Belbin team roles

 Essence

Dr Meredith Belbin has carried out pioneering research in the field of team membership. He did this in collaboration with three other scientists.

Dr Belbin adopted four areas of focus on which the team members involved in this research were tested:
  • intelligence;
  • dominance;
  • introversion versus extroversion;
  • stability.
Dr Belbin identifies eight different team roles which he has given characteristic names, namely the coordinator, shaper, plant, monitor evaluator, implementer, resource investigator, team worker and finisher. Although these names might suggest something different at first glance, it relates to the characteristics associated with these names. The eight roles listed are described below:

Coordinator
  • responsible for leadership
  • has authority
  • harmonises activities in order to achieve the desired result
Shaper
  • determines what direction the team goes in
  • creates coherence between the plans
  • team members must make substantive contributions
Resource investigator
  • socially skilled; pleasant to deal with
  • familiar with the latest developments
  • networker
Team worker
  • popular within the team; linking factor in the team
  • highly communicative
  • knows what issues are confronting his team members
Implementer
  • grumbles
  • makes unclear plans practical
  • works consistently, diligently and in a structured way
Plant
  • smart person with new ideas
  • introvert
  • always find solutions
Finisher
  • the neat and tidy person
  • crossing the t's
  • perfectionist
Monitor evaluator
  • gives well considered and sound advice
  • cool and distant
  • sees details that are important
Link with Quinn

The eight roles fit into the model as follows:


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