Exploring the Benefits and Limitations of Belbin's Team Roles in Project Management
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| − | The team roles has been collected from Management Teams <ref name="Management Teams"/> (page 72) and has been updated with information from <ref name="A Comprehensive Review"> 2014 Belbin | + | The team roles has been collected from Management Teams <ref name="Management Teams"/> (page 72) and has been updated with information from <ref name="A Comprehensive Review"> 2014 A Comprehensive Review of |
| + | Belbin Team Roles https://www.belbin.com/media/1158/belbin-uk-2014-a-comprehensive-review.pdf/</ref> . There are several way to determine which Belbin Team Role a person is, they can get feedback from colleagues, they can observe their own behavior in a team, but the most reliant one is the “Belbin Team Role Self-Perception Inventory” | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
<references /> | <references /> | ||
Revision as of 14:38, 21 April 2023
Developed by Torbjørn D. Rosseland
Introduction
This article aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how and why Belbin's Team Roles can be effectively utilized in Project Management. It furthermore explores the benefits and limitations of utilizing Belbin's Team Role model for team dynamic. The article aims to target and appeal to everybody, but a basic understanding of fundamental elements within Project Management is advised.
The article will first delve into the origins and development of Belbin's Team Role theory by Dr. Meredith Belbin, explaining the nine different roles that can be adopted within a team. An explanation of the difference between Functional Roles and Team Roles will be described given the significances they both have in a team context.
Two different standards are used to identify and describe the importance of Belbin’s Team Roles in Project Management. The first one is ISO 21500:2012 [1], which is an international standard for Project Management that aims to provide guidelines for initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and closure of projects. The other standard is PMBOK® (Project Management Body of Knowledge) [2], and is a comprehensive guide which includes a set of standard terminology, guidelines and best practices for managing projects.
Lastly, the article analyzes and explores the potential benefits and limitations of utilizing Belbin's Team Roles in Project Management. The article aims to provide a balanced view of the strengths and weaknesses of the approach and highlights the importance of considering various factors when implementing this method in a team setting.
Contents |
History & Background information
The history of Meredith Belbin's Theory
To create a successful team, it is important to have a mix of personalities that can take on various roles. Assigning tasks based on individual’s strengths and weaknesses is an effective approach to building a team, as people tend to achieve great results when working on tasks that align with their strengths. Usually, people are given roles; they do not find them.(page 1)[3].
Raymond Meredith Belbin is a British researcher born 4 June 1926. He started studying Classics at Clare College, Cambridge as a young man[4]. After a few years he changed courses to Psychology and completed the course in half the allotted time. It was during this time he met his future wife, Eunice. Belbin continued his studies with a PhD, focusing on the Psychology of Ageing in the Industry. While Belbin was working at the Industrial Training Research Unit (ITRU), he was invited to preform research at the Administrative Staff College at Henley-on-Thames. The team consisted of Belbin, Eunice, Bill Harston, Jeanne Fisher and Roger Mottram. It was from this research that formed the basis for Team Role theory, although the significance was not yet revealed.
Meredith Belbin worked with colleagues in Australia to study intellectual abilities and teamworking. He aimed to build on success and understand reasons for failure, focusing on providing opportunities based on individual’s abilities and interests. In 1981, he wrote the book Management Teams: Why They Succeed or Fail[5], which later became one of the top fifty management books of all time.
Belbin worked for ICI Paints and Cadbury’s Schweppes to assess individual suitability for different jobs, but by the late 1980’s, the demand exceeded the supply and he had to work long hours. In 1988, Belbin and his family formed Belbin Associates to promote Belbin Team Roles worldwide. In 1993, he published Team Roles at Work[3], which provided practical applications for Team Role theory in the workplace. Today, Belbin Associates continues to promote the Team Role message globally.
Overview of Belbin's Team Role Theory
Belbin’s Team Role is a framework that helps managers and leaders to understand how individual persons work together in a team. The theory is based on the idea that different personality types and skills are needed in order to build a successful team[5](page 125 - 134). Belbin identified nine different team roles: Plant, Monitor-Evaluator, Specialist, Shaper, Implementer, Completer and Specialist [3] (page 22)
Belbin’s theory emphasizes the importance of balancing team roles to ensure that all necessary functions are covered. By assigning roles that align with individual’s strengths and weaknesses, teams can function more effectively and efficiently [3] (page 87-95).
Functional Roles and Team Roles
Belbin believed that it was important for managers and leaders to understand the difference between functional roles and team roles. Below are citations from his book Management Teams[5] regarding the different roles.
Functional Role: "The role that a member of a team preforms in terms of the specifically technical demands placed upon him. Typically, team members are chosen for functional roles on the basis of their experience and without regard to any personal characteristics or aptitudes that fit them for additional tasks within the team" [5] (page 187)
Team Role: "This describes a pattern of behavior characteristic of the way in which one team member interacts with another where his performance serves to facilitate the progress of the team as a whole. Only eight useful types of contribution were discovered. These were Chairman, Shaper, Plant, Company worker, Team Worker, Monitor-Evaluator, Resource Investigator and Completer. Each of these team roles was associated with characteristic types of personality as measured by the tests used in the experiments." [5] (page 191)
A persons professional or technical skills are associated with functional roles, team roles are on the other hand associated with personality traits and behavioral tendencies.
Belbin’s Team Roles
The team roles has been collected from Management Teams [5] (page 72) and has been updated with information from [6] . There are several way to determine which Belbin Team Role a person is, they can get feedback from colleagues, they can observe their own behavior in a team, but the most reliant one is the “Belbin Team Role Self-Perception Inventory”
References
- ↑ https://www.iso.org/standard/50003.html
- ↑ https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/PMBOK
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 R. Meredith Belbin, Team Roles at Work, (ISBN 0-7506-2675-5, 2003),
- ↑ https://www.belbin.com/about/dr-meredith-belbin
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 R. Meredith Belbin, Management Teams Why they succeed or fail, (ISBN 0-7506-5910-6, 2004), 1.
- ↑ 2014 A Comprehensive Review of Belbin Team Roles https://www.belbin.com/media/1158/belbin-uk-2014-a-comprehensive-review.pdf/
