Overview
In homogeneous teams, members have similar personalities and strengths.
There are few conflicts, but the results are often suboptimal.
The more diverse the roles within a team, the more powerful the team becomes.
If team members are aware of this distribution, it further improves outcomes.
There are many different approaches to putting together successful working groups.
A selection:
- Meredith Belbin’s model uses nine recurring roles.
- Harlan Mills proposes a surgical team of 10 people in 9 roles for software development.
- Glenn Parker takes a practical approach with four team roles.
- Mike Woods presents eight roles from Belbin’s original model in his training program for managers.
Meredith Belbin
Belbin’s model includes nine team roles:
| Orientation | Team Role | Team Task | Characteristics | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Action | Implementer | Transforms concepts and plans into concrete actions and executes them | Disciplined, reliable, efficient, traditional, turns ideas into action | Inflexible, rigid, slow to respond to new options |
| Action | Completer Finisher | Handles work with care and attention to detail | Meticulous, conscientious, punctual | Overly worried, wants to do everything themselves |
| Action | Shaper | Strong personality focusing self and others on tasks | Dynamic, works well under pressure, courageous, overcomes problems | Can provoke, may lack consideration for others |
| Communication | Coordinator | Organizes and controls the team, uses resources well | Confident, goal-setting, decisive, delegates | Can manipulate, may delegate personal tasks |
| Communication | Team Worker | Supports members in working effectively, encourages communication/teamwork | Cooperative, diplomatic, listens actively, relaxed | Indecisive in critical situations |
| Communication | Resource Investigator | Finds or provides the needed contacts and handles networking | Extroverted, enthusiastic, communicative, creates new contacts and options | Overly optimistic, loses interest quickly, dislikes routine |
| Knowledge | Plant | Introduces new ideas and methods, seeks solutions | Creative, imaginative, unorthodox, strong problem-solving and thinking skills | May ignore practical aspects, resistant to criticism, makes careless errors |
| Knowledge | Monitor Evaluator | Analyzes feasibility and practical benefit of approaches | Sober, critical, strategic, evaluates all options, makes sound judgments | Low drive, uninspiring to the team |
| Knowledge | Specialist | Has specific necessary expertise | Highly knowledgeable, intense, driven | Can be pedantic, distracted, focused only on own task |
All roles should be represented in a project.
In smaller teams, individuals must take on multiple roles.
An employee can take on different roles in different teams.
Harlan Mills
Harlan Mills proposes a surgical team model for software development teams.
The Surgeon
Also known as the chief programmer. Programs in a structured language
and personally defines functional and performance specifications.
The Copilot
The surgeon’s second self. Capable of everything the surgeon can do, but less experienced.
The Manager
While the surgeon is the boss, the manager handles key administrative tasks
such as budgets, staffing, workspaces, materials, and machinery.
For smaller projects, the manager might manage more than one project.
The Editor
Reviews the surgeon’s programming, critiques it, rewrites where necessary,
adds references and documentation, checks versioning and configurations,
and oversees the mechanical production process.
Two Secretaries
One each to support the manager and the editor.
The Program Librarian
Archives all program versions and configurations in a product database.
Responsible for both source and machine code.
Turns “private art” into public practice by making all computer runs visible to all team members,
and identifying all programs and data as team, not individual, property.
The Toolsmith
Creates, maintains, and extends all specialized tools – usually interactive computer services.
The Tester
Creates tests for all program components, up to complex regression tests.
The Language Lawyer
Expert in finding tricky and efficient language elements to perform difficult or complex tasks.
A language lawyer can support up to three surgeons.
Literature
Frederick P. Brooks, The Mythical Man Month, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, ISBN 0-201-00650-2
Glenn Parker
The four team roles used by Glenn Parker:
| Team Role | Team Task | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Contributor | Provides technical information and data | Self-driven, task-focused, expects good planning and results from the team |
| Collaborator | Understands goals and steers the team toward them | Willing to support the team beyond assigned roles |
| Communicator | Ensures information flow within the team and externally | Actively listens, relaxed, helps unify the team |
| Challenger | Questions goals and methods | Willing to openly challenge management, often pushes team to take calculated risks |
Smith and Rigobello, A Plan for Modifying Workshop Models Based Upon Glenn M. Parker’s Team Roles,
2012 University of Rochester, CAS 352
Mike Woods
Mike Woods uses eight of Belbin’s nine team roles – excluding the Specialist.
He introduces a questionnaire that allows team members to identify their role profiles:
Mike Woods, Karrierestart, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag München, ISBN 3-453-04119-4
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