MANAGING PEOPLE IN ORGANIZATIONS
ASSIGNMENT 2
OCTOBER 2001
INTRODUCTION
This
assignment consists of two main parts:
(a)
Identifies and explains the main roles expected to be found in a team.
(b)
Describes the critical stages in the development of a team.
Practical examples are given from the daily workplace for a wider understanding.
(A) Roles
within a team
For a team to work effectively, every individual member must contribute on an optimum balance of both functional roles, through their professional skills and expertise and their natural roles, according to their behavior characteristics. The major team roles according to Belbin, are the following:
Ø Chairman: the mature and self-confident person who controls the team to move towards achieving the group objectives, clarifies goals and promotes decision making.
Ø
Shaper:
the
challenging and dynamic person who shapes the way team effort is applied and
directs objectives to the desired outcome.
Ø
Plant:
the creative and imaginative person who comes up with useful and smart solutions
in hard situations.
Ø
Resource
Investigator:
the
extrovert and enthusiastic person who explores ideas and resources outside the
group and develops useful contacts.
Ø
Monitor
Evaluator: the reliable and controlled person who continually reviews the progress
of the team, explores all options and judges accurately.
Ø
Team
Worker:
the socially oriented person who supports members and promotes team spirit.
Ø
Company
Worker:
the hard working person who turns ideas into practice and carries out plans
effectively.
Ø
Finisher:
the conscious person who protects the team from mistakes and makes sure
deadlines are met.
Ø
Specialist:
the dedicated person who provides special skill and knowledge where needed.
It
should be noted that it is not necessary to meet all the roles within one team.
In addition, it may not be clear-cut between one role and another. Each member
of the team gives support to other members in the way considered appropriate in
each case.
In
our bank a team of 10 people was formed for the preparation and implementation
of a Mutual Fund called “Athena”. Nicos, who was the most skilled person of
the team, was the chairman. Maria was very creative and she was always
looking ahead, so she was ideal for the shaper’s role. Nicos and Maria
were working on a parallel basis since they had complementary and
counterbalancing roles. Andreas and Niki were less extrovert than Maria but
could handle difficult situations easily, so they were the plants. Anna
and Paris liked gathering information and communicating with people, so they
could be the resource investigators. In some cases they would play the
role of monitor evaluators to judge and give other options for Andreas
and Niki. Anastasia, Ioanna and Chris were hard workers so they could be the company
workers, providing work for all the other team members and receiving support
from Mike, the specialist, for the new computer program they used.
[471
words]
(B) The formation of a team
It
is obvious that a team much pass through different stages in its development.
According to Tuckman, these stages are the following:
v
Forming:
This
is the first time team members are brought together. It is the stage where
consideration is given to the codes of conduct and roles and responsibilities
within the group, that’s why members try to test each other and establish
themselves.
v
Storming:
This
is usually a period of internal conflict and high emotion.
People get to know each other better and present their own ideas more
openly and forcefully. This may lead to conflict and hostility and even the
collapse of the group.
v
Norming:
Conflict
starts to be controlled as guidelines are established and develop their own
norms of acceptable behavior. Co-operation needs to be established in order to
plan and agree standards of performance as well as ways of having discussions
and making decisions.
v
Performing:
This
is the most effective stage since the group performs to its maximum capacity.
Team members are concentrated on the achievement of their objectives since
structure and cohesiveness has been created.
v
Mourning:
Optimum
performance has passed, a decline starts to occur because of different factors,
e.g. culture, time, energy, leadership, etc.
Example
1:
Our
Bank has introduced a new Euro Loan and a team was formed for the necessary
preparation, advertising and selling of the product. Seven people had been
selected to form the team. A meeting had been arranged for them to get to know
each other. They have introduced themselves and set up a specific date to start
work at their new office. [Forming Stage]
During
their second meeting some team members presented their views regarding a fixed
and floating interest rate period, ending up in three different schemes. Other
members had some different ideas, which brought the team to a conflict. All
members started behaving in a dynamic and offensive way to give a better
impression to the other members of the team so that they could establish
themselves and their ideas. [Storming Stage]
They
decided that it would be better to establish their roles first before deciding
about the product. They agreed that Nicolas should be the team leader but they
disagreed on other roles. During the next days they had the chance to get to
know each other better and the informal grouping that followed, helped them to
pick up a role as well as a combination of roles, without many arguments.
Besides, that was a test scenario to start with and then they could deal with
any necessary changes that there would need to be made. Regarding the product
itself, after five meetings they ended up in two different schemes, one to be a
5 year floating interest rate Euro loan and another one of 2 year fixed interest
rate combined with a 3 years floating rate Euro loan. They also agreed that top
priority should be given for the preparation of application forms and
instructions to customers. [Norming
Stage]
Every
problem was solved, all details agreed and the flow of work among members of the
team almost reached perfection. [Performing Stage]
However,
due to unforeseen factors (two members of the team engaged in an accident that
forced them to be away for two weeks together with the rumors that another Bank
was about to launch a similar product soon) the project fall behind and the
manager of the team was forced to be more aggressive and demanding. These urges,
continued overtimes and agony tired the group and dropped its performance. [Mourning
Stage]
Example 2:
A
team for the “Financial Institutions” section of our Bank was formed. Julia
was a skilled and experienced person so she was selected to be the team leader
and provide guidelines for the other three members of the team. Julia arranged a
meeting with them to get to know each other. James and George were working
together in the foreign exchange department so they knew each other quite well.
More support needed to be given to Christina, who just got a job at the bank and
she had no experience. [Forming Stage]
It
was quite easy to get along with each other since they were only four people
involved, their roles were clear and no decisions needed to be made. It was a
matter of good planning and appropriate training. So there was not a Storming
Stage.
Julia
decided that James and George should provide the necessary coaching for
Christina regarding their previous experience in foreign exchange and all the
three of them should do the necessary training regarding SWIFT messages. The
whole team should arrange a meeting with the previous team leader, John, to
advice them of their basic needs and clients. Certain rules were let down for
the smooth operation of the team. [Norming Stage]
High
performance goals and customer satisfaction had been achieved since all four of
them had been working really hard and enjoying their roles. Christina was
excited and gained much experience over her first few months at work. James and
George enjoyed the change and felt more valued. Julia was also very happy to see
her team working so efficiently and she tried to keep it up by introducing new
methods and plans from time to time to make sure that clients would still be
satisfied and team members pleased and motivated. [Performing Stage]
[884
words]
Teams
play a crucial role within an ongoing live organization. That is why it is very
important to give the necessary attention and planning to bring the right people
together to perform a specific task. Team members will inevitably pass through
specific stages until they get to know each other, set their goals and agree
their way of working for optimum results. Each member can contribute to the team
through a specific role, which best fits to the skills and character of each
person (i.e. putting the right people in the right position), allowing also a
combination of roles and a flexible and friendly working environment where
achieving team objectives is the major concern.
[1,491
words]
(1) Croft, Herin, Norton, Whyte, (2000), Management and Organization in Financial Services, Kent, Financial World Publishing.
(2) James D. (1999), Managing People in Organizations, Kent, Financial World Publishing.
(3) Mullins L.J. (1999), Management and Organisational Behaviour, Prentice Hall.
(4) Senior B. (1997), ‘Team roles and team performance: Is there ‘really’ a link? ‘, Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, Vol. 70 Issue 3, p241.
(5) Fisher S.G; Hunter T.A (1998), ’The structure of Belbin’s team roles’, Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, Vol. 713 Issue 3, p283.