The Application of Belbin's Theory of Team Roles

This is a reflective paper wherein I would demonstrate my role in a team comprised to make a presentation on smart phone (Vertu Smart Phone). Team management for this presentation is based on Belbin’s Theory of Team Roles. As per Belbin’s Theory, I would prefer to assume the role of “Resource Investigator”. (Belbin, 2012)

I am very good at gathering information hence I have chosen this role. First we met to discuss the way we have to make the presentation. It is known as planning. In the process we get to know each other. There are only four of us, so team coordination was supposed to be smooth. However, our mentor was out of wit when the team member he chose for being the team leader rejected the role and wished to remain a normal team member without any extra responsibility. However, the second choice of our mentor was finally made the team leader. He spoke to me and got confirmed of what I can do at my ease and more efficiently. So, on getting my response, I was allowed to take up the role of resource investigator. (Furnham, Steele and Pendleton, 2013)

Though we did not have much choice about the leadership and neither did I have any idea how our first choice team leader would be, still I had this feeling that our current team leader will boost up our energy to get the project completed peacefully. We all gathered and spoke cordially. The team leader made sure that everyone has his concerns raised and the issues are solved. Whatever ideas presented by the leader to get the presentation done was considered upon. He was also open to our ideas and suggestions, which closed any criticism from our end. He was also open to any suggestions about his fault that we came upon. He made it clear to us that we are working as a team and not as an individual and even though he is the leader that does not necessarily mean that any fault of his should be overlooked by anyone. Our motto should be to complete the presentation successfully. So, it can be told that we are all happy and beaming with team spirit. (Meredith Belbin, 2013)

I was given the role I preferred, so it was an easy job for me. In addition to his own job, the team leader made sure that the team as a whole performs properly without any major hassles. Our strengths and weaknesses were discussed amongst us. The discussion was initiated upon by our team leader, so we can help one another whenever required. He was a very practical oriented person and suggested us to give our best as per our capacity without harming anything. (Swailes and McIntyre-Bhatty, 2012)

As I was concerned with the segmentation part, market research and data collection on our subject was my primary task. Last year, my performance was not so good, so I wanted to improve on my performance and my role. It was probably because of our team leader that everyone was cooperative enough to make me feel easy and hep me achieve my personal as well as team goal smoothly. As we had to meet the deadline, sometimes it was quite stressful. However, we were all energized at the same time to think that the presentation we will be finishing will be a good one and above par. I was given confidence to give the presentation more confidently, which I regret not to do in the last year’s project. I was made to practice on my speech delivery several times by our team leader. Everyone’s drawbacks discussed earlier were worked upon so that no one feels rejected or at a loss. (Belbin and Belbin, 2014)

As the project presentation was completed it was rejoiced by everyone. What we have learnt most is the way of handling people and project, more so from our team leader. Man management and project management at the same time is a big deal to achieve which was achieved by him without any compromise. (Watson and Gallagher, 2015) (Yeh, et al., 2014)

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References

• Belbin, R.M., 2012. Beyond the team. Routledge.
• Belbin and Belbin Associates, 2014. The Belbin guide to succeeding at work. A&C Black.
• Furnham, A., Steele, H. and Pendleton, D., 2013. A psychometric assessment of the Belbin team‐role self‐perception inventory. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 66(3), pp.245-257.
• Meredith Belbin, R., 2013. Management teams: Why they succeed or fail. Human Resource Management International Digest, 19(3).
• Swailes, S. and McIntyre-Bhatty, T., 2012. The “Belbin” team role inventory: reinterpreting reliability estimates. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 17(6), pp.529-536.
• Watson, G.E. and Gallagher, K., 2015. Managing for Results. CIPD Publishing.
• Yeh, E., Smith, C., Jennings, C. and Castro, N., 2014. Team building: A 3-dimensional teamwork model. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 12(5/6), pp.192-197.