Meredith Belbin

Meredith Belbin is a British researcher and management theorist best known for his work on
management teams. He is a visiting professor and Honorary Fellow of Henley Management
College in Oxfordshire, England.
Contents

1 Early life and work
2 Belbin's research
3 Practical implications
4 Criticisms of the model
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Raymond Meredith Belbin was born in 1926. He took both his first and second degrees, Classics
and then Psychology at Clare College, Cambridge. His first appointment after his doctorate was as
a research fellow at Cranfield College (now Cranfield School of Managementat Cranfield
University). His early research focused mainly on older workers in industry. He returned to
Cambridge and joined the Industrial Training Research Unit (ITRU) where his wife Eunice was
director and he subsequently became chairman. Belbin combined this job with acting
as OECD consultant running successful demonstration projects in Sweden, Austria, UK and
the United States.
[1]

It was while at ITRU, in the late 1960s, that Belbin was invited to carry out research at what was
then called the Administrative Staff College at Henley-on-Thames. The work which formed the basis
of his 1981 classic took several years and, after publication, it was some time before its real
importance was recognised. Having an interest in group as well as individual behaviour, but with no
particular theories about teams, Belbin enlisted the aid of three other scholars: Bill Hartston,
mathematician and international chess master; Jeanne Fisher, an anthropologist who had
studied Kenyan tribes; and Roger Mottram, an occupational psychologist.
[2]
Together they began
what was to be a seven-year task. Three business games a year, with eight teams in each game,
and then in meeting after meeting, observing, categorising and recording all the different kinds of
contribution from team members.
In 1988, Belbin established, with his son Nigel, Belbin Associates to publish and promote his
research.
Belbin's research
Main article: Belbin Team Inventory
Belbin's 1981 book Management Teams presented conclusions from his work studying how
members of teams interacted during business run at Henley Management College. Amongst his key
conclusions was the proposition that an effective team has members that cover eight (later nine)
key roles in managing the team and how it carries out its work. This may be separate from the role
each team member has in carrying out the work of the team.
Plant: A creative, imaginative, unorthodox team-member who solves difficult problems.
Although they sometimes situate themselves far from the other team members, they always
come back to present their brilliant idea.
Resource Investigator: The "Resource Investigator" is the networker for the group. Whatever
the team needs, the Resource Investigator is likely to have someone in their address book who
can either provide it or know someone else who can provide it. This may be physical, financial
or human resources, political support, information or ideas. Being highly driven to make
connections with people, the Resource Investigator may appear to be flighty and inconstant,
but their ability to call on their connections is highly useful to the team. Explores opportunities,
make contacts, shares external information; negotiates with outsiders; responds well to
challenges
Chairman (1981) / Co-ordinator (1988): The "Chairman/Co-ordinator" ensures that all
members of the team are able to contribute to discussions and decisions of the team. Their
concern is for fairness and equity among team members. Those who want to make decisions
quickly, or unilaterally, may feel frustrated by their insistence on consulting with all members,
but this can often improve the quality of decisions made by the team. Clarifies goals; helps
allocate roles, responsibilities, and duties; articulates group conclusions
Shaper: A dynamic team-member who loves a challenge and thrives on pressure. This
member possesses the drive and courage required to overcome obstacles. Seeks patterns in
group work; pushes group toward agreement and decisions; challenges others
Monitor-Evaluator: A sober, strategic and discerning member, who tries to see all options and
judge accurately. This member contributes a measured and dispassionate analysis and,
through objectivity, stops the team committing itself to a misguided task. Analyzes problems
and complex issues; monitors progress and prevents mistakes; assesses the contributions of
others; sees all options; judges accurately
Team Worker: The "Team Worker" is concerned to ensure that interpersonal relationships
within the team are maintained. They are sensitive to atmospheres and may be the first to
approach another team member who feels slighted, excluded or otherwise attacked but has not
expressed their discomfort. The Team Worker's concern with people factors can frustrate those
who are keen to move quickly, but their skills ensure long-term cohesion within the team. Gives
personal support and help to others; socially oriented and sensitive to others; resolves conflicts;
calms the waters; serves as an in-group diplomat
Company Worker (1981) / Implementer (1988): The "Implementer" is the practical thinker
who can create systems and processes that will produce what the team wants. Taking a
problem and working out how it can be practically addressed is their strength. Being strongly
rooted in the real world, they may frustrate other team members by their perceived lack of
enthusiasm for inspiring visions and radical thinking, but their ability to turn those radical ideas
into workable solutions is important.
