The virtual workplace presents chal

The virtual workplace presents challenges

Success in making the transition to the virtual workplace requires more than implementing new technology (Handy, 1995). Organizations must build trust among workers (Cascio, 2000; Handy, 1995; Holton, 2001; McCready et al., 2001; Milles, 1998; Staples, 2001a, b). Building trust requires frequent (Staples, 2001a) and high-quality communications (Jensen, 2003; Nilles, 1998).

Indeed, communication is one of the most important concerns of managers and workers in the virtual workplace (Cascio, 1999, 2000; Fritz et al., 1998; Staples, 2001b; Townsend et al., 1998) and is one of the largest barriers to effective telecommuting (Ruppel and Howard, 1998). Early studies of communication systems in virtual offices suggest that effective communication is more crucial than in traditional settings (Conner, 2003; DeSanctis and Monge, 1999; Engkavanish, 1999; Kayworth and Leidner, 2000; Whiting, 1997) because the virtual office alters the familiar pattern, content and context of organization communications (Engkavanish, 1999; Nilles, 1998; Townsend etal, 1998).

Many have found that the virtual workplace negatively affected communication and interaction with co-workers and managers (Hill et al., 1998; Huws et al, 1990). Hargie et al (2002) found poor communication correlated with lower commitment, reduced productivity, increased absenteeism, and higher turnover. Staples (200Ia) found that employees in a virtual workplace experienced lower levels of job satisfaction and manager-subordinate trust while experiencing higher levels of job stress, all correlated with lower quality communication. Ramsower (1985) found that full-time workers in virtual workplaces experienced similarly diminished work experiences that could be attributed to less frequent communication, reduced quality of information communicated, and a loss of contextual information (the social and professional context of the information flows).

This study reports on research that compared organizational communication and communication satisfaction in a single company that moved from a traditional office setting to one with both virtual office workers and traditional office workers. We used a variety of theoretically grounded communication satisfaction variables to test the relative levels of satisfaction among virtual and traditional office workers. The survey took place one year after the company implemented its virtual workplace. The survey variables included:

* personal feedback;

* communication climate;

* relationship with supervisors;

* horizontal and informal communication; and

* organizational integration.