Team Development (Blog 5)

What is a Team and Team Work?

Team is a group of people work together who share responsibility for achieving specific performance goals. Katzenbach & Smith (1993) defined as ‘A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose , performance goals and approach for which they are mutually accountable’.

Teamwork is defined by Scarnati (2001), as 'a cooperative process that allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results'. Team members must be flexible enough to adapt to cooperative working environments where goals are achieved through collaboration and social interdependence rather than individualised, competitive goals (Luca and Tarricone, 2001).

Nine Models of Belbin Team roles : Belbin, R. M. (2004).

                    (Figure 1 : Belbin Team Roles)

1. Resource Investigator

Strengths: Outgoing, enthusiastic. Explores opportunities and develops contacts.

Allowable weaknesses: Might be over-optimistic, and can lose interest once the initial enthusiasm has passed.

2. Team worker

Strengths: Co-operative, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens and averts friction.

Allowable weaknesses: Can be indecisive in crunch situations and tends to avoid confrontation.

3. Co-Ordinator

Strengths: Mature, confident, identifies talent. Clarifies goals.

Allowable weaknesses: Can be seen as manipulative and might offload their own share of the work.

4. Plant

Strengths: Creative, imaginative, free-thinking, generates ideas and solves difficult problems.

Allowable weaknesses: Might ignore incidentals, and may be too preoccupied to communicate effectively.

5. Monitor Evaluator

Strengths: Sober, strategic and discerning. Sees all options and judges accurately.

Allowable weaknesses: Sometimes lacks the drive and ability to inspire others and can be overly critical.

6. Specialist

Strengths: Single-minded, self-starting and dedicated. They provide specialist knowledge and skills.

Allowable weaknesses: Tends to contribute on a narrow front and can dwell on the technicalities.

7. Shaper

Strengths: Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. Has the drive and courage to overcome obstacles.

Allowable weaknesses: Can be prone to provocation, and may sometimes offend people's feelings.

8. Implementer

Strengths: Practical, reliable, efficient. Turns ideas into actions and organises work that needs to be done.

Allowable weaknesses: Can be a bit inflexible and slow to respond to new possibilities.

9. Completer Finisher

Strengths: Painstaking, conscientious, anxious. Searches out errors. Polishes and perfects.

Allowable weaknesses: Can be inclined to worry unduly, and reluctant to delegate.

(Video 1: Introduction from Dr Meredith Belbin)

Bruce Tuckman’s (1965) Team development Model

(Figure 2: Tuckman model)

Professor Bruce Tuckman first implemented four stages of group development - Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing and later he added a fifth stage Adjourning. Forming involves the introduction of group members exploring acceptable group behavior and the evolution of individuals to group status. Storming is group members are confronted with the realization that the tasks to be undertaken are different and sometimes more difficult than they had anticipated. In the Norming stage, the group becomes more cohesive as members recognize and adhere to group-developed norms and rules and assume the roles and responsibilities required for members. Performing is characterized by the group’s increased capacity for problem solving and implementation of changes that lead to task accomplishment. Later Adjourning brings closure to a group by the ending of a process, assignment, or other task.

References  

• Katzenbach, J. R. and Smith, D. K. (1993) ‘The Wisdom of Teams’: Creating the High-Performance Organisation, Boston: Harvard Business School.

•  Scarnati, J. T. (2001) ‘On becoming a team player’, Team Performance Management: An International Journal, vol. 7(1/2), pp. 5-10.

•  Luca, J. and Tarricone, P. (2001) ‘Does emotional intelligence affect successful teamwork?’, Proceedings of the 18th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education at the ASCILITE, pp. 367 – 376, Melbourne: University of Melbourne.

•  BELBIN Associates (2018), [Online] available at: https://www.belbin.com/about/belbin-team-roles/ (Accessed on: 05 September 2018).

•  Tuckman, B. W. (1965) ‘Developmental Sequence in Small Groups’. Psychological Bulletin, 63, pp. 384-399.

• Video 1: BELBIN Associates (2018) Introduction from Dr Meredith Belbin. [Online] available at:  https://www.belbin.com/about/dr-meredith-belbin/   (Accessed on: 05 September 2018).

• Figure 1: Educational-Business-Articles.com (2016) Belbin Team Roles. [Online] available at: https://www.educational-business-articles.com/belbin-team-roles/  [Accessed on: 05 September 2018].

• Figure 2: Mullins, L. J. (2010) ‘Management and Organisational Behaviour’, 9th edn., Harlow: Pearson Higher Education.