Completer Finisher: The "Completer Finisher" is the detail person within the team. They have
a great eye for spotting flaws and gaps and for knowing exactly where the team is in relation to
its schedule. Team members who have less preference for detail work may be frustrated by
their analytical and meticulous approach, but the work of the Completer Finisher ensures the
quality and timeliness of the output of the team. Emphasizes the need for meeting schedules,
deadlines, and completing tasks; searches out errors
Specialist (1988): Belbin later added a ninth role, the "Specialist", who brings 'specialist'
knowledge to the team. Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated; provides unique or rare
expertise and skills
Practical implications
Based on Belbin's model of nine team roles, managers or organizations building working
teams would be advised to ensure that each of the roles can be performed by a team
member. Some roles are compatible and can be more easily fulfilled by the same person;
some are less compatible and are likely to be done well by people with different behavioral
clusters. This means that a team need not be as many as nine people, but perhaps should
be at least three or four.
While comparisons can be drawn between Belbin's behavioural team roles and personality
types, the roles represent tasks and functions in the self-management of the team's
activities. Tests exist to identify ideal team roles, but this does not preclude an extravert
from being a Completer Finisher, nor an introvert from being a Resource Investigator.
Criticisms of the model
While Belbin's model has become well known and is taught as a standard part of much
management training, there are many criticisms of both the model itself and the way it is
sometimes erroneously used.
The research which identified these roles was conducted on established executives
studying at the Administrative Staff College at Henley (now renamed Henley Management
College); they were selected for the prestigious course by their firms who had identified
them as high-fliers expected to go on to senior management. The sample was therefore
already highly selective. Belbin himself points out in his book that many people that might
otherwise have made excellent managers might have de-selected themselves from
attending the programme.
The exercises given consisted of a game designed to simulate business decision-making
with an emphasis on generating profit in a fictitious company, and a version of Monopoly
specially adapted to remove the chance elements and enable groups to play in teams
against other teams. While Belbin draws on examples from real organisations, the
development of the model is based on the behaviour of subjects in the artificial environment
of the business school exercise.
Some people teach that all eight/nine roles must be present for a team to function well.
Belbin himself acknowledges that some teams consisting of one Shaper and a group of
"yes" men perform well, especially where predictability was high. His book identifies a
number of combinations that performed well in the exercises, especially where the teams
were aware of "missing" roles within their ranks.
Some people attempt to match Belbin's roles with Carl Jung's eight personality types, with
the nine types of the Enneagram of Personality or another personality type classification.
Belbin is at pains to point out that the team roles are not personality types. He regards them
as clusters of characteristics, of which psychological preference is but one
dimension. Citation?
Automated Belbin reports, available from some management training companies should
not, therefore, be used as the basis for recruitment or promotion decisions. The weakness
of the shaper is that they might become bad tempered/bad humored when getting things
done. The weakness of an Implementer is that they are sometimes slow to relinquish their
plans in positive manner. A finisher can put too much detail into one section and not follow
a specified time frame. A Co-ordinator can be considered overly enthusiastic at times.
Team worker may find it difficult to make decisions on own. Resource investigator may
forget to follow a lead.

Meredith Belbin tena trece aos cuando estall la Segunda Guerra Mundial. A pesar de ser un
nio, recuerda su inters por los aspectos polticos y organizacionales de los acontecimientos
mundiales. Sus padres apoyaban a la Sociedad de Naciones y llevaban a Meredith a las reuniones.
Con la guerra ya avanzada, la familia dio empleo a unos refugiados judos procedentes de Austria
quienes ensearon alemn a los nios y aportaron a Meredith una nueva perspectiva sobre los
acontecimientos mundiales.
Aun viviendo en un rea conocida como el callejn de las bombas en Sevenoaks, Meredith se
neg a ser evacuado junto con su madre y hermanas prefiriendo continuar con su educacin en
el Royal Grammar School en High Wycombe, donde ya estaba recibiendo informes brillantes por
parte de la direccin. Meredith sugiere que el hecho de desempear las propias fortalezas y
gestionar las debilidades ya tom importancia incluso a esta temprana edad, debido a que mitigaba
su bajo rendimiento en matemticas con su excelencia en Latn.
