Meredith Belbin
Encyclopedia
Meredith Belbin is a British researcher and management theorist, best known for his work on management teams. He is a visiting professor and Honorary Fellow of Henley Management College in Oxfordshire
, England
.
. His first appointment after his doctorate was as a research fellow
at Cranfield College (now Cranfield School of Management
at Cranfield University
). His early research focused mainly on older workers in industry. He returned to Cambridge and joined the Industrial Training Research Unit (ITRU) where his wife Eunice was director and he subsequently became chairman. Belbin combined this job with acting as OECD consultant running successful demonstration projects in Sweden
, Austria
, UK and the United States
.
It was while at ITRU, in the late 1960s, that Belbin was invited to carry out research at what was then called the Administrative Staff College at Henley-on-Thames
. The work which formed the basis of his 1981 classic took several years and, after publication, it was some time before its real importance was recognised. Having an interest in group as well as individual behaviour, but with no particular theories about teams, Belbin enlisted the aid of three other scholars: Bill Hartston
, mathematician and international chess master; Jeanne Fisher, an anthropologist who had studied Kenyan tribes; and Roger Mottram, an occupational psychologist. Together they began what was to be a seven-year task. Three business games a year, with eight teams in each game, and then in meeting after meeting, observing, categorising and recording all the different kinds of contribution from team members.
In 1988, Belbin established, with his son Nigel, Belbin Associates to publish and promote his research.
run at Henley Management College. Amongst his key conclusions was the proposition that an effective team has members that cover eight (later nine) key roles in managing the team and how it carries out its work. This may be separate from the role each team member has in carrying out the work of the team.
While comparisons can be drawn between Belbin's behavioural team roles and personality types, the roles represent tasks and functions in the self-management of the team's activities. Tests exist to identify ideal team roles, but this does not preclude an extravert from being a Completer Finisher, nor an introvert from being a Resource Investigator.
The research which identified these roles was conducted on established executives studying at the Administrative Staff College at Henley (now re-named Henley Management College); they were selected for the prestigious course by their firms who had identified them as high-fliers expected to go on to senior management. The sample was therefore already highly selective. Belbin himself points out in his book that many people that might otherwise have made excellent managers might have de-selected themselves from attending the programme.
The exercises given consisted of a game designed to simulate business decision-making with an emphasis on generating profit in a fictitious company, and a version of Monopoly specially adapted to remove the chance elements and enable groups to play in teams against other teams. While Belbin draws on examples from real organisations, the development of the model is based on the behaviour of subjects in the artificial environment of the business school exercise.
Some people teach that all eight/nine roles must be present for a team to function well. Belbin himself acknowledges that some teams consisting of one Shaper and a group of "yes" men perform well, especially where predictability was high. His book identifies a number of combinations that performed well in the exercises, especially where the teams were aware of "missing" roles within their ranks.
Some people attempt to match Belbin's roles with Carl Jung
's eight personality types, with the nine types of the Enneagram of Personality
or another personality type classification. Belbin is at pains to point out that the team roles are not personality types. He regards them as clusters of characteristics, of which psychological preference is but one dimension.
Automated Belbin reports, available from some management training companies should not, therefore, be used as the basis for recruitment or promotion decisions.
The weakeneses of the shaper is:MIght become bad tempered/bad humored when getting things done
Weaknes of an Implementer is slow to relinquish their plans in positive favour
complete finisher perfection to extereme
co-ordinator over-enthusiatic
Team worker find difficult to make desions on own
Resource investigator forget to follow lead
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Early Life and Work
Dr. Raymond Meredith Belbin was born in 1926. He took both his first and second degrees, Classics and then Psychology at Clare College, CambridgeClare College, Cambridge
Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1326, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. Clare is famous for its chapel choir and for its gardens on "the Backs"...
. His first appointment after his doctorate was as a research fellow
Research fellow
The title of research fellow is used to denote a research position at a university or similar institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a principal investigator...
at Cranfield College (now Cranfield School of Management
Cranfield School of Management
Cranfield School of Management is part of Cranfield University and a leading business school in the world. Cranfield University has provided management training since the late 1940s...
at Cranfield University
Cranfield University
Cranfield University is a British postgraduate university based on two campuses, with a research-oriented focus. The main campus is at Cranfield, Bedfordshire and the second is the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom based at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. The main campus is unique in the United...
