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Teams
in the 21st century: how do we define their role?
Meredith Belbin takes a look at the nature of teamwork today and
offers an optimistic outlook.
The word 'team' appears to have been borrowed in the first instance
from sport and signified 'being on the same side and pulling together'.
But it seems the terms of reference of a team are shifting and demand
further thought. At one time a 'team' was virtually synonymous with
an Autonomous Work Group. However, synergy within the team, essential
for an AWG, was often achieved at the expense of lack of synergy
with other parts of the organisation. Visions were restricted because
members of the team always kept the same company, being pinned into
their positions by restrictive job descriptions.
As these formal
structures are increasingly falling into disrepute, new dynamic
concepts are beginning to take their place. First, it is being recognised
as dysfunctional that membership of any given team should remain
static. Second, perspectives within the team need to be widened.
Facilitating career moves within the organisation offers one means
of achieving this aim while also offering the advantage of growing
a 'bigger person'. Another way is to arrange periodic swaps of members
between existing teams in order to deepen understanding of the broader
field.
Just as there are 'horses for courses', so also there are 'teams
for pitches'. If a team is to be pitched into a particular area
of challenge, one needs to ensure that the team consists of the
right players. In football, the fans judge the quality of the players
because they view the play throughout the game. But who can judge
the quality of the players participating in industrial teams? There
are no independent witnesses as in football.
Managers in
industry or the public service are often supposed to be assessing
underlings. Common experience suggests that managers are seldom
positioned to do so and are often embarrassed in having to go through
the motions. So where does that leave the manager? Often in the
unenviable position of being out of touch, one fears.
As to the future,
it seems that teams will need to spend more time in mutual assessment
and be readier to accept collective responsibility for what they
achieve. In being collectively accountable to a manager, teams will
need to face up to the downside of greater empowerment. The manager
will be fully entitled under this new scenario to dismiss a failing
team and to assemble a new one.
In the past, the presumption was that managers knew everything that
was going on. Few managers these days would dare to make such a
bold claim. New technology is changing culture. Wistful managers
now feel they are being bypassed because websites and e-mails are
generating a vast amount of information through lateral communication.
As a consequence, the bedrock of traditional hierarchy is being
relentlessly undermined in the process. So thoughtful managers will
inevitably feel the need to change the way they approach their jobs.
They will have to think more about the nature of accountability
and about how responsibilities can best be transferred to well-constructed
teams.
The need for a better balance in decision taking is gaining wider
recognition, which is why understanding the attributes of the team
in Management, and in associated projects, looks like becoming one
of the more promising and defining features of the 21st century.
The above is an adaptation of the full article, which appeared in
the December 2002 edition of Training Journal - a specially themed
issue concentrating on the subject of teamwork. The article examines
what the words 'team' and 'teamwork' mean in today's workplace.
The author assesses how teams can progress to be of maximum use.
He also takes a look at the future of teams and comes to an optimistic
conclusion.
Meredith Belbin can be contacted c/o of Training Journal on (tel)
+44 (0) 1353 654877, (fax) +44 (0) 1353 663644 or at trainingjournal@fenman.co.uk
Document number: 0112Belbin
Training Journal Abstract
Issue: December 2002
Author: Meredith Belbin
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