Advance Organizational Behaviour

(AY2021 Spring Semester)

Dr Rebecca Chunghee Kim

SESSION 5-6:
WORKING IN TEAMS
 Lecture Contents

• What and Why – Work Groups and Teams

• Belbin’s Team-roles

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 Happy Thursday!
Today’s class is all about WORKING IN TEAMS/GROUPS.
How many groups (teams) that you belong to and WHY?
(Life, work, play….)

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 Definition of a group
• Any number of people who:
– Interact with one another
– Are psychologically aware of one another
– Perceive themselves to be a group.
(Schein, 1988)

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 Group characteristics
A collection of people who
share most of the
following characteristics:

• A definable membership
• Group consciousness
• A sense of shared purpose
• Interdependence
• Interaction
• Ability to act in a unitary
manner.
(Adair, 1986)
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 Formal and informal groups

Formal Groups

• Are created to achieve specific

organisational objectives and are
concerned with the
co-ordination of work activities

• Group members have defined roles

and the nature of work tasks to be
undertaken is a predominant
feature of the group

• Tend to be relatively permanent,

although there may be a change in
the membership of the team
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Formal and informal groups
Informal Groups

• Serve to satisfy the

psychological and social needs
of group members not related
necessarily to the tasks to be
undertaken

• They are based on personal

relationships and membership

• They can cut across the formal

structure of the organisation

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Reasons for forming groups or teams

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1) Combined efforts

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2) Collusion

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• Certain tasks can be performed through the
combined efforts of a number of individuals working
together.

3) Companionship
• Collusion between members, e.g. to share unpopular
tasks and aid creativity and initiative.

• Provide a sense of belonging, identity and status.

• Provide guidelines on generally acceptable behaviour.

• Offer protection for its membership.

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4) Sense of belonging,
identity and status

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5) guidelines on generally
acceptable behaviour

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6) Offer
protection

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 Lecture Contents

• What and Why – Work Groups and Teams

• Belbin’s Team-roles

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Belbin’s team-roles
 Belbin’s team-roles
• Making the most of individual difference

• A team-role is a pattern of behaviour,

characteristic of the way in which one
team member interacts with another
whose performance serves to facilitate
the progress of the team as a whole.

‘No individual’s perfect, but a team can be’

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 Belbin’s nine team-roles

• Plant • Teamworker
• Resource investigator • Implementer
• Co-ordinator • Completer
• Shaper
• Monitor / evaluator

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1. Plant

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Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses

• Creative • Ignores details

• Imaginative • Too preoccupied
to communicate
• Unorthodox
effectively
• Solves difficult
problems
Source: Belbin, R.M., Team Roles at Work, Belbin Associates (1993), p.23

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2. Resource
Investigator
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Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses

• Extrovert • Over-optimistic
• Enthusiastic • Loses interest once
• Communicative enthusiasm has
passed
• Explores
opportunities
• Develops contacts
Source: Belbin, R.M., Team Roles at Work, Belbin Associates (1993), p.23 23
3. Co-ordinator
Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses

• Mature • Can be seen as

• Confident manipulative
• Delegates personal
• A good chairperson work
• Clarifies goals
• Promotes decision- making
• Delegates well
Source: Belbin, R.M., Team Roles at Work, Belbin Associates (1993), p.23
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4. Shaper
Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses

• Challenging • Can provoke others

• Dynamic • Hurts others’ feelings
• Thrives on pressure
• Has the drive and
courage to overcome
obstacles
Source: Belbin, R.M., Team Roles at Work, Belbin Associates (1993), p.23

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5. Monitor
Evaluator

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Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses

• Sober, strategic and • Lacks drive and ability

discerning to inspire others
• Sees all options • Overly critical

• Judges accurately
Source: Belbin, R.M., Team Roles at Work, Belbin Associates (1993), p.23

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6. Teamworker

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Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses

• Co-operative • Indecisive in crunch

• Mild situations
• Perceptive and • Can be easily
diplomatic influenced
• Listens
• Builds
• Averts friction
• Calms the waters
Source: Belbin, R.M., Team Roles at Work, Belbin Associates (1993), p.23 31
7. Implementer

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Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses

• Disciplined • Somewhat inflexible

• Reliable • Slow to respond to
• Conservative and efficient new possibilities

• Turns ideas into

practical actions
Source: Belbin, R.M., Team Roles at Work, Belbin Associates (1993), p.23

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8. Completer
Finisher

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Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses

• Painstaking • Inclined to worry

• Conscientious unduly
• Anxious • Reluctant to delegate
• Searches out errors and• Can be a nit-picker
omissions
• Delivers on time
Source: Belbin, R.M., Team Roles at Work, Belbin Associates (1993), p.23

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9. Specialist

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Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses

• Contributes on only a
• Single-minded
narrow front
• Self-sharing
• Dwells on
• Dedicated technicalities
• Provides knowledge
and skills in rare
• Overlooks the
supply ‘big picture’
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 Group Discussion 1
Identify the team role of each member?

• Identify your role in the team by using Belbin’s

Team Role Model.

• Let’s imagine your group as a APU Corporation.

Which work/position is appropriate for each
member?
(e.g., CEO, marketing, PR, finance, HR…)

• How useful is each member for the company?

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 Group Discussion 2
(Belbin’s Team Role Play)

The CEO of APU Corporation has suggested to do

the market research on the project “Building
Disneyland in Beppu” by 2030.

• Discuss about this

project according to your
team-role.

• Present your discussion

to the other members of
the class.
 Critique of Belbin’s model

• Method – based on self-perception, no

‘objective’ measure; questions open to
interpretation

• Assessing roles – difference between

potential and actual roles, latter influenced
by one’s autonomy, commitment to such
roles

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• Measuring ‘team success’ – lacking
evidence of team composition.

• Social dimension of team underestimated.

• Other factors (resources, strategy, types of

tasks, leadership, management, cultural
mix, context) underplayed.

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Selected references

• Schein, E.H. (1988). Organizational Psychology, 3rd

edition, Prentice Hall, p.145.
• Adair, J. (1986). Effective Team Building, Gower.
• Tuckman, B.W. (1965), Development Sequence in Small
Group, Psychological Bulletin, 63(1965): 384-399.
• Handy, C. (1995), Trust and the Virtual Organization:
How do you manage people whom you do not see,
Harvard Business Review, 73(3): 40-50.
• Hallowell, (1999), The Human Moment at Work, Harvard
Business Review, Jan: 58-66.
• Belbin’s team role model (http://www.belbin.com/)
• Mullins, L. J (2011), Essentials of organisational
behavior, Financial Times, Prentice Hall / 3 edition (6
Jun 2011)
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 Question for Critical Reflection 3
I am happy to see your hard work on the group project. In your group,
introduce ONE group member who you ‘expect’ as the best
contributor to the successful outcome of the group project (EXCEPT
YOU). Your group member’s name can be either his full/first name or
nick name. To what extent can Belbin’s Team Roles Model be used to
explain his/her contribution to the team dynamics?

• Please write not more than 700 words.

• It should be based on the lecture and offer evidence of your further
study. I seek and value your contribution: both academically in
advancing a sound argument, or a fresh perspective regarding a
chosen topic; and your demonstrated ability to draw lessons from
them.
• Deadline for submission: 5th of May (Wed) 2021, 23:59PM
** No late submission allowed. **
• You should submit through manaba system (NO e-mail submission).
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