Collaborative virtual management models to boost knowledge workers creativity: Fieldwork research

Virtual management is a relatively new organisational form and consequently very little research has been done on structure, performance, managerial practices, etc. of these virtual extended enterprises. This abstract provides insights of three experiences of cooperatives from Mondragon Cooperative Corporation (MCC), going into depth regarding the needs and opportunities behind the decision to set up a virtual team, detailing the organisational structure adopted in each case, the dynamics incorporated to achieve higher creativity and suggesting practices towards common drivers for virtual management. The three examples examined are three cooperatives: FAGOR ELECTRODOMESTICOS S. Coop., MAIER S. Coop. and MCC GRAPHICS S. Coop. . For each of them, we describe the different virtual management structures adopted for their virtual teams and illustrate how factors such as operational structure, management, objectives and type of work can help towards, or result in, higher levels of creativity.