Belbin assignment

MODULE CODE: KB7036

MODULE NAME: PEOPLE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

STUDENT NUMBER: w17034680

TASK 1: ACADEMIC PAPER

WORD COUNT: 3000

NUMBER OF FIGURES: 1

Abstract

Every project needs a good team structure to come out successful in their respective

project. So, building a potentially feasible team for a project is of paramount importance. Also,

organizing and structuring the team can be done by identifying the right person to lead the

group. Because, a fine leadership behavior can inspire a project team to perform beyond their

expectations through classical team-building interventions such as goal-setting, role-

clarification, interpersonal communication, and problem-solving techniques. Team building is

the term used to portray ways to deal with enhancing the activities of teams. Team building

teaches particular cooperation aptitudes like assertiveness, broadly educate individuals to

enhance coordination and advance authoritative learning using critical thinking groups. This

paper describes the team building process, conflict management, decision- making skills, pros

and cons of the Belbin team roles and how to improve the team’s efficiency by evaluating and

managing the people. Furthermore, it discusses the views on Belbin self-perception report (with

4 observers) with my functional roles in a team which I worked before.

Keywords: Team building, performance evaluation, functional roles, conflict management

and Belbin team roles.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

2. Belbin report ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4

3. Group dynamics in organization -------------------------------------------------- 6

3.1. Team building and types of team ---------------------------------------------- 6

3.2. Team member selection -------------------------------------------------------- 7

3.3. Dynamic project environment -------------------------------------------------- 8

3.4. Team Conflict and Power Congruence -------------------------------------- 8

3.5. Role conflicts --------------------------------------------------------------------- 9

3.6. Credibility of the project leader ------------------------------------------------ 9

4. Management and organisational issues----------------------------------------------- 10

4.1. Communication Problem and Decision Making ------------------------------ 10

4.2. Benefits from the management ------------------------------------------------- 11

5. Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11

6. Reference ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12

A STRATEGICAL ANALYSIS OF TEAM WORKING EXPERIENCE

AND RELATING THEM WITH BELBIN’S TEAM ROLES

1. Introduction

Belbin team roles is a comprehension of the diverse qualities that individuals convey to

groups helps the two people and colleagues to be their "best selves." People can feel positive

about the team roles that they convey to team working, and value that other individuals bring

distinctive qualities. The theory of Belbin team role gives individuals a dialect with which to

discuss their disparities and also to value their “Allowable weakness”. Individuals more often

than not have clear qualities in no less than three of the nine Belbin team roles, and draw upon

some of the other team roles as and when they have to do as such. Similarly, people have maybe

a few other team roles that they once in a while utilize, because they either are hesitant to do as

such or know that they are not exceptionally gifted in those specific roles (Townend, 2007).

This paper articulates my Belbin team role preferences, strength and weakness according to the

Belbin self-perception report. It also analyses the functional role, I performed while working

in an organization and inter-relate with my Belbin preferable roles. Finally, this manuscript also

examines the problems while performing these Belbin team roles, and whether the preferable

Belbin role varies with a functional role or not and comes up with a solution to improve one’s

least preferred Belbin team role while working in a team.

2. Belbin report

Belbin, a UK academic and consultant in organizational development, is by and large

viewed as the father of team role theory (Belbin, 1981; 1993). Belbin's exploration has

recognized nine team roles. They are,

➢ Plant

➢ Resource Investigator

➢ Co-ordinator

➢ Shaper

➢ Monitor Evaluator

➢ Team worker

➢ Implementer

➢ Completer/Finisher

➢ Specialist

As per Belbin's team role theory, each individual may possess a couple of these roles to

which they are in a perfect world suited, various different roles which they can accept if there

are no others to play these roles in a team, and a few parts that will be best dodged. Belbin's

work focusses around the significance of distinguishing individual ``natural'' inclinations for

particular team role, at that point playing to these personal qualities, while, in the meantime,

adjusting the group by guaranteeing that the greater part of the required roles is secured off.

The genuine favourable position to doing this work, as indicated by Belbin, is that little groups

are then ready to accomplish more in less time-a suspected that certainly spoke to this virtual

group. Belbin's self-perception inventory is a basic tool for empowering each team member to

self-assess his/her preferred roles inside team setup also, those which he/she could accept if

needed to balance the team(Holton, 2001).

