Impact of Belbins Team Roles - Essay Example

?Introduction The issue of inter professional working is currently regarded as one important aspect in the health and social care especially in the UK (Molyneux, 2001). Teams, instead of jobs have become the critical building block of future organisations and are seen as one of the primary means of creating high performance, high flexibility, and high commitment in an organisation. According to Molyneux (2001), the following factors are pre-requisites for effective teams and these are: personal qualities and commitment of staff; communication within the team and the opportunity to develop creative working methods within the team. Teams play different roles in organisations and management have found that teams are more flexible and responsive to changing events than traditional events (Robbins, 2003). In the healthcare setup, teams have various functions and they play a pivotal role in the success of that given organisation. As such, this essay seeks to critically analyse the impact of Belbin’s team roles on the following areas: conflict management, leadership styles and decision making with reference to the attached case study. The essay will start by explaining the meaning of teamwork as well as outlining Belbin’s team roles and how they can be applied to the given case study in relation to different areas mentioned above. Different approaches to team roles Basically, a team is a group of people that has been formed to work together in common, cooperative action towards the achievement of an outcome and for the benefit of the group rather than for individual benefit (Schultz, 2005). The goal of teamwork is synergy whereby the sum of the individual efforts in the team is greater than the sum of the individual inputs. Thus, teams have different needs, and members should be selected for a team on the basis of their personalities, skills and preferences (Robbins, 2003). Effective teams match people to various roles and these refer to patterns of behaviour attributed to a team member in a specific position in the team. Roles play a part in task building and relationship building towards the attainment of the set organisational goals. Dr R Meredith Belbin, a world renowned guru on team building identified eight distinct roles that people in teams play and it can be noted that people can and often do assume more than one of these roles (Henry & Stevens, 1990). Different roles that people play in teams include the following: chairman, plant, resource investigator, shaper, monitor/evaluator, company worker, team worker and completer/finisher. These different roles are going to be used in relation to the given case study in the discussion below. Situation analysis In the given case study, it can be noted that it involves inter professional working and focuses on the potential difficulties in achieving effective working relationships between practitioners from different professions with regards to a family that is negatively impacted by the abuse of drugs. Mary Brown has a habit of abusing drugs as well as alcohol and George Smith, the boyfriend is also a drug addict. The children, Joe, Lucy and Tom also have very bad behaviour as a result of their background as well as abuse of the drugs. In other words, this calls for concerted efforts by practitioners from different professions in order to meaningfully assist this family. The professionals involved in this case are Mark, the drug counselor, Ann, the social worker, Iva, the police, Iknowa the teacher and Imean the welfare officer. However, it appears that there is no mutual understanding among these professionals about the appropriate action that can be taken in order to effectively assist this family given that communication is not very effective. As such, this discussion is going to focus on the impact of Belbin’s team roles with regards to the case involving health and social care. Conflict management In any given organisation, it can be noted that conflict is regarded as a natural phenomenon, which is inevitable though it can be solved depending on the leader’s interpersonal skills and ability in finding ways of resolving conflicts among team members. A conflict is loosely defined as misunderstanding or disagreement in opinions among the members of a group or team (Kleynhans, 2007). A conflict can be on an individual basis or group conflict where the members of that particular group tend to disagree over something. In an organisation, there should be clashes of ideas and these should not be suppressed given that conflicts are healthy in the company (Armstrong, 1994). However, a conflict becomes counter-productive when it is based on personality clashes as seen in the given case study. When there is misunderstanding among the team members, there will be less coordination and this derails progress in that group which negatively impacts on the overall goals of the team. (Kleynhans, 2007) A good example of conflict in the given case is that Ann the social worker has encountered some impediments in trying to coordinate the efforts towards the rehabilitation of the family that is troubled by drug problems. In this particular case, Mark the drug counsellor is in conflict with the social worker over the expected roles that he should play. On the other hand, Imean the welfare officer is in conflict with his line manager where it is alleged that he is not communicating properly hence he is not executing his duties well. A close analysis of the given case study shows that the inter professionals working towards resolving the problem facing this family. Whereas a conflict is something that is normal in an organisation and it is the duty of leaders in particular to solve disputes among the members of the organisation (Armstrong, 1994). From this assertion, there is need for the leaders to possess good communication skills in order to solve conflicts within an organisation. In as far as Belbin’s team roles are concerned, there is need for the social worker who can be regarded as the chairman to play a pivotal role in leading the proceedings towards assisting this family which is troubled by drug abuse. Schultz et al (2008) suggests that the chairman ought to engage the different members of the team to have a common understanding towards the same goals whereby