虚拟微政治-在网络中非正式策略的影响-------外文翻译.doc

1. Introduction

Due to globalization and technological developments, virtual organizations and networks have emerged in the last decade as new organizational structures 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 leadership 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 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 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-organizational 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 contribution 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, 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 discussing implications for the design of virtual networks and the supporting ICT from a researcher’s as well as a practitioner’s viewpoint and describing prospects for future work.


简介
应付全球化和科技发展，在十年之间虚拟组织和网络应运而生，它作为新的组织结构，继续赶超市场的重要性。这点尤其针对网络自由人和中小型企业。虽然虚拟网络已过存在篅@な奔洌孕枰芯抗赜谒堑哪谠诙σ约傲斓肌⒐芾砘啤Ⅻbr>当然，网络管理是一个有趣的话题，因为网络组织中通常以缺乏正规的层次结构和角色为表达，并没有任何正式的结构。因此，它是在塑造和治理网络中切合实际的呈现非正式行为引发的个人利益所发挥至关重要作用的地方。
在研究中，我们调查的微观政治概念是有助于解释虚拟网络中的行为的。“微政治”一词引用的是个人利益攸关者获得权力和影响组织设置内的非正式行动。来自组织科学和心理学，在过去的几十年中，组织内的微政治行为已广泛分布。我们的论文目的是把微观政治的概念从组织内设置成与各组织间的平行。调查微政治行为是否可行的角度需要在虚拟的网络上，进行面试定性研究与各种网络定性，代表质疑他们的看法并考虑行动争取权力的影响。因此，我们的工作的贡献是扩大到组织间的微观政治的概念——虚拟网络，提供结构与权力的这种网络策略的第一次实证洞察。