Cambridge
En 1945 era difcil obtener una plaza en Oxford o Cambridge ya que muchas estaban reservadas
para los ex combatientes. Sin embargo con un ensayo, que el Dr. Belbin describe modestamente
como palabrera de alto grado, consigui estudiar los Clsicos en el Clare College de Cambridge,
donde jug al ajedrez primero para el propio college y posteriormente para la universidad.
Transcurridos un par de aos, Meredith comenz a cansarse de la especialidad elegida al
contemplar su inminente carrera como profesor como una opcin ms bien desagradable. Al no
haber sido nunca una persona atada a los convencionalismos, Meredith comenz a ampliar el foco
de sus intereses y a leer sobre antropologa y economa, invirtiendo muchas horas en la Biblioteca
de renombre mundial de la Universidad de Cambridge.
Despus de cierta consideracin, decidi estudiar Psicologa realizando un curso de dos aos en la
mitad del tiempo asignado. Fue aqu donde conoci a Eunice, quien ms tarde se convertira en su
esposa. Eunice estaba estudiando psicologa en el Girton College. Meredith recuerda cmo se las
ingeni para conseguir que fuera su pareja en un partido de tenis y as captar su atencin, un ao
ms tarde se casaron. Poco despus Meredith comenz a realizar su doctorado sobre la
Psicologa del Envejecimiento en la Industria.
De la teora a la prctica
Despus del doctorado, Meredith consigui una beca de investigacin en el Cranfield College (hoy
en da Cranfield School of Management) con la que continu sus estudios sobre trabajadores
mayores en la industria. Como parte de su trabajo intervino en ms de cien organizaciones,
estudiando cmo los patrones de trabajo cambian con la edad. En concreto recuerda cmo a los
trabajadores mayores les disgustaba el ritmo de trabajo, es decir, el mtodo de tener que terminar
una tarea en un determinado periodo de tiempo en una lnea de produccin. En aquellos lugares
donde se recompensaba a los trabajadores mayores por la precisin en lugar de por la velocidad
del trabajo, la satisfaccin laboral era mayor.
Meredith comenz a dar conferencias en Cranfield sobre los beneficios de la ergonoma: la
importancia de las pausas de descanso y de prestar atencin a la plantilla de trabajadores con el
fin de incrementar la motivacin y la productividad. Al mismo tiempo trabajaba en muchas
organizaciones asesorndolas sobre cmo mejorar la eficiencia en la produccin. Nunca he
conseguido un trabajo a travs de un proceso de seleccin, bromea, sealando que ha tenido la
suerte de recibir invitaciones para ocupar distintos puestos a lo largo de su carrera.
En Plsticos BX, una planta qumica en Manningtree, Meredith traslad el centro de atencin de la
compaa del control de calidad a descubrir porqu se producan errores anteriormente en la lnea
de produccin. En trminos generales, muchos errores costosos podan deberse a no realizar
suficientes pruebas, asumiendo que un determinado mtodo o sistema funcionara sin someterlo a
prueba bajo agudas condiciones adversas. Meredith seala que fue aqu donde sali a la luz la
importancia de la prueba cientfica y lo que le posicion en buen lugar para su futura carrera.
Eunice Belbin trabajaba como directora de la Industrial Traning Research Unit (ITRU), un
organismo financiado por el gobierno y creado como resultado de la Industrial Training Act.
Meredith combinaba su trabajo en Cranfield con labores de consultora para la Organizacin para
la Cooperacin y el Desarrollo Econmico (OCDE). Este trabajo le llev por todo el mundo, all
donde surga la cuestin sobre las personas mayores en la industria. En los EE.UU. trabaj para el
Departamento de Trabajo de los Estados Unidos, integrando a los miembros ms desfavorecidos
de la comunidad cuyos talentos de otra manera se hubieran desperdiciado. Meredith descubri que
muchos padecan de baja autoestima, pero que una vez que encontraban un trabajo adecuado,
obtenan gran satisfaccin debido a su contribucin laboral. Persuadi a organizaciones para que
incorporaran personas para que realizaran experiencias laborales gratuitas, fue pionero por tanto
en un concepto que ahora est ampliamente extendido. Una vez que las empresas encontraban un
buen trabajador, el siguiente paso, el trabajo remunerado, era muy sencillo.