the roles of each team member are clearly spelled and defined such that they know exactly what is expected of them. In the case study given above, it can be noted that there is no common understanding among the team members hence there is need for the chairman to reach a compromise whereby different ideas from different members of the inter professional team can be accommodated. In practice, it can be noted that aspects such as communication play a very significant role in any given situation where there is a conflict. According to Schultz (2008), the chairman has a great role to facilitate dialogue among the members of the organisation towards reaching mutual understanding given that they are not pulling their efforts towards the attainment of the same goals. The type of conflict in this case is interpersonal. This kind of conflict within a given group or team is neither good nor bad (Armstrong 1994). The problem is that there is misunderstanding over issues such as allocation of duties or tasks to be performed by the team members towards assisting the family of Mary Brown. In a team, dialogue is very important whereby all the team members will be aware of the duties expected of them. The aim of assigning team roles using Belbin’s framework is to try to understand and explore other party’s perceptions and feelings towards something such that there will be mutual understanding among them. Each team member can be a leader whereby they will try to reach an agreement in their operations with regards to social health care issues. Armstrong (1994) posits to the effect that leaders should adopt a counselling approach which enables them to communicate effectively as well as to encourage people to find solutions to problems they may encounter during their operations. In this given case, people like Imean and Iknowa have constructive ideas that can be very helpful in resolving the problem confronting this family but they are somehow suppressed given that there is no proper coordination among the members of the team. In team formation according to Belbin’s team roles, there is need for the team members to encourage interpersonal behaviour among them by effectively harnessing interpersonal communication through face to face interaction (Kritzinger, Bowler and Goliath 2003). The social worker in this case ought to engage all the team members in order to have common understanding in as far as assisting this family is concerned. Where there is interpersonal conflict as is the case, dialogue is very important whereby the members with conflicting views can come face to face whereby they can freely express their feelings and sentiments. According to Armstrong (1994), interpersonal communication skills help the team members to be fully aware of their roles which minimises the chances of conflicts. Decision making According to Cook, Gerrish & Clarke (2001), the importance of multi professional, inter professional and inter-agency working has a great bearing on the way decisions are made within a particular team. It can be noted that all organisations are structured in such a way that is meant to facilitate the attainment of set organizational goals. However, these goals are influenced by the decisions that are made. Basically, decision making can be on individual basis or group and these determine the effectiveness of the team (Armstrong, 1994). As such, communication plays a pivotal role in decision making whereby all the members of the team are involved in contributing their ideas towards the goals of the organisation. Cook, Gerrish & Clarke (2001) suggest that the involvement of all members in a group in decision making has a strong bearing on the overall performance of the group given that all the individuals will share common understanding of the goals and objectives of that team. It seems that there is no cohesion in this case given that Mark for instance is disgruntled by the treatment he is given by Ann the social worker. His role as a drug counsellor is to offer counselling services to the family and he ought to contribute meaningfully to the decisions that can impact on the operations of the group. As the chairman of the group, it is the duty of Ann to engage all the team members in the group in the decision making process by listening to their ideas and suggestions which greatly influences the performance of the group. This initiative is meant to stimulate the interests of the members of the group which also improves its effectiveness (Werner, 2004). If the individuals in a team are aware of their roles and can contribute to the decision making process, there will be better chances that they will improve their performance knowing that they will stand better chances of benefitting from the initiative. Werner (2004) posits to the effect that in a team, the leaders and the employees ought to work hand in hand in order to achieve the goals of the organisation. There ought to be mutual understanding among the members of the team in order to fully implement the vision of the organisation. Thus, in this case, it is the role of Ann the social worker to develop and inspire the team members to pull their efforts towards the same direction with the aim of achieving goals of assisting the Brown family which is negatively impacted by the problem of drug abuse. Amos et al (2008) suggest that where there is agreement on the decisions made within a team, there is a unity of purpose whereby all the individuals involved will pull their efforts towards the attainment of the set objectives. According to Cook, Gerrish & Clarke (2001), “a team coordinator, appointed from within the team is supposed to be responsible for facilitating communication between team members and the wider primary health care team.” In as far as decision making is concerned, effective communication plays a pivotal role where information is exchanged among all the people involved and this can contribute to meaningful decisions made. According to the research that was conducted in UK, information transaction among the team members is enhanced by the geographical proximity of the people involved (Cook, Gerrish & Clarke, 2001). This entails that the teams in the social healthcare system often result in the amalgamation of professionals with diverse skills, knowledge and experience which is