are referred to in this book as the multiple manifestations of virtual organizations. This chapter begins with a brief discussion on the interplay of virtuality between the individual and the organizations or institutions. It then provides the industry backdrop to some of the more important manifestations of VOs and identifies key challenges and issues that each one of them is seeking to address. This sets the context for the discussions in the chapters that follow.