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BELBIN TEAM ROLE THEORY

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BELBIN TEAM ROLE THEORY

Belbins Team Role Theory
Virtual teams refer to geographically dispersed entities working together towards the
same objective. It denotes a group of individuals who for some reason are working across
both physically tangible and intangible organizational boundaries with their only connection
being a cybernetic network and the objective to be satisfied. This is one area in demographic
studies that is significantly dependent on the technology that carries the day. This implies that
the performance at any given time changes with the advent of technological advancements.
That technology constantly and rapidly changes is a fact, meaning that trends in virtual
teamwork suffer the same fate (Prichard & Stanton, 1999).
Team role has been defined as the tendency to act, or relate with others in a certain
way. Generally, most people have been found to possess two or three team roles which they
prioritize to effect (Belbin, 2016). The same people also have a few more they may manage
to accentuate and the rest which they do not prefer to engage under any circumstances. This is
what is commonly known as Belbins team role theory. Belbin goes ahead to list nine of these
roles that are believed to appeal most to any members of a team. Such roles include but are
not limited to Planters who are the creative problem solvers, Evaluators who are best known
for making impartial decisions, Specialists who harbour in-depth knowledge in key areas of
the objects at hand among others. This team role theory is widely used as a team development
tool in many institutions (Prichard & Stanton, 1999). The main points emphasised upon by
Belbin in his arguments is that teams that consist of team roles outperform those that have
imbalanced roles (Humphrey, Morgeson, & Mannor, 2009).
In the structure envisaged by Belbin, I would play the roles of a shaper who ensures
that the team does not lose focus, a specialist who possesses in-depth knowledge in specific
areas key to the teams focus or the implementer who makes the necessary plans to effectively

BELBIN TEAM ROLE THEORY

carry out a strategy. Virtual teams are commonly associated with introverts and self-centred
people but this is just a misconception. I figure that just like face-to-face teams, virtual teams
also have their merits and demerits and choosing to prefer either should not be a
consideration of ones opinion but rather, the nature of the task to be executed.

Bibliography
Belbin. (2016, January). Belbin Team Roles. Retrieved August 30, 2016, from belbin.com:
http://www.belbin.com/about/belbin-team-roles/
Humphrey, S. E., Morgeson, F. P., & Mannor, M. J. (2009). Journal of Applied Psychology,
94(1), 48-61.
Prichard, J. S., & Stanton, N. A. (1999). Testing Belbin's Team Role Theory of effective
Groups. Journal of Development Management, 18( 8), 652 - 665.