). His early research focused mainly on older workers in industry. He returned to Cambridge and joined the Industrial Training Research Unit (ITRU) where his wife Eunice was director and he subsequently became chairman. Belbin combined this job with acting as OECD consultant running successful demonstration projects in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, UK and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
It was while at ITRU, in the late 1960s, that Belbin was invited to carry out research at what was then called the Administrative Staff College at Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...
. The work which formed the basis of his 1981 classic took several years and, after publication, it was some time before its real importance was recognised. Having an interest in group as well as individual behaviour, but with no particular theories about teams, Belbin enlisted the aid of three other scholars: Bill Hartston
William Hartston
William Roland Hartston is an English chess player who played competitively from 1962 to 1987 with a highest Elo rating of 2515...
, mathematician and international chess master; Jeanne Fisher, an anthropologist who had studied Kenyan tribes; and Roger Mottram, an occupational psychologist. Together they began what was to be a seven-year task. Three business games a year, with eight teams in each game, and then in meeting after meeting, observing, categorising and recording all the different kinds of contribution from team members.
In 1988, Belbin established, with his son Nigel, Belbin Associates to publish and promote his research.
Belbin's Research
Belbin's 1981 book Management Teams presented conclusions from his work studying how members of teams interacted during business gamesBusiness Games
Business Games is a software package published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. It was released in the Acornsoft Education range and includes two business simulation games; Stokmark and Telemark....
run at Henley Management College. Amongst his key conclusions was the proposition that an effective team has members that cover eight (later nine) key roles in managing the team and how it carries out its work. This may be separate from the role each team member has in carrying out the work of the team.
- Plant: A creative, imaginative, unorthodox team-member who solves difficult problems. Although they sometimes situate themselves far from the other team members, they always come back to present their brilliant idea.
- Resource Investigator: The "Resource Investigator" is the networker for the group. Whatever the team needs, the Resource Investigator is likely to have someone in their address book who can either provide it or know someone else who can provide it. This may be physical, financial or human resources, political support, information or ideas. Being highly driven to make connections with people, the Resource Investigator may appear to be flighty and inconstant, but their ability to call on their connections is highly useful to the team. Explores opportunities, make contacts, shares external information; negotiates with outsiders; responds well to challenges
- Chairman (1981) / Co-ordinator (1988): The "Chairman/Co-ordinator" ensures that all members of the team are able to contribute to discussions and decisions of the team. Their concern is for fairness and equity among team members. Those who want to make decisions quickly, or unilaterally, may feel frustrated by their insistence on consulting with all members, but this can often improve the quality of decisions made by the team. Clarifies goals; helps allocate roles, responsibilities, and duties; articulates group conclusions
- Shaper: A dynamic team-member who loves a challenge and thrives on pressure. This member possesses the drive and courage required to overcome obstacles. Seeks patterns in group work; pushes group toward agreement and decisions; challenges others
- Monitor-Evaluator: A sober, strategic and discerning member, who tries to see all options and judge accurately. This member contributes a measured and dispassionate analysis and, through objectivity, stops the team committing itself to a misguided task. Analyzes problems and complex issues; monitors progress and prevents mistakes; assesses the contributions of others; sees all options; judges accurately
- Team Worker: The "Team Worker" is concerned to ensure that interpersonal relationships within the team are maintained. They are sensitive to atmospheres and may be the first to approach another team member who feels slighted, excluded or otherwise attacked but has not expressed their discomfort. The Team Worker's concern with people factors can frustrate those who are keen to move quickly, but their skills ensure long-term cohesion within the team. Gives personal support and help to others; socially oriented and sensitive to others; resolves conflicts; calms the waters; serves as an in-group diplomat
- Company Worker (1981) / Implementer (1988): The "Implementer" is the practical thinker who can create systems and processes that will produce what the team wants. Taking a problem and working out how it can be practically addressed is their strength. Being strongly rooted in the real world, they may frustrate other team members by their perceived lack of enthusiasm for inspiring visions and radical thinking, but their ability to turn those radical ideas into workable solutions is important.
