Wanda J. Orlikowski is the Eaton-Peabody Chair of Communication Sciences and

In this paper we demonstrate that teams may use genre systems-sequences of interrelated communicative actions-deliberately or habitually, to structure their collaboration. Using data over a seven-month period from three teams ’ use of a collaborative electronic technology, Team Room, we illustrate that genre systems are a means of structuring six dimensions of communicative interaction: purpose (why), content (what), participants (who/m), form (how), time (when), and place (where). We suggest that researchers and users may benefit from explicitly recog-nizing the role genre systems can play in collaboration and from examining changes in these six dimensions accompanying changes in electronic technology