ITRU y la investigacin en Henley
Mientras Meredith estaba trabajando en el ITRU, le invitaron a conducir una investigacin en el
entonces llamado Administrative Staff College de Henley-on-Thames. Meredith y Eunice, muy
interesados en el comportamiento individual y grupal, comenzaron a planificar un proyecto de
investigacin con el fin de estudiar equipos directivos en accin junto con Bill Hartston (matemtico
y profesor internacional de ajedrez), Jeanne Fisher (antroploga) y Roger Mottram (psiclogo
ocupacional)
El equipo de investigacin seleccion directivos de una serie de organizaciones, quienes
completaron una batera de cuestionarios psicomtricos: algunos de ellos muy conocidos como el
16PF de Cattell y la Evaluacin del Pensamiento Crtico de Watson-Glaser; otros creados por el
propio Meredith. El equipo dirigi 3 juegos de gestin por ao, participando 8 equipos en cada
juego. En cada juego, observadores registraban metdicamente las diferentes interacciones y
contribuciones de los jugadores, dichos registros eran posteriormente analizados y categorizados.
La investigacin constituy la base de la Teora de los Roles de Equipo, a pesar de que su
significacin no fue completamente reconocida en aquel momento.
Con el advenimiento de un nuevo gobierno conservador, se recort la financiacin de la ITRU y se
desmantel la unidad. Al mismo tiempo el pas estaba entrando en una recesin y las inversiones
en formacin y consultora eran vistas como un lujo en lugar de como una necesidad. Meredith y
Eunice dejaron la ITRU y crearon la Employment Development Unit, con la finalidad de ayudar a
pequeas empresas a crecer. Por ejemplo, en la isla de Wight, Meredith ayud a una empresa que
fabricaba botes de fibra de vidrio a vender la fibra de vidrio para fabricar otros productos y as
diversificar el riesgo. La mayor parte de su trabajo se centr en utilizar a la persona adecuada en el
momento adecuado o en ayudar a ampliar las ofertas ya existentes para que las empresas
pudieran competir en diferentes mercados.
El trabajo en equipo
En Australia, Meredith trabaj con sus colegas en el estudio de habilidades intelectuales y trabajo
en equipo. Con el principio rector de basarse en los xitos y comprender las razones de los
fracasos, Meredith continuo con la puesta en prctica de la investigacin sobrepasando las
barreras de la burocracia y la poltica que obstaculizaban el desarrollo de las organizaciones y
centrndose en dar a las personas oportunidades acordes a sus habilidades e intereses. En el ao
1981, Meredith Belbin expuso su Teora de Roles de Equipo en el libro, Equipos directivos: el por
qu de su xito o fracaso. Un tiempo despus, el libro fue considerado como uno de los mejores
cincuenta libros de gestin de todos los tiempos.
Meredith trabaj para ICI Paints y Cadbury Scheweppes en el rea de seleccin estudiando la
adecuacin de determinadas personas para determinados puestos. A finales de los 80, la demanda
del trabajo de Meredith era tan elevada que se vio obligado a trabajar por la noche para poder
escribir a mano todos los informes requeridos.
En 1988, Meredith, Eunice y su hijo, Nigel, crearon Belbin Associates para ayudar a promover los
Roles de Equipo Belbin en el mundo. La compaa desarroll Interplace, un sistema informtico
capaz de destilar en informes la sabidura de Meredith. En 1993, Meredith public Roles de equipo
en el trabajo, que proporciona ms aplicaciones prcticas de la teora de los Roles de Equipo en el
entorno laboral. Desde entonces, Belbin Associates ha ido viento en popa, y sus distribuidores
difunden el mensaje de los Roles de Equipo por todo el mundo.
Meredith hoy
En los ltimos aos, Meredith ha visitado China y Rusia para hablar de la aplicacin de los Roles
de Equipo en diferentes culturas. Su mensaje fue bien recibido por la Autoridad para la Energa
Atmica de Rusia y ayud a cambiar la actitud hacia la gestin en Rusia. Rusal, una compaa
rusa dedicada al aluminio, acogi la filosofa de Meredith respecto a la estructura organizativa, as
como las diferencias individuales.

BIBLIOGRAFIA Y TEMAS RECOMENDADOS.