- Completer Finisher: The "Completer Finisher" is the detail person within the team. They have a great eye for spotting flaws and gaps and for knowing exactly where the team is in relation to its schedule. Team members who have less preference for detail work may be frustrated by their analytical and meticulous approach, but the work of the Completer Finisher ensures the quality and timeliness of the output of the team. Emphasizes the need for meeting schedules, deadlines, and completing tasks; searches out errors
- Specialist (1988): Belbin later added a ninth role, the "Specialist", who brings 'specialist' knowledge to the team. Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated; provides unique or rare expertise and skills
Practical Implications
Based on Belbin's model of nine team roles, managers or organisations building working teams would be advised to ensure that each of the roles can be performed by a team member. Some roles are compatible and can be more easily fulfilled by the same person; some are less compatible and are likely to be done well by people with different behavioural clusters. This means that a team need not be as many as nine people, but perhaps should be at least three or four.While comparisons can be drawn between Belbin's behavioural team roles and personality types, the roles represent tasks and functions in the self-management of the team's activities. Tests exist to identify ideal team roles, but this does not preclude an extravert from being a Completer Finisher, nor an introvert from being a Resource Investigator.
Criticisms of the Model
While Belbin's model has become well known and is taught as a standard part of much management training, there are many criticisms of both the model itself and the way it is sometimes erroneously used.The research which identified these roles was conducted on established executives studying at the Administrative Staff College at Henley (now re-named Henley Management College); they were selected for the prestigious course by their firms who had identified them as high-fliers expected to go on to senior management. The sample was therefore already highly selective. Belbin himself points out in his book that many people that might otherwise have made excellent managers might have de-selected themselves from attending the programme.
The exercises given consisted of a game designed to simulate business decision-making with an emphasis on generating profit in a fictitious company, and a version of Monopoly specially adapted to remove the chance elements and enable groups to play in teams against other teams. While Belbin draws on examples from real organisations, the development of the model is based on the behaviour of subjects in the artificial environment of the business school exercise.
Some people teach that all eight/nine roles must be present for a team to function well. Belbin himself acknowledges that some teams consisting of one Shaper and a group of "yes" men perform well, especially where predictability was high. His book identifies a number of combinations that performed well in the exercises, especially where the teams were aware of "missing" roles within their ranks.
Some people attempt to match Belbin's roles with Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
's eight personality types, with the nine types of the Enneagram of Personality
Enneagram of Personality
The Enneagram of Personality is a model of human personality which is principally used as a typology. Principally developed by Oscar Ichazo and Claudio Naranjo, it is also partly based on earlier teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff...
or another personality type classification. Belbin is at pains to point out that the team roles are not personality types. He regards them as clusters of characteristics, of which psychological preference is but one dimension.
Automated Belbin reports, available from some management training companies should not, therefore, be used as the basis for recruitment or promotion decisions.
The weakeneses of the shaper is:MIght become bad tempered/bad humored when getting things done
Weaknes of an Implementer is slow to relinquish their plans in positive favour
complete finisher perfection to extereme
co-ordinator over-enthusiatic
Team worker find difficult to make desions on own
Resource investigator forget to follow lead
See also
- Belbin Team InventoryBelbin Team InventoryThe Belbin Team Inventory, also called the Belbin Self-Perception Inventory, Belbin Team Role Inventory, SPI or BTRSPI,was devised by Meredith Belbin to measure preference for nine Team Roles which he identified whilst studying numerous teams at Henley Management College. The Inventory assesses how...
- Cog's LadderCog's LadderCog's Ladder of group development is based on the work, "Cog's Ladder: A Model of Group Growth", by George O. Charrier, an employee of Procter and Gamble, published in a company newsletter in 1972. The original document was written to help group managers at Procter and Gamble better understand the...
- CollaborationCollaborationCollaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
- CooperationCooperationCooperation or co-operation is the process of working or acting together. In its simplest form it involves things working in harmony, side by side, while in its more complicated forms, it can involve something as complex as the inner workings of a human being or even the social patterns of a...
- Cross-functional teamCross-functional teamA cross-functional team is a group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal. It may include people from finance, marketing, operations, and human resources departments. Typically, it includes employees from all levels of an organization...
- Group developmentGroup developmentThe goal of most research on group development is to learn why and how small groups change over time. To do this, researchers examine patterns of change and continuity in groups over time...
- Group dynamicsGroup dynamicsGroup dynamics refers to a system of behaviors and psychological processes that occur within a social group , or between social groups...
- Group (sociology)Group (sociology)In the social sciences a social group can be defined as two or more humans who interact with one another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity...
- ManagementManagementManagement in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
- Organisational development
- TeamTeamA team comprises a group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks.A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team...
- Team buildingTeam buildingTeam building refers to a wide range of activities, presented to businesses, schools, sports teams, religious or nonprofit organizations designed for improving team performance...