ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the nature of the invisible boundaries that exist between the structured space time of formal organizations, and the unstructured space time of informal organizations, and, from in-depth case studies of IT businesses, clarifies that the strategic utilization of collaboration systems (CS) encourages practitioners to unconsciously (or consciously) form “Ma,” which promotes dynamic “recursive practical activities” (between formal and informal organizations) and “synergies of diverse paradoxes.”
The chapter identifies that organizational use of CS tools leads to the formation of “networked collaborative organizations,” which are organizational forms that maximize practical capabilities for IT-enabled dynamic capabilities by forming strategic communities (SC) that span real and virtual space, not only by individual employees. The chapter also shows that networked collaborative organizations are practical organizational forms that eliminate barriers to time, place, culture and language, respond to changes in the business environment, do not miss global business opportunities, dynamically reconfigure SC and networked SC, and establish various strategies to achieve organizational strategic objectives.
