1. System Structure Design and Social Consequence: The Impact of Message Templates on Affectivity in Virtual Teams Herbert Remidez, Jr. Ton Stam University of Missouri-Columbia

2. CAMOC Cognitive-Affective Model of Organizational Communication for Designing Information Technology (Te`eni, 2001) Explains a sender’s choice of message form and medium, given goals and situation If correct, it might be possible to use the model to design computer support to enhance communication in virtual teams

3. CAMOC (cont.) Proposes six strategies for increasing understanding and strengthening relationships – Contextualization – Control through planning – Control through testing and adjusting – Perspective taking – Attention focusing – Affectivity

4. CAMOC (cont.) Te`eni - message templates might be effective for supporting affectivity “Enterprises of the future are likely to rely even more heavily on virtual organization. Trust will be crucial.” – Te`eni

5. Trust Trust is a type of affect that is important to the functioning of virtual and non-virtual teams Trust replaces authority as a control mechanism in self-directed virtual teams Systems to compensate for lack of trust are expensive and produce undesirable results

6. Jarvenpaa, et al. (1998, 1999) Strategies that virtual teams might employ to reinforce trust: – proactive behavior – empathetic task communication – positive tone – rotating team leadership – task goal clarity – role division – time management – frequent interaction with acknowledged and detailed responses to prior messages

7. Tool Shadow netWorkspace Discussion Board – Regular Modeled on applications in Blackboard, WebCT, etc. – Template-driven Provides prompts and templates for messages

8. Template-Driven Discussion Board Users select the type of message they want to create – “Question”, “Feedback”, “Introduction”, etc. Customizable input form for each message type Can control order in which message types are posted

9. Select a Message

10. Compose a Message

11. Purpose To understand if CAMOC can be extended to include the use of message templates to support the ‘affectivity’ communication strategy. – Trust is the dimension of affectivity under investigation To understand the affect of an Attention Focusing strategy on trust in virtual teams.

12. Study Design 410 undergraduate business students Teams of five (20 per treatment) Three weeks – 1 wk for pre and post tests Task: survival problem – plan crash on mountain

13. Study Design (cont.) Treatments – Regular Discussion Board – Regular Discussion Board With Notification – Template Discussion Board – Template Discussion Board With Notification Templates based on Jarvenpaa’s findings

14. Instruments Jarvenpaa et al’s – Antecedents of trust – Ability, Integrity, Benevolence, Trustworthiness, Propensity to Trust Saonee Sarker and Suprateek Sarker’s Virtual Team Trust Instrument

15. Preliminary Results When the Message Organization is high, then using an Attention Focusing can lead to increased levels of trust. Side note – Women posted significantly more messages than men in all treatments.

16. System Structure Design and Social Consequence: The Impact of Message Templates on Affectivity in Virtual Teams Herbert Remidez, Jr. Ton Stam University of Missouri-Columbia Thank You.