Dr. Meredith Belbin and his team of researchers at Henley Management College, England, have studied the behavior of managers from all over the world for over nine years . Managers taking part in the study were given a battery of psychometric tests and put into teams of varying composition while engaged in a complex management exercise. The exercise assessed their core personality traits, intellectual styles, and behaviors. Results of this research showed that a finite number of behaviors, or team roles, define certain patterns of behavior adopted by various personality types. A team role, as defined by Dr. Belbin, is "a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way." The team roles are -
Action-orientedshaper, implementer, and completer/finisher -
People-orientedcoordinator, teamworker, and resource investigator -
Cerebralplant, monitor/ evaluator , and specialist Table 10-1 shows further details for each role. Table 10-1. Belbin Team Roles Descriptions ( continued ) Team Role Type | Contributions | Allowable Weaknesses | Plant | Creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solves difficult problems. | Ignores incidentals. Too preoccupied to communicate effectively. | Coordinator | Mature, confident, a good chairperson. Clarifies goals, promotes decision-making, delegates well. | Can often be seen as manipulative. Offloads personal work. | Monitor/evaluator | Sober, strategic, and discerning. Sees all options. Judges accurately. | Lacks drive and ability to inspire others. | Implementer | Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. Turns ideas into practical actions. | Somewhat inflexible . Slow to respond to new possibilities. | Completer/finisher | Painstaking, conscientious , anxious. Searches out errors and omissions. Delivers on time. | Inclined to worry unduly. Reluctant to delegate. | Resource investigator | Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative. Explores opportunities. Develops contacts. | Over-optimistic. Loses interest once initial enthusiasm has passed. | Shaper | Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. The drive and courage to overcome obstacles. | Prone to provocation. Offends people's feelings. | Teamworker | Cooperative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens, builds, averts friction. | Indecisive in crunch situations. | Specialist | Single-minded, self-starting , dedicated. Provides knowledge and skills in rare supply. | Contributes only on a narrow front. Dwells on technicalities. | Putting Teams Together When putting a team together for a task, it's important to analyze the type of task and what team roles are best represented on the team. The contributions and weaknesses of each role must be considered , and the team role of each member should be known. A well- formed team is a strong team, and a team tailored for the task is the strongest team you can get. The bibliography gives the Web address for more information about Belbin team roles, how to identify your own team role, and how to benefit from working with team roles. |