ABSTRACT
Modern work settings such as virtual work arrangements-which are geographically distributed and in which workers rely heavily on information and communication technologies (ICTs)—allow for work to be conducted in new ways, but they also give rise to new types of work pressures that differ from those faced by workers in traditional organizations. This chapter will consider tensions arising from global, geographically distributed, and technologically mediated work arrangements and the ways in which these tensions are communicatively managed by organizational members. When people hear the word “tension,” they typically think of something negative, like stress or interpersonal conflict. While the modern workplace is often fraught with work pressures and stress due to information overload from email and other sources (e.g., Barley, Meyerson, & Grodal, 2011), we will be discussing a different sort of tensions. The tensions that will be discussed here can both alleviate and add to work pressures involving virtual work arrangements and increased use of new communication technologies. In this chapter, we will consider tensions as normal features of organizing that can be productive for organizations, depending on how they are managed. We do so by highlighting several virtual work contexts in which tensions are likely to arise: global team collaboration, telework policies, and technology use in distributed work. Drawing on examples from my own and other related research, this chapter will illustrate the ways in which dialectical tensions arise and are discursively managed through communication practices in ways that are productive for virtual workers. This has important implications for anyone who works in or manages a virtual organization.