Fig 1: Belbin’s self-perception report

According to my (Fig 1) Belbin’s self-perception report, I came to know my preferred roles

while working in a team or a group. Team Worker and Completer/Finisher are the dominant

roles which I mostly prefer while working in a team. Monitor evaluator and Specialist are the

roles which I prefer the least among the nine roles. This script discusses mainly about how to

maintain my preferred roles working in a team and improve on the weaker roles. It also gives

the description of a recently completed project-orientated task that I have executed in a project

team which is a formal organization and how it relates to my preferred Belbin roles.

Description of a functional role

Being in an organisation and to work for them with peers, an employee needs to

understand, what the demand the organisation expects from him. I worked for a formal

organisation in a task force team which is a private construction firm as an assistant engineer

in quality control department in a project. I had been given with specific role in my department.

My primary roles were to check all the incoming construction materials, testing and work

progress in the construction site. So, it was more like a specialist role. I had a superior in my

department and a few subordinates as well. And there were quite a few other divisions like

execution, safety, material, planning and quantity surveyor. The project was headed by a project

manager who was responsible for the overall project operations. So, all the department should

have to report everything to him every now and then.

In addition to the above-mentioned works, I also needed to take the liability to the

concrete production plant. Therefore, I was handed a variety of roles by the project team. While

doing those tasks, I experienced various difficulties in different situation. In the beginning, I

faced difficulty in dealing with different people in the project since I am a reserved person.

Then, I started to acclimatize to the project and I enjoyed certain roles in my department as the

project went on. I wish to perform the co-ordinator role especially because of the support from

the peers during the initial stage of the project.

Later it becomes vice versa, I had to do specialist role on different occasions and needed

to take some hard decisions which arise the conflict within the teams or the people involved in

it. The higher authority in the project or my immediate superiors were using their power and

the influence in the project. There arise the conflicts within the team and the miscommunication.

3. Group dynamics in organisation

3.1 Team building and types of team

Team building is the process of taking an accumulation of people with various

requirements, backgrounds, and aptitude and changing them by different strategies into an

incorporated, effective work unit. In this transformation process, the objectives and energies of

individual contributors unite and bolster the goals of the team. The idea of team building turns

out to be fundamentally critical as bureaucratic hierarchies decline and horizontally-oriented

teams and work units turn out to be progressively vital. As a rule, team building includes

connections among peers with a wide assorted variety of ability (Wilemon, D. L 1983).

There are so many different types of teams. The first challenge for an organization or for a

project manager is to choose the right type of team for its business or project. They are Simple

problem-solving team, Task forces, Cross-functional teams and Self-directed work teams

(Recardo and Jolly, 1997).

Tuckman and Jensen (1977) states that “there are five stages of team building”. They are

Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning. In the Forming stage, team

members battle to discover their place in the team and the essential feeling is one of

vulnerability and uneasiness. The leaders are uncertain about the desires of the group and of

each other. Regardless of whether the co-workers have worked together previously, the new

group gives them another arrangement of issues to face. They analyse among themselves about

their limitations and strengths and how it fits in the new group.

The storming stage is portrayed by intragroup conflict and an increment in antagonistic vibe as

team members shed obliging exteriors. The individuals start to make passionate reactions to the

requests of the team. In this stage, exteriors and social personas offer approach to more legit

perspectives of others, and gathering individuals start to take intra-and relational hazards as

input and more profound sharing of self. The ''realness'' of the group incites contrasts of opinion

and conflict. The healthy working through and resolution of conflict is an essential part of

pushing ahead. In the norming stage, assigning roles, responsibilities are made and more

cohesion among the team members will start happening. In the performing stage, team

members utilize the relational skills they have created as an instrument to achieve team

objectives. Amid the previous stage, the group sets up itself as a firm substance, agreeable and

roused to encourage crafted by the group. It enables elevated amounts of work to be proficient.

Issues have been prepared, and the group is allowed to work beneficially as a cooperative

instrument. Lastly, the adjourning stage, Wrapping the team up regularly promotes an extensive

variety of emotions inside the team. Sentiments as unique as expectation and tension can be

experienced all the while as the gathering gets ready for end (Fall and Wejnert, 2005).

