The effect of virtuality on the functioning of centralized versus decentralized structures-an information processing perspective

Does virtuality in organizations require centralization or decentralization? We specify the coordination and information processing requirements for virtual organizing in order to examine how these requirements are met by centralized and decentralized structural designs, respectively. We use the agent based SimVision computational discrete event simulation model as our experimental platform to develop concise and comparable measures of the information processing needs of virtual organizing, and how these are met by the information processing capabilities of the centralized and decentralized structures. Contrary to conventional wisdom, that the centralized form is more effective in virtual settings than the decentralized form. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Duke Scholars

Author Richard M. Burton Fuqua School of Business