Team Building

One individual is unlikely to have all the desirable qualities of the ideal manager. Each individual has different characteristics. Teams made up of people with a wide range of managerial qualities can build up their collective experience cumulatively and synergistically. Teams can be renewed when a member leaves.

Team or group structures reflect the basis of their identity. They represent the social aspect of group life. The members occupy different categories of membership. The leader emerges early on perceived to be the most competent at the functional requirements. Leadership may not necessarily be from within the structure itself. People act as leaders without the role being officially recognised. Members are those who accept group goals as relevant and recognise the interdependence between members in the achievement of the goals. Those classed as deviates have goals that conflict with the goals of the group and are not prepared to modify their personal goals and experience dissatisfaction with the group. The isolate is a deviate who resists group pressure and persists in rejecting group goals. The isolate is left alone by other members.

Groups composed entirely of clever people or people with similar personalities show negative results and a lack of creativity. A leader should not be surrounded by 'Yes men'. Every leader needs a couple of 'No' men who are prepared to speak their mind and give a genuine opinion about things and not simply say what they think the team leader wants to hear. Consisently successful groups are composed of a range of different roles. Belbin's 8 team roles, later increased to 9 with the addition of the 'Specialist' because of the importance of professional expertise in some team situations, are patterns of team member interaction where performance serves to facilitate progress. Belbin argues that traditional managerial activities are now shared with an assortment of well-educated experts, advisers and specialists. It has been suggested that the Team Role Self-Perception Inventory be used in the recruitment and selection process. The roles are:

The Chairperson or Co-ordinator who attempts to establish and clarify tasks, goals and agenda, to allocate roles and responsibilities and co-ordinate group efforts. The role makes best use of the talents of each member. Typically self-confident and mature the Chairperson has to sum up the feelings and accomplishments of the group. Assertiveness, affiliativeness, conscientiousness are the drivers.

The Plant is the ideas person, the source of creativity, is innovative and imaginative in looking for possible changes in the group's approach to problems. Typically intelligent, introverted, unorthodox and imaginative.

The Company worker or Implementer is the one who converts ideas, decisions and strategic objectives into defined practical and measurable operational procedures. This person is task-oriented, conscientious, affiliative, disciplines and reliable.

The Monitor-evaluator objectively analyses problems, reflects on, interprets and evaluates others contributions, pours scorn on ideas and suggestions to test their viability. The monitor-evaluator will be sober, introverted and shrewd.

The Shaper is extraverted, dynamic, tense and defensive and leads the accomplishment of tasks by guiding team effort. The Shaper is anxious to prioritize and structure activities to get results.

The Team worker is socially oriented, affilative not overtly dominant, promotes team unity and harmony, focuses on interpersonal behaviour, internal friction and discord. The Team worker encourages participation and is able to respond to people, arbitrate and harmonize, defusing animosity and building team spirit.

The Resource investigator is extraverted with many outside contacts and likes exploring new ideas and information. He/she is imaginative, stable and able to identify ideas, resources and new developments in the external environment which can be made available to the work of the group.

The Completer or Finisher is a perfectionist, keen to complete groups tasks to deadline and worries about what will go wrong. A concern for progress and order makes the Completer keen to identify areas where more work or oversight is needed. Typical qualities include anxiety and conscientiousness. The fulfiller of schedules gives the team a sense of urgency.

The Specialist is focused on providing specialist knowledge and skills, is single-minded and self-motivating.

Team building is one of many management skills and competencies that derive from the application of the knowledge and understanding, learning and experience that has accumulated over time.