3.2 Team member selection

Another barrier was fixated on how team members were chosen. Now and again, project

team members are allocated to the groups by functional managers, and the project manager has

practically zero contribution to the selection procedure. This, obviously, can hinder team

development efforts, particularly when the project leader is given accessible personnel versus

the best, hand-picked team members. The task of "available personnel" can bring about a few

issues, e.g., low inspiration levels, dissatisfaction and uncommitted team members. We have

found, generally speaking, that the more power the project leader has over the choice of his/her

team members, the more probable team building efforts will be productive (Wilemon, D. L

1983). If the decision comes from top management or functional manager, then the employee

has a more chance of being deployed/assigned in a different or complex task and also in an

unhealthy environment. In my case, the functional manager and the project leader had no issues

or social conflicts in choosing me to the project as both thoughts wisely that I would be fit for

this job. So, I was handed the specialist role at first which I gladly accepted. And my role also

involved dealing with different project team members constantly that enabled me to perform

other roles like coordinator and team worker. Therefore, selection of team member also plays

a vital role in successful project/team performance. Finally, if a team member remains

uninterested in the project, then a suitable replacement must be considered by the organisation

or by the project team. When an organization keeps on deploying work from an uninterested

employee, then the whole performance of the team gets affected.

3.3 Dynamic project environment

In my team, they kept on changing my roles and the workplace in the project

environment which affected and demotivated me to a greater extent. A normal for many

projects is that the environments in which they work are in a nonstop stage of progress. For

instance, senior administration may continue changing the project scope, objectives, and

resource base. In different circumstances, administrative changes or customer requests for new

and distinctive details can definitely influence the internal operations of a project team.

Troublesome situations are every now and again a normal for project group. At last, the rate by

which a group "develops" to its full manpower base may display team building hindrances

(Wilemon, D. L 1983).

3.4 Team Conflict and Power Congruence

As team roles allude to the manner by which people interface with each other while

performing out a task in a group, group building exercises in view of individuals' team role

predilections may decide the manner by which conflict is dealt with in a group and how

effectively conflict is rectified. Thus, as conflict is unavoidable in work groups, taking a gander

at the relationship between individuals' team role preferences and conflict managing styles is a

basic issue in our comprehension of high performing teams.

Since issues and conflict happen generally in team-oriented organizations the manner by

which conflict is overseen may decide the achievement or disappointment of group results.

Organisations are continually depending on teams to build intensity and comprehend conflict

thus colleagues must have the capacity to manage intragroup clash effectively and

constructively.

At an essential level, a conflict exists while defying interests or contradictory activities exist

between the parties engaged with social circumstances (Deutsch, 1973). Thomas (1992)

underscored three essential and fundamental meanings of conflicts. Initially, a conflict exists

just in the work that it is seen as conflict by the performers included. Second, there is a level of

interdependence between the on-screen characters with the end goal that they can impact each

other. Finally, in any conflicts, shortage of assets, (for example, cash, power, and distinction)

may create pressures among the performers. Conflict impacts depend upon the various stage of

the team development (Aritzeta et al., 2005).Conflicts are inevitable in a team environment.

Often it gives a good solution to the debate or the issue. If the team properly address the

storming stage and comes to the norming stage, then it can prevent some intragroup conflicts.

3.5 Role conflicts

In my case, I had the role conflicts that affected my effectiveness and contribution to the

team. The reason for this conflict is mainly because of my superior and the project head who

possessed high power within the project. Team development endeavours additionally can be

frustrated when role conflicts exist among the team members. Role conflicts are well on the

way to happen when there is ambiguity about who does what inside the project team and

between the team and external team bolster groups. Covering and questionable role duties are

additionally significant contributors to role conflicts (Wilemon, D. L 1983). Therefore, I could

not find the errors in the work (project) properly thereby, unable to polish and finish off the

works. Hence, I do not prefer the specialist role (Fig 1) in the team owing to this role conflict.

This could be avoided when the superior and other colleagues who possess the power have the

same views and no social influence.