ideal for inter professional teams. With regards to decision making , this can act as a catalyst for pooling of expertise and knowledge which is a vital resource for all the team members they can rely on in their day to day operations (Cook, Clarke & Gerrish, 2001). The pooling of knowledge across professional groups in the social health care enables the practitioners to make a more effective contribution in the decision making process which results in responsiveness to the needs of the clients. In as far as Belbin’s team roles are concerned, the inter professionals involved in this case should have the autonomy to make meaningful contribution towards the decision making process (Aroian, et al (2001). In this case, it enhances the individual members to work more flexibly across professional boundaries. The structure of the team also has a bearing on the decision making process whereby it can be noted that beaucratic structures inhibit the exchange and free flow of information and ideas (Werner, 2005). In actual fact, when the roles of the team members are clearly defined, there is less duplication of work in that particular team. In the given case, it can be noted that Mark and Ann are somehow in conflict about their role expectations and this negatively impacts on the decisions made with regards to offering services to the Brown family. The processes of team working through communication allows the team members to be more autonomous in making decisions about their operations and this enables them to focus on the identification of the needs of the clients (Werner, 2005). When team members can share their ideas, they will be in a better position to make meaningful decisions that can positively impact on the performance of the individual practitioners. Leadership styles According to Orien et al (1996), leadership plays a pivotal role in team formation and performance. As such, the skills of teamwork, cooperation, and negotiation are key to success in the social healthcare environment. The leader ought to play the role of developer within the team and communication has to be effective in order to convince and persuade the team members to have a common as well as positive understanding towards something (Amos et al 2008). In order to achieve specific goals, learning plays a very important function. The ability by the team leader to delegate, articulate as well as to defend the position of the team are necessary ingredients for success in the team. As such, every individual has a significant role to play in a team and these should be clearly spelled by the leaders. In the given case study, Ann should play a pivotal role in developing the other professionals given that she is experienced in this area. In a team involving different professionals, the leader’s role is to influence the behaviour of the other members of the group to pull their efforts towards the attainment of the set organisational goals (Schultz, 2008). The behaviour of the individuals is very important in the functioning of a team and there ought to be mutual understanding among the parties involved. The leader’s role in this case was to effectively communicate with the other team members so as to be able to convince the people to pull their efforts towards the attainment of the set goals. Amos et al (2008) posits to the effect that democratic leadership style is ideal especially during the contemporary period where the leader will be open and accommodative to diverse views by the team members. By virtue of engaging the inter professional practitioners as well as using open and effective channels of communication, Ann the social worker will be better positioned to effectively implement the decisions made within that team. The other critical factor of leadership is impartiality when dealing with different members of the organisation. Armstrong (1994) suggests that the leader should be neutral when dealing with the members of the team so as to promote mutual understanding among them. Socialization is another important aspect that helps define the roles of the team members where they continually learn the values, norms and beliefs of the organisation (Werner 2003). The leader also has a role to motivate the members of the team in order to ensure its effectiveness. Defining the roles of the team members as well as their expected tasks is very important in the case study given above. As discussed above, there is need for the leaders to engage the members of the team in the decision making process such that they will feel to be part of the organisation and this can positively impact on the performance of the team towards the attainment of the set goals (Becker. & Gerhart, 1996). This style of leadership helps to inculcate a sense of collective responsibility among the team members where each individual will put maximum effort towards the attainment of the set organizational goals. Clarke et al (2000), posit to the effect that in real life situations such as the social health care, this is a recommendable style of leadership since it is accommodative to different views of the team members compared to other leadership styles that seek to impose decisions without proper consultation of other members and this can lead to misunderstanding within the team. It is imperative for the leaders to take note of the needs and concerns of the team members so as to encourage them to pull their efforts towards the same direction. Conclusion Over and above, it can be concluded that teams play different roles in organisations and studies have found that teams are more flexible and responsive to changing events than traditional events (Robbins, 2003). In the healthcare environment as the given case study, teams have various functions and they play a pivotal role in the success of any given group. Each individual has a pivotal role to play in a given team and it has been noted that Belbin’s model of team roles is very important in the operations of the team. With regards to conflict management, decision making as well as leadership style, this model is very effective especially in dealing with the issues related to the functions of the team. References Amos, T.L. et al (2008). Human Resources Management. 3rd Edition. CT: JUTA. Armstrong, .M (1994). 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