3.6 Credibility of the project leader

Team building efforts were hampered when the project leader experienced poor

credibility inside the team or from critical supervisors outside to the team. In such cases, team

members are regularly hesitant to make a guarantee to the project or the leader. Credibility

issues may originate from poor administrative abilities, poor specialized judgments or lack of

experience relevant to the project. At first, we were to some degree shocked at the number of

project leaders who specified rivalry for a leadership position. They showed that this

obstruction was well on the way to happen in the early periods of a project or if the project kept

running into extreme issues and the nature of team leadership came into question. Clearly, the

two instances of leadership challenge can bring about obstructions (if only impermanent) to

group building. Every now and again, these difficulties were incognito difficulties to the project

leader’s capacity (Wilemon, D. L 1983). My project leader exhibited some social influence into

the project which in turn resulted in social conflict within the team. So, I was not able to explore

all the options and take a decision on my own in my department due to my leader’s social

influence. Hence, I failed to do the monitor evaluator role perfectly in my task inside the project

team.

4. Management and organisational issues

4.1 Communication Problem and Decision Making

Of course, we found that poor communication was a noteworthy foe to effective team

development endeavours. Regularly the issue was caused by colleagues basically not keeping

others educated on key undertaking improvements. We additionally found that poor

communication designs between the group and care groups could bring about extreme group

building issues, as did poor correspondence with the customer. Poor communication rehearses

regularly prompted unclear objectives and poor project control, coordination, and work process

(Wilemon, D. L 1983).

This issue was also the one I faced in my project while doing the completer role in some of the

tasks inside my project. Therefore, at the beginning of the project, I could not communicate

with the project team members properly and decision making was delayed to a larger extent

arising questions in the team worker role. Later, the Project Team realized the impact of the

miscommunication within the project members and organized a team meeting to rectify this

problem. Since then, the decision making process and communication became fluent and

precise which enabled the project team to work hassle-free. The aftermath of this process was

that I could polish and perfectly finish off the works which were lagging previously.

4.2 Benefits from the management

The main thing to make people work together and effectively in a team is to give rewards

for them. Since they are delivering their best to the organisation or the project team in which

they work, they expect benefits and rewards from the project team or from the organisation.

When a particular employee or a project member is doing well, he/she should be reward in such

a way that it should boost his/her motivation level and involvement towards the work they do.

It may be either an incentive or a salary hike. And the criteria for giving the rewards is also

paramount. If you give rewards to everyone in a project team then, it will not be fair. It should

be in a way that people who give the best get more benefits and rewards. It should be

performance based otherwise, it will raise an unhealthy conflict within the team members. As

I got early recognition for my talent and also got my incentive for my performance, I was able

to perform the team worker role effectively in my project. So, giving benefits to the team

members can drastically improve the performance of the team.

5. CONCLUSION

In summary, team building involves various aspects of conflict resolution,

communication, decision-making, handling the power and leadership and felicitating the team

members. Effective team building will also lead to higher levels of job satisfaction. In my case,

if I had a role clarity in the beginning of the project, I would have performed reasonably well

in the specialist role and completer role. Moreover, the organizational setup and approach

should also improve be in such a way it forms a performing team rather than an unproductive

team. Finally, from (Fig 1) to improve my least preferred roles, I need to be proactive and

technically sound while working in a group. To maintain my preferred roles, I should be

promoting my ability to adapt to what is needed and to work with variety of different people.

And to play my dominant role to better effect, I must aspire to produce polished work and to

promote my image as someone who gets the details right.

6. REFERENCES

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power, team conflict, and performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,

116(1), pp.116-12 ARITZETA, A., AYESTARAN, S. & SWAILES, S. 2005. Team role preference and conflict

management styles. International Journal of conflict management, 16, 157-182. FALL, K. A. & WEJNERT, T. J. 2005. Co-leader stages of development: An application of Tuckman

and Jensen. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 30, 309-327.

HOLTON, J. A. 2001. Building trust and collaboration in a virtual team. Team performance management: an international journal, 7, 36-47.

RECARDO, R. & JOLLY, J. 1997. Organizational culture and teams. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 62, 4.

TOWNEND, A. 2007. Assertiveness and diversity, Springer.

Wilemon, D. L. & Thamhain, H. J. (1983). Team building in project management: Secret Ingredients for Blending American and Japanese Management Technology. Project Management Quarterly, 14(2),

73–81.